Electric Machine Cooling Jacket Layout for Compact Heat Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid cooling arrangements for electric machines require significant installation space due to separate inlet and outlet connections, which limits their thermal efficiency and compactness.
Innovation Solution
A cooling jacket arrangement for electric machines where the input is positioned below the rotor's axis and the output above, allowing gravity-driven circulation from bottom to top, eliminating the need for an independent output connection and enhancing thermal efficiency by swirling the cooling medium as it exits, which contacts the rotor, and utilizing a stator carrier and cover element to form the cooling jacket for reduced part count and uniform cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate inlet and outlet connections are provided for the cooling jacket, then the cooling function is achieved, but the installation space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The outlet connection is merged with the housing structure by utilizing the sump area at the bottom of the housing as the collection point for cooling medium. The cooling jacket outlet opens into this sump area, eliminating the need for a separate outlet connection piece and reducing installation space requirements while maintaining effective cooling function.
2Reliability
If the cooling medium circulates through a separate outlet connection, then the cooling circuit is complete, but the thermal efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling jacket outlet is positioned at the uppermost point of the electric machine, and the sump area is positioned at the bottom of the housing. This creates a gravitational potential difference that enables the cooling medium to flow downward through the entire height of the machine, maximizing heat transfer efficiency and eliminating energy losses associated with pump-driven circulation.
3Loss of energy
If the cooling medium flows down the outside of the cooling jacket, then the thermal efficiency increases, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating rotor itself serves as the mechanism to swirl and distribute the cooling medium. As the rotor rotates, it naturally creates swirling motion in the cooling medium that flows down its outer circumference, eliminating the need for additional swirl generators or complex distribution mechanisms while enhancing thermal efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration achieves efficient heat transfer with reduced installation space, increased thermal efficiency, and uniform cooling of the electric machine, while allowing the cooling medium to flow down and interact with the rotor for enhanced heat dissipation.
Implementation Method 1
heat can be transferred from the electric machine to the cooling medium
Implementation Method 2
the cooling medium can flow through a heat exchanger so that heat can be transferred from the cooling medium to an environment or to another cooling medium
Implementation Method 3
fluid exiting at the output can accordingly flow down via the entire electric machine
Implementation Method 4
The cooling medium is swirled when the rotor rotates
Data Source
AI summary
An arrangement for liquid cooling of an electric machine with a stator and a rotor. The electric machine is enclosed over its outer circumference by a cooling jacket having an input and an output. In an installed position of the electric machine, the input is arranged spatially below a rotational axis of the rotor, and the output is arranged spatially above the rotational axis.