Sealed Self-Cooling Motor Housing for Conductive Heat Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large power dense electric machines face excessive heat buildup, which can damage the equipment, reduce performance, and shorten operational life, and existing cooling systems add complexity, weight, and cost, limiting their application in structures with weight and wind load constraints, such as cooling towers and tall buildings, and are hazardous in explosive environments.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a power dense motor with a housing acting as a heat sink, utilizing a stator and rotor with a gap to create flux, and includes features like surface or interior permanent magnets, fan structures for convective cooling, and thermally conductive materials to efficiently transfer heat away from the motor, preventing heat saturation and maintaining performance in extreme conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If auxiliary cooling systems are used to remove heat in relatively large power dense motors, then heat removal capability is improved, but device complexity, weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cooling function with the motor housing itself by integrating heat transfer pathways directly into the structural components. The housing serves dual purposes: mechanical protection and thermal management, eliminating the need for separate auxiliary cooling systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor housing performs self-cooling through integrated heat transfer pathways that conduct heat from internal components to external surfaces. The system uses its own structure to remove heat without requiring external cooling equipment, achieving self-service thermal management.
2Temperature
If auxiliary cooling systems are used to remove heat in relatively large power dense motors, then heat removal capability is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling function is merged with the motor housing structure, eliminating the need for separate cooling components that would add weight. The housing simultaneously provides mechanical support and thermal conduction pathways.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor housing serves itself by conducting heat away from internal components through its own structure. This self-cooling mechanism avoids the weight penalty of external cooling systems while maintaining effective heat removal.
3Length of moving object
If motor height is increased to fit under fan in cooling tower, then fan positioning is improved, but motor diameter increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the motor's dimensional parameters by optimizing the magnetic circuit design and flux pathways. This allows the motor to achieve the required height for fan positioning while maintaining a compact diameter through improved magnetic efficiency and reduced air gap requirements.
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 solution effectively reduces heat buildup without adding complexity or weight, ensuring efficient operation and longevity of the motor in various applications, including cooling towers, while being safe in explosive environments and adaptable to different orientations and thermal conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a stator assembly disposed within the interior space and attached to the interior wall... The rotor and stator define a gap there between and cooperate to produce flux
Implementation Method 2
thermally conductive materials to efficiently transfer heat away from the motor
Implementation Method 3
fan structures for convective cooling
Data Source
AI summary
An electric machine has a housing which has an interior space and an interior wall extending about the interior space, and a stator assembly disposed within the interior space and attached to the interior wall. The electric machine includes a rotor within the interior space and located radially inward from the stator. The rotor and stator define a gap there between and cooperate to produce flux. The rotor comprises a hollow cylindrical member having an interior region, an interior wall extending about the interior region and an exterior surface. The rotor includes magnets attached to the exterior surface and a rotor shaft support structure disposed within the interior region of the hollow cylindrical member and attached to the interior wall of the hollow cylindrical member. A rotor shaft is attached to the rotor shaft support structure. The electric machine further comprises bearings to locate and support the rotor shaft relative to the housing.