Vehicle Electrical Machine Stator Cooling via Dual-Compound Plastic Embedding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical machines require significant structural effort and increased production costs to achieve efficient heat transfer from stator windings to coolants, leading to potential overheating and damage.
Innovation Solution
Embedding stator windings into an electrically insulating plastic formed by two different plastic compounds of varying thermal conductivity, which acts as a heat transfer medium and electrical insulator, allowing for effective cooling while minimizing production costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling devices with cooling ducts are used to cool stator windings, then heat transfer efficiency is improved, but structural complexity and production costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the cooling duct structure with the stator winding support structure by integrating the cooling ducts into the stator core itself. The cooling ducts are formed as part of the stator laminations, eliminating the need for separate cooling devices and reducing structural complexity while maintaining effective heat transfer from the stator windings to the coolant.
Solution Approach 2:
The stator core serves multiple functions: it provides magnetic flux path, supports the stator windings, and acts as a heat transfer medium through integrated cooling ducts. The cooling ducts themselves serve dual purposes by providing both structural support for the stator windings and serving as coolant flow channels for thermal management.
2Temperature
If high thermal conductivity materials are used throughout the stator structure, then heat transfer efficiency is improved, but production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different material properties to different regions of the stator structure. High thermal conductivity materials are used specifically in the cooling ducts and areas requiring efficient heat transfer, while other structural components use cost-effective materials with adequate but not necessarily high thermal conductivity. This localized approach optimizes thermal performance where needed while controlling overall production costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The stator structure employs composite construction combining materials with different thermal properties. The cooling ducts may use materials with high thermal conductivity for efficient heat transfer, while the surrounding stator core uses materials optimized for magnetic properties and mechanical strength. This composite approach allows optimization of thermal performance in critical areas without incurring high costs throughout the entire structure.
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 approach enables efficient heat transfer from stator windings to coolants, preventing overheating and reducing production costs by utilizing high thermal conductivity materials only where necessary, while ensuring electrical insulation and preventing short-circuits.
Implementation Method 1
The stator windings are embedded into an electrically insulating plastic for the thermal coupling. The electrically insulating plastic is formed by a first plastic compound of a first plastic material and by a second plastic compound of a second plastic material.
Implementation Method 2
Heat is created thereby, which has to be dissipated in order to avoid an overheating and damages or even destruction of the stator associated therewith. For this purpose, it is known from conventional electrical machines to equip them with a cooling device for cooling the stator—in particular said stator windings.
Implementation Method 3
The stator windings are embedded into an electrically insulating plastic for the thermal coupling. This approach enables efficient heat transfer from stator windings to coolants, preventing overheating and reducing production costs by utilizing high thermal conductivity materials only where necessary, while ensuring electrical insulation and preventing short-circuits.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical machine for a vehicle includes a rotor, which can be rotated about an axis of rotation, by which an axial direction of the electrical machine is defined, a stator with stator windings; and a cooling channel, or a plurality of cooling channels, through which a coolant flows. The stator has stator teeth, which extend along the axial direction and are spaced apart from each other along a circumferential direction and which bear the stator windings. At least one stator winding is embedded in an electrically insulating plastic for thermal coupling, the electrically insulating plastic is arranged, together with the at least one stator winding, in an intermediate space, which is formed between two stator teeth adjacent in the circumferential direction, and the electrically insulating plastic is formed by a first plastic mass of a first plastic material and a second plastic mass of a second plastic material.