Winding Head Cooling Channel Layout for Uniform Stator Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical machines with stators and rotors face challenges in evenly cooling the winding head, leading to hot spots and potential damage to insulation due to uneven heat distribution across the circumference.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of guide elements along the coolant shaft to redirect the coolant flow from a tangential to a radial direction, ensuring even distribution of cooling fluid across the winding head, particularly by using plate-shaped guide elements aligned radially and arranged at varying distances from the rotor axis to efficiently redirect the flow and prevent hot spots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the heat exchanger is located outside the rotor axis in a conventional position, then the machine structure is simplified, but uniform cooling of the winding head cannot be achieved and hot spots form
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant channel is segmented into multiple sections along its flow path, with guide elements positioned at different locations to redirect flow to different areas of the winding head. This segmentation allows the single coolant channel to serve multiple cooling zones uniformly, addressing the contradiction between simplified structure and uniform cooling distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
Guide elements are introduced as intermediary components within the coolant channel to redirect and distribute the cooling fluid. These guide elements act as mediators that transform the single-sided flow from the heat exchanger into multi-directional flow that reaches all areas of the winding head uniformly, including areas opposite the inlet side.
2Temperature
If cooling fluid is supplied from one side only, then the inlet structure is simplified, but areas opposite the inlet side are insufficiently cooled
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling approach is extended from a single-direction flow to multi-dimensional flow distribution. Guide elements redirect the cooling fluid not only in the original flow direction but also in radial directions toward areas opposite the inlet side, effectively adding spatial dimensions to the cooling coverage without complicating the inlet structure.
3Reliability
If guide elements are added to redirect flow, then uniform cooling is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide elements serve multiple functions simultaneously: they redirect cooling fluid flow, distribute it to multiple areas of the winding head, and prevent hot spot formation. By making these relatively simple components multi-functional, the patent achieves improved reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity.
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 achieves uniform cooling of the winding head, preventing hot spots and ensuring effective heat dissipation across the entire circumference, thereby enhancing the machine's operational reliability and longevity.
Implementation Method 1
the cooling fluid, usually air, absorbs heat at the winding head and dissipates it at the heat exchanger
Implementation Method 2
a heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger is fluidically connected to the winding head via a coolant channel
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an electrical machine, in particular generator, with a stator having a winding head (1), a rotor (13) arranged rotatably about a rotor axis (3) in the stator, and a heat exchanger (6), wherein the heat exchanger (6) is fluidically connected to the winding head (1) via a coolant shaft (17), which is arranged radially outside the winding head (1), runs at least partially approximately along a circumferential direction (9) and is delimited in a radial direction (8) by an outer surface, and therefore the winding head (1) can be cooled by means of a continuous flow of a fluid via the heat exchanger (6) and the winding head (1). In order to achieve a particularly uniform cooling of the winding head (1), provision is made according to the invention for a plurality of guiding elements (11) which are distributed along a circumferential direction (9) to be provided in the coolant shaft (17) in order at least partially to deflect a flow of a fluid, oriented in the circumferential direction (9), in the coolant shaft (17) into a radial flow towards the winding head (1) and to distribute the flow over a plurality of regions of the winding head (1).