Experimental Investigation on Oil Spray Cooling with Hairpin Windings

Chuan Liu, Zeyuan Xu, David Gerada, Jing Li, Chris Gerada, Yew Chuan Chong, Mircea Popescu, James Goss, David Staton, He Zhang

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

98 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Hairpin windings are gaining increasing popularity in recent years due to their advantages in improving electrical machine performance while reducing manufacturing time and costs. Their geometrical features introduce new challenges and opportunities on thermal management. In particular, spray cooling is increasingly being used, since hairpin windings open up regular and accurately defined gaps in the end-windings compared to the traditional random windings. To date, technical literature on the effectiveness of spray cooling with hairpin windings is lacking, with no practical guidelines available to researchers. In this article, taking an existing hairpin-wound stator, a test rig is developed to investigate the cooling ability of different spray cooling setups on the end-windings. Three types of commercial spray nozzles are chosen to carry out a series of experiments, varying the oil flow rate, pressure, outlet velocity, and number of nozzles. The winding temperature and heat transfer coefficients are presented and discussed. Furthermore, the efficiency of spray cooling is reviewed based on the experimental results. Finally, suggestions on designing similar cooling setups and increasing the cooling efficiency are also provided.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8848870
Pages (from-to)7343-7353
Number of pages11
JournalIEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
Volume67
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2020

Keywords

  • Direct cooling
  • electrical machine
  • end-winding
  • hairpin winding
  • liquid cooling
  • oil cooling
  • spray cooling
  • thermal management

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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