Study of the thermal behavior of a synchronous motor with permanent magnets

Abstract

The present study deals with the thermal behavior of an electric motor used in naval propulsion. A permanent three-dimensional model based on a nodal approach was developed to predict the thermal behavior of the machine in permanent state. The various heat transfer modes playing a role (mainly the conduction, the convection and the mass transfer) are taken into account. The three dimensional developed model provides information (in terms of heat fluxes or temperatures) for the whole machine. A parametric study using this model is carried out aiming at two objectives. The first one consists in an evaluation of the influence of several factors on the temperature distribution. The second one aims at obtaining the inception of the thermal optimization and evaluating the more efficient cooling techniques or solutions.