Thermal management in electrical machines

Abstract

Apart from protecting electrical machines from temperature related failures, thermal management of electrical machines is employed in the design phase of electrical machines to achieve higher efficiencies and higher power densities. There are many techniques that can be used to predict and monitor the thermal performance of electrical machines. Some of the most common techniques for predicting the thermal performance is the use of lumped capacitance thermal networks and, more recently, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. On the other hand, temperature sensors located in critical areas of the machine windings or winding resistance monitoring are used for machine monitoring during operation. For this Special Issue, which addresses the thermal management of electrical machines, topics of interest included numerical models for heat transfer in electrical machines, CFD analysis of fluid and heat flow in electrical machines, thermal testing of electrical machines, thermal design methodologies used in electrical machines, temperature distribution in electrical machine windings, temperature measurement techniques in rotor and stator windings of electrical machines and common temperature related faults in electrical machines.