Abstract

With the huge drive towards electrification, the ability to predict temperature variations during the design process in oil-cooled electric motor windings is of ever-growing importance. The long run times of traditional CFD make it unfeasible to perform this kind of analysis within the design turnaround of a new electric motor. However, a new method of performing these simulations using Particleworks, a meshless particle based CFD solution, has been tested and validated against experimental data. This method can simulate violent multi-phase flow far more efficiently than traditional finite volume based (FVM) CFD methods. The fluid simulation was used to acquire a heat transfer coefficient (HTC) map with an advanced technique of simulating air and oil flow fields separately in order to achieve the most accurate results in the shortest possible time. The HTC map was subsequently applied to a steady state finite element thermal model in order to solve for the full thermal profile throughout the windings. The correlation with the experimental data was well within the targeted tolerance. With the new Particleworks 7.1.0 update, exciting new features provide further functionality and efficiency increases. Post processing tools can now be executed during the solver to allow for finer resolution in the time domain and reduced man-hours per design iteration. Improved speeds of GPU solving and the new FVM solver allows for more advanced simulations than ever before to be ran and faster design turnaround achieved. Finally, a viewing only Graphical User Interface has been implemented to allow management to explore simulations in more detail than from a static video gaining valuable insight into the design without occupying a full license. Join this presentation, given jointly by David Percival (EnginSoft UK) and Martin Brada (Ricardo), to learn more about Particleworks, its applications and how it can benefit you in streamlining your design process.