Practical Strategies for Improved Cooling of Electrical Motors and Generators

Dave Staton, Douglas Hawkins and Mircea Popescu

Motor Design Ltd., Ellesmere, SY12 0EG, U.K.
www.motor-design.com
Abstract- Thermal analysis is becoming a more important aspect of the electric motor and generator
design process due to the push for reduced weights, costs and increased efficiency. This paper
reviews recent published examples of use of software to improve the cooling of various motor and
generator designs. Details of the cooling system used are given in the form of thermal models to
highlight the most important cooling paths and features of the particular designs. Comparisons are
made with test data where applicable. Brushless PM, asynchronous, dc, wound field synchronous
machine types are covered together with various cooling types such as TENV, TEFC, through
ventilation, water jackets, open/closed constructions, mounting conduction and radiation.
Applications with both steady-state and transient duty cycle loads are included.
Introduction:
Thermal analysis is an important design aspect and becoming a more important component of the
electric motor design process due to the push for reduced weights and costs and increased
efficiency. To help designers optimise their cooling system design Motor Design Ltd (MDL) has
developed the Motor-CAD software. Motor-CAD is the most sophisticated and easy to use software
simulation program for thermal analysis of electric motors. It combines the best aspects of
analytical lumped circuit and numerical analysis methods to provide a fast and accurate way to
analyse and optimise the design fully accounting for thermal aspects. It has been developed
continuously over the past 15 years and is now at version 7.1. It is developed by motor designers
rather than pure software engineers such that it features functions that machine designers find very
useful. Its continual development benefits from the valuable feedback from it hundreds of users. It
is used extensively in such industries as automotive, aerospace, servo, transport, renewables, etc.
and by leading universities. A few of the prestigious names using Motor-CAD are ABB, BAE
Systems, Bosch, BMW, Caterpillar, Daimler, Ford, Goodrich, Magneti Marelli, Otis, Siemens,
Thales, Williams, etc.
Fig 1: Motor-CAD Radial and Axial Cross-Section Editors and 3D Model Viewer
Motor-CAD Software:
Motor-CAD is a unique piece of software dedicated to thermal analysis of electrical motors and
generators. It is mainly based on network (lumped circuit) analysis but also has a fully integrated
thermal finite element analysis module to give the best combination of calculation speed and
solution accuracy. Nodes are automatically placed at important points on the motor cross-section,
such as the stator back iron, tooth, winding hotspot, etc. These are linked by conduction, convection
and radiation thermal resistances. Losses are input at the relevant nodes. Thermal capacitances are
added when thermal transient analysis is performed. Flow network analysis is used to calculate
pressure drops and predict flow rates. Fig 2 shows the typical heat transfer and flow network
schematics as set up and calculated by Motor-CAD. The vast electric motor design and thermal
analysis experience of the Motor-CAD development together with close links with universities and
industry [1 - 23] has been utilised to make sure that the networks developed give an accurate
representation of all the important heat transfer and flow paths in the machine. Fig 2 shows the new
integrated thermal FEA solver that was introduced in v7.1. This takes just a few seconds to generate
a mesh and calculate the temperature rise in a slot filled with either stranded conductors or a form
wound windings.
Fig 2: Motor-CAD Heat Transfer and Flow Network Schematic Diagrams and the Integrated
Thermal FEA Solver
Editors are provided in Motor-CAD to make data input and interpretation of the results as easy as
possible. For instance in Fig 1 we see the radial and axial cross-section editors, which have pre-
setup parameterised geometries for a wide range of motor types (induction, inner and outer rotor
brushless BPM, PM commutator, switched reluctance, synchronous and claw pole), housing types
(a few of the many types are shown in Fig 1, i.e. the axial cross-section shows a machine with oil
spray cooling and a circumferential water jacket, the radial cross-section shows an axial water
jacket and internal rotor cooling ducts, the 3d-model viewer shows axial fins with fan cowling and
rotor endring wafters/wings), magnet shapes (the v-shaped magnet is shown in Fig 1), induction
motor cage shape, etc. A new feature of Motor-CAD v7.1 is option to indicate on the cross-section
drawing the flow paths for the cooling system selected, i.e. the axial cross-section in Fig 1 includes
arrows to indicate the flow paths for the oil spray cooling and a circumferential water jacket using
in that design.
Motor-CAD can model a wide variety of cooling types:
totally enclosed non ventilated [TENV]
totally enclosed fan cooled [TEFC]
waters jackets of various design on both rotor and stator
wet rotor and wet stator
submersible
through ventilation
oil spray cooling
fluid down the gap
etc.
Dedicated editors are provided to help set up the different types of cooling model, with easy to
understand parameters such as water jacket flow rates, inlet temperatures, etc.
All conduction, convection and radiation resistances are calculated automatically by Motor-CAD
using proven formulations, even for the more complex composite parts such as the winding. The
user can calculate the steady-state thermal performance, which is calculated instantaneously, or the
thermal transient performance (Fig 3) which typically takes a few seconds to calculate. Even highly
complex transient duty cycle load are extremely quick to calculate allowing the user to easily select
the correctly sized motor and cooling system for such applications as hybrid and electric vehicles,
rapid transit traction systems, elevators, etc.

Fig 3: Complex load cycle modelled in Motor-CAD for an aerospace induction machine together
with the measured and predicted thermal transient for the winding
The thermal schematic shown in Fig 2 is used to analyse the temperatures of nodes in the network,
the importance of alternative heat transfer paths by examining relative power flow through thermal
resistances, and the restrictions to heat transfer from the relative thermal resistance values.
Alternatives to the schematic diagram are to indicate nodal temperature values on the cross-section
plots or to show the temperature distribution over the cross-section as shown in Fig 2. The thermal
components plotted in the schematic are colour coded to the motor cross-section, i.e. housing shown
in blue, stator lamination in red, copper in yellow, etc. Vertical resistances represent radial heat
transfer and horizontal resistances axial heat transfer. The user has several options of what data to
display on the schematic, i.e. labels, absolute temperatures or temperature rise, thermal resistance
values, etc. Between certain nodes there may be several thermal resistance values in series, i.e. half
the stator lamination back-iron thickness plus the housing thickness and the stator lamination to
housing interface gap between the stator back-iron node and the housing node. Examining all the
individual resistance values on the schematic aids in the judgement of which ones are dominant,
which is important as some may be reduced by simply changing the manufacturing process and may
have a large influence on cooling.
Motor-CAD has powerful inbuilt multi-parametric sensitivity analysis capabilities. Sensitivity
analysis is very useful for gaining an in-depth understanding of the main constraints to dissipation,
allowing informed design decisions to be made to improve the cooling. For instance, in Fig 4, we
see the sensitivity of a particular design to variation in the effective interface gap between stator
lamination and housing and impregnation goodness factor (amount of air in the impregnation
system). Motor-CAD gives valuable information on what typical values are expected for such
manufacturing quantities for different machine and cooling types and manufacturing processes. The
unrivalled experience built into Motor-CAD has been gathered from the extensive research MDL
has done in thermal analysis of electrical machines over the past 15 years and the wealth of
feedback from the hundreds of Motor-CAD users in industry. This allows new users to be able to
produce accurate results without the need to build up their own experience of such manufacturing
issues. The impregnation goodness factor is figure of merit for the winding impregnation system. A
value of 1 means the winding is perfectly impregnated and contains no air. A value of 0 means that
the winding is not impregnated. We can vary the impregnation goodness factor between 0 and 1 to
investigate all possible mixtures of impregnation and air. Such meaningful parametric quantities are
typical in Motor-CAD. But, in order to quantify the upper and lower limit of such parameters and
give typical values for a particular manufacturing process some experience is required. This is
where Motor-CAD is a big assistance to the designer, as the default values are set to quantities
typical in an average machine. Also, help is give as to what the maximum value could be with
different manufacturing techniques.

Fig 4: Typical Motor-CAD Sensitivity Analysis
Motor-CAD also has an in-built circuit editor which is useful for including thermal models of other
components attached to the machine, such as flanges mounted gear boxes, etc. The software is fully
compatible with the ActiveX standards for transfer of data between programs under the Windows
operating system. This makes it possible to automatically run optimization from such packages as
Excel and Matlab. Motor-CAD also has advanced data links with the Speed software making it easy
to automatically transfer geometry, losses and temperatures between the packages.
Previous Motor-CAD Projects:
Next we will give examples from some of the users of Motor-CAD on how useful the software has
been in modelling a variety of machine types. They also give an indication of the good level of
accuracy that can be achieved with little or no heat transfer knowledge of the designer. We only
have space to show a few highlights of the many paper published.
Fig 5 shows typical duty cycle analysis on two different servo motor manufactures [3-5, 13-15].
Both models were created using the automated data links with SPEED software, i.e. transfer
geometry and losses from SPEED PC-BDC software to Motor-CAD. Both sets of results show
excellent agreement with tests. Typical analysis is done to ensure that a motor design is capable of a
particular duty cycle application. Many duty cycles are much more complex than the ones shown.
For instance Motor-CAD has been used to predict the performance of drive systems for elevators
with simulations of the thermal operating conditions over 24 hour period, the optimisation of the
cooling system for rapid transit trains for new lines, electric/hybrid vehicles drives with realistic
duty cycles, power steering applications, aerospace actuator systems, etc.
Fig 5: Measured and Motor-CAD predictions of transient duty cycle operation of two servomotors
Fig 3 also shows excellent agreement between Motor-CAD predictions and measured thermal
transient data for an aerospace induction machine. In this case the duty cycle load is very
complicated, as shown by the diagram of stator and rotor losses with time taken from Motor-CAD.
Fig 6 shows both measure and predicted steady-state and transient data for an outer rotor brushless
permanent magnet motor for an in-wheel traction application [16]. This type of machine has a
particularly difficult path for cooling of the stator winding as it is embedded inside the rotating
outer magnets. All possible heat transfer paths are modelled in Motor-CAD, i.e. via the static axle
to any heat sinking attached, via the axle and through the bearings to the rotating outer magnet
retaining cylinder, through the airgap and off the end winding to the rotating outer magnet retaining
cylinder. The thermal model proved invaluable in this application in order to optimise the cooling
and maintain a low volume and mass by optimising the heat sinking effect of the axle mounting.

20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
250 500 750 1000
SPEED [RPM]
T
E
M
P
E
R
A
T
U
R
E
[
d
e
g
C
]
Winding (Test)
Winding (Calc)
Shaft (Test)
Shaft (Calc)
Ambient

Fig 6: Brushless outer rotor PM traction motor - steady state results & thermal transient results
Fig 7 shows a 1150hp induction motor that was designed for an oil well drilling application [17]. It
had the stator and rotor axial ducting system shown in Fig 7 to cool the machine using through
ventilation, with separate blower to pass air through the machine. Motor-CAD makes a combined
heat transfer and flow analysis calculation for such machines. In this case the total flow through the
machine was correctly predicted to be 3300CFM. Fig 11 shows the fan characteristic (pressure drop
against volume flow rate) as entered in into Motor-CAD together with the Motor-CAD prediction
of the system flow resistance characteristic. The intersection of the two curves determines the total
airflow through the machine. The Motor-CAD analysis was used to optimise the split between
stator and rotor airflow through the machine and so get the correct balance between stator and rotor
cooling. The full load stator winding temperature was measured to be 157C, which compared well
with the Motor-CAD prediction of 159C.
A joint project with the University of Edinburgh and Cummins Generator Technologies used
Motor-CAD to model the temperature rise of a range of TENV, TEFC and through ventilated
synchronous generators [19,20]. In general the Motor-CAD error for prediction of nodal
temperatures is less than 5% so could be used reliably to aid in design optimisation. Its powerful
multi-parametric sensitivity analysis capabilities were also used to help set up robust design/6
Sigma models.

Fig 7: 1150hp induction machine with through ventilation axial ducting and flow calculation
Fig 8 shows some work done by Siemens VDO Automotive to optimise the transient performance
of a Permanent Magnet DC Motor for an electro-hydraulic anti-lock brake (ABS/EPS) [18]. Motor-
CAD was used to optimise the slot insulation system with the aim of maximising the time that the
motor could operate with a locked rotor current without exceeding the winding insulation
temperature limit. A simple change to the insulation system allowed the operation to be extended
from 1.8 minutes to 4 minutes. Both designs were built and showed that Motor-CAD was giving
very accurate predictions of the transient so could be relied upon for such design optimisation.
Work was also done at that time to give improved prediction of brush temperatures, this work also
being validated with test data. The brush/commutator thermal model has been found useful in the
analysis of motor life expectancy and for understanding the main design criteria required to keep
the brushes cool.
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
0 2 4 6 8 10
time [min]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[

C
]
Twinding [Test]
Trotor [Test]
Tmagnet [Test]
Tcomm [Test]
Thousing [Test]
Twinding [Calc]
Trotor [Calc]
Tmagnet [Calc]
Tcomm [Calc]
Thousing [Calc]
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
time [min]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[

C
]
Twinding [Test]
Trotor [Test]
Tmagnet [Test]
Tcomm [Test]
Thousing [Test]
Twinding [Calc]
Trotor [Calc]
Tmagnet [Calc]
Tcomm [Calc]
Thousing [Calc]

Fig 8: PMDC motor with measured and Motor-CAD predictions of thermal transients
Fig 9 shows some work done by the University of Bristol [21] to optimise the water jacket cooling
and stator insulation system for a IPM brushless PM motor for an electric vehicle application.
There was excellent agreement between predicted and measured stator and rotor temperatures.

Fig 9: Thermal modelling of a traction motor using Motor-CAD
Fig 10 shows some work done by Goodrich Power Systems on the optimisation of a short duty
cycle rated motor [22]. Motor-CAD was used to optimise the quality of the slot impregnation as it
was found to play a significant role in the transient performance. Optimisation was facilitated by the
in-built multi-parametric sensitivity analysis module in Motor-CAD, Fig 10 showing the results of
sensitivity analysis on various slot insulation parameters, i.e. how well the winding is impregnated,
the wire enamel thickness, the slot liner thickness and the thickness of the gap between the liner and
the lamination. In this case the impregnation goodness (amount of air left in the impregnation
system) was found to be the most important factor and the motor winding was optimised to account
for this. Thermal analysis also showed that thermal protection with temperature sensors was not
reliable due to delays in temperature measurement and that a predictive protection was essential.
The analysis was confirmed by 2-dimentional finite element analysis and prototype motor testing,
excellent agreement with measured thermal transients for a range of loads being shown in Fig 10.

Fig 10: Thermal Modelling of a Short-Duty Motor using Motor-CAD
Fig 11 shows some work done by Electro Kinetic Designs on the optimisation of motor for an
aircraft wheel retraction system [23]. Without thermal analysis the designer would need to rely on
their previous experience to size the motor. By using Motor-CAD to model the particular duty cycle
for this application the motor was designed to be 39% and 31% smaller in volume and weight
respectively. This was achieved by an iterative process of first doing the electromagnetic design
followed by thermal analysis using Motor-CAD, shrinking the motor down until it performed the
desired electromagnetic performance and just reached 180C with the desired transient duty cycle.
Fig 11: Optimisation of a high power density motor for a very short duty aerospace actuator
References:
[1] Staton, D.A., Pickering, S.J, Lampard, D : 'Recent Advancement in the Thermal Design of Electric Motors', SMMA 2001 Fall Technical
Conference "Emerging Technologies for the Electric Motion Industry", 3-5 Oct 2001, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USA
[2] Staton, D.A., Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A.: 'Solving the More Difficult Aspects of Electric Motor Thermal Analysis in Small and Medium Size
Industrial Induction Motors'; IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Volume 20, Issue 3, Sept. 2005 Page(s): 620 628
[3] Staton, D.A.: 'Servo Motor Size Reduction - Need for Thermal CAD', Drives & Controls 2001 Conference, ExCeL - Docklands, London, UK,
13-15 March 2001
[4] Staton, D.A., So, E: 'Computer Aided Design of Brushless Servo Motors', UK Magnetics Society Seminar 'Developments in Electromagnetic
CAD for industrial Applications', RIBA, London, UK, 28 Feb. , 2001
[5] Staton, D.A.: 'Thermal Computer Aided Design - Advancing the Revolution in Compact Motors', IEEE - IEMDC Conference, MIT,
Massachusetts, USA, 17-20 June 2001
[6] Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A., Staton, D.A.: 'Thermal Analysis of TEFC Induction Motors', Industry Applications Conference, 2003. 38th IAS
Annual Meeting. Volume 2, 12-16 Oct. 2003 Page(s):849 - 856 vol.2
[7] Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A., Staton, D.A.: 'Thermal Sensitivity Analysis of TEFC Induction Motors', IEE PEMD, Edinburgh, April 2004
[8] Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A., Staton, D.A.: 'TEFC Induction Motors Thermal Models: A Parameter Sensitivity Analysis', IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Volume 41, Issue 3, May-June 2005 Page(s): 756 763
[9] Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A., Staton, D.A., Popescu, M., Cossar, C., McGilp, M.I.: 'End space heat transfer coefficient determination for
different Induction Motor enclosure types', Industry Applications Conference, 2008. Edmonton, October 2008
[10] Boglietti, A., Cavagnino, A., Pastorelli, M., Staton, D.A., Vagati, A. : 'Thermal Analysis of Induction and Synchronous Reluctance Machines',
IEMDC 2005, San Antonio, USA, May 2005
[11] Chin, Y.K., Nordlund, E., Staton, D.A.: 'Thermal Analysis - Lumped Circuit Model and Finite Element Analysis', Sixth International Power
Engineering Conference (IPEC2003), pp. 952 - 957, Singapore, 27 - 29 November, 2003
[12] Chin, Y.K., Staton, D.A.: 'Transient Thermal Analysis using both Lumped-Circuit Approach and Finite Element Method of a Permanent
Magnet Traction Motor', IEEE Africon, pp. 1027 - 1035, Gaborone, Botswana, September 2004
[13] Dorrell, D.G., Staton, D.A., McGilp, M.I., 'A Combined Electromagnetic and Thermal Approach to the Design of Electrical Machines' IECON
2006, Paris, Nov 2006
[14] Dorrell, D.G., Staton, D.A., Hahout, J., Hawkins, D., McGilp, M.I., 'Linked Electromagnetic and Thermal Modelling of a Permanent Magnet
Motor', PEMD 2006, Dublin, April 2006.
[15] Dorrell, D.G., Staton, D.A., McGilp, M.I., 'Design of Brushless Permanent Magnet Motors - A Combined Electromagnetic and Thermal
Approach for High Performance' IECON 2006, Paris, Nov 2006
[16] Wrobel, R., McNeill, N., Staton, D. A., Booker, J. D., Mellor, P. H.: 'Torque Dense, External Rotor Hub-Drive for a Hybrid Solar Vehicle',
2006 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference VPPC 2006, Windsor, UK, 6-8 Sept., 2006
[17] Al'Akayshee, Q., Staton, D.A. : 1150hp Motor Design, Electromagnetic & Thermal Analysis, ICEM 2002, Brugge, Belgium, 25-28 Aug. 2002
[18] Junak, J., Ombach, G., Staton, D.A : 'Permanent Magnet DC Motor Brush Transient Thermal Analysis', ICEM 2008, Portugal, Sept 2008
[19] Mejuto, C., Mueller, M., Staton, D.A., Mebarki, S., Al-Khayat, N. : 'Thermal Modelling of TEFC Alternators', IECON 2006, Paris, Nov 2006
[20] Mejuto, C., Mueller, M., Shanel, M., Mebarki, S., Reekie, M., Staton D.A : 'Improved Synchronous Machine Thermal Modelling', ICEM 2008,
Vilamoura, Portugal, Sept 2008
[21] Mellor, P., Wrobel, R., Mlot, A., Horseman, T., Staton, D.A., Influence of Winding Design on Losses in Brushless AC IPM Propulsion
Motors, ECCE 2011, Phoenix, 2011
[22] Sawata, T., Staton, D.A., Thermal Modeling of a Short-Duty Motor, IECON 2011, Melbourne, 2011
[23] Flew, A., 'Practical Application of CAD in a High Power Density Motor for a very short duty Aerospace Actuator', UK Magnetics Society
Seminar, Derby, Nov 2008