AnInnovativeFluidTechnologyforMotorWindageLossReduction

FlowPhysicsinMotorRadialAirGap

Windagelossinamotorisgeneratedbythefrictionbetweentherotorandair.Themagnitude
ofwindagelossvarieswidelyfrommachinetype,rotorshapeandsize,rotationalspeed,airgapsize,
androtorsurfacefinish.Eachparametercanpresentitsownuniquechallengetomachinedesignwhen
windagelossamountstoasubstantialportionoftheoverallpowerloss.Sincewindagelossisgenerated
bytheshearinginteractionsbetweenair,rotorsurface,statorsurface,andcavity,understandingthe
flowphysicsintheairgapisimportantwhenassessingtheinfluenceofwindagelossonmachine
performance.

ThecommonlyassumedfluidflowpatternintheairgapisCouetteflow,withmaximumair
speed,equivalenttothemachinerotationalspeed,ontherotorsurface,linearlytaperingtozeroonthe
statorwall.ThispatternisbasedonCouetteflowtheoryappliedtotwoconcentriccylinders.Inearlier
electricmotordesignsandoperation,motorspeedwasnotasdemanding,andthetheorypredicted
reasonableresults.However,withtheincreaseofmachinesizeandrotorspeed,Couetteflowtheoryis
nolongervalidformodelinghighairgapReynoldsnumbers.TheincreasingReynoldsnumberpushes
theairgapflowovertheinstabilitythreshold,resultingintheformationofTaylorvorticesintheaxial
direction.Thesecounterrotatingvortexpairsrepresentpressureandvelocityoscillationsandleadto
additionalpowerlossinthemotor.AfurtherincreaseintheairgapReynoldsnumberwillleadto
turbulenttransitionofTaylorvorticestoaverycomplicatednearwallturbulencestructure.Earlierdata
takenbyGorlandandKempke(1970)toaddresswindagelossshowedadditionalpowerlosswas
observedforhighspeedmotors,whichexceededthetraditionaltheorypredictions.Insomecases,the
windagelossaccountedfor35%ofthetotalpowerloss.Therefore,windagelossinhighspeedmotorsis
animportantconcernformotordesignandmustnotbeoverlooked.

AnexampleofaclassichighspeedelectricmotorisshowninFigure1.Themachineiscomposed
ofarotorandstatorwithcavities.Therotordiameteris2.85"withanaxiallengthof7.5".Thereare24
statorcavities.Theairgapis0.05".Therotorspeedis60,000rpm.Figure2showstherotorsurface
pressurecontours.Ofimmediateinterestisthehighlynonuniformpressuredistributionintheaxial
direction.Furtherexaminationofaxialvelocitycontoursandstreamlinesintheairgap,showninFigure
3,confirmsthepresenceofcounterrotatingTaylorvortexpairsintheaxialdirection.Thesevortices
createincreasedwallshear,resultinginincreasedwindagelossinthemotor.


Figure1:AClassicRotorStatorConfiguration

Figure2:RotorSurfacePressureContours

Figure3:AxialVelocityContoursandStreamlinesintheAirGap
 Anotherclassofmachine,theSwitchReluctanceMotor(SRM),presentsamorecomplexpicture
ofwindageloss,firstreportedbyDurkin(1997).Therotorisshapedwithseveralpolesontherotating
cylinder.Thesepolesprovideapumpingmechanismwhilerotating,actinglikebladesinpumps.Figure
4showsarepresentativeflowdomain(airgapandstatorpoles)foranSRM.Figure5showsthestator
surfacepressurecontours,whichexhibitanonuniformpressuredistributionintheaxialdirection,as
wellaslocalizedpressuregradientswheretheflowisentersandleavesthestatorpoleregion.Figure6
showsthestreamlinesforthecrosssectioninthemiddleofastatorcavity.Arecirculatingflowregion
existsfollowingthesuctionsideofeachpole.Inaddition,Taylorvorticesalsoexistbetweenthepole
topandthestatorhousingintheaxialdirection,furthercompoundingwindagelosses.

Figure4:AirGapandtheStatorPolesofaSwitchReluctantMotor

Figure5:StatorSurfacePressureContoursofaSwitchReluctantMotor

Figure6:CrossSectionStreamlinesofaSwitchReluctantMotor

RecentCFDResearch

Withthedevelopmentofcomputationalfluiddynamics(CFD),numericalflowvisualizationhas
enableddetailedexaminationofrotorairgapflowphysicsfordifferenttypesofmachines.CFD
investigationfocusedonTaylorvortexformationinconcentriccylindersandcomparisonswithflow
visualizationimageswerereportedbyBraun,et.al(2002).TheevolutionoftheTaylorvortexpairswas
clearlyobserved.TheeffectofendwallsonTaylorvorticesstructuresandtheoverallwindageloss
usingCFDanalyseswerereportedbyWild(1996).Thepresenceofanaxialflowonairgapflowpatterns
andthewindagelosspredictionofahighspeedmotorwerereportedbyRen(2003).Numericalstudyof
windagelossofeccentricrotorconfigurationswasconductedbyScurtu,et.al(2008).Furthermore,Tong
(2008)hasadoptedtheversatilityofCFDtoanalyzethestatorendwindingregionofanentiremotorto
optimizethecoolingflowpathanditsinteractionswithgapflow.Thisresearchhasdemonstratedthat
CFDcanprovidedetailedflowanalysisforcomplexmachines,andisanessentialpartofrecenthigh
speedmotorresearch.Overallhowever,intheexistingliterature,theapplicationofCFDtoaddress
windagelossinhighspeedmotorshasbeensparse,andhasreceivedlittleattentionfrommajor
aerospace,powergeneration,andmachineryindustries.

ThecommonthreadinthecurrentliteratureistoconductaCFDanalysisforaparticular
machineforthepurposeofexaminingthethreedimensionalflowstructure.Windagelossdataisa
validationquantityusedtomeasuretheaccuracyofnumericalresults.Unfortunately,todate,there
havebeenminimalresearcheffortstoaddresstherootcauseofTaylorvorticesinradialairgaps,and
howtoreducethewindagelosscausedbythesevortices.


InnovativeFlowTechnology

Therewerelimitedattemptsinthepasttoeither"block"or"disrupt"theTaylorvortexpairsin
theairgapbymeansofgeometryvariation,suchasinsertingfinlikestructuresonrotororstator
surfaces.Unfortunately,theseeffortsdidn'tdiminishthevorticesandinsteadincreasedthepowerloss.
Todate,thecommonlyusedmethodstoreducepowerlossincludetheuseofsmoothrotorandstator
surfaces,andincreasedradialairgapswhentheydontcompromiseefficiency.Inmanycases,the
choiceissimplytoacknowledgeandacceptthepresenceofTaylorvorticesinthegap,withthehopeof
minimizingtheirimpactonpowerlossthroughtraditionalexperienceortrialanderror.

CAEAssociatesandXDotEngineeringhavecompletedanSBIRPhaseIIproject,fundedbythe
UnitedStatesAirForce,toaddresswindagelossinelectricmotorsand,moreimportantly,todevelopa
breakthroughtechnologytoreducethesepowerlosses.Ourapproachwastostartthedevelopment
effortthroughadetailedunderstandingofflowphysicswhyandhowtheTaylorvorticesareformedin
theradialairgap.WedevelopedaCFDbasedmotorshaftandradialgapdesignsoftwaretoolwhich
allowsustoanalyzethousandsofradialairgapandflowconfigurationsquicklyandefficiently.The
softwaretoolisbasedontheANSYSWorkbench/CFXplatformwithautomatedgeometrygeneration,
editing,meshing,CFDsetup,solve,postprocessing,multipledesignpointiterations,etc.

AftergaininganunderstandingoftheflowphysicsassociatedwithTaylorvorticesintheradial
airgapbyanalyzingmanydesigngeometries,wedevelopedaninnovativeflowtechnologyforradial
flowswhichreduceswindagepowerlossbyalargepercentage.Whentheflowtechnologyisappliedto
flowgaps,theTaylorvorticesareentirelyremoved,resultinginasubstantialpowerlossreductionin
manyrepresentativeclassesofelectricmotors.

WecanusetheclassicelectricmotorexampleinFigure1todemonstratetheeffectivenessof
theflowtechnology.Figure7showstheaxialvelocitycontourswhileFigure8showsthestreamlines.
The"before"plotsinthesefiguresareshowninFigure3,whereTaylorvorticesareclearlypresent.The
"after"plotsaretheresultswhentheflowtechnologyisapplied.Theresultantaxialflowinthegapis
freefromanyTaylorvortices,andprovidesasignificantwindagelossreduction.Representativewindage
lossreductionresultsformachinesofdifferentclassesaresummarizedinTable1.Thisdatashowsthe
innovativeflowtechnologyprovideswindagelossreductionbenefits,ashighas25%to30%,forawide
rangeofmachines.

Theinnovativeflowtechnologyisnonintrusiveandreadilyavailableforimplementationon
existingmotorswithouttheneedtoreconfigurethemachine.Thisisparticularlyhelpfulforretrofitting
existingsystemsinordertotakeadvantageofthistechnologyforreducingpowerlossandoperational
cost.TheCAEAssociates/XDotteamisreadytohelpyouapplythistechnologyinordertoreducepower
lossandrealizetheresultingcostsavingsinyourhighspeedmachines.


Figure7:AxialVelocityContoursBeforeandAftertheFlowTechnologyisApplied

Figure8:StreamlinesBeforeandAftertheFlowTechnologyisApplied

 MachineSpeed %Reduction

Low(1020KRPM) 1015

Mid(3040KRPM) 2530

High(5070KRPM) 2025

Table1:RepresentativePowerLossReductionforRepresentativeMachines

References

Gorlans,S.,Kempke,E.andLumannick,S.,ExperimentalWindageLossforCloseClearanceRotating
CylindersintheTurbulentFlowRegime,NASATMX52851,1970.

Durkin,E.,andShauer,J.,WindagePowerLossofHighSpeedGenerators,ProceedingsoftheASME,
AESVol.37,1997.

Braun,M.,Kudriavtsev,V.,andCorder,R.,FlowVisualizationofTheEvolutionofTaylorInstabilityand
ComparisonswithNumericalSimulations,ComputationalTechnologiesfor
Fluid/Thermal/Structural/ChemicalSystemswithIndustrialApplications,Vol.1,ASME,2002.

Wild,P.,Djilali,N.,andVickers,G.,ExperimentalandComputationalAssessmentofWindageLossesin
RotatingMachinery,TransactionsoftheASME,Vol.118,1996.

Ren,W.,WindageandAxialFrictionLossesofHighSpeedGenerator,2003InternationalJointPower
GenerationConference,Atlanta,GA,2003.

Scurtu,N.,Stuecke,P.,andEgbers,C.,ANumericalStudyoftheThreeDimensionalStructureofthe
TaylorCouetteFlowinEccentricConfigurationwithSuperimposedCrossFlow,15thInternational
CouetteTaylorWorkshop,J.ofPhysicsConf.Series137,2008.

Tong,W.,NumericalAnalysisofFlowFieldinGeneratorEndWindingRegions,Intl.J.ofRotating
Machinery,Vol.2008,2008.