Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

A three-dimensional inverse problem in estimating the internal heat flux

of housing for high speed motors
Cheng-Hung Huang *, Hung-Chi Lo
Department of Systems and Naval Mechatronic Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, 1 Ta-Hsueh Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan , ROC

Received 1 June 2005; accepted 20 December 2005

Available online 7 February 2006

Abstract

The time-dependent heat flux generated in rotor and stator for the high speed electric motor is determined in this three-dimensional
inverse heat conduction problem. The inverse algorithm utilizing the Steepest Descent Method (SDM) and a general purpose commercial
code CFX4.4 is applied successfully in the present study in accordance with the simulated measured temperature distributions on some
proper exterior surfaces. No cooling systems can be designed before the heat fluxes are estimated and identified. Two different functional
forms for heat fluxes with different temperature measurement errors are used in the numerical experiments to illustrate the validity of the
inverse algorithm. Results of the numerical simulation show that due to the structure of the cooling passages for motor housing, the
estimated heat flux lying under the cooling passages is not accurate. However, when the concept of effective heat flux is applied, a reliable
time-dependent heat flux can be obtained by using the present inverse algorithm.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: 3-D inverse problem; Heat flux estimation; High speed motors

1. Introduction
In order to achieve the goal of higher productivity, it is
always necessary to maintain a high speed in the drive sys-
tem of a machine tool, such as the motors. For this reason
high speed machining is a promising technology since it can
drastically increase productivity, meanwhile, reduce the
production costs.
The technology of high speed motor is still relatively
new, not many works regarding the study of the thermal
performance of high speed motors were proposed. Yang
et al. [1] proposed a new measurement method for spindle
thermal errors in a machine tool based on the use of a ball
bar system instead of the conventional capacitance sensor
system. The novel measurement method is more efficient
and easier to use compared to conventional measurement
systems. The characterizing and modeling of the thermal
growth of a motorized high speed spindle is reported by
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 274 7018; fax: +886 6 274 7019.
E-mail address: chhuang@mail.ncku.edu.tw (C.-H. Huang).
Chen and Hsu [2], it was found that the displacement-based
thermal error model has much better accuracy and robust-
ness than the temperature-based model. Ohishi and Matsu-
zaki [3] presented a report on the first stage of a research on
the thermal analysis of spindle units with aerostatic bear-
ings and an experimental investigation of temperature dis-
tributions. The experimental results show that the heat
flow pattern is essentially radial flow, although axial heat
flow was observed and the temperatures are proportional
to the square of the spindle speed. A qualitative power flow
model is presented by Bossmanns and Tu [4] to characterize
the power distribution of a high speed motorized spindle.
Quantitative heat source models of the built-in motor and
the bearings are then developed. These models are verified
with a custom-built high performance motorized spindle.
A higher speed inevitably increases the thermal effects
on the machine tool itself, thereby resulting in thermal fail-
ures or distortions of the machine components associated
with the generated heat sources. The major heat sources
within the spindle system can be composed by the follow-
ing four items [4]: (i) heat generation by ball bearings, (ii)

1359-4311/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2005.12.009
1516 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
Nomenclature
Cp heat capacity
hw heat transfer coefficient for water
h1 heat transfer coefficient for ambient air
J[q(Sq, t)] functional defined by Eq. (2)
J 0 [q(Sq, t)] gradient of functional defined by Eq. (14)
k thermal conductivity
Pn(Sq, t) direction of descent defined by Eq. (4)
q(Sq, t) unknown heat flux generated by the electric mo-
tor in rotor and stator
qðtÞ
 effective heat flux
T(X, t) estimated temperatures
DT(X, t) sensitivity function defined by Eq. (5)
Y(Sm, t) design temperature
Greek symbols
b search step size
k(X, t) Lagrange multiplier defined by Eq. (11)
heat generation by the electric motor in rotor and stator,
(iii) heat generation due to viscosity shear of air by the
rotating components of the spindle, and (iv) qualitative
description of power distribution from spindle heat sources
to heat sinks.
Eventually, the thermal effect causes (i) spindle failures
or (ii) dimensional and geometrical errors in the machined
work piece due to a mismatch between the tool and the
work piece. Since thermally induced errors have a direct
impact on component life, the surface finish, and the geo-
metric shape of the finished work piece; control of thermal
effect becomes critical to the high speed motor.
To alleviate the heat flux by the electric motor in rotor and
stator, it is often to built-in a cooling passage in the motor
housing. By varying the heat transfer coefficient of cooling
passage, i.e. cooling system design, the temperature distribu-
tions of the motor housing can be controlled. However,
before the above stated cooling system can be designed,
the strength of the heat flux must be known. The objective
of this study is to utilize the measured temperature distribu-
tion on some proper external surface of housing and an
inverse algorithm (SDM), estimate the unknown time
time-dependent heat flux in rotor and stator for motors.
The inverse heat transfer problem in determining the
unknown heat flux using gradient algorithm can be found
in many open literatures. For instance Huang and Chen [5]
used boundary element method and iterative regularization
method to estimate the boundary heat fluxes for an irregular
domain. However, the 3-D inverse heat transfer problems
for an irregular domain are still limited in the literature.
The technique of the 3-D inverse problems of irregular
domain in utilizing an iterative inverse algorithm together
with the commercial code CFX 4.4 [6] has been developed
successfully by Huang and Wang [7]; they applied the
inverse algorithm to estimate the unknown surface heat
e convergence criteria
q density
X computational domain
Superscript
n iteration index
Subscripts
c cooling surface
e measured temperature extract extracting point
q heating surface
m measuring surface
fluxes in a 3-D solid. By following the similar technique,
Huang and Chen [8] estimated successfully the unknown
boundary heat flux in a 3-D inverse heat convection prob-
lem. Recently, Huang and Lo [9] estimated the surface heat
fluxes on the cutting edges of cutting tools in a 3-D inverse
heat conduction problem. The 3-D inverse problem in esti-
mating the time-dependent heat flux in rotor and stator for
the high speed motors with complicate (or real) motor
housing geometry has never been examined. The objective
of this study is to extend the techniques used in [7–9] to a
transient 3-D inverse problem in estimating the time-
dependent heat flux in rotor and stator.
The Steepest Descent Method derives basis from the
perturbational principle [10] and transforms the inverse
problem to the solution of three problems, namely, the
direct problem, the sensitivity problem and the adjoint
problem, which will be discussed in detail in the text.
2. The direct problem
The typical model of housing for a high speed motor is
shown in Fig. 1. A screw type cooling passage was built
inside the housing to allow cooling enhancement and to
avoid thermal failures and distortions. All the external sur-
faces Se, except for the right and left surfaces, Sr and Sl, are
subjected to a convective boundary condition with a pre-
scribed heat transfer coefficient h1 and an ambient temper-
ature T1. The right and left surfaces, Sr and Sl, are assumed
adiabatic condition. A unknown heat flux q(Sq, t), gener-
ated by the electric motor in rotor and stator is imposed
on the internal heating surface Sq and the internal surface
elsewhere, Si, are assumed adiabatic condition. The bound-
ary condition inside the cooling passage Sc is subjected to a
convective boundary condition with a prescribed heat
transfer coefficient hw and a water temperature Tw.
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529 1517

Fig. 1. Geometry of housing for the motors.

Fig. 2a shows in detail the geometry and dimensions of oT ðS c ; tÞ

k ¼ hw ðT  T w Þ;
the housing of motor while Fig. 2b illustrates the grid system on
of the housing of motor. The formulation of this three- on the cooling passage surfaces S c ð1fÞ
dimensional transient heat conduction problem can be T ðX; tÞ ¼ T 0 ; for t ¼ 0 ð1gÞ
expressed as
 2  Here X is the computational domain, hw and Tw are
o T ðX; tÞ o2 T ðX; tÞ o2 T ðX; tÞ oT ðX; tÞ
k 2
þ 2
þ 2
¼ qC p ; the heat transfer coefficient and water temperature inside the
ox oy oz ot
cooling passage of the motor housing, h1 and T1 are the
in ðX; tÞ ð1aÞ ambient heat transfer coefficient and temperature, respec-
oT tively. k, q and Cp are the thermal conductivity, density
k ¼ 0; on the right and left surfaces, S r and S l ð1bÞ
on and heat capacity of the motor housing, respectively. T0
oT ðS q ; tÞ is the initial temperature and q(Sq, t) is the unknown heat
k ¼ qðS q ; tÞ; on the heating surface S q ð1cÞ flux generated by the electric motor in rotor and stator.
on
oT The direct problem considered here is concerned with
k ¼ 0; on the internal surface S i calculating the motor housing temperature distributions
on
ðexcept for the heating surface S q Þ ð1dÞ when the heat flux q(Sq, t), heat transfer coefficients h1
and hw and thermal properties as well as the initial and
oT ðS e ; tÞ boundary conditions are all known. The solution for the
k ¼ h1 ðT  T 1 Þ;
on above 3-D motor housing in the domain X(x, y, z) is solved
on the external surfaces S e ð1eÞ using CFX4.4 and its Fortran subroutine USRBCS.
1518 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

47mm
50mm
54mm
57mm
Heating Surface

21.37mm 8mm 12mm 29.51mm

40mm

138.88mm

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2. (a) Dimensions of the housing and (b) the grid system of the housing.

3. The inverse problem number of measurement temperature extracting points

(or grid points). This is inverse problem can be stated as
For the inverse problem considered here the time-depen- follows: by utilizing the above mentioned measured tem-
dent heat flux q(Sq, t) is regarded as being unknown, but perature distribution Ye(Sm, t), estimate the unknown inter-
everything else in Eq. (1) is known. In addition, the given nal heat flux q(Sq, t).
measured temperatures (can be obtained by using infrared The solution of this 3-D inverse heat conduction prob-
thermography in real experiments) on the external measur- lem is to be obtained in such a way that the following func-
ing surface Sm are assumed available. tional is minimized:
Let the measured temperature reading on the measure- Z tf X
E
2
ment surfaces Sm be denoted by Y(Sm, t)  Y(xm, ym, J ½qðS q ; tÞ ¼ ½T e ðS m ; tÞ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ dt ð2Þ
zm, t)  Ye(Sm, t), e = 1 to E and E represents the total t¼0 e¼1
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529 1519

here, Te(Sm, t) are the estimated or computed temperatures The functional J[qn+1(Sq, t)] for iteration n + 1 is
at the measured temperature indicating locations obtained by rewriting Eq. (2) as
(xm, ym, zm) and time t. These quantities are determined Z
from the solution of the direct problem given previously
tf X
E
J ½qðS q ; tÞ ¼ ½T e ðS m ; t; qn  bn P n Þ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ2 dt
by using the estimated time-dependent heat flux q(Sq, t). t¼0 e¼1

4. Steepest descent method for minimization ð6Þ

where qn+1 is replaced by the expression given by Eq. (3). If

An iterative process based on the following steepest des- temperature Te(Sm, t; qn  bnPn) is linearized by a Taylor
cent method [10] is now applied for the estimation of the expansion, Eq. (6) takes the form
time-dependent heat flux q(Sq, t) by minimizing the func-
Z tf X
E
tional J [q(Sq, t)]
J ½qnþ1 ðS q ; tÞ ¼ ½T e ðS m ; t; qn Þ
qnþ1 ðS q ; tÞ ¼ qn ðS q ; tÞ  bn P n ðS q ; tÞ; for n ¼ 0; 1; 2; . . . t¼0 e¼1

ð3Þ  bn DT e ðS m ; t; P n Þ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ dt
2
ð7Þ
Here bn is the search step size in going from iteration n to
iteration n + 1, and Pn(Sq, t) is the direction of descent (i.e. where Te(Sm, t; qn) is the solution of the direct problem by
search direction) given by using the estimate heat flux for the exact heat flux on Sm.
The sensitivity function DTe(Sm, t; qn) are taken as the solu-
pn ðS q ; tÞ ¼ J 0n ðS q ; tÞ ð4Þ
tions of problem (5) at the measured temperature extract-
This is also the gradient direction at iteration n for steepest ing positions (xm, ym, zm) and time t by us using Dq = Pn.
descent method. To complete the iterations in accordance The search step size bn is determined by minimizing the
with Eq. (3), the step size bn and the gradient of the func- functional given by Eq. (7) with respect to bn. The follow-
tional J 0n ðS q ; tÞ need be computed. In order to develop ing expression results:
expressions in determining these two quantities, a ‘‘sensitiv- R t f PE
ity problem’’ and an ‘‘adjoint problem’’ need be con- n ½T e ðS m ; tÞ  Y e ðS m ; tÞDT e ðS m ; tÞ dt
b ¼ t¼0 e¼1 R tf PE ð8Þ
structed as describe below. 2
t¼0 e¼1 ½DT e ðS m ; tÞ dt

4.1. Sensitivity problem and search step size

4.2. Adjoint problem and gradient equation
It is assumed that when q(Sq, t) undergoes a variation
Dq, T is perturbed by T + DT. Then replacing in the direct To obtain the adjoint problem, Eq. (1a) is multiplied by
problem q by q + Dq and T by T + DT, subtracting the the Lagrange multiplier (or adjoint function) k(X, t) and the
resulting expressions from the direct problem and neglect- resulting expression is integrated over the correspondent
ing the second-order terms, the following sensitivity prob- space and time domains. Then the result is added to the
lem for the sensitivity function DT are obtained right hand side of Eq. (2) to yield the following expression
 2  for the functional J[q(Sq, t)]:
o DT ðX; tÞ o2 DT ðX; tÞ o2 DT ðX; tÞ oDT ðX; tÞ
k þ þ ¼ qC p ; Z tf X
ox2 oy 2 oz2 ot E

inðX; tÞ ð5aÞ J ½qðS q ; tÞ ¼ ½T e ðS m ; tÞ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ2 dt

t¼0 e¼1
oDT Z Z   
k ¼ 0; on the right and left surfaces, S r and S l tf
2 qC p oT
on þ kðX; tÞ  r T  dX dt
ð5bÞ t¼0 X k ot
Z tf Z
oDT ðS q ; tÞ
k ¼ DqðS q ; tÞ; on the heating surface S q ¼ ½T ðS m ; tÞ  Y ðS m ; tÞ2
on t¼0 Sm
ð5cÞ
 dðx  xm Þdðy  y m Þdðz  zm Þ dS m dt
oDT Z tf Z   
k ¼ 0; on the internal surface S i qC p oT
on þ kðX; tÞ  r2 T  dX dt;
ðexcept for the heating surface S q Þ ð5dÞ t¼0 X k ot
oDT ðS e ; tÞ in ðX; tÞ ð9Þ
k ¼ h1 DT ; on the external surfaces S e ð5eÞ
on
oDT ðS c ; tÞ where d(•) is the Dirac delta function and (xm, ym, zm) refers
k ¼ hw DT ; to the measured temperature extracting positions.
on
on the cooling passage surfaces S c ð5fÞ The variation DJ can be obtained by perturbing q by
q + Dq and T by T + DT in Eq. (9), subtracting from the
DT ðX; tÞ ¼ 0; for t ¼ 0 ð5gÞ
resulting expression the original Eq. (9) and neglecting
CFX 4.4 is used to solve the above sensitivity problem. the second-order terms. We thus find
1520 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

Z tf Z
J ½qnþ1 ðS q ; tÞ < e ð15Þ
DJ ½qðS q ; tÞ ¼ 2½T ðS m ; tÞ  Y ðS m ; tÞDT dðx  xm Þ
t¼0 Sm where e is a small-specified number. However, the observed
Z tf Z
 dðy  y m Þdðz  zm Þ dS m dt þ ½kðX; tÞ temperature data may contain measurement errors. There-
t¼0 X fore, the functional Eq. (2) is not expected to be equal to
 
qC p oDT zero at the final iteration step. As per the experiences of
 r2 DT  dX dt; in ðX; tÞ the authors [7–10], the discrepancy principle as the stop-
k ot
ping criterion is used in this study, i.e., it is assume assumed
ð10Þ
that the temperature residuals may be approximated by
In Eq. (10), the second double domain integral term is refor-
mulated based on the Green’s second identity; the boundary
conditions of the sensitivity problem given by Eqs. (5b)–(5f)
are utilized and then DJ is allowed to go to zero. The van- P3
ishing of the integrands containing DT leads to the follow- P2
ing adjoint problem for the determination of k(X, t): P1
 2 
o kðX; tÞ o2 kðX; tÞ o2 kðX; tÞ
k þ þ
ox2 oy 2 oz2
okðX; tÞ
þ qC p ¼ 0; in ðX; tÞ ð11aÞ
ot
ok
¼ 0; on the right and left surfaces, S r and S l ð11bÞ
on
okðS q ; tÞ
¼ 0; on the heating surface S q ð11cÞ
on
ok
¼ 0; on the inter internal surface S i ð11dÞ
on
okðS m ; tÞ
h1 k þ k
on
¼ 2kðT  Y Þdðx  xm Þdðy  y m Þdðz  zm Þ;
on the measuring surface S m ð11eÞ
okðS e ; tÞ P4
k ¼ h1 k; on the external surfaces S e
on
ðexcept for the measuring surface S m Þ ð11fÞ Fig. 3. Four specified locations for the illustrated results.
okðS c ; tÞ
k ¼ hw k;
on
on the cooling passage surfaces S c ð11gÞ
kðX; tÞ ¼ 0; for t ¼ tf ð11hÞ 45000

Finally, the following integral term is left

Z tf Z 40000
kðS q ; tÞ
DJ ¼  DqðS q ; tÞ dS q dt ð12Þ
t¼0 S q k
heat flux q(Sq,t) , W/m2

35000
From definition [10], the functional increment can be pre-
sented as
Z tf Z 30000
DJ ¼ J 0 ðS q ; tÞDqðS q ; tÞ dS q dt ð13Þ
t¼0 Sq
25000 exact
A comparison of Eqs. (12) and (13) leads to the following estimated q(P1 ,t)
expression for the gradient of the functional J[q(Sq, t)]: estimated q(P2 ,t)
20000
estimated q(P3 ,t)
kðS q ; tÞ estimated q(P4 ,t)
J 0 ½qðS q ; tÞ ¼  ; on the cooling surfaces S c ð14Þ
k
15000
4.3. Stopping criterion 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35
time, sec
If the problem contains no measurement errors, the tra- Fig. 4. The exact and estimated heat fluxes at P1 to P4 with time using
ditional check condition is specified as h = 30 W/m2 K.
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
T e ðS m ; tÞ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ  r; e ¼ 1 to E
where r is the standard deviation of the measurements,
which is assumed to be a constant. Substituting Eq. (16)
into Eq. (2), the following expression is, obtained for the
stopping criteria e:
e ¼ Er2 tf
Then, the stopping criterion is given by Eq. (15) with e
determined from Eq. (17). However, it is found in this
study that a smaller stopping criteria than e will result in
better inverse solutions. For this reason a weighting coeffi-
cient of 0.87 is multiplied to e to obtain the to modified
stopping criterion for the present study.
5. Computation procedure
The computational procedure for the solution of this
inverse problem using steepest descent method may be
summarized as follows:
qðtÞ) is available at iteration n.
Suppose q(Sq, t) (or 
Fig. 5. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperature distributions of left housing using h = 30 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 15 s.
1521
ð16Þ Step 1. Solve the direct problem given by Eq. (1) for
T(X, t).
Step 2. Examine the stopping criterion. Continue if not
satisfied.
Step 3. Solve the adjoint problem given by Eq. (11) for
k(X, t).
ð17Þ Step 4. Compute the gradient of the functional J 0 from
Eq. (14).
Step 5. Compute the direction of descent Pn from Eq. (4).
Step 6. Set Dq = Pn, and solve the sensitivity problem
given by Eq. (5) for DT(X, t).
Step 7. Compute the search step size bn from Eq. (8).
Step 8. Compute the new estimation for qn+1 from Eq. (3)
and then the effective heat flux qðtÞ from Eq. (22).
Return to step 1.
6. Results and discussion
The time-dependent heat flux q(Sq, t) in rotor and stator
for the high speed motors is to be estimated in this study
1522 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

Fig. 6. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperature distributions of right housing using h = 30 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 35 s.

using the SDM and measured temperature distributions 45000

with no prior information on the functional form of the exact
unknown heat flux. estimated q(P1,t)
The geometry of the housing of motor is shown in 40000 estimated q(P2,t)
Fig. 1, the dimensions and grid systems are shown in estimated q(P3,t)
heat flux q(Sq,t) , W/m2

estimated q(P4,t)
Fig. 2. The total number of grids in X, Sq, and Sm are taken 35000
as 10950, 600 and 600 (i.e. the number of grids on Sq and
Sm are the same and E = 600), respectively. The measured
temperature extracting locations are at the grid points. The 30000
time period Dt is 1 s and total time tf is 45 s, i.e. there are 45
time steps. Therefore there exist totally of 27 000 unknown
25000
discrete heat flux in this is study.
The physical model for this problem is described as fol-
lows: The material for motor housing is AISI 302 and the 20000
thermal properties are taken as k = 16.2 W/m K,
q = 8000 kg/m3, Cp = 500 J/kg K; ambient temperature
and heat transfer coefficient are chosen as T1 = 290 K 15000
and h1 = 30 W/m2 K, respectively. The initial tempera- 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35
ture, water temperature and heat transfer coefficient for time, sec
normal working condition are taken as T0 = Tw = 290 K Fig. 7. The exact and estimated heat fluxes at P1 to P4 with time using
and hw = 20 000 W/m2 K, respectively. h = 20 000 W/m2 K.
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
One of the advantages of using the SDM is that the ini-
tial guesses of the unknown heat flux q(Sq, t) can be chosen
arbitrarily. In all the test cases considered here, the initial
guesses, for q(Sq, t) used to begin the iteration are taken
as q0(Sq, t) = 0 W/m2. Due to the singularity of the gradi-
ent at final time, the estimated heat flux at last two time
intervals are discarded and therefore the estimated heat
flux is shown just up to t = 35 s.
In order to compare the results for situations involving
random measurement errors, we assume normally distrib-
uted uncorrelated errors with zero mean and constant stan-
dard deviation. The simulated inexact measurement data
Ye can be expressed as
Y e ¼ Y e;exact þ xr
Where Ye,exact is the solution of the direct problem with the
exact heat fluxes; r is the standard deviation of the mea-
surements; and x is a random variable that is generated
by subroutine DRNNOR of the IMSL [11], x is within
2.576 to 2.576 for a 99% confidence bound.
Fig. 8. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperature distributions of left housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 15 s.
1523
The measured temperatures can be obtained by using
infrared thermography in real experiments. In recent years,
a number of studies have been published on infrared ther-
mography in heat transfer and flow visualization. For
instance, Simeonides et al. [12] and Henckels et al. [13]
developed the infrared thermographic technique in the
measurement of heat transfer in a hypersonic tunnel. Such
a technique can be readily applied to the present study.
To illustrate the ability of the SDM in predicting time-
dependent heat flux q(Sq, t), with inverse analysis from
the knowledge of the measured temperature distributions
on surface Sm, we consider the following two numerical test
cases with different exact heat flux distributions. We now
present below two numerical experiments in determining
ð18Þ q(Sq, t), by the inverse analysis:
Numerical test case 1
The three-dimensional model of motor housing is firstly
solved for temperature distributions by using the previ-
ously stated working conditions with hw = 30 W/m2 K
1524 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

Fig. 9. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperature distributions of right housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 35 s.

45000 and the following simulated exact function of the internal

heat flux on the heating surface Sq
40000  
2pðt  1Þ
qðS q ; tÞ ¼ 30 000 þ 10 000  sin ;
effective heat flux q(t) , W/m2

34
35000
1 6 t 6 45 s, W=m2 ; on S q ð19Þ
30000
The inverse algorithm is thus performed in a accordance
with the above requirements. By us using r = 0 and stop-
25000
exact ping criteria e = 340, after, 113 iterations the inverse solu-
estimated (σ= 0.0) tions are converged. The estimated heat flux at the
estimated (σ= 5.0) positions P1 to P4 (refers to Fig. 3) is illustrated in Fig. 4
20000
estimated (σ= 10.0) and the measured and corresponding estimated tempera-
tures at time = 15 s (left housing) and 35 s (right housing)
15000 are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. It can be seen from
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 Fig. 4 that the exact and estimated heat flux are not in a
time, sec good agreement at P1 to P4 since the relative error between
Fig. 10. The exact and estimated effective heat flux qðtÞ with time using exact and estimated heat flux is calculated as
h = 20 000 W/m2 K and r = 0, 5 and 10 K, respectively, in case 1. ERRq = 5.51%, where ERRq is defined as
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
Fig. 11. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperatures of left housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 15 s in case 1.
" #
35 X
X E   these passages may block the lock influences of the internal
 ^
q e ðS q ; tÞ  q e ðS q ; tÞ 
ERRq% ¼  
t¼1
q ðS ; tÞ
e¼1 e q
 ðE  35Þ  100%
where t represents the index of discreted time and E indi-
cates the number of grids on the heating surface Sq.
However, by comparing Figs. 5 and 6 we found that the
estimated temperatures are almost identical to the mea-
sured temperatures since the relative error between the
measured and calculated temperatures on the measurement
surface Sm is calculated as ERRT = 0.0077%, where ERRT
is defined as
" #
X35 XE  
 T e ðS m ; tÞ  Y e ðS m ; tÞ 
ERRT% ¼  
t¼1 e¼1
Y e ðS m ; tÞ
 ðE  35Þ  100%
here t represents the index of discreted time and E indicates
the number of grids on the measuring surface Sm.
The reason for the above inconsistency is because that
there are cooling passages inside the motor housing and
1525
heat flux on the temperatures on the measurement surface,
i.e. the surface temperatures are not sensitive to the corre-
ð20Þ sponding internal heat flux. If this is the case, the results are
getting worse when higher value of hw is used.
To examine the above hypothesis, the inverse analysis
using hw = 20 000 W/m2 K is then performed. By using
r = 0 and stopping criteria e = 85, after 97 iterations the
inverse solutions converged. The exact and estimated heat
flux at the positions P1 to P4 are illustrated in Fig. 7. The
measured and corresponding estimated temperatures at
time = 15 s (left housing) and 35 s (right housing) are
shown in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. The relative error
between exact and estimated heat flux is calculated as
ERRq = 20.45% and the relative error between the mea-
sured and calculated temperatures on the measurement
ð21Þ
surface Sm is calculated as ERRT = 0.0054%.
It is as what we expected that when higher value of hw is
utilized, the accuracy of the estimated temperature is still
good but is bad for the estimated heat flux. Moreover it
is learned by observing Figs. 4 and 7 that the estimated
1526 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529

Fig. 12. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperatures of right housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 5 K at t = 35 s in case 1.

q(P1, t) and q(P4, t) always have better accuracy, when hw is

increased, q(P3, t) becomes the worst among them. Here P1
52000 and P4 are located between two cooling passages and P3 is
located just below the cooling passage. Based on the above
observation, a simple conclusion can be made, i.e. the esti-
48000 mated heat flux q(Sq,n, t) on the heating surface without
effective heat flux q(t) , W/m2

cooling passage passing through, Sq,n, has the dominant

44000
effect. For this reason an effective heat flux, qðtÞ, can be
obtained by calculating the average value of heat flux over
the surface Sq,n with time, i.e.
40000
X
N
qðtÞ ¼ qi ðS q;n ; tÞ  N ð22Þ
i¼1
36000
here qðtÞ is the effective heat flux, N = 300 indicates the to-
exact tal number of grids on the surfaces Sq,n. At the end of each
32000 estimated (σ= 0.0) iteration, the effective heat flux should be calculated and
estimated (σ= 5.0)
estimated (σ= 10.0)
used as the input of heat flux for next iteration.
28000 The inverse analysis with the concept of effective heat
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 flux is then performed again. By using hw = 20 000 W/
time, sec m2 K, r = 0 and stopping criteria e = 70, after 33 iterations
Fig. 13. The exact and estimated effective heat flux qðtÞ with time using the inverse solutions converged. The exact and estimated
h = 20 000 W/m2 K and r = 0, 5 and 10 K, respectively, in case 2. effective heat flux with r = 0 are illustrated in Fig. 10; the
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529 1527

relative error between exact and estimated effective heat flux the modified stopping criteria is only 9, the estimated effec-
is calculated as ERRq = 0.72%. The measured and corre- tive heat flux is also shown in Fig. 10, and the relative
sponding estimated temperatures at time = 15 s (left hous- errors for effective heat flux and temperatures are calcu-
ing) are shown in Fig. 11 and the relative error between lated as ERRq = 4.07% and ERRT = 2.61%, respectively.
the measured and calculated temperatures on the measure- It can be learned based on the above numerical results
ment surface Sm is calculated as ERRT = 0.0025%. Indeed, that the estimated heat flux is still reliable when considering
the accuracy of the inverse solution, i.e. the effective heat the measurement errors.
flux, has a great improvement and has a very good agree-
ment with the exact heat flux. Numerical test case 2
The inverse calculation is then proceeded to consider the
inexact temperature measurements on Sm. The standard In order to show the potential of the present algorithm
deviation of the measurements is first taken as r = 5 K for use in this transient three-dimensional inverse heat con-
(about 2% of the average measured temperature), then it duction problem, we consider the second numerical test
is increased to r = 10 K (about 4% of the average mea- case where a complex-shaped heat flux is considered.
sured temperature). For r = 5 K, 14 iterations are needed The simulated exact function of the internal heat flux on
to satisfy the stopping criteria based on the modified dis- surface Sq in this numerical experiment is assigned as
crepancy principle, the estimated effective heat flux qðtÞ is 8 h i
shown in Fig. 10. The relative errors for the effective heat >
< 30 000 þ 20 000  sin 2pðt1Þ ; 1 6 t 6 19 s
34
flux and temperatures are calculated as ERRq = 2.99% qðS q ; tÞ ¼ h i
>
: 30 000 þ 20 000  sin 2pðt18Þ ; 19 6 t 6 45 s
and ERRT = 1.30%. The measured and estimated temper- 34
atures for r = 5 K at time = 35 s ( right housing) are shown
W=m2 ; on S q ð23Þ
in Fig. 12. For r = 10 K, the number of iterations to satisfy

Fig. 14. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperatures of left housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 0 at t = 15 s in case 2.
1528 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
Fig. 15. The (a) measured and (b) estimated temperatures of right housing using h = 20 000 W/m2 K with r = 5 K at t = 35 s in case 2.
By using hw = 20 000 W/m2 K, r = 0 and stopping criteria
e = 70, after 38 iterations the estimated effective heat flux
can be obtained. The exact and estimated effective heat flux
with r = 0 are illustrated in Fig. 13, and the relative error
between exact and estimated effective heat flux is calculated
as ERRq = 0.91%. The measured and estimated tempera-
tures at time = 15 s (left housing) are shown in Fig. 14
and the relative error between the measured and calculated
temperatures on the measurement surface Sm is calculated
as ERRT = 0.0019%. Again, good estimation can be ob-
tained with the present inverse algorithm and the concept
of resent effective heat flux.
Similarly, the inexact temperature measurements on Sm
are considered in the inverse analysis. The standard devia-
tion of the measurements is taken as r = 5 K (about 2% of
the average measured temperature) and 10 K (about 4% of
the average measured temperature), respectively. For
r = 5 K, 22 iterations are needed to satisfy the stopping cri-
teria based on the modified discrepancy principle, the esti-
mated effective heat flux  qðtÞ is shown in Fig. 13. The
relative errors for the effective heat flux and temperatures
are calculated as ERRq = 4.03%, ERRT = 1.29%, respec-
tively. The measured and estimated temperatures at
time = 35 s (right housing) are shown in Fig. 15. For
r = 10 K, the number of iterations to satisfy the modified
stopping criteria is only 12, the estimated effective heat flux
is also shown in Fig. 13, and the relative errors for effective
heat flux and temperatures are calculated as
ERRq = 6.40% and ERRT = 2.58%, respectively.
It is concluded from the above two numerical test cases
that the SDM is now applied successfully in this 3-D
inverse heat conduction problem for predicting the time-
dependent effective heat flux in rotor and stator for high
speed motor housing.
7. Conclusions
The SDM with adjoint equation was successfully
applied in determining the time-dependent effective heat
flux in rotor and stator for the high speed electric motor
housing in a 3-D inverse heat conduction problem. Two
test cases involving different type of heat flux functions
 C.-H. Huang, H.-C. Lo / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 1515–1529
and different measurement errors were considered. The
results show that the concept of effective heat flux improves
the accuracy of the inverse solutions. Moreover, SDM does
not require a priori information for the functional form of
the unknown functions and the reliable estimated values
can always be obtained.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part through the National
Science Council, ROC, Grant number, NSC-93-2611-E-
006-015.
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