Thermal Analysis of Electric Motors and Generators

This presentation is a tutorial session on the thermal analysis of electric motor and generators. There are constant demands to develop higher-powered, smaller, lighter and more efficient electric motors and generators. This inevitably leads to severe heat management issues. The ability to develop reliable thermal models that can be used to model the heat transfer and fluid flow in the electrical machine is becoming more important. Their use allows electric machine designers to optimise and investigate new cooling strategies and so gain confidence that their solution will not suffer from thermal problems. This tutorial reviews the different methods available for the thermal modelling of electric machines and gives some practical examples of cooling systems design.