New EPSRC Grant Awarded in Cooling of Electrical Machines
The Electrical Machines and Drives Group at Sheffield was recently successful in securing an EPSRC responsive mode proposal on novel thermomagnetic liquid cooling for electrical machine end-windings.
This project, which complements the activity in the FEMM Hub, is led by Dr Guang-Jin Li as Principal Investigator with FEMM Hub team member Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu and Professor Nicola Morley as Co-Investigators.
In this project, by adopting a multiphysics optimisation approach that combines electromagnetic and thermomagnetic domains into a single framework for machines with ferrofluid cooling, aims to achieve a temperature reduction of more than 30°C compared to a forced air cooled machine with rotor mounted fans.
This is significant because the reduction in machine temperature, particularly the winding temperature, not only increases machine’s life span, eg a 10°C increase in winding temperature will halve the winding insulation life (similar effect for bearings’ life span), but also increases the machine’s efficiency due to reduced power losses.
Further details on the project are available on the EPSRC website.
If you have any questions about the FEMM Hub, visit our Contact page or get in touch with Hub Manager Dr Laura O’Keefe.