Thermal and Electromagnetic Stator Vent Design Optimisation for Synchronous Generators

Bersch, K.; Nuzzo, S.; Connor, P. H.; Eastwick, C. N.; Rolston, R.; Galea, M.

Abstract

© 2020 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. All rights reserved. This paper deals with the stator cooling of an air-cooled, synchronous generator with a power rating of 400 kVA, which has been improved by adding two radial vents to the stator. To ensure an optimal vent design, a novel combined thermal and electromagnetic modelling approach is developed. A parametric 3D Conjugate Heat Transfer Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is used for the thermal modelling. An electromagnetic 2D Finite Element Analysis determined the impact that venting the stator has on the loss distribution. The models are coupled by deriving analytical correlations between the combined vent width and rotor copper, rotor iron and stator iron losses. These correlations are implemented into the optimisation procedure of the parametric CFD model. Five design parameters are optimised simultaneously with the aim of minimising the peak stator winding temperature. The modelling approach was validated experimentally by thermal, torque and mass flow measurements on the benchmark machine, as well as the newly designed prototype.

Citation

Bersch, K., Nuzzo, S., Connor, P. H., Eastwick, C. N., Rolston, R., & Galea, M. (2021). Thermal and Electromagnetic Stator Vent Design Optimisation for Synchronous Generators. IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, 36(1), 207-217. https://doi.org/10.1109/tec.2020.3004393

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 17, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 23, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 27, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 27, 2021
• Journal: IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion
• Print ISSN: 0885-8969
• Electronic ISSN: 1558-0059
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 207-217
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/tec.2020.3004393
• Keywords: Cooling, electromagnetic modelling, efficiency, CFD, generators, thermal management
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5271922
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9123586
• Additional Information: © 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.