Stator and rotor vent modelling in a MVA rated synchronous machine

Connor, Peter H.; Eastwick, Carol; Pickering, S. J.; Gerada, C.; Rolston, R.

Abstract

An investigation into the solution dependence of a conjugate heat transfer computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a synchronous generator, with respect to meshing, has been carried out. Utilising CFD as a tool for investigating the airflow and thermal performance of electrical machines is increasing. Meshing is a vital part of the CFD process, but its importance is often misunderstood or overlooked in the context of electrical machine analyses; partly due to the relative mesh independency of the finite element analysis (FEA) numerical method. This paper demonstrates how a relatively complex, air-cooled generator CFD model can be considerably influenced by changes in the mesh. Flow rate, velocity and windage effects are assessed as a function of the mesh adopted. Mesh changes have been shown to affect the mass flow rate through a single vent by up to 55% and the associated heat transfer coefficient by 128%.

Citation

Connor, P. H., Eastwick, C., Pickering, S. J., Gerada, C., & Rolston, R. (2016, September). Stator and rotor vent modelling in a MVA rated synchronous machine. Presented at 2016 XXII International Conference on Electrical Machines (ICEM), Lausanne, Switzerland

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: 2016 XXII International Conference on Electrical Machines (ICEM)
• Start Date: Sep 4, 2016
• End Date: Sep 7, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Jun 17, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 3, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Deposit Date: Nov 29, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 29, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 571-577
• Book Title: 2016 XXII International Conference on Electrical Machines (ICEM)
• ISBN: 978-1-5090-2539-8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICELMACH.2016.7732583
• Keywords: Generators, Cooling, Fluid Dynamics, Thermal Analysis, Thermal Engineering, Rotating Machines, Numerical Simulation, Energy Efficiency, Vents
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/830128
• Publisher URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7732583/
• Related Public URLs: http://www.icem.cc/2016/
• Additional Information: Published in: 2016 XXII International Conference on Electrical Machines (ICEM) : proceedings. Piscataway, N.J. : IEEE, 2016. ISBN 978-1-5090-2538-1. pp. 571-577, doi:10.1109/ICELMACH.2016.7732583 ©2016 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.
• Contract Date: Nov 29, 2016