Title: Thermal modelling for permanent magnet synchronous motors based on electrical and thermal characteristics

Authors: Xiaofeng Ding; Zhiguang Zhou

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, China ' Weichai Power Company, Limited, Weifang, Shandong Province, 261061, China

Abstract: The temperature rise inside permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) caused by losses can lead to potential irreversible demagnetisation of magnets, insulation failure between windings, etc. This paper presents an analytical model to predict the PMSM temperature based on the electrical and thermal characteristics. The temperature relationship between motor windings and permanent magnets is addressed through the electrical modelling. Meanwhile, one lumped-parameter based thermal model is developed and combined with the electrical model, which will avoid processing the complicated aspects of thermal analysis and picture the thermal distribution inside PMSM conveniently. Furthermore, the thermal circuit encompasses the eddy current loss in the magnets, which provides high accuracy. The predicted temperature through the proposed model is validated by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation when the motor is operated under a three-phase sinusoidal power supply.

Keywords: temperature rise; PMSM temperature; permanent magnet synchronous motors; motor windings; permanent magnets; eddy current loss; FEA; finite element analysis; thermal modelling; electrical modelling; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2015.073114

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2015 Vol.69 No.1/2/3/4, pp.71 - 87

Received: 11 Oct 2014
Accepted: 03 Feb 2015
Published online: 20 Nov 2015 *

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