Conjugate Heat Transfer and CFD Modeling of Self-ventilated Traction Motors

This paper presents a modeling approach based on numerical reduced-order modeling (ROM) to analyze the thermal behavior of electric traction motors. In this study, a single conjugate heat transfer (CHT) analysis provides the possibility to accurately predict thermal performances by incorporating both computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and heat transfer modules. In this method, first the CHT model of the motor is developed, then the developed model is used as the basis for deriving a fast reduced-order model of the traction motor thermal behaviour in duty cycles with a high number of operating points. All the results achieved are verified using flow and temperature measurements carried out on a traction motor designed and built for metro applications. A good agreement between measured and estimated values of flows and temperatures is achieved while keeping the computational time within a reasonable range.