Thermal model of stator slot for small synchronous reluctance machine

Machine slot thermal behavior is one of the most complex issues in electrical machine thermal modeling. It may however take advantages of various studies on composite winding homogenization to make the slot modeling less complex. In order to reduce computation time of winding, many has developed and adopted winding homogenization method. The composite windings are assimilated to a single homogenous body with an equivalent thermal conductivity, using either analytical or numerical approach. A direct application of these winding homogenization methods on the slot of an electrical machine thermal model has however several limitations. In this paper, a winding homogenization method are chosen and applied on a Syncrel machine stator slot model. Experimental results obtained using the machine prototype submitted to direct current test has shown that modifications have to be made to the homogenized slot model. The proposed modifications on the slot model are presented and the model was tested with different thermal operating points so as to validate the modifications.