3D Electromagnetic and Thermal Analysis for an Optimized Wound Rotor Synchronous Machine

This paper describes the 3D simulations of an optimized modular brushless wound rotor synchronous machine using finite element method and computational fluid dynamics method. 2D finite element tool is used in the optimization in order to compute the torque and iron losses. Furthermore, an analytical thermal equation is used in order to calculate the surface temperature of the machine; this equation is used instead of the lumped parameter circuit due to the complexity of the machine structure. Its advantage is to reduce the computational time and therefore, to explore more deeply the whole search domain. However, the optimal results need to be validated by more precise numerical methods. These numerical verifications show that the leakage flux in the end-winding is high, leading to high iron losses in this machine. Moreover, the surface temperature differences between the analytical and numerical methods are discussed.