Ventilation and cooling of wind generator: A numerical study and experimental verification

In the wind generator, a large amount of heat is generated during the operation, which usually causes severe temperature rise and decrease of efficiency. By coupling fluid dynamics and heat transfer, a numerical method has been developed to calculate the velocity filed and temperature distribution of a common air-cooled doubly-fed wind generator. The numerical results have been verified by the experiments. The results show that the flow resistance is higher in the center in the axial direction, thus the temperature is much higher than the ends. In the height direction, there locate the most dangerous points and the temperature rise is about 110K. In the circumference direction, there are regularity of fluctuation and can assist in finding the dangerous points. The variations of heat source and cooler power as well as rotation speed all affect the temperature rise of the generator. The regularity and method of this study can be applied to similar generators or generators of other forms, thus advice can be given for the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of wind generators.