A new phase-change cooling method for the frequent start-stop electric motor

Temperature control is critical to keep frequent start-stop electric motor running stably. A new phase-change cooling method is proposed for the frequent start-stop electric motor. The influence of the thermophysical properties of phase change material (PCM) and the operational mode of the electric motor on the proposed cooling method was analyzed to provide knowledge for the development of PCM and the operation optimization of electric motor. The numerical simulation results indicate the excellent performance of the proposed cooling method. The average temperatures of the stator core and the stator coil can be reduced by 7.5 K and 1.2 K for a single cycle when SP58 is chosen as PCM, while they can be decreased by 8.7 K and 2.4 K when the duty cycle is 0.67. The effect of the proposed method is more significant at the higher thermal conductivity and volumetric melting heat of PCM and the longer duty cycle.