The doctoral dissertations of the former Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) and Aalto University Schools of Technology (CHEM, ELEC, ENG, SCI) published in electronic format are available in the electronic publications archive of Aalto University - Aaltodoc.
Aalto

Thermal and Mechanical Analyses of High-Speed Permanent-Magnet Electrical Machines

Zlatko Kolondzovski

Doctoral dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Science in Technology to be presented with due permission of the Faculty of Electronics, Communications and Automation for public examination and debate in Auditorium S4 at the Aalto University School of Science and Technology (Espoo, Finland) on the 6th of August 2010 at 12 noon.

Overview in PDF format (ISBN 978-952-60-3280-1)   [3297 KB]
Dissertation is also available in print (ISBN 978-952-60-3279-5)

Abstract

In the thesis, methods for the thermal and mechanical analyses of high-speed PM electrical machines are presented and implemented. The first method implemented for the thermal analysis is a combined 2D-3D numerical method. The thermal and turbulent properties of the flow, such as the temperature rise in the flow and the coefficients of thermal convection, are estimated using a 2D multiphysics method that couples CFD with heat-transfer equations. The detailed distribution of the temperature rise in the whole solid domain of the machine is determined using a 3D numerical heat-transfer method. The temperature rises in the machine are also estimated with the traditional thermal-network method, which uses a totally different approach to the heat-transfer analysis. The methods used for the mechanical analysis of the machine include finite-element rotordynamics modelling of the rotor for estimation of the critical speeds and the shapes of the bending modes and also analytical estimation of the stress in the retaining sleeve. The implemented methods are used for the comparative thermal and mechanical analyses of three different high-speed PM rotor constructions. The first type of rotor construction is retained with a carbon-fibre sleeve and uses a shield for eddy currents made of aluminium. The second rotor construction is retained with a retaining sleeve made from the alloy Ti-6%Al-6%V-2%Sn and the sleeve of the third rotor construction is made from the alloy Ti-2.5%Cu. The last two rotor constructions do not have separate eddy-current shields. The comparative analysis shows that the rotor with a carbon-fibre sleeve and an aluminium eddy-current shield shows the best thermal properties. The rotor with a retaining sleeve made of the titanium alloy Ti-6%Al-6%V-2%Sn offers promising thermal properties because the critical temperatures in the rotor are not exceeded. Additionally, the same rotor construction provides the best rotordynamics properties when compared to the other rotor constructions. The rotor construction retained with a sleeve made of the alloy Ti-2.5%Cu is inferior from the thermal and mechanical points of view when compared with the previous rotor constructions. The methods used for the thermal and mechanical analyses are also used for the determination of the maximum power limits for high-speed PM electrical machines for air-compressor applications. For that purpose, five high-speed PM electrical machines for the speeds of 20,000 rpm, 40,000 rpm, 60,000 rpm, 80,000 rpm, and 100,000 rpm are designed in order to determine their maximum mechanical powers. The electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical designs of each machine are performed simultaneously and all the critical values of the thermal and mechanical design constraints are considered. The obtained maximum power limit defines the speed-power region of safe operation of the high-speed PM electrical machines intended for compressor applications.

This thesis consists of an overview and of the following 7 publications:

  1. Zlatko Kolondzovski. 2008. Determination of critical thermal operations for high-speed permanent magnet electrical machines. COMPEL: The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, volume 27, number 4, pages 720-727.
  2. Zlatko Kolondzovski, Anouar Belahcen, and Antero Arkkio. 2009. Multiphysics thermal design of a high-speed permanent-magnet machine. Applied Thermal Engineering, volume 29, number 13, pages 2693-2700.
  3. Z. Kolondzovski, A. Belahcen, and A. Arkkio. 2009. Comparative thermal analysis of different rotor types for a high-speed permanent-magnet electrical machine. IET Electric Power Applications, volume 3, number 4, pages 279-288.
  4. Zlatko Kolondzovski. 2009. Multiphysics method for determination of the stator winding temperature in an electrical machine. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Fields in Mechatronics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering (ISEF 2009). Arras, France. 10-12 September 2009. 8 pages.
  5. Zlatko Kolondzovski. 2008. Numerical modelling of the coolant flow in a high-speed electrical machine. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Electrical Machines (ICEM 2008). Vilamoura, Portugal. 6-9 September 2008. Paper ID 787. 5 pages. ISBN 978-1-4244-1735-3.
  6. Z. Kolondzovski, P. Sallinen, A. Belahcen, and A. Arkkio. 2010. Rotordynamic analysis of different rotor structures for high-speed permanent-magnet electrical machines. IET Electric Power Applications, volume 4, number 7, pages 516-524.
  7. Zlatko Kolondzovski, Antero Arkkio, Jaakko Larjola, and Petri Sallinen. 2010. Power limits of high-speed permanent-magnet electrical machines for compressor applications. Espoo, Finland: Aalto University School of Science and Technology. 22 pages. Reports on Electromechanics, Report 76. ISBN 978-952-60-3274-0. ISSN 1456-6001. © 2010 by authors.

Errata of publications 1 and 5

Keywords: high-speed electrical machines, permanent magnets, thermal modelling, rotordynamics

This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

© 2010 Aalto University School of Science and Technology

Last update 2011-05-26