Numerical Thermal Performance Investigation of an Electric Motor Passive Cooling System Employing Phase Change Materials

Abstract This study investigates the cooling performance of a passive cooling system for electric motor cooling applications. The metal-based phase change materials are used for cooling the motor and preventing its temperature rise. As compared to oil-based phase change materials, these materials have a higher melting point and thermal conductivity. The flow field and transient heat conduction are simulated using the finite volume method. The accuracy of numerical values obtained from the simulation of the phase change materials is validated. The sensitivity of the numerical results to the number of computational elements and time step value is assessed. The main goal of adopting the phase change material based passive cooling system is to maintain the operational motor temperature in the allowed range for applications with high and repetitive peak power demands such as electric vehicles by using phase change materials in cooling channels twisted around the motor. Moreover, this study investigates the effect of the phase change material container arrangement on the cooling performance of the under study cooling system.