Self-Pumped Air-Cooling Design for a High-Speed High-Specific-Power Motor

High specific power is critical in large electric machines to power commercial aircraft. Advanced thermal management is a key enabling factor. The solution chosen for the machine presented here is an aggressive self-pumped air-cooling scheme. It allows a level of electric loading typically associated with liquid cooling. A rotor-integrated centrifugal fan is designed to pump sufficient cooling air through the machine. A detailed thermal analysis has shown that the designed mass flow rate can cool the machine. The initial flow test results using a hardware rotor prototype validated the fan performance.