EM-CFD Coupling Analysis of a 75 kW PMSM (Air Cooling) with SimLab

Introduction

The studied device, represented in the following figure, is a surface inset permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) used on a traction application with 75 kW power rating. It is a three-phase machine with 45 stator slots and 10 rotor poles made from M800_65A steel. It operates in the generator mode in this application case.

 

After the 2D transient magnetic is finished, the post-processing results, such as stator tooth electromagnetic forces and loss distribution can be used for further NVH (with OptiStruct) and CFD (with AcuSolve) analysis. The electromagnetic forces acting on stator teeth computed in Flux will be converted to Load Case for OptiStruct to run a 3D NVH analysis. All loss results obtained with Flux will be converted to Heat Sources for AcuSolve to run a 3D CFD analysis. The multi-physics analysis workflow (with the outside airflow considered) is shown below:

 

Analysis 1: 2D transient magnetic analysis

The objective is to calculate electromagnetic torque and other electrical parameters (phase voltages, phase currents, power, losses, etc.) for different rotor positions under transient analysis. In this case, the transient magnetic application is used and coupled with an external three-phase circuit (created by the Circuit Designer) while varying rotor position.

 

Analysis 2: steady-state CFD analysis

Once the PMSM is electromagnetically computed, the second step is to analyze its thermal characteristics. In Flux, the most common way is to export the copper loss / iron loss information from the transient magnetic analysis and run the CFD analysis with AcuSolve. The following temperature distribution figure provides a primary analysis of the thermal characteristics inside the motor. Furthermore, all the results are compared to the measurement.

 

Example access

All files corresponding to this example are accessible with this link : MT2D_AirCooledPMSM_EM_CFD_Generator.zip

• to follow the example step by step, the corresponding files are in "Example_name_StepByStep" folder containing:
  • Tutorial folder: contains the document describing the example step by step
  • InitialFiles folder: contains *.slb databases and files needed to build the example step by step
  • DataBaseToSolve folder : contains *.slb databases and files needed to ready to solve the exemple