Energies, Vol. 18, Pages 6556: Thermal Analysis of High-Power Water-Cooled Permanent Magnet Coupling Based on Rotational Centrifugal Fluid–Structure Coupling Field Inversion

Energies, Vol. 18, Pages 6556: Thermal Analysis of High-Power Water-Cooled Permanent Magnet Coupling Based on Rotational Centrifugal Fluid–Structure Coupling Field Inversion

Energies doi: 10.3390/en18246556

Authors:
Yuqin Zhu
Wei Liu
Hao Liu
Chuang Yang

An efficient and reliable heat dissipation system is essential for the safe and stable operation of high-power water-cooled couplers. However, thermal analysis methods accounting for the centrifugal effects on coolant flow remain limited. This paper presents a high-accuracy equivalent thermal network model (ETNM) for analyzing the temperature distribution in water-cooled permanent magnet couplers (WPMCs), based on fluid–structure interaction and rotational centrifugal flow-field inversion. First, the ETNM is established based on key assumptions. Subsequently, an eddy current loss calculation method based on permanent magnet mapping is proposed to accurately determine the heat source distribution. The convective heat transfer coefficient of the coolant is then precisely derived by inverting the flow field obtained from fluid–structure coupling simulations under rotational centrifugal conditions. Finally, the model is applied for temperature analysis, and its accuracy is verified through both finite element simulations and experimental tests. The calculated results show errors of only 3.2% compared to numerical simulation and 5.6% compared to experimental data, indicating strong agreement of the proposed thermal analysis method. The accuracy of copper conductor (CC) temperature prediction is improved by 32.73%, and that of permanent magnet (PM) prediction by 33.33%. Furthermore, this method enables accurate estimation of individual component temperatures, effectively preventing operational failures such as PM demagnetization, CC softening, and severe vibrations caused by overheating.