Thermal modeling and measurement of a drive motor in a pure electric vehicle

Abstract

This research is concerned on the thermal modeling and measurement of an electric drive motor. The motor is a high-efficiency permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and is actively cooled by circulating coolant through a water jacket. A lumped-parameter thermal network (LPTN) based on the Amesim is established for thermal modeling, and the temperature histories of rotor and copper winding are obtained in a condition of 120kph@3% grade. Slip ring is employed to handle the problem of effectively testing the temperature of motor rotor. The LPTN thermal model is validated by comparing simulation results with the test ones. Based on this equivalent thermal model, temperature distribution along axial direction of the motor can be obtained. The proposed LPTN model is useful for motor design to avoid over heat and demagnetization.