Thermal analysis
Patrick Lombard, head of Flux support team, Altair
Analysis of thermal
stress on motors
A look at the application of efficient multiphysics tools for thermal analysis
N
owadays it is increasingly difficult to
design electro-technique devices without
considering thermal stress. In more
applications (electric vehicles, electric
aircraft, etc.) we need to reduce weight, cut costs,
increase efficiency and keep the same security.
One possibility is to increase the current to a
device and draw off the additional heat generated.
This is why the classical approximations need to
be cross-checked with new tools. These tools
have to be rapid and accurate in order to run
parametric and even optimization analysis.
1 It leads to accurate computation and requires
2 3
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Figure 1: Typical thermal
application
Figure 2: Magnetic property
versus temperature
Figure 3: Electrical resistivity
What is thermal analysis?
Thermal analysis quantifies the impact of power
supply on the heat of the different part of a device.
A classical project will include one or more power
supplies, conducting bodies, and convection and
radiation between a solid surface and a fluid. In the
fluid you may have laminar flow or turbulent flow.
One point of interest in this type of computation
is the temperature dependency of all material
properties: magnetic materials losing their
magnetic property at the Curie point and resistivity
increases with temperature.
The thermal conductivity and the thermal
capacitance also vary with temperature (especially
around the Curie point).
Classical tools for thermal analysis
Classically different methods are available for
thermal analysis. The first is based on equivalent
circuit parameters for thermal flow. This means
you must identify the circuit followed by the heat
flow and determine each component. It gives very
rapid solutions but needs calibration to be
efficient. The corresponding tools are Motor-CAD,
Portunus or any circuit solvers.
If you consider conduction only in solid bodies
(and not in a fluid such as air), then you can use
finite element tools such as Flux 2D/3D software.
Figure 4: Example of thermal
conductivity
Figure 5: Thermal capacitance
around the Curie point
Figure 6: Defining the
co-simulation project
4 5
Table 1: Comparison between two methods for multiphysics application
FEA magnetic - FEA thermal FEA magnetic – CFD code
coupling
Accuracy Good global/average values in the Best accuracy determination of
different parts of the device hotspots
Model set-up Only FEA magnetic is used Two software to be run and coupled
FEA user with thermal knowledge Geometry and mesh defined twice
More flexibility in the applications Thermal simulation expert required
Solving times Reduced compared with CFD Several hours required
calculations
Price FEA thermal additional module Flux/Altair
CFD code module AcuSolve/Altair
included
6 winding), the magnets and the sheet are
Thermal analysis
knowing convection and radiation coefficients.
To take into account the whole thermal flow,
including fluid with turbulent or laminated flow,
a useful solution is a CFD solver such as STAR-
CCM+, Ansys Fluent or Altair AcuSolve. They
enable the determination of hot spots, but take
time to get results.
What are the multiphysics possibilities?
In order to couple magnetic and thermal analysis,
we have now two solutions: couple FEA magnetic
to FEA thermal application, or couple FEA
magnetic to CFD code. It is now easy to couple
any type of magnetic analysis (static, AC or
transient) to any thermal application (static or
transient). Previously it was possible but required
specific command files to be written in Python. To
choose which application is best suited you must
first decide whether you are interested in static
temperature (steady state one) or the rise in
temperature. This will determine the type of
thermal analysis.
Thermal analysis of the Prius II motor
We have applied this new coupling to the analysis
of the Prius II motor for a specific working point.
The project has been defined in magnetic and
thermal application. After computing one electric
period (the average power value of the coil
TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2017 57
Thermal analysis Thermal analysis

7a 7b 9

computed as iron losses. The average power
losses are automatically sent for thermal analysis.
In each project we have to define the input and
output values, the type of coupling project and so
on, as described in Figure 6. The result of losses
and temperature are shown in Figure 7.
A similar type of computation has been done
with a coupling using STAR-CCM+. Instead of
representing one height in the magnetic part, one
quarter has to be represented in the thermal part
due to the cooling system (Figure 10). The result
is represented in Figure 11. We can see that the
7c water cooling close to the external stator part
maintains the temperature close to 70°C, whereas
the temperature is quite high in the ending part of
the coil winding.
Conclusion
Since 1986 many computations have been carried
out involving thermal analysis coupled with
magnetic analysis. Cedrat, which was acquired by
Altair in May 2016, and Altair have worked hard to
stay at the leading edge of this topic by introducing
new technologies, methods and tools following
market demand. Cedrat and Altair’s tools are also
well known for use in induction treatment,
hardening and forging.
We are now moving toward multiphysics
application for other electro-technical devices
Figure 7: Losses (a), temperature
(b) and rising temperature (c)
Figure 8: Prius II motor with
cooling system with STAR-CCM+
Figure 9: Final temperature in the
Prius II motor
Figure 10: Flux density (a) and
thermal temperature (b) in a
BPM motor
such as actuators, transformers and motors. This
is why new couplings are now available, using
Flux, the Altair suite (AcuSolve) and external
partners such as STAR-CCM+.
These new tools are increasingly easy to use
and computation time is shortening, leading to
more accurate results. Optimizing tools can
also be used to find the best values for all the
constraints. We now have efficient multiphysics
tools to optimize electric motors, taking thermal
stress into account. Together we can build the
motors of the future. n

Thermal analysis of steady thermal for

BPM motor
In this second example, the thermal steady state
for a brushless permanent magnet motor (BPM) is
analyzed. After running one full transient analysis
corresponding to one electric period, the average
magnet losses, sheet losses (iron losses) and
Joule losses of conductors are automatically
computed and transferred as input for thermal
steady-state analysis. Parametric analysis can be
run to check how much resin is required around
conductors, for instance. Thanks to periodicity,
only part of the motor is needed during the
analysis, leading to a time for computation in
8 the order of an hour. 10a 10b

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