Cooling airflow in unidirectional ventilated open-type motor for electric vehicles

In this paper, the cooling airflow in a unidirectional ventilated open-type motor for electric vehicles (EV) was studied. Numerical fluid analysis was performed on the airflow in the motor through a ventilation path outside the stator iron core inside the frame. It is confirmed that there was a flow separation where air did not flow along the path surfaces. This was observed in a flow visualization experiment using water instead of air. We propose a new structure to prevent air separation and confirm its effectiveness by a visualization experiment. It is also shown that another structure with paths both inside and outside the stator iron core in the frame improves the motor´s cooling performance. These structures are effective for EV motor downsizing