Thermomagnetic liquid cooling: A novel electric machine thermal management solution

This paper investigates application of temperature sensitive ferrofluids (TSFF) in the thermal management of electric machines as the cooling and dielectric media for end winding section of these systems. The goal is to exploit the thermal and magnetic characteristics of TSMFs such that not only the fluid will circulate over the end winding of an electric machine, but also existing thermal and magnetic fields (magnetic leakage field) in this part of the machine will provide the energy needed for circulating the cooling fluid. The cooling mechanism will therefore require no additional moving mechanical parts, pumps, or sensors. This subject is investigated theoretically and numerically using finite difference method and COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software in this study.