Local Heat Flux Measurement in a Permanent Magnet Motor at No Load

Heat transfer is a limiting factor in the performance of electrical machines. Measuring the heat flux in an electrical machine is traditionally carried out indirectly with temperature measurements as there are only a few sensors for heat flux measurements. This paper describes a new experimental method to measure the local heat flux inside an electrical machine. The measurement was proven successful in the air gap of the permanent magnet machine, 37 kW 2400 min^-1, under an influence of the air gap magnetic flux. The heat flux was measured by using sensors based on the transverse Seebeck effect. The test machine was an axial flux permanent magnet machine with two stator stacks and one internal, ironless rotor disc. A gradient heat flux sensor was installed in the air gap on the stator side. Local Nusselt and Reynolds numbers were calculated according to the measured heat flux results and compared with the results given by traditional methods to verify the new measurement method.