An equivalent winding thermal model considering fill factor and void ratio for multiphysics coupling analysis of permanent magnet linear motors

Accurately clarifying thermal characteristics and acquiring thermal limits of permanent magnet linear motors (PMLMs) is significant for system safety, which is often evaluated by computational thermal analysis. However, conventional thermal analysis methods are faced with the contradiction between the complexity of modeling and the accuracy of computation. To fix the problem, a new two-way multiphysics coupling method is developed by proposing an improved equivalent homogeneous winding thermal model. The energy consumption distribution is used as the heat source for thermal field calculation, and the material properties are determined by temperature in the electromagnetic field. To further reduce the complexity of winding region modeling and ensure the accuracy of calculation, an improved equivalent homogeneous winding thermal model is established by considering the fill factor and void ratio. The new coupling method is verified by temperature rise experiments on a single winding sample and a PMLM prototype. The error between the simulation and experiment of the single winding sample is less than 3%, which indicates the high accuracy of the improved equivalent model. Meanwhile, the low error (<6%) on the PMLM case indicates the high accuracy of the new multiphysics coupling method. Then, the temperature distribution of PMLM is analyzed, and the effect of the fill factor and void ratio on the temperature rise of PMLM is studied with the effect of the void ratio on the limiting temperature and continuous working time of PMLM discussed. It is demonstrated that both fill factor and void ratio affect the temperature rise of winding, and thus impact the temperature rise of the PMLM. The continuous working time decreases rapidly with the increase of the void ratio, and this effect will be more significant with a higher effective current. The results can provide references for improving the precision of temperature estimation and selecting a reasonable current density. This also demonstrates the high accuracy and efficiency of the new coupling method.