Enhanced heat transfer for subway linear motor through underbody flow regulation

The low-speed flow, restricted tunnel environment, and degraded motors have resulted in a serious challenge in the underbody equipment of subway trains, where overheating of multiple longitudinally aligned linear induction motors is one of the most urgent challenges to be resolved. In the face of this problem, the flow field distribution of a 4-car formation subway train is investigated. Two deflector installation designs are proposed to regulate the underbody flow using the passive flow control method to enhance the heat dissipation of motors. The influence of deflector installation is analyzed through an experimentally verified conjugated heat transfer numerical method. The results showed that the installation of deflectors can significantly enhance the longitudinal underbody flow. On the one hand, the deflector can effectively enhance the momentum exchange between underbody flow and the surrounding undisturbed flow field. On the other hand, the deflectors can break the large lateral vortices, such that the flow resistance along the longitudinal direction is reduced. Besides, the deflectors can also reduce the size of the wake behind the motor. As a result, the increased incoming flow rate ahead of motors effectively alleviated the overheating issue. The enhancement of heat transfer between different deflector installation designs was compared. It was found that the vertical edge of deflectors should be installed as close to the lateral edge of the subway car as possible. The maximum temperature of motors has been reduced by 9 % according to the installation design proposed in this study. The outcomes of this study can also provide theoretical guidance as well as engineering solutions for the cooling design of bottom heat sources and other similar overheating devices in thousands of railway trains with exposed underbody compartment. The convection enhancement around the heating devices can be realized by the surrounding flow field regulation method proposed in this study.