A Parameterization Scheme for high Performance Thermal Models of Electric Machines using Modelica

Abstract Thermal models offer great advantages for enhancement of design, protection and control of electric machines. Detailed thermal models take a great number of time constants into account and provide accurate prediction of the temperatures. However, to parameterize such models detailed geometric data are needed. Whenever such detailed information is not available, or the performance of the detailed models is not satisfying, simplified thermal models as described in this paper are advantageous. The calculation of parameters is described in detail, in order to achieve best accordance with temperatures obtained from measurements or from simulations with detailed thermal models. Thermal resistances are calculated from end temperatures of a test run with constant load (and known losses). Thermal capacitances are obtained using optimization to minimize deviation of simulated and measured temperatures during the whole test run. The thermal model of an asynchronous induction machine with squirrel cage is coupled with an electrical model of the drive. For validation, simulation results of an optimally parameterized simplified model are compared with temperatures obtained by simulation of a detailed thermal model, which in turn has been validated against measurement results, both for continuous duty S1 and intermittent duty S6 (6 minutes no-load followed by 4 minutes of 140% nominal load). The deviations are not more than 4 K which is quite satisfying.