A Time-efficient Test Rig for Thermal Characterisation of Electric Machines and Manufacturing Process Development

摘要

This paper presents a DC motorette test rig with a closed-loop temperature control that significantly reduces the run time of a thermal test. Testing only a segment of a stator, this rig is developed to compare, monitor and improve winding and impregnation manufacturing processes, which is an original and novel application of the rig. The hardware setup, instrumentation of a test sample, parameter settings for the test and a software algorithm to control the temperature are described. The sensitivity and repeatability of the test are quantified. Results from a Design of Experiments to study a trickle impregnation process using the test rig are presented. Last but not least, it is shown that, even with the introduced changes, the test results can still be used for calibration of the thermal modelling of a stator segment, the traditional aim of the DC motorette testing.