Coolant Wetting Simulation on Simplified Stator Coil Model by the Phase-Field Lattice Boltzmann Method

Area of Science:

• Fluid Dynamics
• Heat Transfer
• Automotive Engineering

Background:

• Automotive stator coils generate significant heat during operation.
• Effective cooling is crucial for performance and longevity, relying on coolant flow.
• Complex interactions between coolant, coil structure, and flow conditions hinder understanding of cooling efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the flow and wetting characteristics of coolants on simplified automotive stator coil structures.
• To analyze how coil arrangement (single-layer vs. multi-layer) and rod gap influence coolant distribution and heat transfer.
• To provide insights into optimizing coolant flow for enhanced stator coil thermal management.

Main Methods:

• Simplified stator coil structure to a horizontal square rod array for simulation.
• Employed two-phase fluid flow simulations using the phase-field lattice Boltzmann method.
• Analyzed flow and wetting phenomena on single-layered and multi-layered rod arrays with varying rod gaps.

Main Results:

• Wetting area on single-layer arrays is influenced by rod gap and wettability, normalized by boundary layer thickness.
• Multi-layered arrays show altered wetting: top layer wetting becomes longitudinal due to flow advection reduction.
• Wetting area increases significantly from the second layer downwards, particularly in narrow rod gap configurations.

Conclusions:

• The study clarifies complex coolant flow and wetting behaviors in layered automotive stator coil geometries.
• Rod gap and layer interactions critically affect wetting area distribution and cooling efficiency.
• Findings offer a basis for designing more effective stator coil cooling systems.