Thermal Modeling of Electrical Drive System Control Cabinets
Paksunen, Tommi (2018)
2018
Sähkötekniikka
Tieto- ja sähkötekniikan tiedekunta - Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-08-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201808142140
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201808142140
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to study, build, and validate the properties of different thermal modeling methods suitable for electrical drive control cabinets. Moreover, this thesis intended to study how thermal modeling should be integrated into the product development project and which modeling methods should be used in each phase of product development.
Thermal modeling and thermal design as parts of a product development project of an electrical product were investigated. Modeling and design were split into different phases, each with different thermal design and verification tasks. This created a guideline for thermal modeling, i.e. how modeling should be efficiently performed during product development.
Power loss generation mechanisms in the most common electrical components were discussed and mathematical notations were introduced. Although the power loss equations aid in understanding the dependencies of power losses on voltage, current, and switching frequency, usually it is enough to calculate equalized power losses by considering the drive system duty ratio and the power losses at the nominal load and no-load situations.
The physics of heat transfer mechanisms - conduction, convection, and radiation - were discussed. Based on the heat transfer physics, thermal modeling methods were introduced. Thermal modeling of a drive control cabinet can be done either by analytical modeling, thermal circuit modeling, or by computational fluid dynamics modeling. In this thesis, each of the thermal modeling method was used, and their results were compared to experimental measurements.
The thermal circuit model and the CFD model performed the best, producing accurate results when the average cabinet air temperature was considered. In addition, transient thermal modeling with the thermal circuit model proved to be relatively easy and accurate modeling method, worthy of further investigation. Moreover, thermal modeling methods were compared against each other and suggestions were made for their efficient usage in product development projects.
Thermal modeling and thermal design as parts of a product development project of an electrical product were investigated. Modeling and design were split into different phases, each with different thermal design and verification tasks. This created a guideline for thermal modeling, i.e. how modeling should be efficiently performed during product development.
Power loss generation mechanisms in the most common electrical components were discussed and mathematical notations were introduced. Although the power loss equations aid in understanding the dependencies of power losses on voltage, current, and switching frequency, usually it is enough to calculate equalized power losses by considering the drive system duty ratio and the power losses at the nominal load and no-load situations.
The physics of heat transfer mechanisms - conduction, convection, and radiation - were discussed. Based on the heat transfer physics, thermal modeling methods were introduced. Thermal modeling of a drive control cabinet can be done either by analytical modeling, thermal circuit modeling, or by computational fluid dynamics modeling. In this thesis, each of the thermal modeling method was used, and their results were compared to experimental measurements.
The thermal circuit model and the CFD model performed the best, producing accurate results when the average cabinet air temperature was considered. In addition, transient thermal modeling with the thermal circuit model proved to be relatively easy and accurate modeling method, worthy of further investigation. Moreover, thermal modeling methods were compared against each other and suggestions were made for their efficient usage in product development projects.