An Innovative and Reliable Hybrid Cooling Method for Electric Vehicle Motors

Abstract

Air, liquid, and oil are commonly used for the cooling of electric vehicle motors. Phase change materials (PCM) are not extensively used apart from electronic components. In general, coolants like air, liquid, and oil were separately used as independent coolants for the motor. In this research, two cooling channels were added to the motor cooling. The liquid is used as a primary coolant, while PCM is used as a secondary coolant. This novel method of cooling helps to keep the bracket temperature under the allowable limit even though the liquid cooling is operating at its lowest operating point. In the study, the primary focus was on the PCM coolant channel by keeping the liquid coolant under one particular operating condition to study the PCM in detail. The thickness of the PCM had an influence on the motor cooling. Three different PCM channels were studied with thicknesses of 6 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm. The best cases were identified with a 6 mm PCM thickness, which is better in terms of heat transfer improvement of 6% observed.