CFD-based design and analysis of the ventilation of an electric generator model, validated with experiments

Journal article, 2015

The efficiency of the ventilation system is a key point for durable and reliable electric generators. The design of such system requires a detailed understanding of the air flow in the generator. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has the potential to resolve the lack of information in this field. The present work analyses the air flow inside a generator model. The model is designed using a CFD-based approach, and manufactured by taking into consideration the experimental and numerical requirements and limitations. The emphasis is on the possibility to accurately predict and experimentally measure the flow distribution inside the stator channels. A major part of the work is focused on the design of an intake and a fan that gives an evenly distributed flow with a high flow rate. The intake also serves as an accurate flowmeter. Experimental results are presented, of the total volume flow rate, the total pressure and velocity distributions. Steady-state CFD simulations are performed using the FOAM-extend CFD toolbox. The simulations are based on the multiple rotating reference frames method. The results from the frozen rotor and mixing plane rotor-stator coupling approaches are compared. It is shown that the fan design provides a sufficient flow rate for the stator channels, which is not the case without the fan or with a previous fan design. The detailed experimental and numerical results show an excellent agreement, proving that the results reliable.