This study investigates a novel hybrid cooling method for more weight efficient thermal management of aerospace electric propulsion motors using thermal energy storage (TES) elements. The proposed system utilizes the latent heating of TES in the form of SAPO-34 zeolite slabs hydrated with water to maintain stable operating temperatures during takeoff. The TES operates in parallel with a fluid cooling system comprised of minichannel heatsinks attached to the stator windings and exterior air heat exchanger. Thermoelectric performance benefits of TES inclusion are evaluated using network analysis under assumed flight path load. Complex non-linear thermofluid and electromagnetic behaviors in the network are replaced with lookup table interpolants generated using results of numerical simulations swept across a series of input parameters. Subsequent solution of two-hundred systems with varying TES volume indicated a maximum TMS mass savings of 14.8% compared to the lightest thermal management system without TES inclusion.
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