Electromagnetic and Mechanical Performance of Direct and Indirectly Liquid-cooled Coreless Linear Motors with Multi-layer Coils

Abstract

This paper conducts a comparison between direct and indirectly liquid-cooled topologies for coreless linear motors with multiple coil layers. The electromagnetic force production is obtained by 3-D magnetic scalar potential modeling whereas thermal modeling is performed by 3-D finite element and volume methods. The power dissipation and force density of each topology is investigated for different pole pitches and coil configurations. Subsequently, localization and comparison of the magnetic and thermal stresses is performed for both topologies. Furthermore, variations in the geometry are investigated to mitigate mechanical stresses.