Cooling Enhancement of Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Motors by Corrugated Spiral Channels with Nanofluid

Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Motors (AFPMM), known for their high power density, energy efficiency, and compact design, hold great potential for widespread use in electric vehicle applications. Despite these advantages, AFPMMs face challenges such as demagnetization of permanent magnets and magnetic insulation layer failure under high-temperature conditions. To mitigate these thermal challenges, this paper introduces a novel cooling structure that incorporates a corrugated spiral flow channel, utilizing nanofluids for enhanced thermal conductivity. The performance of this structure is evaluated and compared with that of the conventional linear spiral flow channel using numerical analysis. An analysis of the structural parameters' influence on fluid flow within the corrugated spiral flow channel is conducted, and a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model along with a Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) are employed to optimize these parameters for the cooling channel. The results demonstrate that the new channel exhibits superior heat transfer performance. Under identical conditions, the implementation of the corrugated spiral flow channel maintained the highest temperature at the windings of the AFPMM at 81.49 °C, which is a reduction of 1.67 °C compared to the conventional linear spiral flow channel.