Measurement Equipment for the Characterization of Cooling Circuits
A comprehensive set of measurement equipment for the characterization of cooling circuits was purchased within the research project “Concept ELV2” (BMWi: 01MY17002B). Measurements of the in- and outlet pressure of cooling circuits as well as caloric heat flow measurements can now be realized at the institute.
The effective cooling of electric traction drives plays a significant role in realizing high power-density designs. The electric input power as well as the mechanical output power are determined in state-of-the art test bench measurements. The losses can be calculated by a subtraction of the input and output power. Multiple cooling circuits can be realized in case of high power-density machine designs. A detailed measurement of the extracted heat for each cooling circuit is not possible with such an arrangement.
In order to study the heat flow in each cooling circuit, caloric heat flow meters are purchased within the project “Concept ELV2”. The in- and outlet temperature of each cooling circuit can now be measured by coupled PT 100 thermometers. The volume flow can be measured by two magnetic inductive flow meters ModMag M2000” of Badger Meter. The determination of the heat flow is performed by two “Caltec STII”. The heat flow, the volume flow, as well as the temperatures can be transferred to the central processing unit of the test bench by an analog output signal. The volume flow of two cooling circuits that are connected in parallel can be measured by two mechanical flow meters “Vision 3012” of Badger Meter. The in- and outlet pressure of each cooling circuit can be measured by six piezoresistive pressure sensors “PR-23SY” of Keller. The measurement equipment was successfully used for the characterization of the induction machine prototype in the research project “Concept ELV2”.