Experimental results of an asynchronous machine with thermoelectric cooling modules

Abstract

It is estimated that globally around 40% of the electricity supplied to the industrial sector is consumed by electric motorised systems and for South Africa around 60% of the electricity supplied is consumed by asynchronous machines in the industrial sector. It is therefore important to invest in projects to lower the energy consumption (or improve the efficiency) of electric motorised systems and specifically asynchronous machines. In this paper the authors present the experimental results obtained from a single phase asynchronous machine with thermoelectric cooling modules (TECMs). The TECMs are used to lower the stator winding temperature and core temperature of the single phase asynchronous machine. A single phase asynchronous machine was used during the experimental setup and was cooled by means of TECMs. The same method of cooling can also be applied to three phase motors and other electric motorised systems. The efficiency of the asynchronous machine was determined by using the equivalent circuit method. From the experimental results on the efficiency analysis, temperature analysis and equivalent circuit analysis, it was calculated that the efficiency of the asynchronous machine can be increased by 4.44% when cooled by TECMs