Thermal Conductivity Tester
Problem statement
High performance DC motors, such as those used in the aerospace industry, generate a significant amount of waste heat. Motor manufacturers need to ensure that their motors can cool effectively so that the motors don’t break down mid-use. It is unclear how effective the materials used to keep motor windings in place are at conducting the heat, especially when using composite materials, such as copper wire or insulation, or various manufacturing methods [1]. This uncertainty leads to concerns that high performance motors may overheat during flights, which could have catastrophic effects. Time-Domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) is one method that has been used to measure thermal conductivity, but is expensive and can only measure a narrow range of conductivity [2]. The client has attempted to construct a thermal conductivity tester in the past, but unfortunately it could not cool properly, lit on fire, and melted the plastic exterior. To ensure that safety standards in aircraft are met, companies need to know the thermal conductivity of the bulk and composite materials they are using to keep windings in place. We intend to provide our client with a split-bar method and an accompanying MATLAB model for testing thermal conductivity. [1] Boglietti, A., Carpaneto, E., Cossale, M., Vaschetto, S., Popescu, M., & Staton, D. A. (2016). Stator winding thermal conductivity evaluation: An industrial production assessment. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 52(5), 3893-3900. [2] Jiang, P., Qian, X., & Yang, R. (2018). Tutorial: Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) for thermal property characterization of bulk and thin film materials. Journal of Applied Physics, 124(16), 161103.
Team members
Michael Niemiec – leader
Shouvik Chatterjee – communicator
Nonsree Phattranon-Uthai – accountant
Jamie Brenner – admin
Client
Brian Fehring, Arnold Magnetic Technologies