Method and assembly of a power generation system

• US 10,566,877 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2018
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (General Electric Co. (Italy))
• Original Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (General Electric Co. (Italy))
• Inventors: Lin, Lanchao, Huang, Hao, Jia, Xiaochuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Mullins, Burton S
• Application Number:
  US16/229,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20190149018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: 29596, 29598, 29890032, 310 54, 310 57, 310 61, 310 64, 174DIG 19, 174DIG 32
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/02 in which the medium condenses and evaporates, e.g. heat pipes heat pipes used in solar heat collectors F24S10/95; in radiators F28D1/0226; in nuclear reactors G21C15/257
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/19 for machines with closed casing and closed-circuit cooling using a liquid cooling medium, e.g. oil
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/225 Heat pipes

Abstract

A wet cavity electric machine includes a stator core having stator poles formed by a post and a wire wound about the post to form a stator winding, with the stator winding having end turns, a rotor having two rotor poles and configured to rotate relative to the stator and a channel for liquid coolant to flow through the rotor to at least one nozzle, and liquid coolant sprays from the at least one nozzle at least a portion of the stator windings.

Claims

1. A method of assembling a stator core, comprising:

closing one end of at least one oscillating heat pipe;

filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe with a working fluid in alternating phases to a predetermined ratio of fluid volume to total volume;

closing another end of the at least one oscillating heat pipe;

inserting the filled at least one oscillating heat pipe into a stator core; and

wiring a set of windings into the stator core in a two-pole configuration wherein the set of windings surrounds only an evaporator portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe, leaving a condenser portion exposed to a nozzle in a rotor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the inserting includes inserting at least ten segments of a single contiguous oscillating heat pipe into the stator core.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the filling include filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe to a predetermined ratio of fluid volume to total volume between 15 to 60%.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the oscillating heat pipe is further received within the set of windings.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe includes filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe with the working fluid in alternating liquid and vapor phases.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising spraying liquid coolant from the nozzle in the rotor toward the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the liquid coolant is sprayed from the nozzle in the rotor toward the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein spraying liquid coolant toward the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe extracts heat from the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the liquid coolant is oil.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein extracting heat from the working fluid in alternating phases in the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe causes the working fluid in alternating phases to oscillate and extract heat from the stator core.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the exposure of the condenser portion to liquid coolant extracts enough heat from a wet cavity machine having the stator core to enable wet cavity machine to operate within a set of predetermined parameters free of a cooling system external to the wet cavity machine.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the wet cavity machine is at least one of a power generation system or a starter generator.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein wiring the set of windings into the stator core includes positioning the condenser portion extending axially past the stator core to form end turns.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein filling includes filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe to a ratio of fluid volume to total volume within a range of 15-60%.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillating heat pipe has a quadrilateral cross section with an internal fluid channel.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein wiring the set of windings includes wiring a plurality of turns in the at least one oscillating heat pipe including a plurality of evaporator portions and a plurality of condenser portions.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the working fluid is water.

18. A method of operating a power generation system, comprising:

rotating a rotor having at least one nozzle relative to a stator core wound with a set of stator windings having at least one oscillating heat pipe received within the set of stator windings, the at least one oscillating heat pipe having an evaporator portion extending through the stator core and a condenser portion extending axially past the stator core proximate to the at least one nozzle, and wherein the evaporator portion and the condenser portion are positioned between sealed opposing ends of the at least one oscillating heat pipe; and

thermally exposing the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe to a liquid coolant passing through the at least one nozzle;

wherein the exposure of the condenser portion to the liquid coolant will extract enough heat from the power generation system to enable the power generation system to operate within a set of predetermined parameters free of a cooling system external to the power generation system.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising filling the at least one oscillating heat pipe with a working fluid in alternating phases to a predetermined ratio of fluid volume to total volume prior to winding the set of stator windings about the stator core.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein thermally exposing the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe to the liquid coolant from the at least one nozzle causes the working fluid to oscillate within the at least one oscillating heat pipe between the evaporator portion and the condenser portion, extracting heat from the stator core.