METHOD AND ASSEMBLY OF A POWER GENERATION SYSTEM

• US 20170244306A1
• Filed: 02/24/2016
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: LIN, LANCHAO, HUANG, HAO, JIA, XIAOCHUAN
• Granted Patent: US 10,199,907 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 wet cavity electric machine comprising:

a stator core having at least two stator poles formed by a set of stator windings, with the stator winding having end turns;

a rotor having at least two rotor poles, and configured to rotate relative to the stator core, and having a channel for liquid coolant to flow through the rotor to at least one nozzle;

at least one oscillating heat pipe having an evaporator portion extending through the set of stator windings and a condenser portion extending outside the set of stator windings proximate to the at least one nozzle; and

a working fluid in the at least one oscillating heat pipe, wherein the working fluid is disposed in alternating liquid and vapor phases in the at least one oscillating heat pipe;

wherein liquid coolant from the at least one nozzle can be sprayed onto the condenser portion of the at least one oscillating heat pipe to cause the working fluid to oscillate and extract heat from the stator core.

2. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the condenser portion includes a set of end turns in the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

3. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillating heat pipe is filled to a ratio of fluid volume to total volume within a range of 15-60%.

4. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 further comprising a scavenge device for discharge of liquid coolant from the rotor.

5. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 4 wherein scavenge device is one of a bottom exit port or a residual shaft outlet port.

6. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the liquid coolant is oil.

7. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the working fluid is water.

8. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 further comprising at least two nozzles at a wall of the rotor.

9. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 further comprising slot teeth in the stator core and wherein the slot teeth are wound with the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

10. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillating heat pipe is electrically insulated.

11. The wet cavity electric machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one oscillating heat pipe has a quadrilateral cross section with an internal fluid channel.

12. A power generation system includes:

a wet cavity machine comprising;

a stator core having a set of teeth and a set of stator poles formed a wire wound about the set of teeth to form a set of stator windings, with the set of stator windings having end turns;

a rotor having two rotor poles and configured to rotate relative to the stator core, and having channel for liquid coolant to flow through the rotor to at least one nozzle;

at least one oscillating heat pipe having an evaporator portion extending through the stator winding and a condenser portion extending outside the stator winding proximate to the at least one nozzle to be exposed to liquid coolant passing through the at least one nozzle; and

a working fluid in the at least one oscillating heat pipe;

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

13. The power generation system of claim 12 wherein the condenser portion includes a plurality of turns in the at least one oscillating heat pipe.

14. The power generation system of claim 12 wherein the system is free of an external liquid cooling jacket.

15. The power generation system of claim 12 wherein the system is positioned proximate to a turbine engine.

16. The power generation system of claim 12 wherein the wet cavity machine further comprises a starter generator.

17. The power generation system of claim 12 wherein the working fluid is water.

18. 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.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the inserting includes inserting at least ten segments of a single contiguous oscillating heat pipe into the stator core.

20. The method of claim 18 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%.