Thermal Enhancement of Additively Manufactured Windings via Embedded Cooling Channels for High-Performance YASA Motors

To achieve net-zero carbon emissions, electrified and hybrid propulsion systems in air-transport increasingly demand high torque density motors. High torque density is invariably accompanied by high loss density, where winding copper losses typically constitute the primary source of total motor losses. This directly increases the risk that the winding temperature will exceed the threshold, leading to dielectric failure of the insulation. Thus, enhancing winding heat dissipation becomes a core approach to breaking through the power density improvement bottleneck. Additive manufacturing (AM) enables innovative winding designs. This article compares three AM windings with integrated cooling channels, which enhances heat dissipation by increasing the winding cooling area and optimizing coolant flow paths. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is established to compare the temperature distribution of three winding structures, as well as the flow characteristics and pressure drop of the coolant under different structures. The best-performing O-type AM winding exhibits a steady-state average temperature rise of only 34.38 ^◦C at a current density of 33.5 A/mm². Finally, the prototype windings are manufactured and tested to verify the feasibility of the concept, and satisfactory results are achieved.