James,
I like the cooling idea.
The engineers at SolidNav went will BIG heatsinks in their design, maybe half the weight of the Explorer units are in the heatsink. Arby's motors (AMeP) have substantial heatsink in their design. But most others do not look like there is much in the way of heatsink for cooling. They all seem to work fine but it has been something that has interested me.
Aside from the increased efficiency that you should get from a cooler running motor, being able to heat water for use aboard seems like a great bonus.
It's hard to tell from the photo on your website how the surfaces of the motor and heat-exchange interface.
Great idea and the stuff I look forward to with the growth electric propulsion. Think about the all the refinements that have gone into ICE's over the past 100+ years. Now it's EP's turn :-).
Mark
Santa Cruz
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Tom" <boat_works@...> wrote:
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> I've never seen the innards of a PMAC motor, and this discussion about cooling is interesting to me since I may want to add cooling to my installation this summer.
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> Since the windings are generating the heat, what is the thermal path from the windings to the motor case? Is there a sizable contact area between the two which will allow the heat to transfer effectively?
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> If not, then perhaps blowing air through the motor is the best bet...
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> I had considered (and still might build) a hollow band that would be fitted around the case of the motor to circulate water. I was planning to use aluminum to minimize galvanic issues. The band would tighten over the portion of the motor that has no cooling vents. The water could be closed-loop to a small heater core with a fan for cabin heat. A small pump could be driven by an eccentric on the prop shaft.
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> The controller doesn't seem to need much cooling, so I thought about simply putting a fan blade on the prop shaft to move air around a bit in the vicinity of the motor and controller.
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> I suppose the best way to move air through the motor is with a suitably ducted blower aimed at the motor.
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> Still thinking this one through.
> -Tom
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