Thermal characteristics analysis of a new compound electromagnetic linear actuator based on multi-physical coupling method.

The new compound electromagnetic linear actuator (CELA) features high energy efficiency, high power ratio, fast response and high precision. However, it is compact in structure due to volume constraints. Also, there are significant internal electrical, magnetic and thermal coupling effects and the temperature rise problem is prominent. In this paper, the electric-magnetic-thermal coupling mechanism of multiple physical fields inside the CELA was analyzed first. Considering the influence of different driving modes on energy consumption, the theoretical model of energy consumption was built based on iron loss separation. The heat transfer mechanism and process of the mechanism were studied with energy consumption as heat source. Considering the influence of thermal characteristics on the material properties, an accurate numerical model with electric-magnetic-thermal multi-physical field bidirectional coupling was established. The energy consumption distribution and the transient change characteristics of the temperature distribution with time and space were studied quantitatively under different driving modes and different operating conditions of the CELA. A test platform for energy consumption and temperature rise was established to verify the accuracy of theoretical analysis and simulation. The results showed the test and simulation results were in good agreement under typical operating conditions, with the error less than 2%. [Display omitted] • Compound actuator based on the coaxial integration of two different actuators. • Bidirectional coupling model of electric-magnetic-thermal was established. • Heat transfer mechanism and process of actuator were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]