Thermal reliability analysis of a BLDC motor in a high-speed axial fan by the accelerated-life test and numerical methods

Abstract

The thermal reliability of a closed-type BLDC motor for a high-speed fan is analyzed by an accelerated-life testing and numerical methods in this paper. Since a module and a motor part are integrated in a closed case, heat generated from a rotor in a motor and electronic components in the PCB module cannot be effectively removed to the outside. Therefore, the module will easily fail due to high temperature. The experiment for measuring the temperature and the surface heat flux of the electronic components is carried out to predict their surface temperature distributions and main heat sources. The accelerated-life test is accomplished to formulate the life equation depending on the environmental temperature. Moreover, the temperature of the PCB module is different from the environmental temperature since the heat generated from the motor cannot be effectively dissipated owing to the motor's structure. Therefore a numerical method is used to predict the temperature of the PCB module, which is one of the life equation parameter, according to the environment. By numerically obtaining the maxima of the thermal stress and strain of the electronic components according to the operation environments with the temperature results, the fatigue cycle can be estimated.