Usually, when discussing application solutions we can make recommendations for proper product based on experience, empirical test data, and application parameters.  Sometimes, though, we need to take things just a little further and aim to dial in the recommended solution before any testing ever occurs.

I recently had an exercise in this, involving the need to cool the robot motor shown in the photo above.  This motor, existing in two forms (one weighing 23kg and the other weighing 25kg) is currently operating, creating heat, and registering a temperature of 90°C.  The desired operating temperature is 60°C, and we can safely assume an ambient temp. no higher than 35-40°C.

The questions posed to me were:  “Which product should be used to cool this motor?  And, how do you know?”  So, I took a certain degree of liberty (though not much) in considering the motor in question is comprised of copper windings, and these windings comprise the total weight of the motor.

Considering this, our knowns for this application were:

Weight:                              23kg and 25kg

Material:                            Copper

Starting temp:                   90°C

Ending temp:                    60°C

 

What we didn’t know was:

Specific heat of copper:                  (determined to be 0.385 Joules/g°C)

Amount of airflow to cool this motor by 30°C:                     XXX cubic feet per minute

 

This airflow was determined using the process shown below, and the resulting calculations shown below.

 

 

The end result was confirmation that EXAIR model 120022, our 2” Super Air Amplifier, can use just 15.5 SCFM of compressed air at 80 PSIG to produce an airflow to cool this motor.  And, thanks to the skills of the team here at EXAIR we have the numbers to back up that claim.

If you have an application with a similar need and think we may be able to help, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE