ELECTRONICS
NABLA
HEAT
Heat transfer inside a transformer,
in minutes
WHAT IT IS
A tool for the heat exchange between an electrical machine and its cooling circuit
CHALLENGE
Estimating heat dissipation in a transformer usually means a numerical analysis nobody has time for
RESULT
Pressure losses, friction coefficients, hydraulic power and temperatures — validated on real transformers
01
CHALLENGE
A transformer's temperature profile depends on heat dissipation, losses, magnetic flux and material properties. Answering it with a full numerical analysis is defensible and slow, and early in a design the question is asked often.
02
SOLUTION
NablaHEAT simulates the heat exchange inside an electrical machine, where the heat generated is carried away by a cooling fluid. It works as a stationary calculation with FEM discretisation of the pipes, handles straight and bended water circuits as well as parallel ones, and uses the Dittus-Boelter and Gnielinski correlations for the heat transfer coefficient.
Configuration is deliberately unremarkable: the required data goes into an Excel spreadsheet and is imported through a graphical interface.
03
RESULTS
Pressure losses in the circuits, the friction coefficient of each element, the hydraulic power required, and the temperature in every element.
That is enough to predict temperature and energy efficiency profiles accurately. The results were validated against experimental data from the literature and tested on real transformers.