Heat transfer study in a rotor–stator system air-gap with an axial inflow

Discoidal rotor–stator systems are nowadays sometimes used in electrical wind generator. The cooling of such a system is a major problem due to the fact that high electrical losses are dissipated for relatively low rotational speed, responsible of the cooling. A new cooling solution is then investigated in this paper. So, this paper presents an experimental study of the local heat transfers on the rotor surface in the air-gap of a discoidal rotor–stator system, in which an air jet comes through the stator and impinges the rotor. To determine the surface temperatures, measurements were taken on the rotor, using an experimental technique based on infrared thermography. A thermal balance equation was used to identify the local convective heat transfer coefficient. The influence of the axial Reynolds number Rej and the rotational Reynolds number Re was measured and compared with the data available in the literature. Local convective heat transfer coefficients were obtained for an inter-disk dimensionless spacing interval G ranging from 0.01 to 0.16 for Rej between 0 and 41,666 and for Re between 20,000 and 516,000. The rotating disk can thus be divided into zones: one dominated by the air jet near the center of the rotor and one affected by both the air jet and rotation. Even though these two zones are not located in the same place on the disk, the heat transfers with non-zero impinging jets appear to be continuously improved compared to those with no jets. Critical radii over the rotor surface are identified and correlations are given.