3D steady-state thermal load analysis of the bus-bar in large-scale generator with evaporative cooling system

In hydro-generator, stator bus bar is a vital electrical part and the overheating problem of it is one of the common accidents in hydro-generator. Based on the characteristics of evaporative cooling technology, reliability of large-scale hydro-generator would be enhanced if applying evaporative cooling technology to the stator bus bar. Because of the complex construction of bus bars, copper loss, as the driving force of self-circulation evaporative cooling system of bus bar, has an uneven and complicated distribution. Firstly, this paper briefly introduces evaporative cooling technology and points out several advantages and research difficulties of evaporative cooling stator bus bar. Secondly, based on theory model of eddy current and the finite element calculation software, 3D steady-state copper losses of a group of bus bars with typical structure are calculated. According to the calculation results, characteristics of thermal load distributions of bus bars with typical structure will be summed up.