I would like to know if the permanent magnet synchronous motor model in PLECS can calculate thermal losses.
Based on this, I used the heat sink module in the PLECS model to try to calculate the thermal losses of the PMSM, but the temperature remained constant at 25°C. I would like to confirm whether this is because the simulation time was too short to cause a noticeable change in temperature.
Thank you for your answer！
In general the thermal modeling concept in PLECS is intended mainly for power semiconductors (conduction and switching losses), though other ohmic loss sources can also be monitored and measured.
Electric machines are not configured for use with the thermal modeling approach, however- hence your finding that the machine blocks themselves do not influence temperatures when placed within a heatsink’s borders. Having said that, you can in theory capture losses from electrical resistors under the mask of a machine component (breaking the library link is necessary to make internal modifications), but obviously this is only the case for the VBR reference frame implementations with the PMSM block (and not the rotor reference frame). Even then, you’d have to determine if such a measurement is providing you sufficient insights into the losses within the machine as there are of course other sources of losses. Alternatively you can place series resistances external to the machine component or have a fully-independent network for estimating (certain) losses by measuring internal signals to the machine and using those to drive a parallel, independent circuit that mimics the desired machine behavior.
In short, PLECS does not currently offer a thermal aspect to the electric machine blocks (or not without some hacks and caveats), and FEA simulations are better suited for such studies.
Thanks to your guidance, I have a clearer understanding now.
