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Oil or water cooling
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:52 pm
by FFMan
Ok this might be a daft question, but i have 3 components in my EV project that need cooling (lets forget the batteries for now), the charger, the inverter and the motor.
So i am assuming i can run coolant (water & anti-freeze) through the charger and inverter.
With the motor (PHEV rear) though, is the coolant route through the motor actually the lubricating oil supply like say an oil cooler on an engine i.e. running the lubricating oil outside the engine to cool it. In which case, does that need to be oil circulating, or is it water cooling, and the oil is self contained ?
thanks
Re: Oil or water cooling
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:44 pm
by arber333
FFMan wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:52 pm
Ok this might be a daft question, but i have 3 components in my EV project that need cooling (lets forget the batteries for now), the charger, the inverter and the motor.
So i am assuming i can run coolant (water & anti-freeze) through the charger and inverter.
With the motor (PHEV rear) though, is the coolant route through the motor actually the lubricating oil supply like say an oil cooler on an engine i.e. running the lubricating oil outside the engine to cool it. In which case, does that need to be oil circulating, or is it water cooling, and the oil is self contained ?
thanks
Normally coolant for all electronic devices and the motor is 50:50 water glycol mix we call antifreeze.
But sometimes OEM has to use oil as coolant because motor and bearings need to be forced lubricated. That is the case inside large gearboxes with multi motor generators and clutch packs.
If you must use oil for motor cooling (BMW X6 hybrid Remy motor, or Chevy Volt gearbox) i suggest you use ATX oil cooler exchanger and connect motor oil through one port and coolant via the other port. This will let you have a short oil lines and you will be able to use a single cooling circuit.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 46261.html
Re: Oil or water cooling
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:46 pm
by Mhs
To my knowledge, the rear motor came from factory with water cooling, check the below pictures (although I'm unsure where did I get them from, someone can confirm..)
38712149625_b990c6baee_o.png
38712144005_07f4b6a7ec_o.png
Edit: okay I found the information from this link, maybe you can find related other information:
https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/v ... php?t=4255
Re: Oil or water cooling
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:34 pm
by FFMan
that's a great help thanks.
So i can use water as i have a rear motor, but those using front motor should be running CVT fluid.
Re: Oil or water cooling
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:27 pm
by LRBen
I have a rear Outlander Motor in my build. Running one coolant loop through the motor, inverter and charger. I think ideally you would want to separate out the motor since it runs a bit hotter than the inverter and charger. But I haven't had any issues with my setup so far in terms of heat.
Only using a heater matrix as a radiator.