CONFORMAL COOLING DEVICES FOR ROTATING GENERATOR ELEMENTS AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES FOR FABRICATING THE SAME

• Main Authors: Phielix, Tom, Coulam, Todd, Wilson, Ben, Iyer, Shreyas, Byrnes, Sean, Lockard, Regina, Van Osten, Kristen, Godfrey, Donald, Walker, Erek, Birdi, Balwinder
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.12.2021
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; BLASTING; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES; ELECTRICITY; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; GENERATION; HEATING; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; MACHINES OR ENGINES, IN GENERAL OR OF POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENTTYPE, e.g. STEAM ENGINES; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; STEAM ENGINES; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS

Electrical generators having one or more conformal support and cooling devices for use in supporting and cooling rotating elements of the generator are disclosed herein. An electrical generator includes a housing, a shaft disposed axially through the housing, a rotor assembly including a plurality of poles that are disposed within the housing and mounted on the shaft, a support wedge disposed between two of the plurality of poles. The conformal support and cooling device includes an internal cooling channel in a helical configuration or a V-shape configuration that extends from a first length-wise end of the support and cooling device to a second length-wise end of the support and cooling device. Additive manufacturing processes are employed to fabricate the conformal support and cooling device.