Abstract
This paper describes a comparison of thermal characteristics of stator shapes and frames in switched reluctance motor. It has been published that stator shapes and frame shapes had a large influence on noise and vibration performance, but thermal characteristics haven't been studied. Four different stator shapes were analyzed by using transient magnetic analysis in order to calculate the losses, which were taken into thermal analysis as heat source. Three dimensional finite element thermal analyses was then carried out to study four different stators with same basic dimension, and it was found that the square shape was most heat conductive. Frames including conventional axial ribbed aluminum frame, axial ribbed iron casting frame, radial ribbed frame, no ribbed frame were modeled and analyzed. The simulation results could be used to help make a choice between different stators and frames considering both vibration behavior and thermal behavior.