Cooling system for electrical machine

A cooling system for an electrical machine comprising a plurality of separate parts, said cooling system comprising:

• a hydraulic circuit including a plurality of parallel main branches each containing a multiplicity of substantially similar parallel subsidiary branches, each main branch being located in a respective part of the electrical machine, said hydraulic circuit further including a plurality of feed tubes equal in number to said main branches and a plurality of discharge tubes equal in number to said main branches, the feed tube of each main branch being subdivided into a pair of tube sections connected in parallel to one another, each tube section being connected to approximately the half of the subsidiary branches of the main branch, while the discharge tube is connected to an output end of the subsidiary branches of said associated main branch;
• circulation means including a pump operatively connected to said hydraulic circuit for circulating a liquid coolant therethrough;
• heat exchanger means operatively coupled to said hydraulic circuit for extracting heat energy from said coolant upon a passage thereof through said hydraulic circuit during operation of said electrical machine;
• throughput measuring means operatively coupled to said parallel tube sections for monitoring the rates of coolant flow therethrough during operation of said electrical machine;
• comparison means operatively linked to said throughput measuring means for comparing the rates of coolant flow through the tube sections of said pair of parallel tube sections;
• and
• evaluating means operatively tied to said comparison means for generating a warning signal upon detecting that a measured difference between the rates of coolant flow through the tube sections of a pair of parallel tube sections differs from a preselected reference value by more than a predetermined amount.

A cooling system for an electrical machine comprising a plurality of separate parts, said cooling system comprising:

• a hydraulic circuit including a plurality of parallel main branches each containing a multiplicity of substantially similar parallel subsidiary branches, each main branch being located in a respective part of the electrical machine, said hydraulic circuit further including a plurality of feed tubes equal in number to said main branches and a plurality of discharge tubes equal in number to said main branches, the discharge tube of each main branch being subdivided into a pair of tube sections connected in parallel to one another, each tube section being connected to approximately the half of the subsidiary branches of the main branch, while the feed tube is connected to an input end of the subsidiary branches of said associated main branch;
• circulation means including a pump operatively connected to said hydraulic circuit for circulating a liquid coolant therethrough;
• heat exchanger means operatively coupled to said hydraulic circuit for extracting heat energy from said coolant upon a passage thereof through said hydraulic circuit during operation of said electrical machine;
• throughput measuring means operatively coupled to said parallel tube sections for monitoring the rates of coolant flow therethrough during operation of said electrical machine;
• comparison means operatively linked to said throughput measuring means for comparing the rates of coolant flow through the tube sections of each pair of parallel tube sections;
• and
• evaluating means operatively tied to said comparison means for generating a warning signal upon detecting that a measured difference between the rates of coolant flow through the tube sections of a pair of parallel tube sections differs from a preselected reference value by more than a predetermined amount.