Effect of the Stator Slot Indents on Fluid Damping Loss in Submersible Pump Applications

In this study, the effect of fluid damping on the performance of a 2-pole, 4-kW line start synchronous reluctance machine (LS-SynRM) with different slot opening structures for submersible water pump applications is investigated. Since the submersible pump motors run inside a fluid-filled environment and the fluid viscosity and density differ from the air, it causes an increased damping effect comparing air-filled machines. Hence, a non-negligible damping loss occurs. In this study, the damping effects of the fluids in a 24 slot LS-SynRM for various stator slot indentations are investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) finite element analysis (FEA) to highlight the importance of the fluid damping loss in flooded machines. Results show that the damping loss can go as high as 10% of the motor output power when the stator surface has indentations, and this loss can be cut down to 3.5 % when the surface indentations are eliminated with custom no-slotting wedge structures.