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Rivian may add motor stator cooling sprayer system

Jac

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“The new Rivian patent proposes using coolant sprayers on the outer stator windings to solve this problem. The coolant can be an oil-based electric motor lubricant or a special dielectric (insulating) fluid derived from purified synthetic oil. Spraying the stator windings with this coolant drenches the windings with this coolant.
An oil sump will catch the coolant after it has passed through the windings, from where it will be pumped to a heat exchanger to shed the absorbed heat before being returned to the stator windings via an electronically-controlled pump. Electronic control enables more accurate management of the motor's temperature and will ensure more consistent performance, as well as reduce the risk of thermal shock damage to the stator coils. The end result is a longer motor life as well as consistent performance, regardless of how hard the electric motor has been working.

Perhaps these updates will come to new versions of the company's existing products, or maybe they'll only be seen in a few years to come. If EVs are to take over, they need to get more efficient, and Rivian is working overtime to make that happen.”

Full article: https://carbuzz.com/news/rivian-knows-how-to-make-electric-motors-more-reliable
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kylealden

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This is a good time for a reminder that most tech-adjacent companies will patent every good idea they have, regardless of whether they intend or expect to ship it.
 

madgrey

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The Munro tear-down revealed some details about the motor cooling architecture, as compared to Tesla. It seems like the approach Rivian took is simple but I don't know how effective it is. I think part of the reason for the governed max speed is motor cooling capacity. Not an issue for a 1/4 mile run but could be for that 150 kilometer stretch of the autobahn, or the high-speed portion of the Nurburgring, or even on Virginia International Raceway (where Car and Driver might do a "lightning lap" with an R1 sometime soon).
 

prism7118

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Is this a reason why people lose regen when going down long stretches of steep grade?
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