Patent ID: 8482237
Filing Date: 2013-07-09
Classification: B60L,G01K,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A vehicle comprising: a power source configured to provide electrical energy; a motor having a motor temperature and a plurality of motor regions, including a volume of oil used to cool the motor, and a flux-producing region, non-flux producing region, and winding region of a stator of the motor, wherein each of the plurality of regions has a corresponding region temperature, and wherein the motor is configured to receive electrical energy from the power source and generate rotational motion from the electrical energy received; and a computing device having a thermal model which estimates each region temperature, wherein the computing device is configured to estimate the motor temperature in real time based at least in part on the estimated region temperatures from the thermal model of the motor, wherein the thermal model includes a plurality of nodes and at least one thermal resistance; wherein each node represents a corresponding one of the regions of the motor and wherein each thermal resistance represents a heat transfer path between at least two of the nodes.