Determination of Stationary Temperature Distribution in Shielded Cables of Finite Length

Abstract

Thermal energy management is one of the most important aspects for the interior automobile design and often represents a bottleneck concerning the integration of electrical components in modern cars. Thus, the size of current bars and cables has to be dimensioned correctly. On the one hand, these connecting structures must not be too small for thermal reasons. Inadequate materials and component dimensions result in hotspot generation and overheating which could entail fatal damages. On the other hand, oversizing has to be avoided for reasons of space and weight reduction.  In this paper, we present a new approach to quickly and accurately compute the heat distribution in electric shielded cables of finite length. The derivation of a nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations allows computing the cable temperatures for the stationary case by a fixed point method. The heat generated inside the cable by the Joule effect is taken into account as well as the thermal energy emitted via the surface by convection and radiation and to adjacent components by conduction. To compare the simulation results to realistic settings, an experimental study was performed. Apart from the good accordance of computations and measurements, we show further advantages concerning calculation times and industrial practicability.
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