Main advantages and design basis of air-cooled spindle motor from Minnie's blog

1.Definition of air-cooled spindle motor

An air-cooled spindle motor is a motor that uses air as a cooling medium. Its main feature is to use air flowing through the inside or outside of the motor to reduce the temperature of the motor. This cooling method is usually suitable for application scenarios that do not require excessive cooling or are more cost-sensitive

                     GDZ105×102L-3.5C4

2.Working principle of air-cooled spindle motor

It mainly relies on air cooling technology, which is a method of cooling the motor through an external fan or blower. Specifically, air cooling technology installs a cooling fan on the motor shaft. When the motor is working, the fan rotates at the same time, and the generated air flow passes through the motor and takes the heat generated by the motor out of the motor through the heat pipe, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling the motor. In addition, a radiator air inlet is set at the front end of the motor, and the air flow generated by the fan is diffused to the surrounding of the motor, further enhancing the cooling effect. This cooling method does not require the motor to rely on its own methods to achieve the cooling effect, but is achieved by adding an external fan or blower. The advantages of air cooling technology include relatively economical price, easy installation, and good cooling effect, so it is widely used in real applications. ‌

The air-cooled spindle motor is usually an AC motor, whose stator runs through three-phase AC, and the rotor is a permanent magnet. ‌A significant advantage of this motor is that it can provide AC energy through a DC power supply, realize precise control of the motor, and solve the life problem caused by the brush. ‌The spindle motor generally uses a photoelectric encoder to detect the speed and rotor position. The detected signal can be used as a feedback signal for vector frequency conversion control and used for magnetic field oriented control to further improve the productivity of machine tools and the utilization rate of tools.

3.The main advantages of air-cooled spindle motors

1.High speed stability: Air-cooled high-speed motors have good speed hardness characteristics and have high speed stability under load fluctuations, which significantly improves the surface finish of the workpiece. ‌

2.Direct drive without transmission error: Air-cooled electric spindles can achieve direct drive without any transmission error, which improves processing accuracy and efficiency. ‌

3.Good axial stability: The rotor of the air-cooled electric spindle is a rare earth permanent magnet structure, with no excitation current, low rotor heat generation, good spindle axial stability, and high workpiece processing accuracy. ‌4.Flexible power matching: The power can be arbitrarily matched with the thickness and length of the spindle, and the structure is extremely flexible, which can meet the application of various occasions with radial space restrictions on the spindle. ‌

5.Significant energy-saving effect: Under the same power conditions, the energy-saving effect of the air-cooled high-speed motor is 20%~50% higher than that of other asynchronous spindle motors. The greater the power, the more significant the energy-saving effect. ‌

4.Design basis of air-cooled spindle motors 

1.The design of air-cooled spindle motors first focuses on the stability and durability of the mechanical structure. Its casing adopts a single seamless structure extruded from high-strength aluminum alloy. This design not only reduces the weight, but also improves the rigidity of the structure. In addition, the casing is also made through special heat treatment to ensure its stability and durability at high speeds. ‌

2.In terms of bearings, the air-cooled spindle motor uses precision radial thrust rolling bearings, which contain steel balls and ceramic balls inside, and can withstand large loads and maintain high precision. In order to keep the bearings running well, high-speed special grease is used for lubrication to reduce friction and increase the service life of the bearings. ‌

3.The design of the air-cooled spindle motor also focuses on heat dissipation performance. By adopting an efficient air cooling system, using fans or forced convection, the heat generated during the operation of the motor is quickly dissipated, keeping the motor running within a safe operating temperature range to avoid damage due to overheating. ‌

4.In addition, the design of the air-cooled spindle motor also takes into account the wide range of product applications, including automatic tool change electric spindles, manual tool change electric spindles, five-axis heads, right-angle heads used with electric spindles, independent drilling and multi-axis electric spindle combinations, etc., to meet the needs of different industries and equipment. ‌

With the development of science and technology, air-cooled spindle motors have also shown a significant development trend in intelligence and remote monitoring. By integrating sensors, data analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms, the operating status of the bearing can be monitored and evaluated in real time, the fault location can be accurately located, and a scientific basis can be provided for maintenance decisions.