Today, let's talk about water-cooled alternators first. "Water cooling" is not the direct cooling of the alternator with water, but a simple term for "air-water indirect cooling", generally referred to as IC81W (IEC60034-6 and GB/T1993 are defined as IC81W, NEMA MG1 is defined as TEWAC, and CACW is used in other places to represent air-water indirect cooling).

The water-cooled alternator has the advantages of low noise, high IP protection level, and high reliability in harsh environments. It is very suitable for various ships with high requirements for generator reliability.

Let's take a look at the structure and heat dissipation principle of the indirect water-cooled alternator. In the following schematic diagram, the lower half is the body part of the generator, and the upper half is the air-water cooler.

The red hot air is driven by the centrifugal fan on the main shaft of the generator, and is extracted from the inside of the generator and enters the cavity of the air-water cooler. It is passed to the cooling water, so that the blue cold air flows out from the other side, and finally enters the inside of the generator, passing through the stator and rotor of the generator, so as to cool the generator.

The air only circulates between the generator and the water cooler, which is completely isolated from the outside, so that the generator can prevent solid dust and water from entering the inside of the generator, so that the generator can achieve a high protection level of IP44, and even further After special treatment, it can reach the protection level of IP55.

Based on the high reliability required by marine generators, in addition to the generator itself needs to be designed and manufactured in strict accordance with the specifications of the classification society, the air-water heat exchange unit of the water cooler is also a very critical component, which determines the cooling effect of the generator. thereby affecting the output of the generator.

The water cooler used in the Stamford® brand generator has the characteristics of high cooling efficiency. When the cooling water temperature reaches 38°C, it can still be used without power reduction. The air-water heat exchange of the water cooler adopts double-layer water pipes and is equipped with a water leakage alarm device, so as to protect the generator from safety risks caused by water leakage.

To meet the growing market demand for water-cooled generators, Cummins Generator Technologies has launched the first S7 series water-cooled generators based on the STAMFORD® brand.