Passive Thermal Management Through Vapor Chamber Integration of a PMSM E-Motor installed on UAV for Urban Mobility Applications

Thermal management is a critical design challenge for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) employed in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion systems, where high power density and compact integration lead to significant heat generation. Excessive temperatures can compromise efficiency, reliability, and component lifetime, making the development of effective and lightweight cooling solutions essential. This study investigates the integration of a vapor chamber as a passive thermal management solution for a commercially available PMSM intended for UAV applications, whose thermal performance is evaluated under external airflow conditions representative of low-speed flight and hovering. Unlike conventional active cooling systems, the proposed approach does not require moving parts, external power input, or additional control devices. Heat transfer is driven by phase-change mechanisms within a sealed enclosure: as the local thermal load increases, the working fluid evaporates in the hotter regions and condenses in the cooler ones, redistributing heat autonomously without external intervention — a self-regulating behavior particularly suited to the constraints of UAV propulsion systems. A simplified three-dimensional model of the motor housing was developed, and steady-state conjugate heat transfer simulations were performed in ANSYS Fluent to evaluate the thermal performance of the system. Three configurations were analyzed: a baseline motor without vapor chamber, a configuration with an integrated vapor chamber, and a configuration combining the vapor chamber with an external copper fin array. The vapor chamber was modeled using an equivalent porous-medium approach for the wick structure, coupled with a multiphase formulation to capture liquid–vapor interactions within the core. The results demonstrate that vapor chamber integration significantly reduces peak pole temperature, with reductions ranging from 38K to 159K (approximately 10% to 31% relative to the baseline configuration) depending on operating conditions. At higher thermal loads, the device transitions from a liquid-filled regime to an active two-phase operation, enhancing heat transfer through evaporation and condensation. The addition of an external copper fin array further improves thermal performance, achieving a maximum pole temperature reduction of 203K (approximately 33% relative to the baseline) under low-airflow, high-load conditions. A key finding of this study is the strong coupling between the external fin array and the internal phase-change behavior of the vapor chamber: by lowering the condensation-side temperature, the fins promote a more active two-phase regime, enhancing overall heat transfer performance beyond what either component achieves independently. These results highlight the potential of vapor chamber technology, particularly when combined with extended surfaces optimized for the dominant flight regime, as a lightweight, passive, and self-regulating cooling strategy for compact UAV electric propulsion systems.