The oil injection method was studied to maximize the cooling performance of an electric vehicle motor with a hairpin winding. The cooling performance of the motor using the oil cooling method is proportional to the contact area of the oil and the coil. A numerical analysis was conducted to examine the effect of the spray nozzle type on the oil flow. The dripping nozzle forms the thickest oil film on the coil, making it the most effective for cooling of hairpin-type motors. Subsequently, an experimental study was conducted to optimize the nozzle diameter and number of nozzles. When the inlet diameter and number was 6.35 mm and 6, the oil film formation rate was 53%, yielding the most uniform oil film. Next, an experiment was performed to investigate the effects of the oil temperature and flow rate on the oil flow. The oil film formation rate was the highest (83%) when the oil temperature was 40 °C and the flow rate was 6 LPM.

This paper analyzes the characteristics of oil behavior in the oil-cooling of motors with hairpin winding to understand how to maximize cooling performance. The oil cooling is performed by directly spraying oil onto the motor components. The results show that as the temperature of the oil increases, the viscosity decreases, and the oil film is formed more evenly; however, oil splashing also increases. Similarly, as the flow rate increases, oil splashing also increases, but the amount of oil forming the oil film increases. However, the oil film is not affected by the rotor’s rotation. In contrast, the immersed oil is found to be closely related to the rotor’s rotation. As the rotational speed increases, the immersion oil is mixed with the air, and oil churning occurs. The mixing phenomenon increases as the temperature and flow rate of the oil increases. The higher the oil level, the greater the oil churning. As the oil is mixed with air, the heat transfer coefficient decreases, which adversely affects the thermal management of the motor. As a result, when considering the oil film and the immersion oil, the optimal oil temperature, flow rate, and oil level are at 60 °C, 0.140 kg/s, and 85 mm, respectively. The results of this paper give important information about EV motor cooling and can contribute to the development of high-performance motors.