Inverter-fed Motor Insulation Research Articles

Temperature Impact on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors: From Ground Level to Cruising Altitude

Temperature Impact on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors: From Ground Level to Cruising Altitude

PDIV Modeling for Rectangular Wire Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter Fed Motors Through Thermal Aging

PDIV Modeling for Rectangular Wire Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter Fed Motors Through Thermal Aging

Air Pressure Impact on the Avalanche Size for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors

Air Pressure Impact on the Avalanche Size for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors

Fillet Radius Impact of Rectangular Insulated Wires on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors

Fillet Radius Impact of Rectangular Insulated Wires on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors

Modeling Humidity Impact on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors at Different Temperatures

Modeling Humidity Impact on PDIV for Turn-to-Turn Insulation of Inverter-Fed Motors at Different Temperatures

Design of a Rectangular Wave High Voltage Generator for the Evaluation of Inverter-Fed Motor Insulation

The urgent need for the safer operation of inverter-fed motors is leading research to the qualification tests under high frequency rectangular wave voltages. Consequently, the generation of rectangular wave voltages with adjustable parameters has become a major concern for manufacturers and researchers. This paper presents a design of high frequency and high voltage pulse generator able to provide unipolar or bipolar pulses up to 20 kV peak-to-peak with variable rise and fall time that can be tuned down to 40 ns. Such a generator is performant enough for testing a large part of motors following standards and with more stressful conditions for research of new winding technologies. Resorting to high voltage push-pull solid-state switches and dielectrics liquid & air-cooling technique, the tested capacitance load can reach up to 3000 pF. Also, the over-current protection circuit is carefully designed and verified by using real-time logic control hardware. The proposed generator has been successfully used for endurance tests and partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) detection at repetitive impulsive voltages for capacitive, inductive insulation structures and windings during the qualification evaluation of inverter-fed motors.

Design of an Effective Antenna for Partial Discharge Detection in Insulation Systems of Inverter-fed Motors

Partial discharge (PD) measurements under repetitive impulse voltages are critical for the qualification of inverter-fed motor insulation systems. Severe electromagnetic interference due to high frequency switching from power electronic devices can cause the traditional PD detection techniques of sinusoidal voltage unfeasible. This article presents the design of an Archimedes spiral antenna that can work effectively for PD detection under fast rise time repetitive impulse voltages. The antenna structure is optimized by a media superstrate with a high dielectric constant over the radiant surface. Through the optimized design, both the gains of the antenna in the 0.5–1.5 GHz frequency range and the signal-to-noise ratio for PD detection are increased substantially. Modeling and experimental results prove that the gain of the antenna can reach 2.5 dB in the frequency range of 500–900 MHz and become higher than 7.0 dB in the frequency range of 900–2.0 GHz, with a voltage standing–wave ratio smaller than 1.4. This seems to be a significant achievement for PD detection under fast rise time impulse voltages.

Pulse width modulation voltage source deadtime effect on partial discharge and lifetime of inverter‐fed motor insulation

This paper analyses the impact of square wave pulse voltage deadtime on the partial discharge (PD) and the lifetime of turn-to-turn insulation. A bipolar repetitive pulse voltage with a deadtime of 0–10 μs is produced using double half-bridge solid-state switches having push–pull technology controlled by a field-programmable gate array. The mechanism of the discharge process at rising and falling edges of the pulse voltage before and after deadtime is analysed in detail. The discharge amplitude and PD probability at the rising/falling edges of the voltage waveform increase as the deadtime increases from 0 to 10 μs due to the remanent charges. The number of PD and their intensity is higher at the first rising/falling edges of pulse voltage as compared to the second rising/falling edges for all deadtimes 0–10 μs. As the deadtime increases beyond 2 μs, the number of PDs increases and concentrates at a specific phase angle of rising/falling edges. These localise discharges degrade the insulation material and reduce its lifetime. This study helps to identify the inverter-fed motor insulation faults due to deadtime. It can provide guidelines to motor insulation designers to determine the limit value of deadtime to compensate PD and ensure the safer operation of such motors.

Design of Archimedes Spiral Antenna to Optimize for Partial Discharge Detection of Inverter Fed Motor Insulation

The partial discharge (PD) in inverter-fed motors generated from high frequency and short rise time impulsive voltage are more complex than traditional sinusoidal voltage operated motors due to the noise initiated from fast switching power electronics devices. Available PD sensors and related technology for DC and sinusoidal voltage cannot be used at repetitive impulsive voltage conditions. This work aims to report the design of antenna with optimized geometry and satisfied parameters to detect PD for impulsive voltage. The antenna is verified and the influence of both impulse voltage parameters and test configuration on PD features are discussed. The envelope detection technique after the filter in the frequency domain was proposed to reduce the complexity and cost of PD test hardware under impulsive voltages with fast rise times. The frequency domain energy of PD from motor insulation is mainly distributed in the range of 0.6-1.8 GHz. By increasing the amplitude and frequency of input impulsive voltage, the range of PD energy spectrum is enlarged to (1.5-1.8 GHz) and by decreasing input amplitude the PD signal strength decays abruptly. Moreover, the high-frequency distribution of PD energy attenuates more severely with the distance and the electromagnetic energy of PD decays nonlinearly with the increase of propagation distance. Therefore, under the premise of satisfying the safety test, selecting the test distance below 15 cm can ensure that the test results have a high signal-to-noise ratio and signal integrity. The experience reported in this study could provide suggestions for off-line PD measurements for inverter-fed motor insulation evaluations for manufacturers.

Effects of nanoparticles on reducing partial discharge induced degradation of polyimide/Al2O3 nanocomposites

Polyimide (PI) films, which are widely used in turn-to-turn insulation of inverter-fed motors, are generally degraded by bipolar continuous square impulse voltage (BCSIV) induced partial discharge (PD). In this paper, Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanoparticles were dispersed into PI (with 0, 2, 5 and 8 wt.%) to prepare PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites. In order to understand the effects of nanoparticles on reducing the degradation of PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites from the physical, chemical and electrical point of view, PD aging characteristics, micromorphology, bonding structure, surface conductivity and trap level distribution of PI and PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites under different PD aging time were studied. The PD aging results showed that the lifetime of NC8 (PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> with 8 wt.% of Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> ) increased by 215.8% (from 19.6 to 61.9 min) compared with that of PI. The micromorphology results indicated that nanoparticles could prevent the same local point of PI from being eroded continuously during PD aging. Based on the bonding structure analysis, it was found that new bonds formed in the nanoparticle/polyimide interfacial region would be destroyed firstly, which helped reduce dissociations of other chemical bonds of polyimide molecules, by absorbing PD energy. It was also found that the conductive acids generated during the degradation process were responsible for the increase of surface conductivity. Besides, the trap level distribution showed that both trap density and energy in PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites decreased as degradation, while the trend of PI was opposite. It indicated the degradation of PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites was mitigated compared with PI, which could be attributed to the improved electrical characteristics of PI/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> nanocomposites.

Effect of repetitive impulsive voltage duty cycle on partial discharge features and insulation endurance of enameled wires for inverter-fed low voltage machines

Dealing with electrical rotating machines fed by voltage converters, understanding the effect of impulsive voltage parameters on partial discharge features is of great importance to select appropriate impulsive voltage to perform partial discharge inception voltage measurements. Similarly, the dependence of insulation endurance on voltage parameters might help to develop qualification tests providing more accurate evaluation of insulation performance. The effect of voltage duty cycle on partial discharge characteristics and endurance of inverter-fed motor insulation were investigated through a large number of tests performed on single-contact crossed enameled wires under bipolar repetitive impulse wave voltages. The partial discharge pattern, magnitude, repetition rate show that short impulsive voltage duration (i.e. small duty cycles), can induce asymmetric PD patterns and reduce the probability of PD inception at the falling flanks of impulsive voltages. Moreover, the endurance tests indicate that the duty cycle of the repetitive square wave voltage can affect the insulation endurance significantly. Repetitive square wave voltages with small duty cycles tend to overestimate endurance. Accordingly, when performing partial discharge inception voltage and endurance tests on insulation of inverter-fed motors, the influence of duty cycle should be carefully considered.

Fuzzy Logic-based Electrothermal Life Model for Inverter-fed Induction Motor Insulation

Pulse width modulated adjustable speed drives used in industries lead to significant advantages in terms of performance, size, and efficiency. But, the output voltage and the current waveforms become non-sinusoidal leading to an increase in voltage and thermal stresses. This results into accelerated insulation aging and premature failure of the motors. With multiple stresses, the life models for insulating materials become complex and ambiguous. This article presents the fuzzy logic application to derive an electrothermal life model to investigate the synergic effects of voltage and thermal stresses on intrinsic aging of inverter-fed induction motor insulation. Three parameters, viz. voltage stress factor, waveform slope stress factor, and spike frequency factor, are proposed to describe the insulation stresses for pulse width modulated voltages. These parameters are computed from the experimental results at different switching frequencies and are used in fuzzy logic-based life estimation algorithms. The results of the fuzzy logic life model are verified by performing the accelerated aging test with the same pulse width modulated voltages on paper insulation. An electrothermal life model is derived from the fuzzy logic results, which can be directly used for the life estimation of any general purpose low-voltage inverter-fed induction motor insulation.

PD characteristics and microscopic analysis of polyimide film used as turn insulation in inverter-fed motor

Polyimide nano-composite film (Kapton 100CR) is a special type of engineering plastic film, which is widely used in turn insulation of form-wound inverter-fed motor. Partial discharge (PD) caused by high-frequency surge impulse is one of the key factors leading to premature failure of turn insulation of inverter-fed motors. Aging experiments on turn insulation samples under repetitive bipolar square impulse voltage were carried out in this study. Experimental results show that, in the presence of PD, the damage to the structure of the polyimide nano-composite film under impulse voltage is concentrated on the surface layer of the sample. Moreover, the results indicate that with the increase of aging time, the discharge phase distribution becomes broader. Therefore, the appearance of the discharge at higher phase would be the reflection that the insulation of the sample reaches its terminal stage. Surface microscopic images taken by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) show that, because of PD erosion, the polymer matrix was carbonized and volatilized, the residual nano-fillers remained on the surface and formed a screen layer to resist further damages caused by PDs. It is a symbol that faults expand rapidly when the floccules and voids appear on the surface layer, which indicates the insulation could be breakdown soon.

The influence of repetitive square wave voltage parameters on enameled wire endurance

The dependence of endurance test results on repetitive square wave voltage waveform parameters is investigated in this paper focusing on crossed pair specimens made of polyamide-imide enameled wires. Endurance tests carried out on crossed pairs above partial discharge inception voltage using both sinusoidal and square wave voltages show that lifetimes can be influenced significantly by voltage waveform parameters (rise time and frequency). Partial discharge statistics, recorded from test beginning to breakdown, are used to explain the remarkable differences associated with voltage waveform parameters. According to this study, the influence of voltage waveform parameters should be carefully considered in order to obtain effective evaluation of inverter-fed motor insulation systems.

Dynamic behavior of surface charge on direct- fluorinated polyimide films

Polyimide film, as a special type of engineering plastic film, is a kind of basic insulating material and is widely applied in the aerial, nuclear, microelectronic industry, turn to turn insulation and turn to ground insulation of inverter-fed motors. However, premature insulation failures occur frequently in motors with the disadvantage of pure PI inherent in all organic materials. The existence of surface charge has a great effect on breakdown characteristic and is the main reason leading to dielectric breakdown. Fluorination as change the chemical component in surface layer of polymers should give rise to the corresponding change in electrical properties of the surface layer thus influence the charge injection from electrodes when they are used as an insulator. This paper presents a study aimed at clarifying the effect of fluorination time on surface charge accumulation and decay behaviors of fluorinated polyimide film. Samples were surface fluorinated in a laboratory vessel at about 328 K (55 °C) using a F2/N2 mixture with 20% F2 by volume and 0.05 MPa (500 mbar) for respectively 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes. Corona charging tests were performed at room temperature with a relative humidity of ~ 40%. The charge distribution was measured by means of an electrostatic voltmeter. Obtained results show the dependence of the charge density as well as the charge decay rate upon the fluorination time of samples, varying as a function of the charge polarity and charging time. It is suggested that the fluorination can significantly improve the decay rate of the surface charge in polyimide films.

Effect of repetitive square voltage frequency on partial discharge features

The inverter-fed motor is a key component of environmental-friendly hybrid cars, high-speed trains, and other industrial applications. After the widespread use of inverter-fed motors, the repetitive impulse surges from inverters were found to cause new insulation problems in inverter-fed motors that were linked to premature insulation failure. The partial discharge (PD) induced by the overvoltage inner stator windings was found to be the root cause of insulation reliability problems. To mitigate this problem, PD detection and life testing at repetitive square voltages should be performed on new types of insulation models and entire motor insulation systems. The obtained partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) and lifetime of insulation in the tests can be used to evaluate the insulation status of inverter-fed motor insulation systems and thus to improve the insulation designs. At AC voltage conditions, the voltage frequency can significantly affect PD activity. At repetitive square voltage with rapid rise time, the influence of the square voltage frequency on PD activity should be investigated (1) to suggest values for the repetitive square voltage frequency selection for the PDIV and lifetime tests, and (2) to increase the signal-to-noise ratio when extracting PD pulses from strong disturbances generated by the operating switch of impulse generators. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of repetitive square voltage frequency on PD events. Insulation models of both Type I (low-voltage inverter-fed motor) and Type II (high-voltage inverter-fed motor) were used to obtain single-PD and multi-PD statistical features, respectively. Experimental results indicated that higher frequencies caused less PD events with lower PD magnitudes and shorter delay times in one square voltage cycle. This phenomenon was attributed to the different surface charge decay ratios and the initial electron emission probabilities resulting from different square voltage frequencies. Finally, a number of considerations for PD measurements on inverter-fed motors were provided to improve the sensitivity of the PD test system and to obtain high objective insulation lifetime test results, which are used to assess the insulation status of inverter-fed motors.

Study of partial discharge characteristics at repetitive square voltages based on UHF method

Due to overvoltage produced by inverter output, inverter-fed motor insulation systems often experience fast electrical aging process, especially when partial discharge (PD) is incepted. Before putting into use, the PD detection should be performed on inverter-fed motors at repetitive square voltages to avoid the PD caused insulation deterioration when the motors are collected to inverters having specific characteristics. However, unlike PD tests at AC/DC voltages proposed in IEC 60270, the PD detection at repetitive square voltages is much more complex because of serious interference generated by impulse generator. To solve the problem, ultra-high frequency (UHF) method seems recommendable for its preferable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The chief aim of this study is to investigate PD pulse and statistical characteristics of turn-to-turn insulation for inverter-fed traction motors. A square-shaped Archimedes antenna, specially designed for the PD detection at repetitive square voltages of fast rise times, was used to perform PD tests on turn-to-turn insulation models. Time and frequency analysis results indicate that energy component of generator disturbance and PD pulses are mainly distributed in the 0–0.5 GHz and 0.6–1.5 GHz range, respectively. Based on the results, suitable filter was designed for power disturbance suppression. Additionally, resorting to the sensor unit (i.e. antenna and filter) and the PD test system, the PD statistical features at square voltages of different frequencies were obtained. Experimental results show that higher frequency will give rise, statistically, to PD of lower magnitudes distributing at smaller phases. A reasonable interpretation of this phenomenon was presented. Lastly, according to the PD statistical features, some suggestions for the PD detection system design, generator parameter optimization and the PD pulse extracting were given. The results of this work would be beneficial to the increase of the sensitivity when performing the PD detection on insulation systems for inverter-fed motors at repetitive square voltages and thus, improving the reliability of inverter-fed motors.

Electrical Treeing Breakdown Properties for Polyimide Nanocomposite Film in Inverter-Fed Motors

The failure of magnet wires used in inter-turn insulation of inverter-fed motor winding is the main cause which leads to the motor insulation breakdown. This paper conducted electrical tree breakdown experiments on magnet wire insulating film (FCR 100) used in the inter-turn insulation of JD117 inverter-fed motor and meanwhile combining with energy spectrum analysis and scanning electrical microscope (SEM), by which type and content of elements, breakdown main body and electrical tree channel could be clearly observed, the corresponding failure mechanisms were analyzed. The experiment results reveal that all the breakdown main bodies are located at the pointedness and insulation joint of magnet wires, of which dielectric strength is relatively lower; they are the insulation “weak point”, which should be paid enough attention and strengthened at the manufacturing period. The electrical tree breakdown time is quite long and the life span of magnet wire is 11 hours. The electrical breakdown strength of envelope is very low when containing metal impurity. It is also found that the aluminum occupies the highest content tested by energy spectrum analysis.

Multifactor Stress Life Model of Polyimide Film Used in Inverter-Fed Traction Motors

The inverter-fed traction motor is one of the key components in the locomotive. However, the motor insulation failures have repeatedly occurred in premature. The failure mechanism for insulation under continuous impulses is different from that under sine waves. The single stress approach in design stage and also in ageing studies offers relative simplicity, but it is inapplicable to real life operating conditions which mostly are of multi-stress type. In this paper, a novel test apparatus of insulation failure time was designed for accelerating aging test. Meanwhile, electrical breakdown experiments on magnet wire insulating polyimide film (FCR 100) used in the inter-turn insulation of JD117 inverter-fed motor was conducted. The effects of multi-stress including impulse amplitude-temperature and impulse frequency-temperature were investigated respectively. The test results under different conditions were analyzed based on statistic analysis of Weibull distribution. Finally, insulation life models under combined thermal and electrical stresses were proposed using the multi-stress approach. A fitted formula for ageing life was presented which had two independent variables of voltage and temperature. The generality of the model lies in the fact that it can be used for designing of insulation system of all electrical components containing solid insulating materials surrounded by gas. Since the model is based on the probability of insulation deterioration under the action of the stresses applied, that gives us the opportunity to calculate the life time of insulation system for given system of stresses, the materials selected and the requested probability of failureless system operation.

Silica nanofilled varnish designed for electrical insulation of low voltage inverter-fed motors

The resistance to partial discharges of pure, microfilled and nanofilled Polyetherimide varnish for low voltage motors fed by inverters is presented. Micro and nano-sized Silica particles (1.5 % wt) are used as fillers. Experimental results of lifetime versus temperature (-55 to 180°C), frequency (5 to 15 kHz) and level of the applied square voltage (+/- 1 kV to +/- 3 kV) clearly demonstrate that nanofillers are more efficient than microfillers. The lifetime of nanofilled polyetherimide varnish is found to be up to thirty times higher than the standard one. Crucial properties for a varnish such as its electrical conductivity, its dc and ac dielectric strengths and its bonding strength are measured. Due to the presence of aggregates having a micrometric size, the microfilled varnish exhibits the worst characteristics, except for the ac dielectric strength which remains unchanged. These aggregates act as bridges for charge carriers, increasing the conduction current and reducing the resulting dc dielectric breakdown field. They also reduce the mechanical properties of the varnish.