Measurements on AC Motors in 2007

June to Nov 2007

Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer
www.ingenieurbuero-schimanek.com

by order of

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Table of contents

- General discription of the physical effects

- Summary of the taken peak voltage measurements on site
- Summary of Partial Discharge Inception Voltage
- Recommendations

Slide 2 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Controller

Fast switching elements in conjunction with long motor cables

lead to voltage stress of the winding insulation of the motor.
The measurements should give an overview of the actual situation
in terms of peak voltages at motor and inverter side.

Slide 3 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

690Vrms

peak _ voltage = 690V 2 = 976V

930Vdc

dc link _ voltage = 690V 1,35 = 930V

976V without load

930V with load

Slide 4 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

930Vdc

dc link _ voltage = 930V

690V operating voltage

350V operating voltage

930V with load

Slide 5 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

930Vdc

appr. 2kVpeak
Motor

DC-link-voltage

690V operating voltage

350V operating voltage

Slide 6 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Sketch of motor-winding

Uniform voltage distribution

along the turns of a winding
if the motor is fed with
line frequency voltage

Non-uniform voltage distribution

along the turns of a winding
if the motor is inverter fed.
This can cause PD in the insulation
system of the first turn of the winding
Slide 7 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Slide 8 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Electrical treeing within an organic isolation material due to PD

Slide 9 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Peak Voltage measurements on AC-Drives were taken

Chirag1

Top Drive in April 2007

West Azeri
Central Azeri
East Azeri

All Drives in July August 2007

Partial Discharge measurements on AC-Motors were taken

at Bentec

in October 2007
on various motors

Slide 10 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

dv/dt

peak
voltage

DC-link
voltage

Slide 11 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Top Drive peak voltage at motor terminals - initial incoming voltage 720Vac
Central Azeri

dv/dt = 4kV/1,85s = 2,2kV/s

peak voltage = 1.96kV
DC-link voltage = 1010V

Slide 12 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Top Drive voltage at motor terminals - reduced incoming voltage 700V

Central Azeri

dv/dt = 4kV/1,85s = 2,2kV/s

peak voltage = 1.84kV

DC-link voltage = 940V

Slide 13 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Short on and off times lead to a higher peak voltage as seen at

WA Cement pumps ABB ACS 600 Paramterer Lang Distance Mode= OFF

WA_pvfCem Pump_2_mot = 2,1

dv/dt = 4kV/0,64s = 6,3kV/s
peak voltage = 2,05kV

Voltage phase
to phase

DC-link voltage = 980V

voltage phase
to ground

Slide 14 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Discharge within the motor during the first minutes of operation!

EA_pvfCem-P1-mot = 2,2
peak voltage = 2,17kV

voltage phase
to phase
voltage phase
to ground

Slide 15 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Discussion of voltage peaks

The theoretical peak voltage at the motor terminals
is 2 times the DC-link voltage (if no filters are between inverter and motor)
The DC-link voltage varies with the load of the DC-bus.
The measurements are taken with different DC-load conditions.
To have a possibility to compare of the measurement results,
a peak voltage factor is introduced.

peak voltage factor = peak voltage / DC-link voltage

The overvoltage factor is constant for a certain configuration of
- specific dv/dt
- cable length
- type of cable
- maybe connections of cable shield to ground
- etc
Slide 16 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Central Azeri PVF

1,8
1,6
1,4

PVF-mot

1,2

PVF-inv

1,0
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2

CR

um
tP

IP

um

1
p
um
m
en
Ce

m
en

tP

m
Ce

Pu
M

ud

Pu
ud
M

3B
p

3A
p
m

m
Pu
ud

ud
M

2B
p

p
m
Pu

m
Pu
ud

2A

1B
p

1A
p
m

Pu
ud
M

Dr

aw

w
aw
Dr

or
ks

Dr
p

or
ks

ive

0,0

To

peak voltage factor

[peak voltage/DC-link voltage]

2,0

Slide 17 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

1,5
PVF-mot
1

PVF-inv

0,5

D
D
r iv
ra
e
w
w
or
ks
D
ra
A
w
w
or
M
ks
ud
B
P
um
M
p
ud
1A
P
um
M
p
ud
1B
P
um
M
p
ud
2A
P
um
M
p
ud
2B
P
um
M
p
ud
3A
P
um
C
em
p
3B
en
tP
C
um
em
p
en
1
tP
um
p
2
C
R
IP
um
p

To
p

peak voltage factor

[peak voltage/DC-link voltage]

West Azeri PVF

Slide 18 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

2
PVF-mot

1,5

PVF-inv
1

0,5

p
um

2
CR

um

IP

1
tP

um
Ce

m
en

tP

p
m

m
en

Ce

Pu
ud

3B

3A
p
m

Pu
ud
M

ud
M

ud
M

2B
p
m

Pu

m
Pu

m
Pu
ud

2A
p

1B
p

1A
p
m

Pu
ud

Dr

aw

or
ks

A
or
ks

w
aw

Dr

p
To

Dr

Dr

ive

ive

To

peak voltage factor

[peak voltage/DC-link voltage]

East Azeri PVF

Slide 19 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Partial Discharge Inception Voltage measurement in Bad Bentheim

with two methods of measurement
Sinusoidal voltage 50Hz

Surge voltage
with a dv/dt of about 5kV/s
repitition rate of 8Hz

Slide 20 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

5000

2500
PDIV sine 19C/58%
PDIV sine 28C/35%
PDIV pulse 19C/58%
PDIV pulse 28C/35%
2000
IR 19C/58%
IR 28C/35%

4500
4000

peak voltage [V]

3500
3000

1500

2500

max. voltage phase to phase

2000

1000

1500

max.voltage phase to ground

1000

Isolation Resistance [MOhm]

Result of measurement

500

**
500
0

0
General electricGeneral electricGeneral electricGeneral electricBentec /
/ GEB20B2 TT / GEB22 TT
/ GEB22-1
/ GEB20B3
711490
04030034
02080110
BP98030009 VV07010007

Reliance /
DL2814

*ATP /
47139002

Slide 21 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer

Peak voltage on AC-Motors / June to November 2007

Recommendation
- Parameter Long Distance mode ON on all ABB Drives to avoid short off-times
- Polution in conjunction with high humidity leads to surface discharge
inside the motor
- avoidance of pollution inside the motor keeps the IR at high values
- Motors with round wire windings like the Reliance motors on Chirag1 must be
improved in terms of PDIV otherwise these motors will fail again after a
short periode of time
- GEB20/22 motors should withstand the high voltages in general. If possible
an online PD measurement should be taken to ensure that there is no PD in
normal operation.

Slide 22 of 22
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives

Ernst Schimanek
Consultant Engineer