Conference Record of the 2004 IEEE International Symposium on Elecnical Insulation, Indianapolis, IN USA, 19-22 September 2004

Effects of Voltage Unbalance on Induction Motors

M a t Siddique, G.S.Yadavaand Bhim Singh*
I.T.M.M.E.C.,Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India.,Pin : 110016
* Electrical Engineering Department,,Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India.,Pin : 110016
arfat-iitdelhi@redifhail.com, gsyada\!a@itmmec.iitd.emet.in, hsingh@ee.iitd.emet.in
Abstracr:

Due to various techno-economic advantages associated

A lot of efforts have been reported in literature the adverse

with induction motors, these are widely used in industrial,

commercial and residential systems. Voltage unbalance causes a
lot of ill effects on induction motors. The problem of voltage
unbalanced has attracted special attention amongst electrical

effects on induction motor performance under unbalanced

voltage supply condition [I-71. Over-voltage unbalance is
defined as unbalance due to the positive-sequence voltage
component being higher than the balanced rated voltage. Most
of the research has been focused on voltage unbalance caused
by under-voltage. While over-voltage cases often occur in the
off-peak periods. Most of the regulations about voltage
unbalance only specify the percentage of voltage unbalance
factor (VLJF) without indicating the unbalance conditions e.g.,
the British standard BS-4999 General Requirements for
Rotating Electrical Machines [8] states that motors should
deliver their rated horsepower when fed continuously from a
supply having VUF of 2 percent or less, and the NEMA
Standard MGI 12.45-1987, Voltage Unbalance [9] states
that operation of a motor above 5 percent voltage unbalance is
not recommended. But the reality is that there are many
voltage unbalance cases which have the same voltage
unbalance factor (VUF). If only VUF is mentioned then
neither the exact voltage unbalance situation can be estimated
nor can the impacts on the power system due to voltage
unbalance not be evaluated.
Efforts have been made to discuss these issues in the present
paper. Further this paper investigates the effects of different
voltage magnihrde unbalances with the same voltage
on the stator loss and rotor copper
unbalance factor 0
loss and total copper loss of three classes of three-phase
induction motor. The copper losses of three different threephase induction motor under full load conditions have been
analyzed through simulation under six different voltage
magnitude unbalance conditions. The importance of the
positive-sequence voltage and the negative-sequence voltage
have been pointed out. Further the relative percentage increase
in the stator copper loss, rotor copper loss and total copper
losses have been investigated three different induction motors
working under unbalanced and balanced voltages. The
Simulink tool box under MATLAB environment has been
used in the analysis. Three definitions (Line voltage unbalance
in percent-LVUR, Phase voltage unbalance in percent-PVUR
and Voltage unbalance factor-VUF) of voltage magnitude
unbalance have been considered.

engineers dealing with power quality issues in recent past. Over

heating, line-current unbalance, derating, torque pulsation, and
inefliciency etc are the adverse effects of voltage unbalance. The
overheating leads to winding insulation degradation.
Due to much lower impedance to negative sequence voltage
component a high magnitude current gets induced in the rotor if
the voltages are unbalanced. The potential adverse effects
unbalanced voltages are stator and rotor heating which further
leads to winding and bearing failures if not checked in time. The
voltage unbalance cause significant additional power losses
resulting in the steady-state temperature rise of the windings.
This paper investigates the effects of different voltage magnitude
unbalances with the same voltage unbalance factor 0 on the
stator loss and rotor copper loss and total copper loss of three
classes of three-phase induction motor. Under six different
voltage magnitude unbalance conditions, the copper losses of
three different three-phase induction motor under full load
conditions has been analyzed through simulation. Following the
investigations, the importance of the positivesequence voltage
and the negative-sequence voltage have been pointed out. In the
present work, the relative percentage increase in the stator
copper loss, rotor copper loss and total copper losses have been
computed for the motor working under unbalanced and balanced
voltages. For this analysis MATLAB environment using Slmnlink
toolbox has been used. In this paper the three definitions (Line
voltage unbalance in percent-LWR, Phase voltage unbalance in
percent-PWR and Voltage unbalance factor-VUF) of voltage
magnitude unbalance have been considered.
The operation of the induction motor has been,cousidered at full
load. The analysis shows the effects of resulting losses during
unbalanced voltage supply. The increase in losses under
unbalanced voltages leads to the necessity of derating the motor.
Eqwords: Three-phase induction motor, Voltage unbalance
factor, Copper loss.

INTRODUCTION
Due to the incomplete transposition of transmission lines,
unbalanced loads, open delta transformer connections, blown
kses on three-phase capacitor hanks and so on, lead to power
system unbalance putting worries for the power companies.
Even unproportional unbalance in the line currents are caused
by a small unbalance in the line voltages. .
Because of various techno-economic benefits the induction
motors are widely used in industrial, commercial and
residential systems. Once the voltage is unbalanced, the ill
effects on induction motors will cause enormous impacts.

0-7803-8447-4/04/$20.0002004 IEEE.

TYPES OF VOLTAGE UNBALANCE AND

THEIR CAUSES
There are many unbalanced voltages possible with the same
voltage unbalance factor (VUF). In the present work the
following six different unbalanced cases are discussed [4]:

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Max. voltage deviation from the avg. phase

voltaxe mamitude'100
%PVUR=
Avg. phase voltage magnitude

(1) Single phase under-voltage unbalance (Itp-uy):

This type of situation arises when there a large single
phase load in the system and it doesn't have enough
compensation,. In this situation the voltage in that
particular phase will be lower than the other two phases.
(2) Two phases under-voltage unbalance (2@-UV:
This type of situation arises when two of the three phases
have heavy load and don't have enough compensation. In
this situation those two phases will have higher voltage
drop than the third phase.
( 3 ) Threephases under-voltage unbalance (3@-uv):
This type of situation arises when the loads of three
phases are all too heavy and not balanced In this
situation the three phases under-voltage unbalance will
occur.
(4) Single phase over-voltage unbalance (l@-Ov:
Capacitors are normally used to compensate system
reactive power. In order to maintain a system voltage at
rated value, if one of the three phase voltages has been
over-compensated, the voltage of this phase will he
higher than the rated value, the single phase over-voltage
unbalance occurs.
(5) Two phases over-voltage unbalance (2@-Ov):
If two of the three phases have been over compensated,
then the voltages of these two phases will be higher than
the rated value. This situation arises in a two phases overvoltage unbalance situation.
(6) Threephases over-voltage unbalance (3@-0v):
If the three-phase voltages are over-compensated to
different degrees, then all these three phases voltages will
be higher than the rated value and not equal. This type of
situation usually occurs at the lime when a factory is shut
down but capacitors are still connected to the system.

Exact (WF%)Defmition
The Exact definition of voltage unbalance is defmed as the
ratio of negative sequence voltage component to the positive
sequence voltage component. The percentage unbalance factor
(VUF), is given by

%VUF

Negative sequence voltaxe component * 100

Positive sequence voltage component

CALCULATION OF VOLTAGE UNBALANCE

FACTOR
Table I gives the tabulation of three phase voltages and their
positive and negative sequence voltage components in six
different cases of voltage magnitude unbalances with VUF
equal to 4%, 8% and 12%. The table also gives the values of
LVUR and PVUR for each of the unbalance cases. PVUR and
LVUR are not able to suggest the further action to he taken in
case of voltage unbalance situation whereas the VUF is
calculated using positive and negative sequence components.
Hence by comparing the balanced voltages with the positive
sequence component, the situation of voltage unbalance can be
estimated.

SIMULATED EFFECTS OF VOLTAGE

UNBALANCE ON INDUCTION MOTORS
In this present work the effect of different voltage magnitude
unbalances on the copper losses of three classes of threephase induction motors under full load steady state conditions
have been simulated applying MATLAB environment using
Power System Block set(PSB) and Simulink toolbox.
The three classes of induction motors Shp, 10 hp and 30 hp
have been considered. The supplied three-phase voltages have
been listed in the Table I. The various voltage unbalance
factors are fixed either at 4% or 8% or 12%.
Table I1 shows the effects of six different voltage unbalance
conditions on the copper losses of 5 hp, 10 hp and 30 hp under
three different percentage of WJF (4%, 8% and 12%).
It has been observed that :
The relative % age increase in total copper loss due to
voltage unbalance in case of 5 hp induction motor varies
from -14.53 % t o 21.53 % for WF=4%, from -1.587 3%
to 49.43 % for VUF=8%, and from 27.98 % to 95.59 %
for VUF=12%.
The relative % age increase in total copper loss due to
voltage unbalance in case of 10 hp induction motor varies
from -1 1.82 % t o 21.96 %.for VUF=4%, from 5.012 % to
51.34 % for WF=8%, and from 42.15% to 99.28 % for
WJF=12%.

COMPARISONS OF VARIOUS DEFINITIONS

OF VOLTAGE UNBALANCE
The following three defmition of the voltage unbalances have
been given according to different standards:
NEMA Definition
The NEMA definition of voltage, also known as the line
voltage unbalance rate (LWR), is given by
Max. voltage deviation from the avg. line
voltaee maxnitude' 100
%LVUR=
Avg. line voltage magnitude

IEEE Definition
The IEEE defmition of voltage unbalance, also known as the
phase voltage unbalance rate (PUVR), is given by

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Table I Comparison of three different definitions of voltage unbalance in the six different voltage mamltnde unbalancecases
Voltace I LWR I PWR I w I
Va
I
vb
I
Vc
I Positive I Negative
Sequence
Sequence

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I
1

The relative % age increase in total copper loss due to

voltage unbalance in case of 30 hp induction motor varies
from -8.97% to 23.89%.for VUF=4%, from 13.73% to
57.22% for VUF=8%, and from 62.2% to 111% for
VUF=I2%.
As shown in the Table 11, the cooper loss of an induction
motor in an unbalance case may be less than in the
balance case e.g. for VUF=4%, under lp OV, 2 p OV and
3p OV conditions.
It is evident that all the three induction motors have less
copper loss for W F = 4% for OV conditions.
Under unbalance cases, three-phase currents of the motors
are extremely nonuniform, some of them are higher than
their rated value. In addition, over-voltages will damage
the insulation of a stator winding. These may shorten the
motors life.
It is clear using only the percentage of VUF to estimate
the severity of unbalance is not exact. The positivesequence voltage should be included in the voltage
unbalance analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Following conclusions can he drawn based on present work.
Not only the negative sequence hut positive sequence
voltage also has to he considered for analyzing the effects
of voltage unbalance on induction motor operating
performance.
In case of equal VUF, the status of the voltage unbalance
can be estimated by the positive-sequence component.
With the same VUF, a higher positive-sequence voltage
leads to a lower copper losses.
With the same VUF, each voltage unbalance case would
lead to a different degree of copper losses of an
induction motor. Under-voltage unbalance cases cause the
more copper losses.
With the same VUF, copper losses are listed below from
the worst voltage magnitude unbalance: 31p W, 2p W,
lp
39 ov, 29 ov, l p ov.
Under the same WF, there are at least six voltage
magnitude unbalance cases. It is suggested that the
positive sequence voltage should he considered to assess
the real condition of the system.
The voltage unbalance regulations should consider both
VUF percentage and the magnitude of positive-sequence
voltage.

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w,

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