TECHNICAL BROCHURE
552
Guide of methods for determining the
condition of stator winding insulation
and their effectiveness
in large motors
Members
Sergio Rodríguez, Convener (SP), Howard Sedding (CA),
Alberto Villarrubia (SP), Greg Stone (CA), Dan Zlatanovici (RO),
Dejan Rebric (RS), Ioannis P. Tsoumas (GR), Jim Oliver (US),
Juergen Weidner (DE), Thomas Brügger (CH)
Introduction
No machine stator insulation system that is
economically produced is expected to last forever.
Thermal, mechanical, electrical, and environmental
stresses will gradually reduce the electrical and
mechanical strength of the insulating materials and at
some point, the materials will have aged significantly
enough to a point where the insulation breaks down
or cracks under the normal operating voltages or as a
result of a transient electrical or mechanical situation.
Maintenance Engineers involved in medium voltage
motor´s maintenance and life extension, have to select
between a variety of available non-destructive and
destructive testing techniques in order to evaluate and
assure the condition of the stator winding insulation
and, in case of any insulation defect already detected, to
analyse the rate at which this degradation is taking place
to take appropriate corrective decisions.
Maintenance testing tools should be selected taking
into account motor stator winding insulation typical
ageing factors and defects, as well as, statistical failure
analysis reports available in the industry but, best
practice is to analyze particularly in each case the
insulation manufacturing system, design stress level if
available, environmental operating area and, type of
motor running (base load or cycling). All these previous
inputs will provide individually for each machine a
most susceptible way of ageing and so that, of expected
failure.
It’s the intention of the guide to provide information
about the previous topics in terms of theory of current
WG
A1.17
insulation systems and degradation processes involved,
sensitivity of each testing technique to detect a particular
insulation problem, effectiveness of each one and some
theory about diagnosis and site testing performance.
Scope/ Methodology
The state of the art in testing techniques for
determining the condition of stator winding insulation
of motors 3 KV and above are in some cases well
known by maintenance staff, especially in utilities, large
workshops and of course manufacturers field service
staff but, in a large number of cases, especially in the
environment of industrial maintenance staff, small
workshops and new incoming young people, there
are some misunderstandings about insulation defects
theory, which technique is useful or sensible for each
degradation process and, the correct way to perform
testing in terms of in situ procedure, measurement
standardization, voltages to apply and diagnosis.
Following CIGRE’s tradition when lack of knowledge
is detected in a specific area of the industry, a practical
guide is proposed by the study committee to be
developed. After the working group had developed
a first draft document, valuable information and
comments from the experts were collected and included
to get a final version of the document.
Some conclusions have been collected and presented
in a summary flowchart and table format, both are
based on the experience acquired in field testing over
a medium voltage motors by utilities and field service
experts. •••
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TECHNICAL BROCHURE

Description of the Technical

Brochure
The Technical Brochure (TB) is divided in several
parts, as follows:
 Winding manufacturing process and materials.
 Stator winding typical defects.
 Methods of determining the condition of stator
winding.
 Conclusions.
Winding Manufacturing
Process and Materials
Technical Brochure provides a description of the
insulation materials in current use for strand, turn and
ground wall insulation in large motors as well as, the
manufacturing process to obtain an insulation system.
WG
Recommendations in factory quality tests, in process
A1.17
inspections and quality purchase requirements have
also been included in this section.
Stator Winding Typical
Defects
The single and multi-stress interactions, together
with load cycling, yield about 20 different identifiable
failure processes in stator windings. The most common
ones are summarized in Table 1 of the Technical
Brochure which also contains a summary of the main
failure modes, susceptive insulation types and the
relative speed to failure. A cut-off of the first two failure
processes included in Table 1 is attached as example:
Which process will occur in a specific machine and
how quickly the failure will occur will depend on:

Global VPI and Resin Rich manufacturing processes
are described including pros and cons of each one.
Global VPI product is cheaper, more robust and,
improves the thermal conductivity from copper to
core, furthermore, endwinding bracing gives good
support to the endwinding structure to minimize
the possibility of insulation damage from abrasion
as a result of high vibration induced by the presence
of high electromagnetic forces present during motor
starting.
Resin Rich or individual VPI provides in case of very
large and critical motor the advantage of partial winding
repairs after a winding fault due to the possibility of
easy bars/coils removal.
 The design stress levels (i.e., operating temperatures,
mechanical stress, etc.) the machine designer
employed, and how close these levels are to the
insulation material capabilities.
 How well the windings were manufactured and
assembled.
 The operating environment the user provides, that
is, is the machine run at constant load or cycled, is
it over-loaded; are oil, moisture, or abrasive particles
present?
 How well the user maintains the windings, i.e.,
keeping them clean, keeping them tight to prevent
vibration, etc. •••

Mechanisms Description Root Cause Failure Mode Susceptible Relative

Insulation Types Speed

Thermal Aging Long-term operation Overloading, Usually results in ground All Slow
at high temperature, blocked cooling, (earth) fault due to
leading to bonding resin unbalanced supply mechanical failure of the
embrittlement and insu- voltages, frequent insulation.
lation delamination starting

Load cycling Rapid, frequent on-off 0% to 100% load Usually results in ground FW, asphaltic Moderate
cycling leading to de- changes in less (earth) fault due to mica, polyester
lamination than 15 min. mechanical failure of the mica, Epoxy
insulation. mica.

Table 1

No. 270 - October 2013 ELECTRA 45


External origin or
accessory components
6%
Non identified
vibrations and
elevated temperatures
6%
Electrical
17%
Figure 1: CIGRE WG A1.19. Survey of motor failure distribution.
Methods of Determining the
Condition of Stator Winding
Ones the most susceptible ways of ageing are
determined, most suitable testing tools should be
selected according to an economically predictive
maintenance program. It’s clear no all tests can be
done during a machine outage and, no each test has
the capacity for detecting a particular insulation
issue with enough sensitivity. This section of the
guide provides information about most common
testing techniques in current use in terms of theory,
diagnosis, site testing performance and, sensitivity
and limitations of each one to detect a particular
insulation problem.
Most common in-situ and factory / workshop
testing techniques are included:
 DC insulation resistance, Polarization Index and
Absorption/Reabsorption currents.
 AC and DC Hi-pot (Step Graded, Ramp test).
 Capacitance and Tan Delta/Power Factor
(Tip-Up).
 On Line and Off Line Partial discharge (RF Probe
Test and Blackout Test).
 Surge Test.
Conclusions
There is a large interaction and overlap between
most of the more common testing techniques
available in the industry for stator winding insulation
maintenance in terms of that, some defects can be
detected by several of them but, with different
sensitivities and limitations to be taken into account
and; in other hand, some other specific defects
TECHNICAL BROCHURE
552
WG
Others
A1.17
2%
Mechanical
69%
can only be detected at most by one or two testing
techniques like for example a partial crack in the
groundwall insulation.
Also, not all testing techniques are classified as
diagnostic or non destructive and, some of them
belongs to pass-no pass or destructive tests and so
that, it implies a certain amount of risks and other
decision rates besides just technical ones.
Diagnostic tests only detects the symptom and not
the root cause which is degrading the insulation, and
so that, only can determine if degradation is taking
place and in some cases the severity. It’s not possible
in most cases to ascertain if a rewinding or new motor
is needed, it just only possible to do an estimation of
the “risk of failure” under a future transient.
During pass – no pass or destructive tests, it is
expected that a weakened insulation fails during
testing if it’s subjected to a high enough voltage (safe
for healthy insulation) and, so that, it’s assumed
that this same insulation would fail in a relatively
short period of time if placed in service again at this
condition.
Ones the most probable insulation failure process
based on the inputs listed in 3.2 section has been
determined for a specific motor, the maintenance
program and testing techniques associated might be
selected. Besides other issues than purely technical
ones and for support in the decision process,
information about the limitations and sensitivity of
each testing technique and, the interactions of each
one with a specific insulation defect is included in
this conclusion section and, presented in a summary
flowchart and table format. A cut-off of the table and
the complete flowchart are attached as example: •••
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TECHNICAL BROCHURE
WG
Test Purpose Effectiveness Advantages Disadvantages A1.17
Detection of local weak points in Little skill required, equip- Test may cause an insula-
DC Hi-Pot the winding. Only finds serious ment inexpensive. Appears tion breakdown. It’s not a
defects like partial cracks and Moderate to be better finding defects diagnostic test.
punctures. in the overhang area than
AC Hi-Pot.

DC Step Graded Detection of local weak points in
or Ramp the winding. Only finds serious
defects like partial cracks and
punctures.
Moderate Provides more diagnos- Requires experience to
tic information than the judge when to abort the
standard 1min Hi-Pot. test.
Allows some warning to the
user about when to abort
the test.


Figure 2: Flowchart of insulation failure process

BROCHURES N° 552
(en anglais seulement) / (in English only)
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