IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 35, NO.
2, MARCH/APRIL 1999
Reduction of Common-Mode Currents
in PWM Inverter Motor Drives
Mario Cacciato, Alfio Consoli, Senior Member, IEEE, Giuseppe Scarcella, Member, IEEE,
and Antonio Testa, Member, IEEE,
Abstract— Modern pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverter
motor drives are affected by dangerous common-mode currents
due to the high rate of variation of the modulated voltage. An
inexpensive alternative to low-pass filters, which are normally
used to limit common-mode currents, consists in reducing such
currents by using suitable modulation strategies. In this paper, a
new approach for designing PWM strategies is presented, which is
able to reduce common-mode currents by limiting the amount of
variations of the common-mode voltage. The main characteristics
of the proposed approach are experimentally evaluated on a
standard PWM induction motor drive.
Index Terms—Common-mode currents, electric drives, electro-
magnetic compatibility, space-vector modulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
M ODERN ELECTRIC drives use insulated gate bipo-
lar transistor (IGBT) devices in order to reach high
switching frequencies (8–20 kHz) that allow for the reduction
of acoustic noises and to improve the dynamic performance.
However, the advent of fast power devices has generated
several unexpected problems, such as premature deterioration
of ball bearings and high levels of electromagnetic emissions,
caused by the flowing of parasitic capacitive currents known
as common-mode currents. These currents, although present
in any electric drive, become relevant in high switching
frequency drives as a consequence of the high rate of variation
of the modulated voltage [1]–[3].
Common-mode currents must be limited in order to increase
reliability and electromagnetic compatibility of electric drives.
Normally, this goal is achieved by adding common-mode low-
pass filters at the inverter output, although some specifically
developed inverter topologies have been recently proposed
[4]. Both approaches allow us to effectively reduce common-
mode currents, but they also involve noticeable increases of
inverter costs and sizes. An alternative approach consists in
acting on the inverter modulation strategy. In fact, common-
mode currents are caused by fluctuation of the common-mode
Paper IPCSD 98–57, presented at the 1997 Industry Applications Society
Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 5–9, and approved for publication
in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Industrial Drives
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript released
for publication July 27, 1998.
M. Cacciato, A. Consoli, and G. Scarcella are with the Department
of Electric, Electronic, and Systems Engineering, University of Catania,
95125 Catania, Italy (e-mail: mcaccia@dees.unict.it; aconsoli@dees.unict.it;
gscarce@dees.unict.it).
A. Testa was with the Department of Electric, Electronic, and Systems
Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. He is now with the
University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy (e-mail: a.testa@ieee.org).
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(99)01138-X.
0093–9994/99$10.00  1999 IEEE
469
voltage that, in turn, is strictly related to the sequence of
inverter states, and such sequence is finally dictated by the
modulation strategy. Consequently, by using suitable modu-
lation strategies, it is possible to control the fluctuation of
the common-mode voltage in order to reduce the common-
mode currents. According to this approach, a new modulation
strategy is proposed in this paper that allows us to reduce
common-mode currents without additional costs. The paper
first deals with common-mode current paths and generation
mechanisms by pointing out the influence of the inverter state
sequence on the common-mode voltage and currents. Based
on such considerations, a new digital pulsewidth modulation
(PWM) modulation strategy is introduced using only three in-
verter states (on the eight allowed) in order to keep constant the
common-mode voltage. Such a strategy, although effectively
reducing the common-mode currents, is affected by a heavy
limitation on the maximum motor stator voltage. A second
modulation strategy is then presented, increasing the maximum
allowable stator voltage at the cost of a slight increase of
the common-mode currents. An experimental evaluation of
the two proposed switching strategies is finally provided, in
order to demonstrate the advantages on standard modulation
strategies.
II. COMMON-MODE CURRENTS
In a star-connected three-phase electric machine, the
common-mode voltage is defined as the voltage between
the star center and the ground and is given by the following
expression:
(1)
where , and are the phase voltages. According
to (1), by supplying the machine with a sinusoidal three-phase
voltage, is zero. On the contrary, by supplying the machine
trough a voltage-source inverter, the common-mode voltage
is always different from zero, and its instantaneous values
can be determined from (1) according to the switching state
configuration summarized in Table I.
Fluctuation of the common-mode voltage generates
common-mode currents that flow to the ground, through
parasitic capacitances always existing between the stator
windings and the motor case, normally grounded for safety
reasons. The amplitude of such currents depends on the rate
of variation of the common-mode voltage and increases with
the switching frequency of the power devices.
470 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 35, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 1999
Fig. 1. Parasitic capacitive links in an electric motor.
TABLE I
COMMON-MODE VOLTAGE
Stator windings, as shown in Fig. 1, can be seen as the
cascade connection of several coils, each one characterized
by inner electric parameters, such as resistance, inductance
capacitance, and by the capacitance between the coil and the
metallic case of the motor that constitutes a first path for
the common-mode currents. Additional paths are provided by
the parasitic capacitances between stator windings and the
stator/rotor iron, by the capacitance between rotor iron and
stator iron, and by the nonlinear electric impedance of ball
bearings. Regarding such impedance, it must be observed that,
since the lubricant placed between the balls and the rings has
insulating characteristics, a ball bearing can be ideally seen as
a capacitor. However, as the dielectric rigidity of the lubricant
is low, as soon as the electrical charge accumulated on the
two rings is sufficiently large, a discharge process is started,
suddenly changing the electrical impedance of the bearing.
A simplified equivalent circuit of the common-mode current
paths is shown in Fig. 2. According to such an equivalent
circuit, the common-mode current and voltage are linked by
Fig. 2. Equivalent common-mode circuit.
the following expression in the Laplace domain, as reported
in [3]:
(2)
The common-mode admittance, that is defined as
(3)
can be experimentally evaluated by shorting the motor phases
and feeding the machine with a variable-frequency sinusoidal
voltage generator. The frequency diagram shown in Fig. 3 has
been obtained on a standard 2-kW induction machine. The
diagram shows that the common-mode admittance increases
with the switching frequency and explains why common-mode
currents have become a serious problem on modern high
switching frequency drives.
III. COMMON-MODE CURRENT REDUCTION
Flowing of the common-mode currents has a negative
influence on the behavior of high switching frequency motor
CACCIATO et al.: REDUCTION OF COMMON-MODE CURRENTS IN PWM INVERTER MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 3. Measured common-mode admittance.
drives leading to such problems as the following:
• damage to motor bearings;
• increased electromagnetic pollution;
• unwanted ground-fault shutdowns.
Limiting common-mode currents in modern electric drives
is, thus, of main concern [5], [6]. In fact, as long as the
switching frequency of inverters continues to increase in order
to improve the performance of the motor drives, the problem
of capacitively coupled common-mode currents will get worse.
Consequently, any improvement on motor dynamic or acoustic
noise obtained by increasing the switching frequency must
be evaluated also under the point of view of the increment
of common-mode currents. Moreover, a strong limitation on
common-mode currents is also dictated by the standards on
electromagnetic interference that impose explicit constraints
on common-mode conducted emissions [7].
The most used approach in attenuating common-mode cur-
rents consists of placing common-mode reactors in series with
the motor phases. Since the size of the reactors grows in
proportion with the power of the drive, such an approach
becomes problematic in high current applications. In any case,
the addition of reactive low-pass filters on the output of the
inverter increases the cost and the size of the drive.
A very stimulating perspective consists in reducing the
common-mode current only by acting on the modulation
strategy with no need of filters or additional circuits. This
approach is made feasible by the fact that it is possible
to control the number and amplitude of the variations of
the common-mode voltage by selecting the sequence of the
inverter states.
As it has been already noted, the PWM technique plays
a major role in the generation of common-mode currents
as, according to (2), they are generated by variations of the
common-mode voltage. According to Table I, it is possible to
observe that, by switching from an even state of the inverter
to an odd state, or vice versa, a variation of the common-mode
voltage equal to is produced. A variation of the same
amplitude also takes place by switching from an even state to
or from an odd state to , while a variation of is
produced by switching from an even state to or from an
odd state to . No variations of the common-mode voltage
471
Fig. 4. Modified single-sequence SVM strategy.
take place by switching from any even to another even state
or from any odd state to another odd state.
IV. THE PROPOSED APPROACH
The basic principle in designing a switching strategy able to
reduce common-mode currents consists of limiting the fluctu-
ation of common-mode voltage. The observation, according to
Table I, that the common-mode voltage can be held constant
by switching between only even or only odd states, allows us
to develop the modulation strategy explained in Fig. 4, where
the average reference voltage is obtained by switching
between the odd inverter states . Using a digital
modulation approach, the time intervals in which each inverter
state is applied ( ) can be calculated by the following
expressions:
(4)
(5)
where is the inverse of the switching frequency. Using such
modulation strategy, the common-mode voltage is constant
and equal to /6. The proposed technique is clearly
a modification of the standard adjacent states space-vector
modulation (SVM) strategy, where both the sectors and the
states and have been eliminated [8].
The main drawback of such a switching strategy is that,
when the reference peak value exceeds 0.5 , the line-to-
line voltage and, consequently, the phase current are distorted.
As an example, Fig. 5 reports the experimental results in which
the proposed strategy is used with a reference peak value of
0.6 . It is possible to note that the phase currents are
not symmetric and distorted. This limits the application of the
proposed strategy to motors with a rated voltage lower than 0.5
, or to systems in which distorted phase currents can be
accepted, such as in a large number of low-cost applications.
In order to increase the maximum reference voltage peak
value and to reduce the distortion on the phase current, a
second switching strategy has been developed. As in a standard
SVM technique, the voltage vector plane has been divided
into six sectors, as shown in Fig. 6. However, the six sectors
have been rotated 30 in order to reconstruct the reference
voltage vector in each sector by using only three odd or three
472 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 35, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 1999
Fig. 5. Modified single-sequence SVM. Time: 2 ms/div; phase currents: 0.5
A/div.
Fig. 6. Space vectors of the proposed strategy.
even states. The three states used in each sector are defined
by the vector that identifies the sector. In such a way, six
common-mode voltage variations and, consequently, only six
common-mode current pulses are generated along a period
of the reference voltage. Turn-on times for a sequence of
three only odd or only even states, and , are calculated
according to the following expressions:
As shown in Fig. 7 the maximum peak reference voltage
has been improved to approximately 0.58 . In the
same experimental conditions of Fig. 5, the second modulation
strategy gives the results reported in Fig. 8. In such a case, the
phase current distortion is noticeably reduced.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The new SVM strategies have been experimentally eval-
uated in a practical 2-kW constant V/Hz induction motor
drive with a switching frequency of 20 kHz. Comparisons
Fig. 7. Proposed SVM strategy.
Fig. 8. Proposed SVM. Time: 2 ms/div; phase currents: 0.5 A/div.
have been performed with standard PWM techniques, in
order to check the common-mode current reduction effect. In
particular, a conventional sine/triangle modulation strategy and
an adjacent state SVM technique have been implemented on
the same laboratory drive. All tests refer to loaded motor drive
operations. Figs. 9–14 show the results obtained with the sine
triangle and the adjacent states SVM techniques. In Figs. 9
and 12, both the common-mode voltage and common-mode
current show high-frequency pulsed waveforms that result in
the harmonic spectra of Figs. 10 and 13. The phase currents
in both cases are also shown, respectively, in Figs. 11 and
14. Figs. 15–17 show the results obtained with the modified
single sequence SVM technique.
In particular, note from Fig. 17 that the common-mode
voltage is always constant and that a not-uniform ripple affects
the phase currents.
Fig. 18 shows the common-mode voltage and current ob-
tained with the proposed SVM technique, while the spectrum
of the common-mode current is presented in Fig. 19. The
common-mode current waveform shows only six pulses along
a period of the phase currents. This dramatically reduces the
rms value of the common-mode current while improving its
CACCIATO et al.: REDUCTION OF COMMON-MODE CURRENTS IN PWM INVERTER MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 9. Sine/triangle modulation—time: 500 s/div. (a) Common-mode volt-
age: 100 V/div. (b) Common-mode current: 20 mA/div.
Fig. 10. Sine/triangle modulation: common-mode current spectrum.
Fig. 11. Sine/triangle modulation—time: 1 ms/div. Common-mode voltage:
100 V/div; phase currents: 1 A/div.
harmonic content. A comparison of all the measured spectra
clearly confirms the substantial improvements obtained in the
frequency range lower than 150 kHz, that is, the range in
which the switching energy is concentrated. Fig. 20 reports the
common-mode voltage and phase currents. The common-mode
voltage is a square wave at six times the frequency of phase
473
Fig. 12. SVM—time: 500 s/div. (a) Common-mode voltage: 100 V/div.
(b) Common-mode current: 20 mA/div.
Fig. 13. SVM: common-mode current spectrum.
Fig. 14. SVM—time: 1 ms/div. Common-mode voltage: 100 V/div; phase
currents: 1 A/div.
currents. In comparison with Fig. 17, the current waveform has
become symmetric and shows a reduced ripple with a uniform
distribution along the time period.
The capability of the proposed method to reduce common-
mode currents, clearly confirmed by experimental results, does
474 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 35, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 1999
Fig. 15. Modified single-sequence SVM—time: 500 s/div. (a) Com-
mon-mode voltage: 100 V/div. (b) Common-mode current: 20 mA/div.
Fig. 16. Modified single-sequence SVM: common-mode current spectrum.
Fig. 17. Modified single-sequence SVM—time: 1 ms/div. Common-mode
voltage: 100 V/div; phase currents: 1 A/div.
not allow us to neglect the main drawback of the strategy
consisting in the limited maximum peak reference voltage
0.58 in the linear range. In order to overcome such
a limitation, overmodulation techniques can be tried that, by
Fig. 18. Proposed SVM. (a) Common-mode voltage: 100 V/div; time: 500
s/div. (b) Common-mode current: 20 mA/div; time: 500 s/div. (c) Com-
mon-mode voltage: 50 V/div; time: 50 s/div. (d) Common-mode current: 20
mA/div; time: 50 s/div.
Fig. 19. Proposed SVM: common-mode current spectrum.
distorting the reference voltage, allow us to maintain the
reference voltage vector inside the admissible modulation area,
that is, the shaded area in Fig. 7.
The segments of circular trajectories that are not allowed,
reported as dashed lines in Fig. 7, can be simply approximated
by maintaining the last useful reference vector in the segment
between the boundary of the admissible modulation area and
the sector limit and then jumping directly to the first useful
reference vector in the new sector. In such a way, a controlled
smooth transition between PWM and square wave is obtained
CACCIATO et al.: REDUCTION OF COMMON-MODE CURRENTS IN PWM INVERTER MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 20. Proposed SVM. Common-mode voltage: 100 V/div; phase currents:
1 A/div; time: 1 ms/div.
Fig. 21. Real component of the reference voltage.
allowing us to reach the maximum exploitation of the dc-bus
voltage, although this leads to a progressive distortion of the
reference voltage waveform, as shown in Fig. 21.
As a consequence of the distorted reference voltage, the
motor phase currents show undesired harmonics, so that an
optimal tradeoff must be reached between dc-bus voltage
exploitation and current harmonic content affecting the drive
efficiency. On the other hand, the voltage reference amplitude
is increased above the limit of the linear modulation region,
still featuring only six common-mode voltage steps and, con-
sequently, only six common-mode current pulses per period
of the fundamental voltage.
VI. CONCLUSION
The problem of reducing common-mode currents in electric
motor drives has been considered in this paper. A new mod-
ulation technique able to reduce the amount and amplitude
of common-mode voltage transitions has been developed.
By reducing to only six the transitions of the common-
mode voltage, six common-mode current pulses take place
in a time period of the phase current. As a consequence,
the rms value and the harmonic content of common-mode
currents, especially in the frequency range considered by
475
standards for conducted emission control, is greatly reduced.
Although experimental results have confirmed the consistency
of the proposed approach, overmodulation techniques have
been applied in order to overcome the main drawback of the
method linked to the limited maximum reference voltage.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Ogasawara and H. Akagi, “Modeling and damping of high-frequency
leakage currents in PWM inverter-fed AC motor drive systems,” in Conf.
Rec. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, Oct. 8–12, 1995, pp. 29–36.
[2] A. Consoli, A. Julian, G. Oriti, and A. Testa, “Modeling and simulation
of common mode currents in three Phase inverter-fed motor drives,” in
Proc. EMC’96 Roma, 1996, pp. 153–157.
[3] , “Induction motor modeling for common mode and differential
mode emission evaluation,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, Oct.
6–10, 1996, pp. 595–599.
[4] G. Oriti, A. Julian, and T. Lipo, “Elimination of common mode voltage
in three phase sinusoidal power converters,” in Proc. IEEE PESC’96,
June 23–27, 1996, pp. 1968–1972.
[5] S. Chen, T. A. Lipo, and D. Fitzgerald, “Modeling of motor bearing
currents in PWM inverter drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 32,
, pp. 1365–1370, Nov./Dec. 1996.
[6] T. A. Lipo, S. Chen, and E. Zhong, “Improvements in EMI performance
of inverter-fed motor drives,” in Proc. APEC’94, Mar. 1994, pp.
608–614.
[7] A. Consoli, S. Musumeci, G. Oriti, and A. Testa, “An innovative EMI
reduction technique in power converters,” IEEE Trans. Electromag.
Compat., vol. 38, pp. 567–575, Nov. 1996.
[8] D. G. Holmes, “The significance of zero space vector placement for
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1122–1129, Sept./Oct. 1996.
Mario Cacciato was born in Catania, Italy, in 1969.
He received the M.S. degree in electrical engi-
neering, with honors, in 1996 from the University
of Catania, Catania, Italy, where he is currently
working towards the Ph.D. degree in electronic
engineering.
His research interests include power electronics,
electromagnetic compatibility, and converter modu-
lation techniques.
Alfio Consoli (M’79–SM’88) was born in Catania,
Italy, in 1949. He graduated in electrical engineering
from the Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.
During 1973–1974, he was with FIAT, Torino,
Italy. In 1975, he joined the Department of Electric,
Electronic, and Systems Engineering, University of
Catania, Catania, Italy, where, since 1985, he has
been a Professor in electrical engineering, teach-
ing in the areas of electrical machines and power
electronics. His research activities include energy
conversion systems, electrical drives, robotics, and
power electronics, having been performed in the frame of industry cooperation,
as well as national and international research programs. In 1980, he was the
recipient of a NATO Grant at the Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN,
and in 1985, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, teaching classes in electromagnetic design. Since 1987, he has been
the Coordinator of the scientific activities of Ph.D. candidates in electrical
engineering at the University of Catania. He is a member of the scientific
committees of CORIMME, the consortium for research on microelectronics
between the University of Catania and SGS-Thomson Microelectronics. He is
also a delegate of the Catania University Rector for research matters. He is the
author of more than 80 technical papers. He is also the coauthor and coeditor
of Modern Electric Drives (Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Kluwer, 1999).
Prof. Consoli is a member of the Italian Electric Association, European
Power Electronics Association, and a member of several committees of IEEE
Societies. He is also currently a Member of the Executive Board of the IEEE
Industry Applications Society.
476 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 35, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 1999

Giuseppe Scarcella (S’98–M’99) was born in Antonio Testa (M’91) was born in Catania, Italy,
Torino, Italy, in 1969. He received the M.S. degree in 1962. He received the degree in electrical en-
in electrical engineering, with honors, in 1995 from gineering in 1988 from the University of Catania,
the University of Catania, Catania, Italy, where he Catania, Italy.
is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree in During 1989–1990, he was the recipient of an
electrical engineering in the Department of Electric, SGS-Thomson Grant and, from 1990 to 1998, he
Electronic, and Systems Engineering. was a Permanent Researcher in the Department
His research interests include control of electrical of Electrical, Electronic, and Systems Engineering,
machines, EMC in electrical drives, and low- and University of Catania. He is currently an Associate
medium-performance ac drives. Professor of Power Electronics at the University of
Messina, Messina, Italy. During 1991, he was a Vis-
iting Researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His major research
interest are sensorless control of electrical drives, advanced digital control
systems, power converters, power devices, and electromagnetic compatibility.