IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 19, No.

1; February 2012 53

Experimental Evaluation of Using the Surge PD Test as a

Predictive Maintenance Tool for Monitoring Turn Insulation
Quality in Random Wound AC Motor Stator Windings
Jinkyu Yang, Tae-june Kang, Byunghwan Kim, and Sang Bin Lee
Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
Seoul 136-713, Korea

Young-Woo Yoon and Dongsik Kang

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute
Changwon 642-120, Korea

Jintae Cho, and Heedong Kim

KEPCO Research Institute
Daejon 305-380, Korea

ABSTRACT
Turn insulation degradation is one of the major root causes of stator insulation failure
leading to motor breakdown. The surge test is the only test available for testing the
integrity of turn insulation; however, it is a high voltage pass/fail test that provides an
indication only if an arc is instigated between the turns of weakened turn insulation, and
therefore does not provide information regarding remaining lifetime. The surge PD test
measures the partial discharge (PD) activity under surge excitation, and is used to date for
assuring that voltage source PWM inverter-fed motors (IEC 60034-18-41 type I) are PD-
free. In this paper, the potential of using the surge PD test as a predictive maintenance tool
for turn insulation quality assessment is evaluated. Under the expectation that increasing
PD activity in the voids formed by insulation degradation may be detectable before turn
insulation failure, the test is performed periodically under accelerated thermal degradation
on 6 windings. It is shown that change in the PD inception voltage under the surge PD test
can be clearly observed before any other insulation test indicator. The results suggest that
the surge PD test can be used for monitoring the condition of turn insulation for providing
an early indication of stator insulation problems without the risk of puncturing turn
insulation.
Index Terms — AC machines, impulse testing, monitoring, partial discharges (PD),
rotating machine insulation test, surges.

1 INTRODUCTION occurs in the end-winding due to the strain applied during

ONE of the major root causes of motor breakdown can be
attributed to turn insulation degradation leading to stator
winding insulation failure [1-6]. The most likely cause of turn
insulation failure is believed to be puncturing due to a short
rise-time voltage impulse after gradual loss of insulation
integrity over a long period of time. Weakening of the
dielectric and mechanical strength of the insulation is caused
by thermal aging, loosening of insulated turns, and abrasion
due to mechanical stress. The thin turn insulation wears out
making it more likely to be punctured by the voltage surges,
which are produced by switching of circuit breakers, arcing
ground faults, or lightning strikes, etc. The fault typically
Manuscript received on 26 May2011, in final form 26 September 2011.
manufacturing, and in coils at or near the terminal end due to
the high voltage between turns with short rise-time impulses.
Once the turn insulation is punctured, it eventually breaks
down forming a shorted loop in the winding. A large
circulating fault current in the order of twice the locked rotor
current is induced in the fault loop, and eventually leads to
groundwall (GW) insulation failure within a short period of
time due to severe overheating [5-8].
Partial discharge (PD) has been identified as an additional
potential cause of insulation failure for motors fed by voltage
source inverters that employ short rise-time, fast switching
IGBTs [6, 9-11]. The short rise-time pulses, created by PWM
switching, cause the 1) motor terminal voltage to increase up
to 2 times that of the inverter output, and 2) the voltage
distribution to be uneven with higher voltage towards the

1070-9878/12/$25.00 © 2012 IEEE

54 J. Yang et al.: Experimental Evaluation of Using the Surge PD Test as a Predictive Maintenance Tool
terminal end. The elevated voltage between the terminal end
turns can give rise to PD in the voids. This degrades the turn
insulation leading to failure of magnet wire insulation used for
random wound stators, which primarily consist of organic
materials vulnerable to PD.
Although the integrity of the turn insulation is critical for
ensuring reliable motor operation, there is currently no
established test method available for monitoring the condition
of the turn insulation effectively, other than tests for surge
withstand capability [5-6]. On-line algorithms for detecting
turn faults at an incipient stage have been studied for
preventing further damage to the motor due to the circulating
current induced in the shorted turns [7-8]. However, they are
only useful for relaying since they are only capable of
detecting the fault after it occurs (no predictive diagnostics
information). The surge test is the only test available for
testing the integrity of turn insulation [5-6, 12-13]. However,
it is a “pass/fail” test that provides fault indication only if an
arc is instigated between turns with weak insulation, and
therefore, it does not provide a trend information regarding the
remaining lifetime. There are also concerns regarding the
voltage level of the impulse, as a voltage high enough for
finding an arcing fault must be applied for obtaining a
meaningful assessment.
Recently, the surge PD test, which measures PD under
impulse excitation, has been suggested as a means of assuring
that inverter-fed random wound motors are free of PD
throughout the motor lifetime [14-18]. The IEC standards and
technical publications mainly focus on qualification and
acceptance testing of inverter-fed motor stators in the design
and/or manufacturing stages [14-20]. In this paper, the
potential of using the surge PD test as an off-line predictive
maintenance tool for monitoring the condition of turn
insulation is evaluated. The surge PD test measures PD
activity in the voids of the insulation system, whereas the
surge test detects arcing between copper turns of weakened
turn-turn insulation. Therefore, it is expected that the increase
in PD activity in the voids formed by degradation in turn
insulation integrity is detectable with the surge PD test before
surge test failure or turn insulation failure. In addition, there is
no risk of turn insulation puncture since PD occurs before the
impulse voltage is raised to the impulse withstand voltage. To
verify the capability of the surge PD test for monitoring the
degradation in turn insulation integrity, it is performed
periodically under accelerated thermal degradation along with
a number of GW insulation tests for comparison. A detailed
description of the test procedure and the results of the
insulation test measurements are reported in this paper.
2 OVERVIEW: SURGE & SURGE PD TESTS
2.1 SURGE TEST
In the surge test, short rise-time and relatively high
magnitude voltage impulses are applied to the stator winding
to stress the turn insulation in a way similar to the stress
applied by external surges encountered in service. Passing the
test guarantees that the motor is capable of withstanding the
impulses below the corresponding voltage/rise-time level
applied with the surge test. The schematic of a typical surge
tester circuit is shown in Figure 1. The capacitor, C, is charged
to a predetermined level, and discharged into the RLC series
circuit, which results in a damped oscillation at the resonant
frequency (Figure 2),

f  1 / 2 LC  (1)
where L is the inductive component of the stator winding. The
surge voltage level is gradually increased in discrete
increments up to the predetermined voltage level. If the surge
test voltage applied across the line end turns with weakened
turn insulation is high enough, it will instigate arcing due to a
pre-existing condition of exposure between copper turns or
puncturing of weak insulation. If arcing is present, the value of
L decreases due to shorted turns, and f increases, as shown in
equation (1). This results in a shift in the surge waveform to
the left as the voltage step is increased, as shown in Figure 2,
providing indication of arcing between turn insulation.
Modern surge testers are capable of detecting small shifts in
the surge waveform caused by relatively small number of
shorted turns with high sensitivity [12].
Although the surge test is a pass/fail test, and does not
provide information regarding the “condition” of the turn
insulation, it is the only test available for turn insulation that
can potentially prevent costly in-service insulation failures due
to fast rise-time surges. The surge test is always performed for
qualification or acceptance, but there are concerns regarding
maintenance testing due to the relatively high voltage required.
The main concerns raised in the field are: 1) degradation of
healthy insulation and 2) failure of insulation that would have
operated successfully for a long time without testing. The
results reported in [12, 17-21] show that the PD inception
voltage (PDIV) is usually higher than the surge test voltage
Figure 1. Schematic of typical surge test circuit
Figure 2. Surge waveform measurement under surge test failure; blue graph
is shifted to the left (white graph) due to arcing between weakened turn
insulation after incremental increase in surge test voltage .
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 19, No. 1; February 2012 55

specified in the standards for maintenance testing, and that
there is no noticeable degradation with impulse excitation
conditions more severe than that under the surge test.
Regarding 1), it is very unlikely that surge testing results in
insulation deterioration considering that the surge withstand
voltage for new motors is much higher than the PDIV, and
that it is an off-line test that is not performed frequently.
Regarding 2), if the motor with weakened turn insulation fails
the surge test, it is standard practice not to operate the machine
as it is likely to fail within a short period of time. On the other
hand, an unplanned outage due to in-service motor failure with
significantly higher financial loss can be prevented with the
surge test. Therefore, the point in time within the maintenance
cycle when motors should be surge-tested, and the maximum
voltage level to be applied, is a strategic decision. There is a
large variation in the recommended rise-time and magnitude
of the impulse level between the IEEE 522, NEMA MG 1,
EASA, IEC 34-15, and surge test equipment manufacturers for
this reason.
The arguments above clearly show that a turn insulation test
that can provide the following features is highly desirable:
 Early indication of turn insulation degradation
 Quantitative assessment of turn insulation condition
 Prevention of turn insulation puncturing during testing
The objective of this work is to evaluate the potential of using
the surge PD test for providing the above requirements.
location of the signal [19-21]. The RPDIV is defined as the
minimum voltage at which PD occurs with a repetition rate of
1 or more PD pulses every two voltage impulses. Since the
magnitude of PD depends on many factors within the system,
the measurement procedure must be well-defined for
consistent and reliable measurements.
Since the PD surge test measures PD activity in the voids of
the insulation system, it has been successfully applied for
making improvements in the design and manufacturing
processes for PD prevention [20-21]. This has contributed to
enhancing the reliability of inverter-fed motors by eliminating
PD-induced electrical degradation. In addition to
imperfections, voids are also introduced in the in the inter-turn
insulation due to thermal and mechanical operating stresses.
For most cases, the number and size of the air pockets
gradually grow with turn insulation degradation before failure
occurs, and the PD activity in the voids is also expected to
increase with insulation degradation if excited with an impulse.
Therefore, it is expected that the surge PD test can be used to
monitor turn insulation condition to provide early indication of
degradation to prevent turn insulation failure, if measured
regularly with consistency. Another expected benefit is that is
that there is no risk of puncturing the turn insulation during the
test because PD occurs before the surge voltage is increased to
the surge-withstand voltage. The procedure for evaluating the
surge PD test for monitoring the condition of turn insulation is
summarized in the following sections.

2.2 SURGE PD TEST 3 EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE

The surge PD test measures PD activity off-line in inverter- SURGE PD TEST
fed motor insulation systems under repetitive voltage impulses,
as outlined in IEC TS 61934 [14]. For type I random wound
stator insulation systems, which refer to systems that should
not experience PD in service, the criteria for assessment is
summarized in IEC TS 60034-18-41 [15]. Testing is
performed according to the stress categories of impulse
voltage magnitude and rise-time that the motor is exposed to
in service. Since PD can occur in the air pockets between turns
for inverter-fed motors, and cause degradation of type I
insulation, motors are PD surge tested to ensure that it is PD
free. Although there are concerns on the validity of test Figure 3. Surge PD test setup with coupling capacitor and high pass filter for
conditions [18-20], the premise is that motors will not PD measurement.
experience premature failure due to PD during the expected
life, if repetitive PD inception voltage (RPDIV) is below the
minimum values specified.
The surge PD test setup is shown in Figure 3, when a
coupling capacitor is used with a high-pass filter for
attenuating the surge voltage waveform to observe the
relatively small magnitude, high frequency PD pulses. Non-
contact measurements of PD can also be made using an
antenna type electromagnetic coupler or a high-frequency
current transformer [14]. Each phase of the motor is tested in
sequence with the other two phases grounded as in the surge
test. The surge voltage magnitude is gradually increased until
the PD waveform displayed on the screen exceeds a preset
value for determining the RPDIV. An example of the applied
surge voltage pulse and measured PD signal are shown in
Figure 4. The surge residual is usually observed with the PD Figure 4. Example of applied surge voltage pulse and measured PD signal
pulse, but can easily be distinguished from the frequency and under PD surge test (200 mV/div; 2 s/div).
56 J. Yang et al.: Experimental Evaluation of Using the Surge PD Test as a Predictive Maintenance Tool

3.1 ACCELERATED AGING CONDITIONS & SETUP The test setup was configured as shown in Figure 3 when
Accelerated aging was performed on a 380 V, 12.7 A, 5.5 performing the surge PD test. The coupling capacitors were
kW (7.5 Hp) induction motor designed for 60 Hz mains-fed connected near the motor terminals for obtaining accurate
applications. The random wound stator with class F insulation PDIV measurements. The surge PD measurements were made
had end-winding phase-to-phase insulation sheets and was without additional cables other than that of the surge generator.
“dipped and baked”. To accelerate the thermal aging of stator When performing the surge PD and surge tests, each phase
insulation in a way that represents realistic aging conditions, was tested under two different winding configurations shown
the stator insulation temperature was increased and maintained in Figure 6. Tests were performed on the T1, T2, T3, T4, T5,
with large current flow in the winding. The large stator current and T6 leads with the other two leads grounded. Since the fast
is also expected to introduce uncontrolled 120 Hz winding rise-time surge results in uneven voltage distribution with high
vibration. There was no intentional electrical or environmental voltage at the terminal end, the turn insulation in the end
stress applied to the stator insulation. portion of the windings highlighted in Figure 6 are tested. This
allows testing of 6 winding samples with the aging of 1 motor.
The aging temperature was determined based on the
guidelines on temperature exposure time for determining the
thermal classification of random wound stators in IEEE STD 4 ACCELERATED AGING TEST RESULTS
117 [22]. The temperature was selected as 180 oC, which The motor was aged for 372 h and the insulation test
represents more than 16 days of aging for qualification as measurements were recorded every 4 h after 84 h of
class F insulation, for completing the test in a reasonable degradation. The humidity and ambient temperature, Tamb,
period of time. To increase the temperature to 180 oC, the were measured before insulation testing to ensure that the
stator was covered with multiple layers of thermal insulation measurements are not influenced by environmental factors.
and aluminum foil with the rotor removed, and the three phase Tamb was between 18-28 oC, and the dew point was always
windings were connected in parallel for identical current flow below Tamb, which implies that there was no condensation.
and temperature in the three phases. Since 50-75 A of current
was required for increasing and maintaining the temperature at
180 oC, the setup shown in Figure 5 with a variac and 200:20
transformer was used (the transformer limits the source
current to 1/10 of the stator current). Thermocouples were
installed in the stator slot to measure the temperature, and the
variac voltage was adjusted for controlling the current to
maintain the temperature. The motor was aged for 4 h and
insulation tests were performed after each aging cycle after the
motor cooled down to room temperature for consistent
measurements under identical ambient conditions. Figure 5. Test setup for maintaining stator temperature at 180oC for
accelerated thermal aging.
3.2 INSULATION TESTS PERFORMED
A number of insulation tests were performed for testing the
GW and turn/phase to identify where the insulation
degradation was initiated and to observe which test method
can detect degradation at the earliest stage. Since the phase to
phase insulation is usually not tested separately during regular
maintenance for random wound motors, it was not considered
in this work (phase insulation cannot be tested separately if the
motor neutral is not accessible). The following lists the tests
performed for GW and turn/phase insulation condition Figure 6. Stator winding configuration for surge and surge PD testing; Surge
assessment and the recordings made for each test: voltage is mainly distributed in the terminal end turn insulation allowing
3.2.1 GW INSULATION TESTS testing of 6 winding samples with one motor.

- Insulation Resistance (IR) test: IR value at 500 V after

1 minute
- DC hipot test: pass/fail at 2 kV for 1 minute duration
- GW PD test: PDIV (60 Hz sine wave)
3.2.2 TURN/PHASE INSULATION TESTS
- Surge PD test: PDIV, and PD mean (PDM) at 1.5, 2
and 2.5 kV (0.2 s rise-time surge)
- Surge test: pass/fail at 2.5 kV
The main reason for performing the GW PD test was to
identify whether increase in PD activity in the surge PD test Figure 7. IR and GW insulation PD tests: IR and PDIV measurements for
comes from turn/phase or GW insulation degradation [19]. GW insulation under accelerated aging.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 19, No. 1; February 2012 57

4.1 GROUNDWALL INSULATION TESTS is sufficient for observing a decreasing trend with insulation
The IR and dc hipot tests were performed using commercial aging. A number of distinct step decreases can be observed in
instrumentation according to the procedures described in IEEE lead T1, whereas the decrease is more gradual in lead T2. Signs
standards 43 and 95 [1, 23-24]. All GW insulation tests, of degradation could not be observed in lead T3. For the
including the GW PD test, were performed with the three reverse winding configuration, the PDIV for T5 has decreased
phases connected as shown in the left hand side of Figure 6. from its initial value before it was recorded, and a very abrupt
The IR measurements at 500 V (after 1 minute) at room simultaneous decrease can be observed in leads T4 and T6.
temperature are shown in Figure 7. It can be seen that there is Since there is no sign of increase in the GW PD activity
no noticeable change in IR. The test motor passed the dc hipot measured with sinusoidal excitation at 60 Hz, it is likely that
test, where 2 kV was applied for 1 minute, at all instants the phase insulation between leads T4 and T6 has been
during the aging process. degraded as the PDIVs decrease simultaneously. It is also
suspected that the turn insulation of lead T5 and the turn or
The off-line PD test with 60hz sine wave excitation was
phase insulation of leads T1 and T2 went through significant
also performed using commercial test equipment. The PDIV
degradation.
was determined based on the PD pulse magnitude and count
provided by the system. PDIV was defined as when the The PDM measured under 1.5 and 2 kV surge excitation are
magnitude and count of the PD pulse exceeded the preset shown in Figures 9 and 10, respectively, for leads T1-T3 and
threshold values, as the voltage was increased in 50 V T4-T6 (172hrs-). Without the presence of PD activity, the value
intervals. No sign of decrease in the PDIV measurements of the PDM did not change and remained at approximately
could be observed, as shown in Figure 7. Although the ac 500V due to the signal noise, as can be seen in Figure 9.
hipot test was not performed as a part of the insulation tests, When PD starts to occur with aging as PDIV decreases below
the GW voltage was increased to a value higher than the IEEE the test voltage, there is a noticeable increase in the PDM.
recommended maintenance ac hipot voltage of 570 V (1.5 E, When PDM is measured at 1.5 kV, a step increase PDM can
where E is the rated RMS line voltage) during the PD test [25]. be measured for lead T1, when the PDIV decreases to below
Therefore, the motor would have passed the maintenance ac 1.5 kV, as shown in Figures 8a and 9a. PDM remained at 500
hipot test since the PDIV values always exceeded 1000 V. It V for leads T2-T6, when measured at 1.5 kV, as the PDIV
can be concluded from the IR ac/dc hipot, and PD test results was always above 1.5 kV (Figures 8 and 9). When measured
that the GW insulation did not undergo significant degradation at 2 kV, the values of PDM were 500 V for lead T3, and
that is observable with existing insulation tests during the 372 always above 500 V for leads T1 and T2, as shown in Figure
h of accelerated aging. 10a, depending on whether the PDIV is above or below 2 kV
(Figure 8a). Although it is noisy, the increasing trend in PDM
4.2 TURN/PHASE INSULATION TESTS
with decrease in PDIV can be observed for leads T1 and T2 in
The surge PD test was performed on the T1-T6 leads with Figures 8a and 10a. It is expected that the noise in PDM could
the windings configured as shown in Figure 6. The PDIV and
PDM (PD mean) were measured and recorded to observe the
variation with insulation aging. For consistency in PDIV
measurement, the statistical data on the scope for the RMS
value of the PD signal was monitored with the display zoomed
in on the location of where the PD pulse occurs. After some
trial and errors, the PDIV was defined as when the standard
deviation of the RMS value of the PD signal exceeded a
predetermined value for a fixed time interval. This guaranteed
that PDIV was recorded when PD was repetitive, which is
similar to the RPDIV concept, and that occasional PD pulses
can be disregarded. It provided values similar to the definition
of PDIV in [14] with improved consistency and less potential
(a)
of human errors. PDM was defined as the mean value of the
PD signal RMS over a fixed time interval when the winding
was excited at a fixed voltage (1.5, 2, and 2.5 kV). The
measurements on the T4, T5, T6 leads and the PDM were only
recorded after 172 h of degradation. This is because the idea
of obtaining these measurements was conceived after 172 h of
aging (the results were sufficient for showing the potential of
the surge PD test).
The PDIV of the T1-T6 leads of the new stator (before
accelerated degradation) was measured multiple times, and the
values were consistent between 1.9 and 2.1 kV for the 6 leads.
The measured values of PDIV for leads T1-T3 (84 h-) and T4- (b)
T6 (172hrs-) are shown in Figures 8a and 8b, respectively. The Figure 8. Surge PD test: PDIV measurements for (a) leads T1, T2, and T3,
results show that PDIV can be measured with consistency that and (b) T4, T5, T6 under accelerated aging.
58 J. Yang et al.: Experimental Evaluation of Using the Surge PD Test as a Predictive Maintenance Tool
be reduced by refining how PDM is measured. A similar
observation can be made in Figures 8b and 10b for leads T4-T6,
where the values of PDM depend on whether the PDIV is
above or below the test voltage of 2 kV. A simultaneous
increase in the PDM and decrease in PDIV can be observed
for leads T4 and T6 at 240 h, and the PDM and PDIV of T5 are
almost constant.
The 6 leads were also surge tested to make sure the surge
PD test is capable of detecting insulation degradation
without surge test failure. There is a large variation between
the recommended test voltages for the acceptance and
maintenance surge tests between industrial organizations.
The maintenance surge test voltages recommended by IEEE
522, NEMA MG1 (acceptance test), EASA, IEC 34-15
(acceptance test), and Baker Instrument Company for a 380
V motor are 0.8, 1.1, 1.8, 4.2, and 2 kV, respectively [1, 12,
26-27]. Since the purpose of performing the surge test was to
ensure that the change in PDIV and/or PDM with insulation
degradation can be observed without failing the surge test,
the surge test voltage was set to a value higher than the
initial measurements of PDIV. The surge test was performed
at 2.5 kV, which is 25% higher than the initial PDIV
measurements, which were approximately 2 kV for the 6
leads. The initial surge withstand voltage of the windings
was between 7 and 8 kV for a different motor sample of
identical design, which shows that the PDIV and surge test
voltage used are significantly lower than the initial
breakdown voltage. For sensitive detection of surge test
failure, a pulse-to-pulse error area ratio (PPEAR) of 5% was
used as the threshold [4, 12]. The PPEAR is the normalized
integral of the error between two subsequent pulses (absolute
value) as the voltage is gradually increased, and provides
sensitive indication of surge failures. All of the leads passed
(a)
(b)
Figure 9. Surge PD test: PDM measurements at 1.5kV for (a) leads T1, T2,
and T3, and (b) T4, T5, T6 under accelerated aging.
the surge test performed up to 372 h of accelerated
degradation.
The results of Figures 7-10 show that the condition of each
end of the same phase winding, T1 and T4, T2 and T5, and T3
and T6, are completely independent, as predicted. The results
clearly show that the degradation in the turn/phase insulation
can be monitored with the PDIV or PDM of the surge PD test.
This has a potential of monitoring the condition of turn
insulation quantitatively for detecting turn insulation
degradation at an early stage before stator insulation
breakdown. Puncturing of the turn insulation during the surge
PD test can be prevented since PD occurs in the voids before
arcing (test can always be stopped when PD is observed).
5 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR FUTURE WORK
The potential of using the off-line surge PD test as a
predictive maintenance tool for monitoring the condition of
turn insulation quality in low voltage random wound motors
was evaluated in this paper. Indicators of PD activity under
surge excitation such as PDIV and PDM were measured and
recorded regularly under accelerated thermal aging. The
results show that the degradation in turn insulation can be
monitored quantitatively at an early stage by monitoring the
decrease in PDIV with insulation aging. There is no risk of
puncturing the turn insulation with the surge PD test, if the test
is stopped at the PDIV, since PD occurs at a voltage (PDIV)
lower than the surge withstand voltage. If the surge PD test
can be performed frequently enough with consistency, and if
the measurements are trended over time and between phases,
it provides valuable information regarding turn insulation
condition. Considering that there currently is no test method
(a)
(b)
Figure 10. Surge PD test: PDM measurements at 2 kV for (a) leads T1, T2,
and T3, and (b) T4, T5, T6 under accelerated aging.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 19, No. 1; February 2012
available for direct assessment of turn insulation condition for
low voltage machines, it is expected to help detect insulation
problems at an early stage, and potentially prevent failure.
Although the potential of using the surge PD test for turn
insulation condition assessment was verified in this work,
there are practical issues to be resolved and more work to be
done on measurement and interpretation before application
in the field. It is important to define a way to perform the
measurement and to extract the PD related indicator in a
consistent and reliable manner. The influence of the location
of the coupling capacitor, cable length, and rotor non-
idealities on the test results for an assembled motor is
currently under investigation for obtaining a consistent
measurement. Once the measurement procedure is defined,
interpretation of the measurements over time and between
machines and phases is needed for precise condition
assessment and prediction of insulation failures. The test
must also be verified for more motor samples of different
insulation system designs. Evaluation of using surge PD
testing for inverter-grade motors, form wound stators, and
other electrical insulation systems, is also needed for
verifying the applicability of this test.
REFERENCES
[1] G.C. Stone, B.K. Gupta, M. Kurtz, and D.K. Sharma, “Investigation of
turn insulation failure mechanisms in large AC motors”, IEEE Trans.
Power. App. Syst., Vol. 103, pp. 2588-2593, 1984.
[2] O.M. Nassar, “The use of partial discharge and impulse voltage testing
in the evaluation of interturn insulation failure of large motors”, IEEE
Trans. Ener. Conv., Vol. 2, pp. 615-621, 1987.
[3] B.K. Gupta, B.A. Lloyd, G.C. Stone, S.R. Campbell, D.K. Sharma, and
N.E. Nilsson, “Turn insulation capability of large AC motors: part 3 –
insulation coordination”, IEEE Trans. Ener. Conv., Vol. 2, pp. 674-679,
1987.
[4] E. Wiedenbrug, G. Frey, and J. Wilson, “Early intervention”, IEEE Ind.
Appl. Mag., Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 34-40, 2004.
[5] N.K. Ghai, “Design and application considerations for motors in steep-
fronted surge environments”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol. 33, pp. 177-
186, 1997.
[6] G.C. Stone, E.A. Boulter, I. Culbert, and H. Dhirani, Electrical
insulation for rotating machines – design, evaluation, aging, testing, and
repair, IEEE Press Series on Pwr. Eng., John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
[7] G.B. Kliman, W.J. Premerlani, R.A. Koegl and D. Hoeweler, “A new
approach to on-line turn fault detection in ac motors”, IEEE-Industr.
Appl. Soc. (IAS) Annual Meeting, Vol. 1, pp. 687-693, 1996.
[8] R.M. Tallam, S.B. Lee, G.C. Stone, J.Y. Yoo, G.B. Kliman, T.G.
Habetler, and R.H. Harley, “A Survey of Methods for Detection of
Stator Related Faults in Induction Machines”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl.,
Vol. 43, pp. 920-933, 2007.
[9] M. Kaufhold, G. Boerner, M. Eberhardt, and J. Speck, “Failure
mechanism of the interturn insulation of low voltage electric machines
fed by pulse-controlled inverters”, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol. 12, no.
5, pp. 9-16, 1996.
[10] W. Yin, “Failure mechanism of winding insulations in inverter-fed
motors”, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol. 13, No. 6, pp. 18-23, 1997.
[11] G.C. Stone, S. Campbell, and S. Tetreault, “Inverter-fed drives: which
motors are at risk?”, IEEE Ind. Appl. Mag., Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 17-22,
2000.
[12] J. Wilson, “Current state of surge testing induction machines”, Iris
Rotating Machine Conf., 2003.
[13] S. Grubic, J. Restrepo, J.M. Aller, B. Lu, T.G. Habetler, “A new concept
for online surge testing for the detection of winding insulation
deterioration in low voltage induction machines”, IEEE Trans. Ind.
Appl., Vol. 47, pp. 2051 - 2058, 2011.
[14] Electrical insulating materials and systems – electrical measurement of
partial discharges (PD) under short rise time and repetitive voltage
impulses, IEC TS 61934, 2006.
59
[15] Evaluation of qualification of electrical insulating systems used in
rotating electrical machines when fed from voltage converters, IEC TS
60034-18-41, 2006.
[16] M.K.W. Stranges, G.C. Stone, and D.L. Bogh, “New specs for ASD
motors – exploring the IEC 60034-18-41 and the IEC 60034-18-42
technical specifications for inverter duty motor insulation”, IEEE Ind.
Appl. Mag., Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 37-42, 2007.
[17] C. Lanier, “Using corona inception voltage for motor evaluation”, IEEE
Ind. Appl. Mag., Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 48-54,1999.
[18] A. Cavallini, E. Lindell, G.C. Montanari, and M. Tozzi, “Off-line PD
testing of converter-fed wire-wound motors: why IEC TS 60034-18-41
may fail?”, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 17, pp. 1385-1395,
2010.
[19] M. Tozzi, A. Cavallini, and G.C. Montanari, “Monitoring off-line and
on-line PD under impulsive voltage on induction motors – part 1:
standard procedure”, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 16-
26, 2010.
[20] D. Bogh, J. Coffee, G. Stone, and J. Custodio, “Partial-discharge-
inception testing on low-voltage motors”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol.
42, pp. 148-154, 2006.
[21] S. Ul Haq, S.H. Jarayam, and E.A. Cherney, “Insulation problems in
medium-voltage stator coils under fast repetitive voltage pulses”, IEEE
Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol. 44, pp. 1004-1012, 2008.
[22] IEEE standard test procedure for evaluation of systems of insulating
materials for random-wound AC electric machinery, IEEE STD 117,
1974.
[23] IEEE recommended practice for testing insulation resistance of rotating
machinery, IEEE STD 43, 2000.
[24] IEEE recommended practice for insulation testing of AC electric
machinery with high direct voltage, IEEE STD 95, 2002.
[25] IEEE guide for insulation maintenance of large alternating-current
rotating machinery, IEEE STD 56, 1977.
[26] IEEE Guide for Testing Turn Insulation of Form-Wound Stator Coils for
Alternating-Current Electric Machines, IEEE STD 522, 2004.
[27] NEMA standards publication MG 1-2006: motors and generators,
NEMA MG1, 2006.
Jinkyu Yang (S’05) received the B.S. degree in
electrical engineering from Korea University, Seoul,
Korea, in 2005. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering at Korea University,
Seoul, Korea. In 2007, he was an intern at the Korea
Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI) in Taejon,
Korea. In 2008, he worked at Baker Instrument
Company – An SKF Group Company, Fort Collins,
CO, on evaluation of insulation tests for electric
machines, as a summer intern for 6 months. His research interests are in
insulation quality assessment techniques for electrical equipment.
Tae-june Kang (S’11) received the B.S. degree in
electrical engineering from Korea University, Seoul,
Korea, in 2011. He is currently pursuing the M.S.
degree in electrical engineering at Korea University,
Seoul, Korea. His research interests are in stator
insulation testing for rotating electric machines.
Byunghwan Kim (S’09) received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in electrical engineering from Korea
University, Seoul, Korea, in 2008 and 2010,
respectively. He is currently a researcher at the Power
& Industrial System R&D Center of Hyosung
Corporation, Anyang, Korea. In 2008, he worked at
Baker Instrument Company, An SKF Group
Company, Fort Collins, CO, on evaluation of
insulation tests for electric machines, as a summer
intern. His research interests are in design of electric
machines for electric vehicle and special permanent magnet machine.
60 J. Yang et al.: Experimental Evaluation of Using the Surge PD Test as a Predictive Maintenance Tool
Sang Bin Lee (S'95-M'01-SM' 07) received the
B.S. and M.S. degrees from Korea University,
Seoul, Korea in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and
the Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA in 2001, all in electrical
engineering. From 2001 to 2004, he was with the
Electric Machines and Drives Laboratory, General
Electric Global Research Center (GRC),
Schenectady, NY. At GE GRC, he developed an
inter-laminar core fault detector for generator
stator cores, and worked on insulation quality assessment for electric
machines. From 2010 to 2011, he was with the Electric Drive
Technologies, Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria, as a
Research Scientist where he worked on condition monitoring of PM
synchronous machines. Since 2004, he has been a professor of
Electrical Engineering at Korea University, Seoul, Korea. His current
research interests are in protection, monitoring and diagnostics, and
analysis of electric machines and drives. Dr. Lee was the recipient of 6
Prize Paper Awards from the IEEE Power Engineering Society, the
Electric Machines Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society, and the Technical Committee on Diagnostics of the IEEE
Power Electronics Society. He serves as an Associate Editor for the
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications for the IEEE IAS Electric
Machines Committee.
Youngwoo Youn received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in communication engineering from
Information and Communication University,
Daejeon, Korea, in 2005 and 2007, respectively.
He is currently a researcher at power apparatus
research center at Korea Electrotechnology
Research Institute (KERI), Changwon, Korea. His
research interests are in condition monitoring and
signal processing
Dongsik Kang received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Pusan National
University, Pusan, Korea, in 1983, 1992, and 2002,
respectively. Since joining the Research Division of
Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI),
Changwon, Korea in 1987, he has been active in research
and development of on-line diagnostic techniques for
power apparatus, which includes rotating machines,
transformers, GIS, and cables. His main area of interest
is in partial discharge detection techniques (sensor, detection system, and noise
cancellation method) for high voltage electric power facilities. Since 2008, he has
been the director of the power apparatus research center at KERI.
Dr. Kang worked as a special expert for the AMAT (ageing management
assessment team) of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) on the
evaluation of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, Pakistan in 2007.
Jintae Cho (S’06) received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in electrical engineering from Korea
University, Seoul, Korea, in 2006 and 2008,
respectively. He is currently a researcher at
Transmission & Distribution Laboratory of Korea
Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Research
Institute, Daejeon, Korea. His research interests are
in condition monitoring, diagnostics, and control of
intelligent distribution equipment
Heedong Kim received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees
in electrical engineering from Hongik University, Seoul,
Korea, in 1985, 1987, and 1998, respectively. Since 1990,
he has been with the Engineering Center of Korea Electric
Power Corporation (KEPCO) Research Institute, Daejeon,
Korea, where he is currently a principal researcher. He was
a visiting researcher with the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu,
Japan. His research interests include aging mechanisms,
diagnostic tests, partial discharge testing, and life
assessment for rotating machines, and cable insulation systems.