Propagation of Inverter Surge and Voltage Distribution in Motor Winding

KOSEI TSUJI,
1
KOTARO WADA,
2
HIROTAKA MUTO,
2
HISASHI OTSUKA,
1

OSAMU YASHIRO,
1
and NAOTO NAGAOKA
3
1
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Nagoya Works, Japan
2
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Advanced Technology R&D Center, Japan
3
Doshisha University, Japan
SUMMARY
A new simulation technique was developed, which
allows the estimation of motor winding voltages in inverter
motor system. We developed a cable surge analysis method
that takes into account the frequency-dependent effect of
the dielectric characteristics of the cable insulator and mu-
tual induction between cable wires. A motor winding model
that takes into consideration the frequency-dependent ef-
fect of winding impedance and mutual coupling between
slots is also proposed. With the simulation technique, motor
winding voltages driven by an inverter are investigated,
including propagation characteristics of a cable connecting
the motor and the inverter. The accuracy of the proposed
model is confirmed to be satisfactory enough for the esti-
mation of winding voltages by comparisons between meas-
ured and calculated results. 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Electr Eng Jpn, 161(4): 7079, 2007; Published online in
Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI
10.1002/eej.20549
Key words: inverter; surge propagation; motor;
winding voltage; simulation.
1. Introduction
An output voltage waveform of a PWM inverter
consists of pulse voltages with different pulse width, and
the rise time of the pulse voltage becomes less than several
hundred nanoseconds for developments of faster switching
devices. When the pulse voltage is applied to a motor
through a cable by an inverter, the voltage repeatedly re-
flects at both ends of the cable because of impedance
mismatch between the motor, the cable, and the inverter.
The voltage at the motor could become greater than the
output voltage of the inverter if the propagation time of the
cable is longer than the pulse rise time. It is called inverter
surge or micro surge. If the pulse voltage is applied to a
motor, the voltage distribution across coils within the motor
becomes nonuniform. The highest voltage appears on the
first coil, although a uniform distribution is observed when
the motor is driven by an AC source. A remarkable feature
of a drive system using a PWM inverter is that the micro
surge is continually applied to a motor. If both ends of the
first coil in the motor are close to each other, a partial
discharge may occur, and the possibility of insulation
breakdown will be increased. For a design of a motor
insulation, estimation of the voltage distribution in the
motor winding is indispensable, and it is required that the
voltage is lower than the partial discharge inception voltage
of a winding insulator.
Winding voltages of a motor driven by an inverter
including propagation characteristic of a cable are investi-
gated in this paper. A surge analysis model of a multiphase
cable including its frequency-dependent effect of a dielec-
tric material as well as a skin effect of its conductor is
developed. A motor winding model considering mutual
couplings between slots and a frequency-dependent effect
of the winding impedance is also proposed in this paper.
Measurements and numerical simulations of the voltage
distribution in windings of a concentrated winding motor
are carried out. Effects of cable length, grounding imped-
ance, and motor winding connection on the winding voltage
are discussed in this paper based on comparisons between
the experimental and numerical results when a voltage
applied by a PWM inverter or a unipolar pulse source.
2. Numerical Model
In order to analyze the voltage distribution in an
inverter-driven motor, a numerical model of feeder cable
2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Electrical Engineering in Japan, Vol. 161, No. 4, 2007
Translated from Denki Gakkai Ronbunshi, Vol. 126-D, No. 6, June 2006, pp. 771777
70
and that of a motor are developed. Both models take into
account their frequency-dependent effect.
2.1 Cable model
The edges of the output voltage of an inverter are very
steep. If its rise- or fall-time is smaller than the travel time
of the feeding cable, the cable has to be treated as a
distributed parameter line. The inverter surge depends on
the cable resistance determined by the length of the cable
and by the skin effect [1, 2]. A cabtyre cable, which con-
nects between an inverter and a motor, uses polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) as an insulator, and its dielectric charac-
teristics (dielectric constant and dielectric dissipation fac-
t or) heavi l y depend on frequency. Unl ess t he
frequency-dependent effect of the admittance component
of the cable is taken into consideration, surge propagation
along the cable cannot be calculated accurately. The surge
propagation characteristic of the cable is investigated using
Electromagnetic Transient Program (ATP-EMTP) in this
paper. Although the EMTP has some distributed parameter
line models including the skin effect of the cable imped-
ance, they cannot take the frequency-dependent effect of
the cable admittance into consideration. In this paper, a
model is proposed to simulate the wave propagation char-
acteristic of the cabtyre cable including the frequency-de-
pendent effect of both the cable impedance and admittance.
The model consists of a Dommel line model, an RL parallel
circuit, and a CG series circuit as shown in Fig. 1. Surge
impedance, surge propagation velocity, cable length, and
loss resistance in a low-frequency region are expressed by
the Dommel line model. The frequency-dependent effect of
the cable impedance is represented by the RL parallel
circuit. This is a well-known method, which has been
adopted in analog simulators (TNA) [36]. The CG series
circuit represents the frequency-dependent effect of the
cable admittance.
In this section, a method for deriving the parameters
of the RL parallel circuit and the CG series circuit is
described. Impedance Z() of the RL parallel circuit for a
unit length is expressed by the following equation with the
equivalent resistance R
s
() and the equivalent inductance
L
s
():
In Eq. (1), R
s
() and L
s
() can be expressed as follows:
In a manner similar to the impedance, the admittance
Y() for the GC series circuit can be expressed as follows
with the equivalent conductance G
s
() and the equivalent
capacitance C
s
():
In Eq. (2), G
s
() and C
s
() can be expressed as follows:
For a direct current ( 0), a high frequency (
) and the angular frequency
0
at which the phase angle
of the impedance is 45, R
s
() and L
s
() for the RL parallel
circuit, and G
s
() and C
s
() for the GC series circuit are
given by the following equations:
The above equations indicate that the equivalent re-
sistance R
s
increases as the frequency increases, and the
equivalent inductance L
s
decreases. These trends are similar
to a frequency-dependent effect of a cable impedance. If the
increase in the resistance R

and the decrease in the induc-

tance L

in a frequency range for a simulation are provided,

the circuit parameters of the equivalent RL parallel circuit
for the frequency-dependent effect of the impedance are
obtained. If the angular frequency
0
and either R

or L

are given, the parameters can also be determined. From Eq.

(4), the equivalent conductance G
s
increases as the fre-
quency increases, and the equivalent capacitance C
s
de-
creases. In a manner similar to the impedance, the
admittance can be determined using the conductance G

, Fig. 1. Circuit model for analysis.

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
71
the capacitance C

, and the angular frequency

0
. However,
both frequency characteristics of the resistance R
s
and of
the inductance L
s
cannot be conformed to the original
characteristics because these parameters depend on each
other as shown in Eq. (3). The parameters for the RL parallel
circuit shown in Fig. 1 are determined by focusing on the
line loss, that is, the resistance R
s
. The conductance of the
CG series circuit (G
s
) is preferentially determined for the
same reason.
(1) Parameters of impedance compensation
circuit
Parameters for the line-impedance compensating cir-
cuit (RL parallel circuit) can be calculated according to the
following procedure.
(i) The minimum resistance is assumed to be the
resistance at the minimum frequency being analyzed (for
instance, a commercial frequency f = 50 or 60 Hz). The line
resistance at this frequency, R
min
, is calculated by Cable
Constants installed in the EMTP.
(ii) The line resistance R
0
and the inductance L
0
at the
center frequency f = f
0
are calculated by the Cable Con-
stants.
(iii) R

is determined by the equation R

0
= R
min
+
R

/2.
(iv) The change in the inductance is determined by
the equation L

= R

/
0
.
(v) L
min
is determined by the equation L
0
= L
min
+
L

/2.
(2) Parameters of admittance compensation
circuit
Parameters of the admittance compensation circuit
are calculated by the following procedure.
(i) Because the frequency-dependent effect of the line
capacitance cannot be taken into consideration by the Cable
Constants, a measurement of the line capacitance at the
center frequency f = f
0
is required. If the effect of the
frequency is minor, the capacitance can be calculated by the
Cable Constants.
(ii) The susceptance
0
C corresponding to the line
capacitance at the center frequency f = f
0
is obtained from
the above result.
(iii) The dielectric dissipation factor tan at the
center frequency f = f
0
is measured, and the conductance

0
C tan is calculated. This corresponds to G

/2, and the

change in the conductance, G

= 2
0
C tan is obtained.
The change in the capacitance is given by C

= G

/
0
.
(3) Parameters for cable analysis
A cross section of a PVC-sheathed cabtyre cable is
illustrated in Fig. 2. Table 1 lists the dimensions of the
cabtyre cable whose length is 100 m and nominal cross-sec-
tional area is 2 mm
2
. The oscillation period for the transient
waveform on the cable whose length is 100 m is approxi-
mately 2 to 3.5 s, and corresponds to a frequency of 300
to 500 kHz. Therefore, the circuit parameters (R
s
, L
s
, G
s
,
and C
s
) should be determined at a frequency of about f
0
=
400 kHz (
0
= 2f = 800 rad/s). Table 2 lists the calculated
results of the parameters R

and L

for the RL parallel

circuit. Because the mutual inductance between cables is
independent of the frequency, the frequency-dependent ef-
fect of the self-inductance is only taken into consideration.
The parameters G

and C

for the CG series circuit

are obtained by the previously explained procedure and the
following parameters. At the center frequency f
0
= 400 kHz,
the dielectric dissipation factor tan is obtained as 0.08 by
measurement. The capacitances to the ground, between the
adjacent lines, and between the diagonal lines are calculated
using the Cable Constants. Table 3 lists the calculated
results of the parameters for the CG series circuit.
The circuit illustrated in Fig. 1 should be connected
in cascade for a long cable in order to reduce simulation
error. The numerical analysis for a cable length of 100 m is
carried out by a four-cascaded line in this paper.
2.2 Calculation model for voltage distribution
in motor
A numerical model of a 3-phase concentrated wind-
ing motor with 12 slots is developed to analyze a voltage
distribution in its stator windings. The coils for the U, V,
Table 1. Parameters for PVC-sheathed Cabtyre cable
Fig. 2. Cross section of PVC-sheathed Cabtyre cable.
72
and W phases are arranged as shown in Fig. 3. There is a
mutual inductance (Msl) between the adjacent coils. When
the motor is driven by an AC source, the impedance of the
winding is determined by a series resistance and an induc-
tance of the coil. As a result, the voltage distribution is
uniform. When a steep-fronted voltage like an inverter
surge is applied to the motor, the capacitances within the
coil and between the coil and the frame cannot be ignored.
The voltage across the first coil winding, which is placed
in the vicinity of the input terminal, is increased by the
capacitances. Figure 4 illustrates a numerical model of a
coil in a slot shown in Fig. 3. The circuit takes into account
the frequency-dependent effect of the winding impedance,
and the mutual coupling between slots by a -type circuit.
In Fig. 4, Lsl represents the self-inductance of the coil, Rsl
is the series resistance, Rph is the resistance at the resonance
frequency, Cph is the capacitance between both ends of the
coil winding, Cf is the capacitance between the coil wind-
ings and the frame, and Rf is the resistance between the coil
and frame. The mutual inductance Msl shown in Fig. 3 is
taken into account only between adjacent coils and it is
expressed by a coupled RL circuit model installed in the
EMTP. The current flowing from the stator winding to the
frame via the gap between the stator and the rotor should
be taken into consideration. However, the capacitance be-
tween the stator and the rotor is very small compared to that
between the coil and the frame (in a general-purpose motor,
the ratio is about 1/100). The current flowing through the
gap is negligible even in a high-frequency region. Because
there is no effect on the simulation of the voltage distribu-
tion in the motor, the proposed motor model for the analysis
is composed neglecting the rotor.
In order to derive the parameters for each circuit
element, the frequency characteristics of the motor winding
impedances are measured according to the following man-
ner.
(1) Frequency characteristics of impedance
between coil and frame
The impedance between a coil in the motor slot and
the frame is measured using an impedance analyzer
(Agilent 4395 A: 200 kHz to 10 MHz). Both ends of the
coil winding are short-circuited at the measurement. The
result of this measurement is shown in Fig. 5. The solid line
represents the measured characteristic using the impedance
analyzer, and the circle is obtained by another impedance
instrument for low frequency measurement. The dashed
line shows the calculated frequency characteristics of the
proposed model obtained by Frequency Scan Program in
the EMTP.
(2) Frequency characteristics of coil impedance
Figure 6 shows a measured result of the impedance
between the terminals of a coil. In a low-frequency region,
the impedance increases in proportion to the frequency. At
the same time, in a high-frequency region, the result in-
versely decreases with the frequency. These characteristics
can be represented by an RL series circuit in the low-fre-
quency region and a CG parallel circuit in the high-fre-
quency region. A parallel resonance is observed at a
frequency of 340 kHz, and the impedance at the frequency
is 3.13 k.
Table 2. Parameters for the RL parallel circuit
Table 3. Parameters for the CG series circuit
Fig. 3. Arrangement of motor windings.
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit of motor (1 slot).
73
(3) Frequency characteristics of the impedance
between coils
Mutual impedance between coils is indirectly meas-
ured because of a difficulty of the direct measurement.
Series impedances of the adjacent coils are measured in
different connections involving the mutual impedance in
additive and subtractive polarity. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate
the results. The mutual impedance can be determined by the
difference between these results. Only a minor difference
is observed between the results for the other coil pairs. It
indicates that the mutual impedance is small enough to
ignore except for the mutual coupling between adjacent
coils.
(4) Circuit parameters
Table 4 lists the parameters of the -type equivalent
circuit model obtained from the above measurements from
(1) to (3). A mutual impedance (Msl = 1.75 mH) is provided
between the adjacent coils, that is, in different phases. The
conductance (1/Rf) between the coil and the frame is small,
and is ignored in the following calculations.
Fig. 5. Impedance between the coil and frame.
Fig. 7. Impedance between adjacent coils (additive
polarity).
Fig. 6. Impedance between the coil winding.
Fig. 8. Impedance between adjacent coils (subtractive
polarity).
Table 4. Parameters for the simulation
74
3. Comparison between Measured and Calculated
Results
3.1 Voltage distribution in motor for unipolar
pulse voltage
Figure 9 shows a circuit diagram used for the meas-
urements and the calculations in this section. A motor and
a pulse source are connected using a four-phase cabtyre
cable. In the figure, the frame of the motor is insulated from
the ground. A pulse voltage of 200 V amplitude, 100 s
pulse width, and 300 ns rise time is applied to phase U of
the motor by a circuit consisting of a single arm within a
three-phase inverter. In this measurement, the V and W
phases are short-circuited. The motor frame is connected to
the ground terminal of the pulse source via capacitor C (=
0.2 nF) using a grounding wire of the cabtyre cable. The
winding connection of the motor is four series-connected
phase coils in a Y connection. Phase U winding consists of
a series-connected coil in the order U1, U2, U3, and U4, as
shown in Fig. 9. The coils of phase U and phase W are
connected in the same way. The ends of the winding U4,
V4, and W4 are connected together, and the node represents
the neutral point of the motor.
The voltage in the concentrated winding motor is
analyzed using the cable and the motor winding model
explained in the previous section. Figures 10 and 11 show
the results of the measured and calculated results for a 50-m
cable whose surge propagation velocity is 160 m/s. In
these figures, U1W1 and U1 represent the voltage between
phases and across the first coil winding, respectively. The
second coil voltage with respect to W1 is indicated by
U2W1.
Although a rectangular pulse voltage is applied by the
pulse source, the phase-to-phase voltage (between U1 and
W1) at the motor terminal becomes a damped oscillating
waveform as shown in the figures. This is a typical inverter
surge waveform. The attenuation of the high-frequency
component is greater than that of the low-frequency com-
ponent because of the frequency-dependent effect of the
cable. The measured maximum voltage is 384 V (calcu-
lated: 380 V), and the overvoltage is 1.9 times greater than
the applied voltage. The oscillation period of the surge
voltage is 1.26 s, which corresponds to four times the
propagation time of the cabtyre cable (= 4 50 m/160
m/s). The measured second coil voltage (U2W1) is 252
V (calculated: 265 V), and the voltage across the first coil
is 213 V (calculated: 209 V). From a comparison between
Figs. 10 and 11, it is clear that the calculated waveforms
agree well with the measured waveform as well as the
maximum voltage which is important for an insulation
design.
Figure 12 shows the difference in the calculated
waveforms of the first coil voltage without and with the
mutual impedances both between the motor windings and
between the cables. When the mutual impedances are ig-
nored, the maximum voltage becomes 233 V, and is lower
Fig. 9. Circuit configuration for measurement and
simulation.
Fig. 10. Motor terminal voltage (measured).
Fig. 11. Motor terminal voltage (calculated).
75
by 10% than the accurate representation including the
mutual coupling. It is clear that these mutual impedances
in the cable and the motor cannot be ignored for an estima-
tion of the voltage distribution in the motor.
(1) Effect of grounding impedance on voltage
dividing ratio
For an investigation of the effect of the grounding
impedance Ze in Fig. 9, the following conditions are as-
sumed: (1) short-circuited (Ze = 0); (2) via a capacitor (C =
0.2 nF); and (3) open-circuited (Ze = ). The voltage
dividing factor is defined as the ratio of the maximum
instantaneous voltage for the applied voltage (between
U1W1) to the maximum instantaneous voltage across the
terminals of the first coil (U1). The cable length is assumed
to be 1, 20, 50, or 100 m. Figure 13 shows the effect of
grounding impedance on the voltage dividing factor. From
the investigation, the following results are obtained.
(i) Difference between the calculated and the meas-
ured results is within 5%.
(ii) The voltage dividing ratio is the highest when the
frame is grounded directly. The second largest is the case
for grounding via a capacitor C, and the lowest is for no
grounding. The ratio increases as the grounding impedance
decreases.
(iii) The ratio gradually decreases as the cable length
increases. In the case of the cable whose length is 100 m,
the ratio is 10 to 15% lower than the result when the motor
and the pulse source are connected directly. The charac-
teristic can be explained by the slower voltage rise which
is caused by the frequency-dependent effect of the traveling
wave propagating along the long cable.
(2) Effect of winding connection on voltage
dividing ratio
Figure 14 shows the effect of the winding connection
on the measured and calculated results of the voltage divid-
ing ratio. In this observation, the motor frame is grounded
via a capacitor C of 0.2 nF. The connections are: (1) four
series-connected phase coils in a Y connection, (2) four
series-connected phase coils in a connection, (3) two
series-connected phase coils in a parallel Y connection, and
(4) single phase coil in a quadruple parallel Y connection.
The difference between the calculated and measured results
for these winding connections is within 5%. For the case of
the quadruple parallel Y connection, the voltage dividing
ratio is 67% regardless of the cable length. For other wind-
ing connections, the voltage dividing ratio decreases as the
cable length increases.
Fig. 12. Effect of mutual inductance on first coil
voltage.
Fig. 13. Effect of grounding impedance on first coil
voltage/phase to phase voltage.
Fig. 14. Effect of winding connection on first coil
voltage/phase to phase voltage.
76
3.2 Voltage distribution in motor driven by
PWM inverter
The phase-to-phase voltages at the inverter output
and at the motor terminal, and also the voltage across the
first coil winding are analyzed when the motor is driven by
a two-level PWM inverter. In this investigation, the follow-
ing circuit conditions are employed: cable length of 100 m,
PWM (carrier) frequency of 4 kHz, and inverter DC link
bus voltage of 600 V. The winding connection of the motor
is two series-connected phase coils in a parallel Y connec-
tion. Figure 15 shows the calculated waveforms. These
maximum voltages are greater than the voltage when a
unipolar pulse voltage is applied. The maximum voltage of
the phase-to-phase voltage U1W1 is 1278 V, and it is 2.2
times greater than the DC link voltage. The short pulse
interval of the PWM waveform generates the greater volt-
age. The surge voltage is overlapped since the successive
pulse is applied before the prior oscillating waveform is
attenuated. Table 5 shows the results of the maximum
measured and calculated voltage ratio for the phase-to-
phase voltage and for the voltage across the first coil. The
comparisons between the results show that the proposed
analysis method has enough accuracy.
4. Conclusion
Experiments and numerical analyses of voltage dis-
tributions in a motor were carried out in this paper. A cable
model that takes into account the frequency-dependent
effect of dielectric characteristics of the insulation material
of PVC was developed. The model also deals with the
mutual induction between cable conductors, although its
structure is quite simple. A motor winding model that takes
into consideration the frequency-dependent effect of the
winding impedance with mutual coupling between slots is
also proposed.
Voltage distribution within a concentrated winding
motor is calculated using the numerical model. A unipolar
pulse voltage is applied for a basic investigation of the
characteristic, and a PWM waveform is applied for an
investigation of a practical situation. The effect of the cable
length, the grounding impedance, and the winding connec-
tion on the winding voltage is studied by some experiments
as well as the numerical simulations. Calculated results of
the voltage waveform across the first coil agree well with
the measured waveform. Difference between the measured
Fig. 15. Voltage distribution in motor winding driven by inverter (calculated).
Table 5. Comparison between simulation and
measurement
77
and calculated results of the voltage across first coil is
within 5%. The results in this paper show that the proposed
analysis method has enough accuracy for an insulation
design of motor windings.
REFERENCES
1. Hitosugi K, Moriyasu S, Kobaru T. Voltage distribu-
tion in the winding of PWM inverter motor. Trans IEE
Japan 2002;122-D.
2. Nagrial MH, Hellany A, Rizk J. Simulation of the
effect of cables on inverter fed motor drive systems.
Int Conference on Simulation, No. 457, p 368374,
1998.
3. Nagaoka N, Ueno S, Sugahara K. Surge analysis on
the tank of a gas insulated line using lumped element
circuit. Trans IEE Japan 1991;111-B. (in Japanese)
4. Matsuura T, Noda T, Nagaoka N, Ametani A. A
simplified calculation method of a line surge consid-
ering the frequency-dependent effect. Trans IEE Ja-
pan 1996;116-B:706.
5. Ono T, Matsuhara H. The necessary number of steps
for a transmission simulation circuit using TNA.
Trans IEE Japan 1975;95-B:415. (in Japanese)
6. Ametani A, Ono T. Development of fundamental
analysis techniques: Chapter 2, Surge analysis meth-
ods. Proc IEE Japan 1984;104:1013. (in Japanese)
AUTHORS (from left to right)
Kosei Tsuji (member) graduated from the Department of Electronics Engineering, Doshisha University, in 1991,
completed the first half of his doctoral studies in electrical engineering in 1993, and joined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. At present,
he is pursuing the development of insulation for inverter-driven motors.
Kotaro Wada (member) graduated from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Tokyo Institute of
Technology, in 1996, completed the masters course in Energy Development in 1998, and joined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. At
present, he is pursuing research related to insulation and surges in inverters and motors.
Hirotaka Muto (member) completed the first half of his doctoral studies in electrical engineering at Nagoya University
in 1985 and joined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. At present, he is pursuing the development of insulation technologies for drive
devices, motors, inverters, power modules, and other power electronics devices.
Hisashi Otsuka (nonmember) graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Science University of Tokyo, in
1992, completed the masters program in electrical engineering in 1994, and joined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. At present, he is
pursuing development and design of servo motors.
Osamu Yashiro (nonmember) graduated from the Department of Nuclear Power, Osaka University, in 1987, completed
the first half of his doctoral studies in 1989, and joined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. At present, he is pursuing the development of
insulation for motors.
78
AUTHORS (continued)
Naoto Nagaoka (member) graduated from the Department of Electronics, Doshisha University, in 1980. He became a
lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1985, and has been a professor there since 1999. He is primarily pursuing
the development of transient simulation method and of numerical computational models for power system analysis.
79