IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO.
4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
Low-Power High-Voltage Power Modulator
for Motor Insulation Testing
Yuseph Montasser, Associate Member, IEEE, Mostafa I. Marei, and
Shesha H. Jayaram, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—Variable-speed pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) drives
allow for precise speed control of induction motors, as well as
a high power factor and fast response characteristics, compared
with nonelectronic speed controllers. However, due to the high
switching frequencies and the high dV /dt, there are increased
dielectric stresses in the insulation system of the motor, leading to
premature failure, in high power and medium- and high-voltage
motors. Studying the degradation mechanism of these insulation
systems on an actual motor is both extremely costly and im-
practical. In addition, to replicate the aging process, the same
waveform that the motor is subjected to should be applied to the
test samples. As a result, a low-power two-level high-voltage PWM
inverter has been built to replicate the voltage waveforms for aging
processes. This generator allows for testing the insulation systems
considering a real PWM waveform in which both the fast pulses
and the fundamental low frequency are included. The results show
that the effects of PWM waveforms cannot be entirely replicated
by a unipolar pulse generator.
Index Terms—High voltage, insulation testing, inverter-fed
drive motors, power electronics, pulsewidth modulated (PWM).
I. I NTRODUCTION
T HE INTRODUCTION of the first medium-voltage (MV)
drive in 1983 [1] ushered in a new era in the operation
and control of MV induction motors. These new drives quickly
began to supersede devices such as gearboxes and eddy-current
clutches. In addition, the rapid development of technology
and manufacturing processes in the electronics industry has
allowed for the development of semiconductor products, such
as switches, with ever increasing current and voltage ratings.
Currently, solid-state-based MV drives with operating voltages
of 2.3, 3.3, 4.16, 6, 7.2, and 13.8 kV are available on the
market. As such, it is possible to increase the operating voltage,
and, hence, the power ratings of these drives while keeping
the current at low levels, in order to keep the physical size
Paper MSDAD-07-68, presented at the 2006 EAS/IEEE/IEJ/SFE Joint
Conference on Electrostatics, Berkeley, CA, June 20–23, and approved for
publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by
the Electrostatic Processes Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society. Manuscript submitted for review September 1, 2006 and released
for publication December 3, 2007. Published July 23, 2008 (projected). This
work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council (NSERC) of Canada.
Y. Montasser and S. H. Jayaram are with the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1,
Canada (e-mail: yuseph@ieee.org).
M. I. Marei was with the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Canada. He is now with the Electrical Power and Machines Department,
Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11517, Egypt (e-mail:
mimmarei@hivolt.uwaterloo.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2008.926234
0093-9994/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
1059
of the components reasonably small with good thermal perfor-
mance [2]. Moreover, the newer solid-state drives are much less
prone to equipment breakdown [1] and offer significant energy
savings over their mechanical alternatives for variable torque
applications [1], [3].
Despite many advantages, the application of solid-state
variable-speed pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) drives for use
with induction motors has created concerns with regard to the
negative impact that these drives have on the insulation system
of the motor [4], [5]. This is mainly due to the fact that the
insulation systems are not designed to cope with the impulse
like voltages produced by the PWM voltage source converters
(VSCs), as they have been mainly designed to operate at power
frequency (50/60 Hz). Most of the problems that occur due to
the use of these drives result from the repetitive steep front
pulses (high dV /dt) and added harmonic content of the output
waveforms. These problems include large overshoots at the
motor terminals [6], increased motor heating [7] which may
accelerate the thermal degradation of the insulation, and bearing
currents [8]. The common causes of insulation degradations due
to such high frequency fast transients are as follows.
1) An increased growth rate in the material’s microcavities
due to the local electromechanical energy storage and
electrical fatigue with high frequency components.
2) Dielectric heating that usually occurs because of high fre-
quency components. Hot spots developed on the surface
of the ground-wall insulation system, specifically in the
stress grading (SG) region, can accelerate the degradation
process.
3) Space charge injection/accumulation due to steep wave-
fronts, high dV /dt, and high frequency components. The
presence of such components leads to a delay (out of step)
in the polarization of some of the dipoles, and the charges
might not disappear with polarity reversal. Space charge
can cause field perturbation between two consecutive
turns, which can lead to premature failure.
4) Partial discharge (PD) activity due to overshoots in the
voltage waveforms and space charge fields. The PD ac-
tivity can gradually destroy the SG coatings and, eventu-
ally, the ground-wall insulation. Furthermore, the voltage
distribution along the SG coating is frequency (or dV /dt)
dependent because of the capacitive coupling of the SG
coating with the high-voltage conductor. The voltage at
every point along the SG coating depends on dV /dt, as
this potential is defined by the ratio between the longitu-
dinal impedance of the SG coating and the impedance of
the main insulation.
1060 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
To suppress the problems associated with the drives, po-
tential solutions include the use of an inverter duty motor or
a filter between the motor and the converter [9]. Often, the
inverter duty motor is a standard motor with improved cooling
and added ground-wall and turn-to-turn insulation [10], [11].
This solution does not completely eliminate the aging and
degradation problems found in the insulation system. It simply
lengthens the aging process before any serious problems or
failures develop. Further increasing the insulation level is not
a good solution because it reduces the thermal performance
of the motor. Instead, motor manufacturers should focus on
developing insulation systems that are much more resilient to
the operating conditions produced by VSCs.
The use of filters may be appropriate for a variety of situ-
ations; however, they are not always suitable. For example, in
propulsion applications for ships, the use of a filter negates the
weight savings obtained through the use of a PWM-VSC [12].
Filters can also be unappealing due to the fact that the resonant
frequency of the filter can potentially limit the fundamental
frequency of the output, limiting the applications of the drive
that can be used in [13].
An additional concern to motor manufacturers is the avail-
ability of switches with higher voltage ratings, which allow
drive manufacturers to achieve the same operating voltage
levels with a reduced number of stages in their designs. This
trend would reduce the complexity, as well as the number of
components required in the drive, but it may create added insu-
lation problems for motor manufacturers [14]. This is because
by reducing the number of levels utilized in the design will
simply increase the electrical stress that these drives place upon
the motor insulation.
Multilevel inverters are preferred from an insulation stand-
point, as they produce much more motor friendly waveforms
compared with a standard two-level inverter. The increased
number of levels reduces the overall dV /dt in the output voltage
waveform, which occurs at the motor terminals; this, in turn,
reduces the stress on the insulation. In addition, multilevel con-
verters allow the elimination of the use of output transformers
for large induction motor applications [15].
Although significant work has been done with respect to
drive design, the effects of PWM inverters on MV insulation
systems [16]–[19] have not been investigated in depth. There
has only been a small focus on developing improved magnet
wire coatings [20], [21] to resist corona activities. Whereas
the insulation problems discussed previously can be found in
both low voltage and MV motors, the solutions developed to
suppress these problems in low voltage random-wound motors
cannot be directly applied to their MV counterparts because of
their differing constructions.
As stated previously, there are few published works on
insulation studies in the MV class. Currently, the majority
of the research in this area utilizes unipolar square waves,
exponentially decaying pulses, or high frequency ac as test
waveforms in analyzing insulation performance. Such voltage
waveforms do not expose the test sample to the full effects
that the converter output produces, namely, the fundamental
component, the high dV /dt, and the large harmonic content.
As a result, a comparison between the aging effects under the
conventional test waveforms and an actual PWM test waveform
would prove to be very beneficial. To address this need, the
objective of this paper is to design a device that is capable of
producing a high-voltage bipolar PWM output suitable for use
in insulation testing. This paper showcases the laboratory built
low-power high-voltage inverter used to replicate the output
waveforms of an MV drive, as well as the studies conducted
on the performance of the insulation in MV motor coils under
these waveforms. Whereas this device is based on a single-
phase inverter, it has been called a modulator because, by
swapping the firmware in the controller, the device can produce
both unipolar and bipolar pulse waveforms. The unipolar pulse
waveforms were, in fact, used in the initial testing of the device.
As a result, in this paper, the terms pulse modulator and low-
power high-voltage inverter are used interchangeably.
II. D ESIGN OF THE B IPOLAR P ULSE G ENERATOR
As previously discussed, the voltage sources currently used
in motor insulation studies are either exponential (unipolar)
pulse or high frequency ac waveforms. A high-voltage PWM
signal can be generated by using two potential methods; a low
voltage signal could be generated from a standard inverter,
and the magnitude can be amplified by using a high-voltage
transformer. The other method involves the use of switching
devices with suitably high-voltage ratings to build an inverter
to generate the high-voltage signal.
The use of a high-voltage transformer is not feasible for a
number of reasons. Due to the magnetic limitations of the trans-
former core, the duty cycle of the input pulse must be limited
so as to avoid core saturation. This limitation on the duty cycle
means that the long duty cycles used in generating parts of the
PWM signal will not be possible. As the transformer method
not being feasible, the second method which requires the use of
high-voltage gated switching devices has been implemented in
this paper.
A. Basic Configuration
The basic topology of the pulse modulator, as shown in
Fig. 1, is based on a single-phase inverter. Because the leakage
current through the test object (insulation sample) is very small
during normal testing, a resistor is connected at the output ter-
minals to allow the semiconductor switches to operate properly.
In addition, this resistor will discharge the capacitance of the
test object so that, when the switches in the inverter commutate,
the voltage across the test object will drop to zero during that
commutation time. The resistor in Fig. 1 is a variable resistor
because its value is selected, depending on the capacitance of
the test object as well as the external dc-link voltage applied to
the inverter.
The two-level inverter topology was selected, as it offers the
simplest control algorithm, as well as easy construction. As
discussed earlier, almost all VSCs use a multilevel inverter in
their designs. Whereas a two-level inverter will not be able to
produce the exact output of an MV-PWM VSC, it will replicate
the most important aspects of an MV VSC’s waveform: the fast
MONTASSER et al.: LOW-POWER HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER MODULATOR FOR MOTOR INSULATION TESTING
Fig. 1. Single-phase inverter topology utilized in the bipolar pulse generator.
rise time (dV /dt), the presence of a significant fundamental
component, and the large harmonic content. It should be noted
that, for the same dc-link value, a two-level inverter will pro-
duce a higher dV /dt than a multilevel inverter. Nonetheless,
the waveforms used in this paper have the dV /dt in the range
that reflects the drive output very closely. The operating voltage
range for this power supply falls within that of the MV drives
which are between 1 and 13.8 kV. Based on the aforementioned
values, an output waveform with a magnitude of 14 kVpp with
a dc-link voltage of ∼7 kV is selected as reference.
B. Component Selection
The selection of components for the proposed power modu-
lator design requires a balance between higher voltage and low
current ratings. This is due to the fact that the pulse modulator is
required to supply very low currents for insulation testing. Due
to the limitation of the two-level inverter, a switching device
with a voltage rating of 8 kV is required, which is based on
the 7-kV dc-link voltage. Currently, the only available active
switching devices on the market, which have these voltage
ratings, are thyratrons, thyristors, and gate turnoffs (GTOs).
Thyratrons and GTOs have very low repetition rate and will not
be able to operate at the required switching frequency. Thyris-
tors are naturally commutated, and the pulsewidth cannot be
easily controlled. As a result, a series chain of either insulated-
gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or MOSFETs can be utilized.
MOSFETs that are available with voltage ratings of 1200 V
come with turn-on/off times on the order of tens of nano-
seconds, but these switching times are much faster than the
operations of those switches found in an MV drive. Alterna-
tively, discrete IGBT units are available on the market with
voltage ratings of up to 1700 V and current ratings of up to
75 A. Based on these data and the need to minimize the number
of switches in series, so as to limit the size of the modulator,
1061
Fig. 2. Measured voltage across each switch in a series chain of two switches
with resistive snubbers installed.
IGBT switches with voltage and current ratings of 1700 V and
16 A, respectively, were selected for use.
C. Snubbers
Under ideal circumstances, a series chain of switches with no
voltage sharing scheme may be acceptable, but in reality, device
variation and other factors must be considered. Hence, some
form of voltage sharing must be utilized to keep the switches
operating within their safe operating area. The most common
voltage sharing technique is the use of parallel resistors for
steady state voltage sharing. For this design, 2-MΩ shunt re-
sistors were selected by basing on the 50-µA leakage current
specified on the datasheet of the switch [22].
The initial operation of the chain of switches demonstrated
that this snubber was enough to reliably operate the series chain.
Later measurement with a differential probe demonstrated that,
whereas the steady state voltage was indeed equalized, the
transient voltage across each switch was markedly different.
This is shown in Fig. 2, which shows the voltage across each
switch in a series chain consisting of two switches. The figure
also indicates that the top switch is stressed more than the
bottom switch.
To correct this problem, snubber capacitors were placed
in parallel with the switches [23]. The size of the required
capacitors was roughly determined from the collector-emitter
capacitance [22] and by testing a variety of capacitors. Based
on these criteria, 1-nF capacitors were selected for use. This
solution equalized the transient voltage but created another
problem; with the capacitors installed, the turn-off time became
much longer, distorting the pulse shape. The effect is shown
in Fig. 3, which compares the pulse shapes with and without
a snubber capacitor installed. The bend that is apparent in the
falling edge of the pulse is due to a slight delay in the gate
signal of the bottom switch, as compared with the gate signals
of the other switches. This delay was due to imperfections
in the driver circuit, and it was later eliminated through the
1062 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008

Fig. 3. Comparing the turn-off time of the pulse with and without 1-nF
capacitive snubbers installed.
Fig. 4. Sinusoidal PWM output produced by the laboratory-built power
use of a printed circuit board with identical gate circuits for modulator. This waveform was captured by using two high-voltage probes,
which were then subtracted by using the math function to obtain the actual
all switches. waveform.
For testing insulation systems where the loads are predomi-
nantly capacitive, the added capacitance of the snubber further
increases the turn-off time of the pulse. If the turn-off time of
the output becomes too long, this will limit the dV /dt of the
device, making it difficult to properly age the samples, as well
as influencing other applications, this device can be used for
[24] and [25]. After much testing with different snubber values
coupled with different capacitive loads connected at the output,
it was determined that it was best not to use the capacitive
snubber.

D. Controller
The pulse modulator is controlled by a PIC16F73 micro-
controller programmed with a custom firmware that can be
used to generate both a bipolar square wave and a sinusoidal
PWM waveform. The PWM output is generated by using the
built-in PWM module, as well as a lookup table stored in
the microcontroller’s Flash memory. The user can vary the
fundamental frequency by controlling the step size between the
data points of the readout of the lookup table. Fig. 4 shows
the output PWM waveform generated by the custom built
supply with a fundamental frequency of 60 Hz, a switching
frequency of 1.25 kHz, and an amplitude of 6.2 kV peak to
peak. The superimposed sine wave is a symbolic represen-
tation of the fundamental, but the actual Fourier spectra of
the modulator output PWM voltage waveform are presented
later in Fig. 8 under the section “Output waveforms” and
analyzed.
One of the settings in the firmware, which had to be carefully
considered, was the insertion of a dead time in the output. The
dead time is the period between the conducting switches of
the inverter being turned off and the opposite switches being
turned on. This dead time is shown in Fig. 5, which highlights
a zoomed-in section of the voltage output of the modulator
in its bipolar mode. In the firmware, the dead time was set
at 8 µs. The length of the dead time is particularly important
Fig. 5. Zoomed-in output of the bipolar pulse modulator, showing the dead
time which was programmed into the firmware of the modulator.
with capacitive loads because, as discussed previously, the turn-
off time of the pulse increases with the capacitance of the
load. Turn-off times on the order of 2, 5, and even 10 µs
were observed, depending on the capacitance of the test object,
during testing with unipolar pulses.
E. Drive Circuit
One of the most important areas of the modulator is the
drive circuit. If the drive circuits are poorly designed, then
the switching performance of the IGBTs will be poor. The
gate circuit must be able to supply enough peak current so
as to turn on the switch by fully charging the input capac-
itance and putting the switch into its low impedance op-
erating state. In addition, it must simultaneously maintain
electrical isolation between the gate of the switch and the
controller.
MONTASSER et al.: LOW-POWER HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER MODULATOR FOR MOTOR INSULATION TESTING 1063

Fig. 7. Low-power high-voltage inverter which was built in the laboratory for
insulation testing prior to being packaged in a metal enclosure.

Fig. 6. Switching waveforms during turn-on: (Ch 1) VCE , (Ch 2) gate voltage
VGE , and (Ch 4) gate current IG . These waveforms were measured at the
bottom switch connected in a series chain of switches.

Because the device discussed in this paper depends on the

use and operation of series chains of switches, the electrical
isolation and synchronization of the gate signals are particularly
crucial. The synchronization of the gate signals will be achieved
through the construction of identical gate circuits for all the
switches.
To maintain the electrical isolation and generate the required
floating gate signals, several methods were investigated. One
technique discussed in the literature is the passive triggering
of series MOSFETs through capacitive coupling [26]. This
technique offers the advantages of low component count, as
well as few space requirements. However, the results presented
Fig. 8. Fourier spectra of the PWM waveform, which was recorded in Fig. 4.
for series IGBTs are not very promising [26], and therefore, this
method was not implemented. optocoupler may be damaged from attempting to supply more
The use of gate drive transformers was also investigated. than its rated current. This is because the gate of the switch is
Like the previous method, gate drive transformers offer the directly connected to the optocoupler.
advantage of being compact. This method could not be im-
plemented due to the fact that there are no available units
which can operate at the switching frequency of the modulator, III. R ESULTS
which is between 1 and 3 kHz. Almost all gate drive units are
A. Output Waveform
manufactured to operate at switching frequencies of 10 kHz and
above. The pulse modulator that was designed and built in labora-
As a result of the limitations of the previous two methods, tory is shown in Fig. 7. After the initial testing of the modulator,
optocouplers were selected for use. One downside of using it was mounted inside a grounded metal enclosure to minimize
optocouplers is that they each require an isolated power supply. the electromagnetic interference emitted by the device. This
This means that a series chain of switches will require quite a pulse modulator has been operated safely and stably at output
bit of space for the drive circuitry. The optocoupler, which was voltages of up to 6.2 kVpp , Fig. 4. In theory, this modulator
selected, had an adequate insulating voltage but was only able should be able to operate with a dc-link voltage of 6.8 kV,
to supply a very limited current. As a result, additional circuitry which would produce an output voltage of 13.6 kVpp . Due to
was required to supply adequate current to the gate terminal of packaging and safety issues with operating the device at such
the switch, ensuring proper turn-on. This was shown in Fig. 6, high voltages, this level could not be safely reached.
which shows the gate current, collector-emitter voltage, and The Fourier spectra of the modulator output PWM voltage
gate-emitter voltage waveforms of a selected IGBT during its waveform were calculated, and they are shown in Fig. 8. The
turn-on. During the turn-on of the switch, the recorded peak plot in Fig. 8 shows the significant fundamental component
current is around 50 mA. The optocoupler selected for use at 60 Hz. In addition, the peak at a switching frequency of
in this design has a peak output current of 16 mA; hence, it 1.25 kHz is apparent, along with the peaks which occur at multi-
would increase the turn-on time for the switch because its input ples of the switching frequency. The output waveform produced
capacitance would be charged much slower, as otherwise, the by the modulator does, in fact, replicate all the features of a test
1064
Fig. 9. Recorded (top) line-to-ground voltage and (bottom) current applied to
a 4.16-kV coil, with all its turns shorted together, connected to the output of
the modulator. It should be noted that the output of the modulator is floating;
thus, measuring the line-to-ground output voltage only gives half the output
waveform.
voltage waveform that a practical drive output voltage would
have on the insulation system. The following sections briefly
cover the tests which were conducted, using the modulator.
B. Full 4.16-kV Coil Test
One of the initial ideas behind the modulator was to build
a test bench that is capable of aging full coils. This would
provide invaluable data on the degradation process that occurs
in MV inverter-fed induction motors. To determine whether this
would be possible with the current design, a 4.16-kV coil was
connected to the output. One connection was made to the steel
plates attached to the coil, which would simulate the stator core,
and the other connection to the shorted windings in the coil.
The system was then energized, and the dc-link voltage was
slowly increased. As the voltage increased, large currents were
drawn by the test object, as shown in Fig. 9. Due to the low-
power rating of the dc source connected to the modulator, the
dc-link voltage was limited to 1.2 kVpp . In Fig. 9, the current
waveform shows that the capacitance of the coil is the dominant
component, which is apparent from the fact that there is only
current drawn when there is a transition in the voltage. When
the voltage is constant, such as during a longer pulse, the current
through the load becomes zero.
C. MV Ground-Wall Insulation Tests
The major insulation problem for large machines, operating
above 3.3 kV, is most likely in the SG material on the end
winding; however, it is essential to understand the performance
of the ground-wall insulation, when enhanced PD activity and
dielectric heating are present. Therefore, test samples with
specialized SG coatings, which can withstand the aging effects,
are used to determine the breakdown voltage of the ground-
wall insulation under different types of voltage waveforms. The
description of the laboratory that developed small stator bars
is shown in Fig. 10. The small copper bars are wound with
ground-wall mica tapes, as shown in Fig. 10(a), and prepared as
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
Fig. 10. Prepared bar samples that were used to represent a stator winding.
(a) Before any conductive paint of SG material was applied. (b) Completed
bar sample with all coatings applied and all the relevant components labeled.
(c) Experimental setup used to age the bar samples.
per manufacturer guidelines. The bar samples were first vacuum
dried for approximately 6–8 h. Following the vacuum cycle,
the specimens were flooded with a low viscosity resin. The wet
stator bars were removed from the tank and placed in an oven
to cure the resin at 120 ◦ C–150 ◦ C for 2–3 h. The tapes used for
vacuum pressure impregnation are mica paper tapes reinforced
with thin glass cloth on one side. They are made with 10% to
25% of the binder resin needed to fully saturate the insulation,
which is sufficient to bond the layers of the tape together during
overlapping. The binder resin is of the same resin family as the
final impregnating resin. Silicon carbide loaded coatings in the
form of paints are applied to the stator bar specimens, along
with SG, to limit erosion from PDs, particularly due to the edge
effects. A completed sample and the experimental setup used in
aging are shown in Fig. 10(b) and (c), respectively.
After the samples had been aged under pulse application for
a set period of time, their dc breakdown strength was measured.
Three samples are used in each test condition. In all cases, the
tests were initiated with virgin samples. In this research paper,
the breakdown value is measured to establish the residual life
of the sample instead of measuring the time to failure. The
reported values of the breakdown voltages are average of three
measurements. The deviation in the data was observed to be
in the range of 0.41–0.55 kVp in all cases. Based on the small
scatter in the data and also due to the limited number of data
points, no statistical analysis was applied.
All of the breakdowns occurred in the aged samples due to
the puncture in the mica tape. The results were then compared
with the results of other aging tests, using different test wave-
forms. The comparison in Fig. 11 shows that samples aged
under a PWM waveform had a significantly lower breakdown
voltage as compared with samples aged by using unipolar
square wave and unipolar exponentially decaying waveforms.
The mechanism behind the rupturing of ground-wall in-
sulation was different under pulse and ac conditions. In the
case of samples subjected to unipolar pulse, and PWM-VSC
MONTASSER et al.: LOW-POWER HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER MODULATOR FOR MOTOR INSULATION TESTING
Fig. 11. Recorded breakdown strength of ground-wall samples aged under
various test waveforms.
waveforms, the degradation is observed between two mica
layers due to PD activity, which propagates in axial direction
with the formation of tree channel, thus leading to insulation
breakdown. However, the degradation process under ac wave-
forms started in defects or voids if present in the ground-wall
insulation, then causing a local breakdown due to increased
PD activity. Furthermore, under PWM conditions, the electric
field concentrates right at the simulated slot exit [17], which
can accelerate the aging and result in an eventual failure of
the affected area. This aspect coupled with the large amount
of heating produced in the insulation by the fundamental com-
ponent could explain the lower breakdown voltage (decreased
residual life).
D. SG System Test
SG coatings are applied to the coil ends of electrical ma-
chines in order to prevent PD damage that can occur with high
concentrations of the electric field [27]. The SG system utilizes
materials that have field dependent conductivities. Hence, as
the field concentration increases, the conductivity increases,
causing the electric field to spread out more. Current SG
systems have been designed to operate under power frequency
conditions (50/60 Hz). As a result, their performance rapidly
degrades under pulse conditions, which occurs when the motor
is fed by a PWM-VSC. This problem has been verified through
simulation and experimental work in [17].
To correct the aforementioned problem, a new SG coating
was developed, which would be able to operate under inverter-
fed conditions. The new SG coating was tested by using a
circular geometry because it produces an electric field in the
sample that is very similar to that found at the slot exit, and it
is easy to control the thickness of each layer when making the
sample. To determine whether any electrical stress was being
generated from the applied waveform, a thermal camera was
used to observe any hot spots. Under PWM, two hot regions
(rings) are observed on the SG coating, as shown in Fig. 12, due
to the SG coating grading the high-frequency components to the
1065
Fig. 12. Testing the new SG system with an actual sinusoidal PWM waveform
to show that the system is able to grade both the 60-Hz ac and pulse electric
fields.
inside interface and the 60-Hz component to the outer interface.
The verification of whether this design would actually work was
only possible by using the laboratory-built power modulator.
Thus, it is recommended that, in voltage endurance tests, a real
PWM voltage source should be used; this way, both coatings
will be under stress and, at the same time, making it possible
for a correct evaluation of the system.
IV. C ONCLUSION
This paper has attempted to show the reasoning behind
developing a high-voltage low-power modulator for testing
insulation systems. Some of the important considerations in the
design of this pulser, such as the topology, the controller, and
the switches used, have been reviewed and discussed.
The modulator that was constructed has been tested with a
variety of applications, and the results from these tests have
demonstrated a potential need for this type of device. For
example, the effectiveness of a new SG system under a real
PWM waveform was demonstrated.
Whereas this modulator was designed with insulation testing
specifically in mind, it could very easily be used in other pulse
power applications. This is particularly true for areas where
the used loads are much more conductive, as in liquid food
sterilization using pulsed electric fields. A bipolar voltage will
enhance microbial inactivation due to sudden polarity reversal.
This paper also shows that the idea has proven to be feasible
and achievable with regular off-the-shelf components; hence,
the next step is to scale up the device so that it can be used
for reliably aging full coils. This scaling up will entail, using
a higher power HV-DC source, switches with higher current
ratings, as well as improved packaging and shielding. The
availability of such power supply could provide valuable data
and information on the degradation mechanisms which occur
within inverter-fed motors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank F. Espino-Cortes and
S. Ul-Haq for providing the insulation samples which were
tested by using this low-power high-voltage pulse generator, as
well as their valuable input and suggestions.
1066 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
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Yuseph Montasser (S’06–A’06) received the B.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from the University
of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, in 2004. He is
currently working toward the M.A.Sc. degree in the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Mostafa I. Marei was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on
June 17, 1975. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. de-
grees in electrical engineering from Ain Shams Uni-
versity, Cairo, Egypt, in 1997 and 2000, respectively,
and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada,
in 2004.
He is currently an Assistant Professor with the
Department of Electric Power and Machines, Ain
Shams University. His research interests include
power electronics, hybrid electric vehicles, custom
power supplies, artificial intelligence applications in power systems, digital-
control-based microcontrollers and digital signal processors, power quality, and
distributed generation.
Shesha H. Jayaram (M’87–SM’97–F’08) received
the B.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
Bangalore University, Bangalore, India, in 1980, the
M.A.Sc. degree in high-voltage engineering from
the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1983,
and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada,
in 1990.
She is a Professor with the Department of Elec-
trical and Computer Engineering, University of
Waterloo, and an Adjunct Professor with the Univer-
sity of Western Ontario, London, ON. Her research interests are developing
diagnostics to analyze insulating materials, industrial applications of high-
voltage engineering, and applied electrostatics.
Prof. Jayaram has been an active member of the IEEE Dielectric and
Electrical Insulation Society and the Electrostatic Processes Committee (EPC)
of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. In both, she has contributed as a
Board Member, Chair of EPC during 1998–1999, Session Organizer/Chair,
and a member of the Paper Review Process Committee. She is a Registered
Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.