Inverter-fed traction motors,which are employed for electric-multiple-units(EMUs),are subjected to Pulse Width Modulated(PWM) impulse voltage.Impulse voltage has fast rise/fall time and high repetition frequency.The failure mechanism of insulation under impulses is different from that of standard 50 Hz sinusoidal condition.Partial discharge(PD) characteristics(discharge number,mean discharge quantity and phase resolved partial discharge(PRPD) pattern) with different frequencies and different rise times of impulse voltage were investigated.The results reveal that discharge number and mean discharge quantity increase,while PRPD pattern moves to the zero of impulse voltage with decrease of rise time.Discharge number and PRPD pattern follow that trend with increase of frequency,the value of mean discharge quantity is similar.Memory effect of the deposited space charges on PD was studied.PRPD pattern moves to the zero of bipolar impulse voltage due to the role of space charges,with increase of frequency and decrease of rise time.It is revealed that available discharge time is prolonged and overvoltage across the cavity increases with augment of frequency,which results in discharge number increasing.Under the condition of shortening the rise time,with the same statistical time lag tL,△V would increase if dV/dt is higher,which results in enhancement of discharge quantity.Discharge number increases with reduction of rise time,because the decreased multiple of td is lower than the increased multiple of dV/dt.Study of PD characteristics and role of space charges is helpful to the exploration of the destructive mechanism of insulating materials under bipolar impulse.
Due to overvoltage produced by inverter output,inverter-fed motor insulation systems often experience fast electrical aging process,especially when partial discharge(PD) is incepted.Before putting into use,the PD detection should be performed on inverter-fed motors at repetitive square voltages to avoid the PD caused insulation deterioration when the motors are collected to inverters having specific characteristics.However,unlike PD tests at AC/DC voltages proposed in IEC 60270,the PD detection at repetitive square voltages is much more complex because of serious interference generated by impulse generator.To solve the problem,ultra-high frequency(UHF) method seems recommendable for its preferable signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).The chief aim of this study is to investigate PD pulse and statistical characteristics of turn-to-turn insulation for inverter-fed traction motors.A square-shaped Archimedes antenna,specially designed for the PD detection at repetitive square voltages of fast rise times,was used to perform PD tests on turn-to-turn insulation models.Time and frequency analysis results indicate that energy component of generator disturbance and PD pulses are mainly distributed in the 0-0.5 GHz and 0.6-1.5 GHz range,respectively.Based on the results,suitable filter was designed for power disturbance suppression.Additionally,resorting to the sensor unit(i.e.antenna and filter) and the PD test system,the PD statistical features at square voltages of different frequencies were obtained.Experimental results show that higher frequency will give rise,statistically,to PD of lower magnitudes distributing at smaller phases.A reasonable interpretation of this phenomenon was presented.Lastly,according to the PD statistical features,some suggestions for the PD detection system design,generator parameter optimization and the PD pulse extracting were given.The results of this work would be beneficial to the increase of the sensitivity when performing the PD detection on insulation systems for inverter-fed motors at repetitive
The inverter-fed motor is a key component of environmental-friendly hybrid cars, high-speed trains, and other industrial applications. After the widespread use of inverter-fed motors, the repetitive impulse surges from inverters were found to cause new insulation problems in inverter-fed motors that were linked to premature insulation failure. The partial discharge (PD) induced by the overvoltage inner stator windings was found to be the root cause of insulation reliability problems. To mitigate this problem, PD detection and life testing at repetitive square voltages should be performed on new types of insulation models and entire motor insulation systems. The obtained partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) and lifetime of insulation in the tests can be used to evaluate the insulation status of inverter-fed motor insulation systems and thus to improve the insulation designs. At AC voltage conditions, the voltage frequency can significantly affect PD activity. At repetitive square voltage with rapid rise time, the influence of the square voltage frequency on PD activity should be investigated (1) to suggest values for the repetitive square voltage frequency selection for the PDIV and lifetime tests, and (2) to increase the signal-to-noise ratio when extracting PD pulses from strong disturbances generated by the operating switch of impulse generators. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of repetitive square voltage frequency on PD events. Insulation models of both Type I (low-voltage inverter-fed motor) and Type II (high-voltage inverter-fed motor) were used to obtain single-PD and multi-PD statistical features, respectively. Experimental results indicated that higher frequencies caused less PD events with lower PD magnitudes and shorter delay times in one square voltage cycle. This phenomenon was attributed to the different surface charge decay ratios and the initial electron emission probabilities resulting from different square voltage frequencies. Finally, a number of c
