Analysis of steep-fronted voltage distribution and turn insulation failure in inverter-fed form-wound AC motor

As a potential source of turn insulation failure, the steep-fronted voltage at the motor terminal generated by pulsewidth modulation drive switching or cable ringing is not uniformly distributed among the coils of the windings and among the turns of the coils. This paper presents a detailed electromagnetic analysis of the parameters of a transient model of coil and coil group which includes iron loss, skin, and proximity effects. The finite-difference method is applied to solve the model for the interturn and intercoil voltage distributions. The simulation is compared to a simplified lattice diagram analysis and to test results. A turn insulation surge-withstanding capability study is then presented with a flexible insulation test system that models the repetitive steep-fronted voltage stress and temperature stress.