Studies on the insulation life of adjustable speed drive (ASD)-fed motors under accelerated aging conditions

Investigations were conducted on the insulation life of adjustable speed drive-fed motors (also called inverter duty motors) from different manufacturers containing a variety of commercially available magnet wire and varnish insulation types. Test samples included wires, stators and motors. The goal for this project is to develop an accelerated aging test method for evaluating new materials and manufacturing processes used on ASD-fed motors, and for establishing factory quality assurance criteria. The test methods will be described and certain test results methods will be described and certain test results will be discussed in this paper.