A Comprehensive Review of Partial Discharge Modeling and Measurement in WBG-based AC Machine Drives

This paper provides a comprehensive review of partial discharge (PD) in wide bandgap power switching device-based AC machine drives with high slew rate voltage pulses including advanced analytical PD models, measurement and detection techniques, and experimental setups. This review study finds that high voltage, and high switching systems make the electric drive insulation system vulnerable to PD and this phenomenon is likely to occur in the first few turns of electric machines. Partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) trends with drive parameters (i.e., DC-link voltage, slew rate, cable length, and switching frequency) and environmental parameters (i.e., pressure, temperature, humidity, and contamination) were also investigated and summarized. PD models and analysis methods are also discussed from the capacitive model to an analytical model that accounts for high-frequency phenomena (such as overshoot and ringing voltage at the terminal) and uneven voltage distribution. Moreover, this paper summarizes the specifications of conducted, radiated, and acoustic measurement methods and addresses new challenges and opportunities in PD measurement. Additionally, both conventional experimental setups and newly proposed experimental setups for capturing full-frequency spectra of PD using the existing measurement methods are reviewed.