Shaft currents in electric machines

This paper describes the causes of, and remedies for, the existence of “shaft currents” or “bearing currents” which sometimes flow across the rubbing surfaces of the bearings of electric machinery, thereby gradually damaging the shaft and bearings. Up to the present time the only cause of shaft currents that has attracted any particular attention has been the use of sectionalized stators, and the published discussions have been chiefly confined to synchronous alternators. Fleischman
¹
and others have shown that sectionalizing causes shaft currents for the reason that the extra reluctance of the joints causes an unequal division of the flux between the clockwise and counter-clockwise paths in the yoke, thus giving a resultant flux linking the shaft. Applying the same method of reasoning used in the case of sectionalizing to the general case of any machine with segmental punchings, the following facts are shown: 1. A principal cause of shaft currents in revolving electric machines is the use of poles and segments in certain ratios. 2. The frequency of the shaft current due to joints in the stator yoke is an odd multiple of the frequency of the stator flux, the frequency of the shaft currents due to rotor joints is an odd multiple of the rotor frequency, and these frequency multiples are determined by the ratios of poles to segments. 3. Machines with 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, etc., poles are especially likely to have shaft currents, and machines with 6, 10, 14, 22, etc., poles are relatively immune. 4. By the proper choice of the number of segments for use with any machine, or by the use of segments with offset dovetails, or both, shaft currents can be effectively eliminated in most cases. The possibilities of shaft currents being caused by homopolar action as the result of magnetic flux flowing in the shaft, or by other means, are discussed, and it is concluded that such causes are seldom important. A possible useful application for the theory of shaft currents in the design of a high-current transformer is mentioned, and the possibility of obtaining multiple frequencies from a stationary transformer in this way is shown to be dependent upon the presence of magnetic saturation. A table of combinations of poles and segments that will cause shaft currents is given, and a bibliography of the subject is appended.