Impact of Inverter-Fed Power Supply on Copper and Iron Losses of a Three-Phase Induction Motor

The present work proposed a methodology to estimate the iron and copper losses of a three - phase, squirrel cage induction motor for both sinusoidal and inverter-fed power supply, based on a two - dimensional finite element analysis software (Maxwell 2D - V16). The three-dimensional effect of stator end winding, rotor end ring, and rotor bars skewing were included by coupling with RMxprt software. The inverter simulation was done by Simulink. The modeling was done based on the design documents of a 2.2 kW, 2 pole test motor. The values of iron and copper losses estimated by Maxwell 2D at full load condition, sinusoidal power supply was compared with that extracted from solving the motor equivalent circuit parameters, and that taken from RMxprt with a good agreement. Both copper and iron losses were increased when motor operated with an inverter-fed power supply with respect to sinusoidal power supply. Also, these losses were decreased with increasing of inverter carrier frequency. The loss results will make a good roadmap for the motor designers, and operators to achieve the goal of an efficient inverter-fed induction motor operation.