Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480

Statistical model of electrostatic discharge hazard

in bearings of induction motor fed by inverter
Adam Kempski, Robert Smolenski

, Jacek Bojarski
University of Zielona Gora, ul. Podgorna 50, 65-246 Zielona Gora, Poland
Available online 22 March 2005
Abstract
In this paper, a statistical approach has been applied to determine the inuence of inverter
drive parameters on the rate and the amplitude of ashover currents in bearings of AC motors.
The main cause of bearing currents is a charge accumulated on the shaft as a result of
temporarily electric asymmetry at the output of the inverter in a presence of parasitic
capacitive couplings inside the motor. The proposed statistical method could be the basis for
comparative analyses of bearing damage hazard in a various drive congurations.
r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bearing currents; Statistical model; Hazard; Inverter; Induction motor
1. Introduction
Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) bearing currents have been found as the
main cause of premature bearing damages in Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
inverter-fed drives. These destructive currents in a spark form are caused by a charge
accumulated on the shaft [1]. This charge results from capacitive couplings inside of
the motor excited by very steep slopes of inverter output voltages in circumstances of
the temporary electrical asymmetry introduced by the inverter.
The literature on the problem of bearing currents in PWM-VSI has been primarily
concerned with theoretical analysis of this phenomenon and possible mechanisms for
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Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +48 68 3254615.

E-mail address: r.smolenski@iee.uz.zgora.pl (R. Smolenski).
bearing damage in a qualitative manner [13]. In our previous work, we presented
the rst attempt to approach this problem in quantitative terms [4].
In this paper, we present results of the statistical analyses based on experiments
taken in various congurations of PWM inverter-fed drives. The determined
parameters of distributions could be the base for estimating the risk of a bearing
damage especially in the comparative analysis.
2. The phenomenon
The basic reason for bearing currents in a PWM inverter drive is the common
mode (CM) voltage inevitably existing at the output of an inverter, which results
chiey from the unbalanced switching of power devices (IGBTs). Steep pulses of the
CM voltage excite parasitic capacitive couplings inside the motor. It enables the
motor shaft voltage to build up due to a thin insulating oil lm in rotating bearings.
The shaft voltage almost perfectly maps the common mode voltage in the stator
windings neutral point in accordance with divider proportion resulting from
distribution of parasitic capacitances inside the motor. If a shaft voltage exceeds a
critical value of an oil lm threshold voltage the shaft is unloaded in a form of
electrical breakdown. Fig. 1 shows the shaft voltage and the EDM bearing current. It
has been decided to treat the amplitudes of EDM currents and moments of
breakdown as random variables because of a delay time occurring in well-known
mechanisms of an electrical breakdown.
The measuring instrument allows triggering and storing a large data (above 6000)
of very fast events with a high-resolution spread out over long periods of time. The
procedure for data collecting has been presented in our previous work [4].
EDM current is a unique phenomenon. We can obtain and analyze a very large set
of discharging events. This phenomenon depends on many various factors caused by
the modulation strategy of an inverter such as carrier frequency, inverter output
frequency, etc. It also depends on physical proprieties of the insulating oil lm and
hydro-mechanical bearing behavior. A large measuring database allow us to observe
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Fig. 1. Shaft voltage and discharging bearing current.
A. Kempski et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480 476
inuenced factors and take them into consideration to develop most appropriate
model.
3. The model
Fig. 2 shows an example of the dependence of awaiting time to puncture on
electrical factors introduced by an inverter (in this instance inverter output
frequency). Measured currents are depicted as points determined by their amplitudes
and the awaiting times to a puncture. The selection of inverter output frequency,
which equals mains frequency causes the superimposing of rectier and inverter
harmonics, which in turn results in the concentration of EDM samples in this region.
In this special case deviations from exponential distribution selected to describe
awaiting time to puncture are the most noticeable.
On the basis of collected data consisting of the most important factors, amplitudes
of EDM currents and awaiting time, to puncture the statistical model have been
proposed. We have assumed a hypothesis that the histogram of awaiting times to
puncture t can be approximated by exponential distributions (depicted by
continuous line in Fig. 3) with rate of change (l). This parameter of the distribution
has been estimated using a least-squares method. The measuring data have passed
the test of goodness of t with exponential distribution, for all output frequencies
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Fig. 2. Distribution of EDM currents and histograms of awaiting times to puncture.
A. Kempski et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480 477
even in the case when inverter output frequency equaled mains frequency,
f t le
lt
; l40. (1)
In our previous work, we have selected the truncated normal distribution to
describe amplitudes of EDM currents. The measuring data have passed the test
of goodness of t with this distribution. However, we have noticed later that a
location of points in horizontal lines in Fig. 2 is determined by the resolution of eight
bit digital oscilloscope. This additional information allows developing another
method of the division of data into the classes. The histogram shows consistence with
the Weibull distribution, which is commonly used to describe discharging
phenomena:
f a e

aA
0
Z

b
a A
0

b1
bZ
b
; a4A
0
, (2)
where a is amplitude of EDM currents, A
0
; b; Z; are parameters of Weibull
distribution.
Fig. 4 shows a histogram of amplitudes of EDM currents and theoretical Weibull
distributions estimated based on three methods (least means squareLSM,
maximum likelihoodMLE, method of momentsMOM) and the mean values
with standard deviation bars estimated in following classes of the histogram of
awaiting time to puncture, with respect to the global mean value and the global
standard deviation.
Mean values and standard deviations of the classes of awaiting time histogram did
not differ signicantly from global values. It means that marginal distributions are
statistically independent. This allows adopting a model described by joint
distributions of variables:
f a; t e

aA
0
Z

b
a A
0

b1
bZ
b
le
lt
; a4A
0
; t40. (3)
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Fig. 3. Histograms of awaiting times to puncture.
A. Kempski et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480 478
Fig. 5 shows a three-dimensional histogram of EDM currents amplitudes in
awaiting time to puncture, the analytical distribution and their superimposing.
4. Example of comparative analysis using statistical model
In PWM drives various passive methods are used to suppress Electromagnetic
Interferences (EMI). These methods inuence the level of a shaft voltage and,
consequently, the amplitudes of EDM currents and awaiting times to puncture. Fig.
6 shows joined distributions in the drive without passive lters, with CM choke and
CM transformer. The estimation of the parameters of joint distributions (Table 1) is
a convenient way of a comparative analysis and a proper choice of the passive EMI
lters in the system. We should expect the lowest risk of bearing failures in the
system with the CM transformer because of low m and s
2
values.
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Fig. 5. Three-dimensional histogram of EDM currents amplitudes in awaiting time to puncture, analytical
distribution and their superimposing.
Fig. 4. Distribution of amplitudes of EDM currents and mean values of the classes with standard
deviations.
A. Kempski et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480 479
5. Conclusion
The proposed statistical model is a convenient way of the description of the
electrostatic discharge hazard due to a charge accumulated on the shaft of an
induction motor fed by PWM inverters. The Weibull distribution has been chosen as
an appropriate approximation of the large data set of amplitudes of EDM currents.
The proposed statistical approach could be the basis for comparative analyses of
bearing damage hazard in a various drive congurations.
References
[1] D. Macdonald, W. Gray, PWM drive related bearing failures, IEEE Ind. Appl. Mag. 5 (4) (1999)
4147.
[2] A. Kempski, Capacitively coupled discharging currents in bearings of induction motor fed from PWM
inverters, J. Electrostat. 51 (2001) 416423.
[3] A. von Jouanne, H. Zhang, A. Wallace, An evaluation of mitigation techniques for bearing currents,
EMI and overvoltages in ASD applications, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. 34 (1998) 11131123.
[4] R. Smolenski, J. Bojarski, A. Kempski, R. Strzelecki, Statistical methods of bearing damage risk
estimation in PWM inverter-fed drives, PMAPS 2002, vol. 2, 2002, pp. 991996.
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Table 1
Parameters of joined distribution
Selected lter b Z l A
0
Mean (m) Variance (s
2
)
Without 1.578 0.196 467.910 0.6562 0.832 0.013
CM choke 1.594 0.511 841.287 0.6562 1.115 0.086
CM transformer 1.710 0.192 510.512 0.6718 0.843 0.010
Fig. 6. 3D distributions of EDM currents amplitudes in awaiting time in drives without passive lters,
with CM choke and CM transformer.
A. Kempski et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 475480 480