STATOR INSULATION PROBLEMS CAUSED BY VARIABLE SPEED DRIVES
Ian Culbert Blake Lloyd
IRIS Power LP IRIS Power LP
3110 American Drive, 3110 American Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Mississauga, Ontario,
L4V 1T2 Canada L4V 1T2
Canada
iculbert@irispower.com blloyd@irispower.com
Abstract - About 1990, low voltage motor stator winding
insulation failures apparently caused by short rise-time
voltage surges from voltage source variable speed
drives started to be noticed. The root cause was found
to be the large number of pulses from the converter,
which caused partial discharges between turns in the
stator. These discharges eventually erode the winding
wire insulation, resulting in premature failure. Medium
voltage motors rated up to 13,200 V and driven by pulse
width modulated, voltage-source converters are now
being introduced. Early experience with 4160 volt
motors driven by such converters again shows that the
voltage pulses from the drives may adversely affect the
stator insulation. However, it seems that different aging
processes tend to occur in medium voltage stators
compared to those in low voltage motors. In particular,
the aging can be accelerated as a result of dielectric
heating of the mainwall insulation caused by the high
frequency components of the drive voltage. In addition,
the voltage stress control coatings often used in medium
voltage motors rated 3.3 kV and above have much
higher capacitive currents flowing in them when driven
by converters – leading to more rapid thermal
destruction of the coatings. In this paper, the processes
involved in random wound and form wound stator
insulation degradation will be described, as well as new
IEC standards (IEC 60034-18-41 and IEC 60034-18-42)
that allow motor manufacturers to qualify low and
medium voltage insulation systems intended for variable
speed applications.
Index Terms – Motor, Stator Winding, Partial
Discharge, Converter Drives
I. INTRODUCTION
Over the past 18 years voltage source converters of
the pulse width modulation (PWM) type have become
widely accepted for motors rated ≤690 V. More recently
PWM and step voltage source converters have been
developed for medium voltage converter drives. The
primary reasons for this has been the energy savings
associated with running a motor at a lower speed when
feasible, better process control as well as the general
reliability of such drive systems compared to mechanical
flow control devices. An additional advantage for their
use with large motors is that they put less stress on the
electrical power system during motor starting since they
can reduce the inrush current and yet the motor still
produces adequate torque to accelerate its driven
equipment to rated speed.
The introduction of these types of drives has, however,
raised a number of issues. The major one concerns the
effect of repetitive fast rise-time, relatively high voltage
Greg Stone
IRIS Power LP
3110 American Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
L4V 1T2
Canada Canada
gstone@irispower.com
surges created by voltage source converters on the
stator winding. Such voltage surges may lead to
additional voltage and thermal stresses on the stator
winding insulation system and as a result, could lead to
premature stator winding failure.
The reasons for the additional stress on the stator
insulation as well as the faster aging processes that
result are discussed. Since the stresses and
deterioration processes are quite different for random
wound (usually ≤690 V) and form wound (usually ≥2300
V) stators, these two types of stator windings will be
discussed separately. Finally, the efforts by standards
organizations to develop tests that can assure end-users
that stator windings will not experience premature failure
due to voltage source converters are described.
I. RANDOM-WINDING CONSTRUCTION
Figure 1 illustrates the conductor, ground and phase
insulation components commonly found in a low voltage,
random-wound 3 phase stator winding. The conductor
strands are generally insulated with a high temperature
enamel while the ground insulation (slot liners) and
phase separators are generally manufactured from
aramid paper, dacron-mylar-dacron, or some other type
of Class F, or higher rated sheet material
Slot
Liner
Endwinding
Phase
Separator
Fig. 1 - Random-Wound Stator Insulation
System Components
II. RANDOM WINDING FAILURE MECHANISMS
In a conventional 50/60 Hz motors rated up to 690 V,
the phase-phase insulation must withstand 690 Vrms,
whereas the ground insulation must withstand 398 V
rms. The max turn insulation voltage stress is difficult to
predict since any turn in a coil may be adjacent to any
another turn in the same coil and to a coil in another
phase. So, in principle, the worse voltage stress across
two layers of turn insulation could be 690 V. In well-
made new stators, these 60 Hz voltages are low enough
that voltage does not cause any aging or deterioration of
the insulation by itself.
Unlike conventional fixed frequency motor power
supplies those from PWM voltage source converters
may cause voltage aging. This is so because PWM
converters using insulated gate bipolar junction
transistors (IGBTs) or similar switching devices create
relatively high magnitude, short rise time voltage
impulses at the motor terminals. Depending on the
cable length, cable grounding, whether converter output
filters are used and the relative surge impedance of the
cable and the stator winding, the impulse voltages may
be as much as 3 or 4 times the motor rated RMS phase-
to-ground voltage, with a rise time as short as 100 ns [1,
2]. Impulses with such short rise-times create Fourier
frequencies as high as 5 MHz. This high frequency
results in a non-uniform distribution of the impulse
voltage across the winding components [1]. Specifically,
the voltage between turns in the first coil may be 50%
the applied impulse voltage if the rise time is as short as
100 ns. The shorter the impulse rise time, the greater is
the non-uniformity, and thus the higher the turn-to-turn
voltage stress. The severity of the PWM impulses
increases as either the magnitude increases or the rise
time decreases.
If a random wound stator is not well impregnated with
resin and the phase and ground insulation does not give
adequate coverage, small air gaps will exist between coil
turns, between turns and ground, and between phases
(See Figure 2) The consequence of this is that high
voltage impulses from voltage source converters,
although brief, can cause the electrical stress in these
small air gaps to exceed the electric breakdown strength
of air (about 3 kV/mm for uniform fields). This result is a
partial discharge (PD) – a small electric spark.
Fig. 2- No Phase Separator or Resin Fill Between
Phases
Repetitive PD in such voids will eventually erode
organic insulation such as the enamel insulation film on
the magnet wire, or even the ground and phase
insulation barriers. This PD activity will eventually fail the
winding insulation if it is not designed to with stand such
discharges. [1,2].
Winding failures resulting from such PD activity are
now well understood, and major motor manufacturers
have largely eliminated them by using insulation
materials that are more resistant to PD, increasing
insulation thickness, improving resin impregnation
processes, minimizing winding void content and/or
ensuring adequate winding coverage by slot liners and
phase separators.
III. FORM WINDING CONSTRUCTION
Figure 3 Illustrates the construction of the more complex
form wound coils both in and outside the stator slots.
1) Strand Insulation – This is used to improve the
efficiency of the motor by reducing eddy and skin effect
losses. This insulation is typically a film coating on the
magnet wire, and/or a Dacron and glass serving.
2) Turn Insulation - Isolates the copper turns from
one another. In modern motors the turn insulation is
usually a Dacron and glass composite or mica paper
(mica particles on a film or Dacron and glass backing
tape). Sometimes no dedicated turn insulation is used
and so the strand insulation fulfills both functions.
3) Mainwall Insulation - Separates the copper
conductors from the grounded stator core. At the phase
end of the winding, the mainwall insulation experiences
the full phase to ground applied voltage. Almost all
modern motor stators use mica paper tapes bonded
together with epoxy as the mainwall insulation. These
materials are almost always combined using the global
vacuum pressure impregnation (GVPI) process.
4) Partly Conductive Paint or Tape -Covers the
surface of the coil mainwall insulation in both the stator
slot area and a few centimetres beyond each end of the
core. This layer is referred to by a large number of
(sometimes contradictory) names, but will be referred to
here as the ‘slot conductive’ coating. This coating
prevents partial discharge (PD) that could occur in any
air gap that will inevitably occur between the surface of
the mainwall insulation and the sides of the slots in the
stator [2]. Carbon-loaded tape is more commonly used
than paint. Most motor manufacturers tend to apply this
coating on converter duty motors rated 3 kV and above.
5) Stress Relief Paint or Tape - Overlaps the slot
conductive coating just outside of the slot, and extends
for 10-15 cm into the endwinding. The purpose of this
coating is to linearize the electric stress along the
surface of the coil, at the end of the slot conductive
coating, to reduce the risk of PD. Although other
materials are under development, presently, this coating
is most commonly a silicon carbide powder within a tape.
The stress relief coating is most often applied to
converter duty motors rated 6 kV and above.
1
d
b
e
3 2
c
Fig. 3: Cutaway diagram showing the form-wound coil
insulation components as the coils exits the stator core slots.
The strand (and often turn) insulation is c, the ground insulation
is 2, d shows the locations of the slot conductive coating and e
is the stress relief coating.
There is usually no additional phase-to-phase insulation
in a form wound stator since there are already two
thickness of ground insulation present between phases
(see Figure 3).
IV. FORM-WINDING FAILURE MECHANISMS
Long term thermal aging or the effects of
contamination leading to electrical tracking [2] normally
determine end-of-life in a conventional form wound
motor stator winding. Thermal aging in conventional
motors results from the heat mainly created by copper
and core losses. The operating temperature depends on
the load and the effectiveness of the cooling system if
the stator winding temperature is high enough (which
depends on the thermal class of the insulation); then
chemical reactions (mainly oxidation) take place to
gradually reduce the electrical and mechanical
properties of the epoxy or polyester bonding resin.
Some of the resin ‘evaporates’ and loses the ability to
bond the mica paper tape layers – and the higher the
temperature the faster this occurs. Eventually the copper
strands and turns are free to vibrate under the 100/120
Hz magnetic forces, leading to strand and turn insulation
abrasion and ultimately shorts. In motors 3.3 kV and
above the voids due to the insulation delamination also
enable partial discharges to occur which can also
degrade the insulation.
In addition to reducing heat transfer and increasing
winding temperatures contamination can also lead to
electrical tracking failure in the coil endwinding region.
Most contamination tends to be partly conductive (in the
megohm range). This leads to small AC currents flowing
over coil surfaces at different potential. At dry (high
resistance) spots, breakdown of the air occurs. The
resulting discharge decomposes the insulation creating a
carbon track. Over months or years this tracking can
weaken the coil insulation and lead to phase to ground
or phase-to-phase faults.
These two common stator winding failure processes
can certainly still occur in voltage source converter
driven motors. In addition the presence of switching
transients from such converters can cause some
additional failure processes. Also since the motors
operating at less than synchronous speed they often
require supplementary cooling to compensate for
significantly reduced cooling air flow from shaft mounted
fans and if this cooling arrangement is not well designed
this can lead to accelerated thermal aging of the stator
insulation. Modern medium voltage drives may produce
thousands of short rise time pulses per second [2, 3].
The rise times of these pulses can be short enough to
create frequencies up to a few megahertz. In addition,
as with low voltage drives, the transmission line effects
can increase the magnitude of the voltage beyond the
step created, by switching a DC voltage. The repetitive,
short rise time voltage surges result in more complicated
aging mechanisms than those than occur in random
wound stator insulation. The resulting additional failure
processes are discussed in terms of the insulation
system components.
1) Turn Insulation PD- As for random stator
windings, the repetitive, short rise time voltage impulses
may cause a high percentage of the voltage step at the
motor terminals to appear between the turns in the line
end coils of each phase. If there are any small voids
adjacent to the turn insulation then partial discharges
may result. The electron and ion bombardment of the
insulation by the PD will gradually erode the insulation at
a rate that depends on the type of insulation used.
Modern mica paper turn insulation is one of the most
PD-resistant materials ever developed – but even this
material will gradually puncture if the PD magnitude is
high enough and enough PD pulses occur over time. If
less PD resistant materials such as Dacron and glass
are used, rapid failure may occur. Once the turn
insulation punctures, a large current will flow around the
affected turn, which will rapidly melt the copper and
mainwall insulation in the vicinity of the original puncture
to create a ground fault. Thus the turn insulation design
must be evaluated to determine how resistant it is to PD
attack. The significance of this failure process is
depends on the rise time of the voltage steps (the
shorter, the more likely the process), the magnitude of
the steps (which in turn depends on the DC bus voltage
and the number of levels in the converter) and the
switching frequency of the converter (the higher the
frequency, the greater the number of PD pulses will
occur per second, and thus the faster the aging rate).
2) Mainwall Insulation Heating- The voltage
waveform from a voltage source converter can lead to
increased mainwall insulation heating, which can
increase the winding temperature and thus accelerate
the normal thermal aging processes described above.
The epoxy mica insulation material has dielectric loss or
dissipation factor [2]. For epoxy mica, about 0.5% of the
60 Hz capacitive current in the insulation goes to
molecular losses that cause heating. In a motor
supplied from a conventional 50/60Hz power supply, this
“dielectric loss” is very minor compared to the copper
and core losses.
In the case of a motor supplied from a voltage
source converter the high frequency voltage impulses
will cause the capacitive current through the ‘resistor’ in
the electrical model to increase, raising the power
consumed within the dielectric and thus increasing the
insulation temperature. As the switching frequency
increases, the power consumed increases and so does
the winding temperature. This is made worse by the fact
that the dissipation factor itself often increases with
temperature and frequency. Consequently voltage
source converters will cause the stator winding
temperature to be higher than for a conventional motor,
all other things being equal, and therefore cause faster
insulation thermal aging. The current generation of
medium voltage drives (with frequencies up to 2 kHz and
DC bus voltages of about 1000 V) does not seem to
produce significant increases in temperature in the
mainwall due to dielectric heating, but this could change
if the switching frequency and the magnitude of the
voltage steps increase.
3) Mainwall Insulation PD- All conventional stator
windings rated 3.3 kV and above may have PD within
the mainwall, if voids of sufficient size are present. Such
voids may result from poor manufacturing, or
delamination due to thermal aging. Similarly, PD may
occur as a result of the voltage surges from converter
drives. But the PD may be larger and more frequent with
a converter power supply, because the peak voltages
are usually higher than the peak voltage from a
sinusoidal power supply. The peak-to-peak voltage Upk-
pk, can be higher than from a 50/60 Hz supply due to the
transmission line effects that may cause the step voltage
changes that occur with converters to possibly double.
Upk-pk, (Figure 4) in a drive system will be higher if fewer
stages are used in the converter, the voltage rise time is
shorter, and/or the power cable between the converter
and the motor is longer. The rate of aging is primarily
determined by the fundamental frequency of the
converter.
V surge voltage during the expected life of the winding [1].
U pk/pk
t
U' pk
Fig. 4 - Multi-Stage Converter (Upk-pk)
Voltage [4]
4) Slot Conductive and Stress Relief Coating
Thermal Aging-The partly conductive coatings that
normally cover the coil insulation in and just beyond the
ends of the stator slot and the silicon carbide material
that overlaps and extends beyond (see Figure 3) it are
intended to suppress the probability of PD occurring on
the coil surface in and just outside the slot. Studies have
shown that in motors supplied from voltage source
converters, these coatings will operate at higher
temperatures and thus increase the rate of thermal
aging, if they are not properly designed [3]. Since
voltage source converter waveforms contain voltages at
high frequencies (from the rise time of the voltage steps
and the fast switching rate), higher capacitive currents
flow through the mainwall and then through the PD
suppression coatings. These higher currents create
2
higher I R losses in the coatings than would occur under
50/60 Hz operation - increasing the coating operating
temperature. The effect is exacerbated because the
higher frequencies also cause the silicon carbide
materials to be less effective in linearizing the voltage
along the surface of the coils – which tends to
concentrate the heating to a shorter area near the core
ends. The net result is that an inadequately designed
stress relief system may create a temperature rise as
much as 50 C above that which would occur with a
50/60 Hz sinusoidal voltage [5]. This local heating of the
coatings will accelerate the thermal aging of both the
coatings, and the mainwall insulation. When the
coatings degrade, surface PD may be extensive,
creating lots of ozone gas. In the medium voltage
source converter fed motors in operation to date – this
problem has created the greatest concern about the
service life of the stator insulation. Some manufacturers
have started to do research on other types of grading
systems and/or using two layers of grading material
separated by mica tape with encouraging results [6, 7].
V. STANDARDS RELATED ACTIVITY
The new demands on the stator insulation systems are
starting to be recognized by standards organizations.
IEC has expended considerable effort in the past 7 years
to develop new technical specifications for the insulation
systems of converter driven motors. In 2006, a new
technical specification was approved for low voltage
stator insulation systems [1]. This extensive document
describes the tests motor manufacturers must do to
qualify stator winding insulation systems for use with
PWM converters which are generally classified as Type I
systems for which the premise for qualification testing is
that PD will not occur at any time during the expected life
of the stator winding. Since for low voltage stators the
only key issue relates to PD, the approach taken by IEC
is to ensure that PD will never occur below a specified
In addition, an acceptance test is defined. This is a test
on a normal production stator winding which is subject to
increasing magnitude fast rise time voltages from a
surge generator and monitored until PD activity is
detected. The partial discharges should not occur below
a specified voltage, e.g., a 460 V motor intended for use
in the most extreme type of surge environment should
have a partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) higher
than 2800 V (Figure 5).
Surge with
3120V Peak
PD
Fig. 5 - New Stator Winding with PDIV of 3120V
In 2008 IEC published an equivalent technical
specification for form wound stator which is generally
classified as Type II systems [4]. Qualification tests
described in TS 60034-18–42 ensure a sufficiently
robust insulation system design for the requirements of
its specified waveform. The envelope is defined by the
applicable waveform supplied by the inverter designer.
The test qualifies the materials and processes used to
build the insulation system, and provides a relationship
between service stresses and insulation life for that
particular configuration. The test endpoint is defined by
the elapsed time to electrical breakdown of the insulation
under the specified waveform conditions.
Three types of test samples are required for such
qualification tests and these are described as follows:
1) Turn-to-Turn Insulation: These samples consist of
at least 5 two-turn coils (see Figure6) that are made
solely to represent the insulation between turns. They
must be constructed from the same materials and
dimensions as those used for the machine’s insulation
system. Ageing tests of the turn insulation should be
conducted under impulse conditions, whereby a
proposed system of turn insulation is compared to a
proven system. The standard suggests that a sinusoidal
50/60 Hz voltage be applied between turns with a
magnitude of the maximum expected peak/peak voltage
multiplied by a safety factor. If PD is detected within 60
seconds of test initiation then a voltage endurance test is
required in order to construct a turn insulation life curve.
The tests may not be required if it can be determined
that no PD activity will occur between turns under
service conditions.
 2) Mainwall Insulation: For voltage ratings where
stress grading is not required by design, the test purpose
is to obtain a life curve for the mainwall insulation using
elevated voltage. In effect, this amounts to a simple
room- or elevated temperature voltage endurance test,
usually under sinusoidal 50/60 Hz. A curve is
constructed from test points for life at three different
voltages at a given frequency. The inverse frequency
rule is applied by multiplying the ratio of frequencies to
the lifetime obtained at power frequency, for a given
voltage. The result is a curve providing a mean time to
breakdown that must be equal to or better than that of a
proven system.
3) Stress Grading and Corona Protection: In a form-
wound coil insulation system, the main insulation, stress
grading and corona protection materials (see Figure 3)
interact under the applied stress. Therefore these must
be combined for qualification tests on coil designs where
all three materials will be used. Samples must represent
the design features of production coils and are fitted into
fixtures representing slots.
Fig. 6 – Two Conductor Turn and Mainwall
Insulation Sample [4]
The sample must be subjected to ageing tests under
impulse voltages with magnitudes that equal or exceed
1.3 times that of the voltages to be withstood in service.
The specific combination of stress grading and corona
suppression materials must survive a minimum lifetime
under the specified stress category conditions, both at
room temperature and at the maximum temperature the
stator winding is expected to operate at in service. The
dual-temperature condition is imposed to take into
account the local temperature elevation associated with
dielectric thermal losses at the stress grading.
Qualification criteria are met when each of the samples
reaches 100 hours without failure, and without showing
visible deterioration of the surface of the materials.
Insulation systems for use in actual motors must also
undergo an acceptance test. This involves making at
least two sample windings consisting of coils in
simulated grounded slots and subjecting these to a
voltage endurance test. If the insulation system to be
qualified has stress grading and corona protection
materials then the coils in the test samples must have
these materials applied to them. Sample windings must
meet a minimum life requirement on voltage endurance
of 250 hours. The applied voltage endurance waveform
is sinusoidal 50/60 Hz, with voltage magnitude equal to
4.25 times the rated peak-to-peak voltage at the motor
terminals under the specified inverter operating
conditions. Any single failure within a given test set
occurring before the minimum time constitutes failure of
the entire sample set.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Voltage source converters can impose thousands of
short rise time voltage surges per second on motor
stator windings. These surges may lead to more rapid
aging of the stator winding insulation than would result
from a sinusoidal voltage supply. In random wound
stators, the impact is that partial discharges can occur
that may gradually erode the insulation, leading to a
ground fault. In medium voltage machines, the
converter surges will also increase the stator winding
temperature – both due to dielectric heating of the
mainwall insulation, as well as due to heating of the
stress control coatings. In addition, the surges may
cause an increase in PD activity, both between turns,
and within the mainwall. The IEC has developed
technical specifications to enable motor manufacturers
to evaluate the ability of various system insulation
system designs to withstand these additional
deterioration processes.
VII. REFERENCES
[1] IEC 60034-18-41, “Evaluation and Qualification of
Electrical Insulation Systems Used in Rotating
Electrical Machines When Fed from Voltage
Converters”.
[2] G.C. Stone, et al, “Electrical Insulation for Rotating
Machines – Design, Evaluation, Aging, Testing and
Repair”, Wiley – IEEE Press, 2004
[3] J.C.G Wheeler, “Effects of Converter Pulses on the
Electrical Insulation in Low and Medium Voltage
Motors”, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, March
2005, pp22-29
[4] IEC 60034-18-42, “Qualification and Acceptance
test for Type II Electrical Insulation Systems Used in
Rotating Electrical machines Fed form Voltage
Converters”.
[5] M. Li et al, “Effects of Repetitive Pulse Voltages on
Surface temperature Increase at End Corona
Protection Region of HV Motors”, Insucon,
Birmingham, May 2006, pp105-108
[6] J.C.G Wheeler, A.M. Gully, A.E. Baker, F.A. Perrot,
”Novel Stress Grading Systems for Converter-Fed
Motors”, IEEE, Electrical Insulation Magazine
January/February, 2007-Vol. 23,No.1 pp29-35
[7] W. Chen, G. Gao, C. Mouton, “Stator Insulation
System Evaluation and Improvement for MV
Adjustable Sped Dr Applications”. IEEE PCIC,
Cincinnati, Sept 2008
 IX VITA

Ian Culbert graduated from a 4 year course in Electrical

Engineering at Dundee Technical College, Dundee,
Scotland in 1965. He then spent 10 years with Parsons
Peebles (UK) and Reliance Electric (Canada) as an
induction motor designer. He then joined Ontario Hydro
(now Ontario Power Generation) as a motor and small
generator specialist and was with them until April 2002.
He is presently a rotating machines engineer with IRIS
Power LP and has co-authored a number of papers and
the above Reference 2 relating to stator winding
insulation aging. Ian is a registered professional
engineer in the province of Ontario and a Senior
Member of IEEE

Greg. C. Stone has a PhD in Electrical Engineering

from the University of Waterloo, Canada. For 17 years
he was with Ontario Hydro, a major Canadian utility,
where he was involved in motor and generator testing.
Since 1990, he has been a Dielectrics Engineer at Iris
Power, a manufacturer of machine test equipment. He is
past President of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical
Insulation Society, and has published 2 books and
numerous papers. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.

Blake Lloyd is an Electrical Engineer with extensive

experience in instrumentation and product development.
He started his career in the Electrical Research
Department at Ontario Hydro, where he was responsible
for conducting research into advanced measurement,
testing, and diagnostic monitoring techniques for rotating
machines and insulation systems. Since 1990, he has
been at Iris Power and responsible for the development
of products for partial discharge measurement. He is
currently Vice President of the IEEE IAS.