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A_109_2014 Paris Session

SC A1 ROTATING ELECTRICAL MACHINES

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PS1 DEVELOPMENT OF ROTATING ELECTRICAL MACHINES


PS-1 : EQUIPMENT TO CATER FOR CHANGING NETWORK CONDITIONS
SC A3 HIGH
VOLTAGE
EQUIPMENTS
Design Improvements
in IGBT
based Variable
Frequency Drive Motors
PS-1 : EQUIPMENT
TO CATER FOR CHANGING NETWORK CONDITIONS
A. K. GUPTA
D. K.CHATURVEDI*
NTPC LIMITED
INDIA

SUMMARY
The Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) technology has been well established with several
options for the end user. The exponential increase in cost of Insulated Gate Bipolar Junction
Transistor (IGBT) with increase of rated voltage, has forced industry to make Low Voltage
motors up to 2000kW. It has also lead to introduction of new voltage level of 690V for VFD
motors. Cheaper solutions for larger High Voltage motors have also been developed and
available with many suppliers using multi-cell Low Voltage IGBT VFD technology. Other
technologies with SGCT, IGCT and thyristor based LCI are also commonly available for high
voltage VFD application motors.
In a power generating station the VFD finds application right from coal unloading area
paddle feeder, stacker re-claimer, cable reeling drum operation, coal conveyors, coal feeders,
compressors, oil pumps, ID fan, CEP and BFP etc. The other area covers wind generators and
hydro project generators for pump storage option. This exponentially increasing demand for
VFD in the industry had resulted in several motor winding failure cases experienced globally
when existing motor is used with retrofit VFD. This happened due to non availability of
standards covering all design requirements in motors, when they are used for VFD
application. The practices adopted by different manufacturers for designing VFD motor
varied at large. This has drawn attention for establishing the new design requirements for
motors to make them suitable for VFD application.
Whereas the electrical system on the input side of IGBT based VFD is stress relieved, the
motor connected on output side is subjected to a train of high voltage surges enough to
puncture the turn to turn insulation of random wound Low Voltage Motors or form wound
motors. The paper discusses the generation of train of spikes from IGBT output, and their
amplification by refracted wave phenomena while travelling long distance. It also analyse the
usefulness of filters on input or output side of VFD. The harmonics and associated heating of
motors especially when run at low speed, the damage of bearing liner due to common mode
voltage, the exclusions of critical speed of combined train of motor and load during variable
speed operation has been elaborated in the paper. The paper list the issues needs to be
addressed for VFD application and the design improvements required for Low Voltage as
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well as High Voltage VFD motor to ensure reliable and trouble free operation as well as long
life.
KEY WORD
IGBT insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, IGCT Insulated Gate Commutating Thyristor, SGCT
Symmetrical Gate Commutating Thyristor, LCI Load Commutating Invertor, VFD Variable
Frequency Drive.
* dkchaturvedi@ntpceoc.co.in
VFD APPLICATION Advantages
During a review of loading pattern of large rating motors in power plant at full load, it was
found that generally motors are run at 50-80% of its rating. The increasing trend in use of
Variable Frequency Drives is due to large quantum of energy savings, when machine run on
part load. Additionally, VFD application has several advantages like increased motor life,
soft start and no contribution to fault current. The following discussion will deliberate on the
type of technologies available and their impact on motor design.
VFDs are also used for soft start of motor and subsequent transfer of motor on the main
supply bypassing the VFD. In such cases the VFD rating are selected 25-30% of motor kVA
rating, which corresponds to the staring requirements. Many times VFDs are used for process
control application.
TYPES OF TECHNOLOGIES IN VFD
Thyristor based VFDs
The load commutating inverters are widely used for large rating drives, where a synchronous
motor has two stator winding fed from two independent VFDs being fired at a phase
difference of thirty degrees so as to reduce the harmonics in the output of VFD. The
switching frequency for thyristor is same as the power frequency. This load commutating
scheme is being offered by manufacturers like Siemens Germany and BHEL India. The
available range is 2-100MW.
The technology is old and stable and issues relates to heating of motor due to high harmonic
content. The selection of motor is done so as to ensure the permissible temperature rise within
limits even when the motor is operating at lower end of speed range.
IGCT based Drive
Integrated gate commutating thyristor provide excellent turn off characteristics like bipolar
transistor. The switching frequency of this thyristor element is up to 2-3 KHz. They are
available as multiple levels Voltage Source Inverter.
SGCT based Drives

These drives are provided with symmetrical gate commutating thyristor. They have
bidirectional voltage blocking characteristics. Being a thyristor family device its switching
frequencies is in range up to 2-3 KHz.
IGBT Based System
IGBT drives have steep voltage surges with minimum rise time up to 50nS which causes
high dielectric voltage stress on the first turn of motor winding. The voltage rise time in
IGBT system along with cables and motor forms reflected wave phenomenon. The high
frequency of several KHz of pulses and associated voltage spikes results in failure of turn to
turn insulation. The occurrence of PD of high amplitude is common for Inverter fed drives. It
may also be noted that generally these spikes are not suppressed by any filter and causes
harm to the motor insulation. The magnitude and wave front of spike voltage at motor
terminal will depends upon the cable length, grounding connection, motor surge impedance
and connected filter characteristics.
In view of reflected wave phenomenon explained above, specially designed motors are
required for variable speed drive application (called Inverter Duty Drive) and design with
high turn to turn insulation, phase to ground insulation and stress relief coating on winding
bars is mandatory. These motors are required to meet IEEE-522[1] stipulation of 100ns wave
front with 3.5 p.u. amplitude to ensure successful operation for desired life.
Multistage LV IGBT based System for HT motors
This arrangement has been developed due to the low cost of Low voltage IGBTs, where a
number of IGBT are placed in series to develop the rated High voltage level of the machine
i.e. 6.6kV or 11kV.
The system has advantages of low stress on the motor insulation and low harmonic content in
the supply high voltage motor. The surges generated in LV cells are of low magnitude and do
not affect the winding insulation.
INVERTER DUTY MOTOR
Inverter Grade motors designed to take care the following:
THERMAL STRESS[2]
The harmonics are present in several technologies listed above for VFD. Motor heats up
more, when fed by Inverter as compare to sine-wave power supply. Voltage waveform has
harmonics when PWM of voltage waveform is done, however current output is almost
sinusoidal, when IGBTs are used in VFD. As a practice, manufacturer select next higher
available standard motor size to take care of heating due to presence of harmonics and lower
cooling when motors is running at low speed.
Motors have shaft mounted fans and cooling is reduced at low speed. In case of variable
torque application, the load also reduces with the speed and therefore cooling of motor
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winding is not an issue. However, in constant torque[3] application whenever the machine
runs at low speed, the reduced cooling has to be augmented by provision of an external fan.
MECHANICAL STRESS
It has been seen that the natural resonance frequency lies below the rated speed and also
above the rated speed. The combined motor and driven load shall be designed so that the
natural frequency of shaft train should not fall in the desired operating range. The VFD
running logic should also take care of this aspect to avoid resonance or high vibrations of the
machine.
ELECTRICAL STRESS
In case of IGBT based VFD the winding insulation is subjected to high dV/dt and Inter-turn
voltage can be 85% of rated voltage between 1st & 2nd turn. It is very important to
understand the process of surge origin in IGBT based VFD system.

How surges in VFD system originate?


WHEN IGBT SWITCHED FROM ON TO OFF i.e. CONDUCTION TO NONCONDUCTION MODE, A TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE (TRV) APPEARS.
Every time voltage changes from maximum value to zero, it causes voltage spike at output.
dQ/dt = C dV/dt

Figure-1 showing How Surge Originate after Pulse Width Modulation Process &
formation of Sine Wave
This causes continuous train of surges from the IGBT inverter output at the switching
frequency. The IGBT inverter is a sine wave output formed by large number of square wave
generated after PWM. The figure-2 shows the two sine wave outputs with high and low
switching frequency. When harmonics are low at high switching frequencies the larger
number of surges hits the winding insulation.

Figure- 2 Showing Sine-wave at IGBT output when switching frequency is high or low
When the motor impedance is greater than the impedance of the conductor cable between the
motor and the drive, the voltage waveform will reflect at the motor terminal. This refracted
wave phenomena (superimposition of steep surges) further increase the surge amplitude when
cable length are longer (i.e. 100 feet or above). Longer length of cable have high amplitude
surge striking on the 1st coil. The following facts may be noted:

Critical Cable length = 500ft/micro-sec.

415V motor shall be rated for 1600V peak with rise time of 0.1 micro-sec.

dV/dt for inverter grade motor insulation shall be rated for 12.8kV/micro-sec.

At high switching frequency, the ground leakage current is high as the cable capacitive
impedance to ground is low.
VFD OUTPUT SURGES CAUSES PARTIAL DISCHARGE- Mixed Dielectric Concept
The voltage distribution in series capacitors is inversely proportional to dielectric permittivity
of their medium. If insulation medium permittivity is 5, then voltage per mm across air shall
be 5 times the voltage per mm across the insulation. This concept sometimes leads to
breakdown of air medium even at rated voltage operation of the machine. The insulations of
machines having voltage grade higher than 1100 volts are subject to considerable electric
stress leading to ionization or partial discharge. Partial Discharge (PD) are small electric
spark occurs at voids present in the insulation or on the surface of coil insulation. Some of the
manufacturers use filters at VFD output to decrease the steepness of the surges reaching the
motor winding.
Fluting
It has been experienced that when a normal motor is connected to VFD, many times shaft
current flows through the bearing. This is caused by the shaft voltage, sometimes adequate to
puncture the insulation offered by the grease between bearing housing liner and the motor
shaft. The phenomena called fluting is common in VFD motors. The voltage generated in the
shaft is either due to
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Unbalanced magnetic field caused by geometrical asymmetry of winding


or
Electrostatic charges developed on the shaft due to rubbing at load end. The
issue is prominent in 690V or high voltage large VFD motors.
SPECIAL DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR INVERTER GRADE MOTOR
As discussed above the motor has to be selected so that it performs satisfactory during entire
plant life of 25-30 years. Whereas the electrical insulation level is of utmost importance as
discussed later, the de-ration of motor at least by 10% in line with NEMA MG-1 part31 is
also necessary. This takes care of additional heating of motor, when running at low speed and
heating caused by harmonics in VFD application. The following design improvements have
been suggested:

Provide the turn to turn insulation as per IEEE 522/ New IEC 60034-18-41. Better
insulation to Ground is to be ensured.

Semi-conductive coating on slot portion of coil (H.V. formed wound)

Higher voltage grade insulated magnet wire confirming to NEMA MG1-part31 for
random wound low voltage motors.

Insulated bearing to avoid bearing current flow or fluting in motors above 100kW.

Use of filter at VFD output as per manufacturers recommendations.

Selection of motor size considering harmonics & lower cooling at minimum speed

Extra insulation on few turns to withstand high amplitude train of surges caused
by refracted wave phenomena

VFD RETROFIT IN EXISTING INSTALLATION


It has been seen that different low efficiency technologies like hydraulic coupling and gear
box assemblies are used in several process applications in a power plant. The present concern
to save energy and reduced auxiliary power consumption (APC) has driven utilities to adopt
high efficient technologies. The following issues are to be addressed during VFD retrofits in
existing installation:
Suitability of motor insulation for drive technology
Preferably the motor shall be Premium Efficiency IE3
Desired operating speed range and critical speed of drive train- the critical speed
is to be crossed quickly during ramp up by the drive software
The space provision for Porta Cabin /room to install VFD and air-conditioning
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The motor-drive foundation modification feasibility


Feasibility of replacement of hydraulic coupling by shaft
Criticality of application & system redundancy requirement
Suitability of motor bearings review for requirement of insulated bearings.
Adequacy of selected frame size for low speed application & margins in
temperature rise recorded during the heat run test.
Thermal profile of the machine at rated load.
The suitability of existing motor has to be analyzed based on the motor test reports, the
inbuilt margins for additional heating, the insulation system adequacy and requirement of
insulated bearing. Any change of motor leading to next higher frame size will require
complete analysis for new natural frequency of motor load shaft. In such case, review of VFD
controller software has to be done for speed ramp-up to jump the critical speed. The
foundation has to be modified to match the shaft height and mounting requirement. The
design review should be done considering revised static and dynamic load including the
jacking point locations.
CONCLUSION
Considering that IGBT is the latest and widely used technology, the effect of fast switching
of IGBT on motor insulation has to be taken care by having improved turn to turn insulation
on initial few turns in formed wound motor. The electrical stress effect on motor winding has
to be carefully studied prior to design finalisation of VFD motor. Necessary slot and part of
overhang winding has to be either coated with semi-conductive paint or provided with semiconductive tape to avoid damage due to partial discharges. The occurrence of surges
sometimes leads to breakdown of air medium even at rated voltage operation of the machine.
As discussed above the effect harmonics causing motor winding heating has to be taken care
by selection of suitable frame size. The design of motor and driven equipments shall be such
that it should not resonate in the desired speed range. All requirements mentioned above
needs to be vetted by the applicable type tests on coil as well as on the assembled motor.

REFERENCES:
1. Current State of Surge Testing Induction Machines John Wilson Baker Instrument
Company
2. Effect of AC Drive on motor insulation ABB Technical Guide
3. NEMA application Guide for AC Adjustable Speed Drive System

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