The impact of thermal degradation on properties of electrical machine winding insulation material

Abstract

Interturn stator short circuits can develop quickly leading to serious damage of an electric machine. However, degradation mechanisms of winding insulation material are not yet fully understood. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the impact of thermal ageing on the electrical properties of the thin-film winding insulation. The insulation samples have been aged thermally at 200 °C-275 °C and for 100-1600 h. After ageing, impedance spectroscopy measurements were undertaken on the samples and equivalent-circuit model (ECM) parameters fitted for each measurement. This allows the impact of thermal ageing on ECM parameters to be analyzed, giving insight into the changes in the electrical properties of the insulation. Finally, high voltage was applied to the samples aiming to identify the breakdown-voltage (BV) characteristics of the insulation material.