Methodology for Asynchronous Motor Impedance Measurement by Using Higher Order Harmonics

The control methods of asynchronous motors have changed during past decades. In the past, asynchronous motors were connected to grid directly. Later, thyristors as switching element-based frequency converters for asynchronous motors have appeared. Today, asynchronous motors are controlled with variable speed drives that are frequency converters consisting of IGBT power modules as switching elements that form the output voltage for asynchronous motors. Because of IGBT’s high switching speed of around few kilohertz, higher order harmonics appear in the output voltage. Their influence was not analyzed in the past as the methodology of asynchronous motor winding resistance measurement was under development. In this article, a new methodology of motor resistance measurement for mass production is introduced. The resistance—compared to higher order harmonics values between the windings of benchmark and tested motors—gives an ability to faster and more accurately determine a motor’s characteristics and losses induced by higher order harmonics that appear when a motor is powered by a variable speed drive. Motor winding’s inductance dependency on the current of magnetic biasing and the higher frequency of voltage is analyzed in this article. In addition, the simulation model of resistance to higher order harmonics of motor measurement is introduced and analyzed in this article.