552

Guide of methods for determining the condition of

stator winding insulation and their effectiveness in
large motors

Working Group
A1.17

October 2013
 GUIDE OF METHODS FOR DETERMINIG THE CONDITION OF STATOR
WINDING INSULATION AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN LARGE MOTORS

Working Group
A1.17

Members

Sergio Rodríguez, Convener (SP), Howard Sedding (CA), Alberto Villarrubia (SP), Greg
Stone (CA), Dan Zlatanovici (RO), Dejan Rebric (RS), Ioannis P. Tsoumas (GR), Jim Oliver
(US), Juergen Weidner (DE), Thomas Brügger (CH)

Copyright © 2013
“Ownership of a CIGRE publication, whether in paper form or on electronic support only infers right of use for
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and/or transfer to a third party is prohibited other than for personal use by CIGRE Individual Members or for
use within CIGRE Collective Member organisations. Circulation on any intranet or other company network is
forbidden for all persons. As an exception, CIGRE Collective Members only are allowed to reproduce the
publication.

Disclaimer notice

“CIGRE gives no warranty or assurance about the contents of this publication, nor does it accept any
responsibility, as to the accuracy or exhaustiveness of the information. All implied warranties and conditions
are excluded to the maximum extent permitted by law”.

ISBN: 978-2-85873-247-0

Page 1 of 35
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………..…. 3
2. METHODOLOGY...…………………..……………………………………………………. 3
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNICAL BROCHURE……………………………………….. 3
4. WINDING MANUFACTURING PROCESS AND MATERIALS..………………………….. 4
5. STATOR WINDING INSULATION TYPICAL DEFECTS ……..………………………….… . 7
6. METHODS OF DETERMINING THE CONDITION OF STATOR WINDING.…………… ..12
7. CONCLUSIONS : TABLE AND FLOWCHART….………………………………………………..30
8. REFERENCES ……….……………………………………………..…………………………. 34

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

VPI Vacuum Pressure Impregnation

RFCT Radio Frequency Current Transformer
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
PD Partial Discharge
DIV Discharge Inception Voltage
DEV Discharge Extintion Voltage
FR Form Wound
RW Random Wound
PI Polarization Index

Page 2 of 35
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

No machine stator insulation system that is economically produced is expected to last forever.
Thermal, mechanical, electrical, and environmental stresses will gradually reduce the electrical and
mechanical strength of the insulating materials and at some point, the materials will have aged
significantly enough to a point where the insulation breaks down or cracks under the normal
operating voltages or as a result of a transient electrical or mechanical situation.

Maintenance Engineers involved in medium voltage motor´s maintenance and life extension, have to
select between a variety of available non-destructive and destructive testing techniques in order to
evaluate and assure the condition of the stator winding insulation and, in case of any insulation
defect already detected, to analyse the rate at which this degradation is taking place to take
appropriate corrective decisions.

Maintenance testing tools should be selected taking into account motor stator winding insulation
typical ageing factors and defects, as well as, statistical failure analysis reports available in the
industry but, best practice is to analyze particularly in each case the insulation manufacturing
system, design stress level if available, environmental operating area and, type of motor running
(base load or cycling). All these previous inputs will provide individually for each machine a most
susceptible way of ageing and so that, of expected failure.

Once the most susceptible ways of ageing are determined, most suitable testing tools should be
selected according to an economically predictive maintenance program. No all available tests can
be done during a machine outage and, no test has the capacity for detecting a particular insulation
issue with enough sensitivity.

It’s the intention of this guide to provide information about the previous topics in terms of sensitivity
of each testing technique to detect a particular insulation problem, effectiveness of each one and
some theory about diagnosis and site testing performance.

2. METHODOLOGY

The state of the art in testing techniques for determining the condition of stator winding insulation of
motors 3 KV and above are in some cases well known by maintenance staff, especially in utilities,
large workshops and of course manufacturers field service staff but, in a large number of cases,
especially in the environment of industrial maintenance staff, small workshops and new incoming
young people, there are some misunderstandings about insulation defects theory, which technique
is useful or sensible for each degradation process and, the correct way to perform testing in terms of
in situ procedure, measurement standardization, voltages to apply and diagnosis.

Following CIGRE’s tradition when lack of knowledge is detected in a specific area of the industry, a
practical guide is proposed by the study committee to be developed. After the working group had
developed a first draft document, valuable information and comments from the experts were
collected and included to get a final version of the document.

Some conclusions have been collected and presented in a summary flowchart and table format,
both are based on the experience acquired in field testing over a medium voltage motors by utilities
and field service experts.

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNICAL BROCHURE

The present Technical Brochure (TB) is divided in several parts, as follows:

a. Winding manufacturing process and materials.

Page 3 of 35
 b. Stator winding typical defects.
c. Methods of determining the condition of stator winding.
d. Conclusions.

4. WINDING MANUFACTURING PROCESS AND MATERIALS.

4.1. Strand, Turn and Ground Insulation.

Form wound insulation system for medium voltage stators in motors is composed by copper strands
insulated from each other and to ground, so that, it’s basically composed of strand, turn and main
ground insulation.

Fig.01. Coil section.

The main electrical purpose of stranding a conductor in a form-wound coil is due to consideration of
the skin effect (tendency of the current to not flow through the centre of the conductor and the
consecutive loss of available cross section) and, eddy current losses (circumferential currents
induced due to axial and slot leakage flux). The mechanical reason for stranding is that coil shape is
easier to achieve than with one solid piece of conductor.

Turn insulation is used to prevent shorts between turns in multi-turn coils, which in case of failure,
develops a huge loop current that makes groundwall insulation fail as a result of rapid thermal
degradation.

Nowadays, there is a tendency to upgrade the strand insulation so that, it also acts as turn
insulation. This makes the manufacturing process easier and promotes the benefit of use more
copper for same slot cross section. However, for larger motors with few turns per coil dedicated
mica turn insulation with lower dielectric strength stand insulation may still provide the best design.
Consequently, the insulation system used for these applications must fulfill the following tasks:

– It has to withstand high electric fields, especially on the edges of rectangular wires.
– As it is in the interface between different materials with different thermal expansion
coefficients it has to withstand great shear forces.
– It has to withstand the highest machine temperature as it’s in contact with the copper.
– It has to withstand severe flexural stresses during manufacturing process.
– It has to withstand severe high transient voltages associated with modern inverted-fed drives
IFD and from breaker operation.

Enameled winding wires are mostly used for low voltage applications, while for medium and high
voltage machines, bare copper wire insulated with fiber or tape covering are preferred due to
improved mechanical and electrical properties. In practice, enameled wires comprise several layers
of varnish: single, double or triple, depending on the thickness of the coating. Usually, the most
common enamels used for medium and high voltage applications in combination with fiber or tape
insulation are:

– Modified Polyesterimide + Polyamide-imide.

– Polyamide-imide.
– Polyimide.

Page 4 of 35
Fibers are applied on the wire by single or double lapping or by braiding. Usually this fiber layer is
impregnated with a varnish (Epoxy, Polyesterimide, Polyamide-imide, silicon.) for further
improvement of its mechanical and electrical properties. Usually the most common types of fiber
insulated wires are:

– Glass/Polyester fibre blend, single or double lapped and fused.

– E-Glass fibre single or double lapped or braided.

For turn insulation purposes (wire/strand insulation by itself can be used for this purpose or
dedicated turn insulation can be applied). For fixed frequency motors rated 6kV or higher and lower
voltage source variable speed drives, mica paper impregnated with modified resin as binder and
reinforced with a backing material is of common use and if properly applied should provide adequate
dielectric strength. Depending in manufacturer best practices the mica tape backing material can be
glass cloth, thermoplastic films like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or more modern polyethylene
naphthalate (PEN). PEN backings are used to improve the thickness of the tapes (one quarter of
glass cloth backing), thermal stability and thermal conductivity as well as, some dielectric and
mechanical properties.

Ground insulation is a passive element that manufacturers try to reduce in thickness, increasing the
KV/mm and improving its thermal conductivity in order to, increase the copper cross section for
same slot area and therefore, obtain greater output power for same frame size or to reducing the
machine size and associated costs for same output power. However, the designer should also
consider the effect on endwinding clearances that such a reduction groundwall thickness causes.
Typically, the ground insulation voltage stress in modern high voltage motor insulation systems is in
the order of 3.0 kV rms/mm.

Ground insulation for form wound windings is composed of layers of mica paper tape with some
backing materials such as glass or polyester cloth and fiber glass or polyester mat over each face of
the mica paper.

4.2. Insulation Systems:

Most common insulation systems for medium and high voltage motors are Global Vacuum Pressure
Impregnated system (GVPI) and, in some cases B-Stage, Resin-Rich.

Global VPI: In this system the mica tapes used are made with 10 to 25% of the resin needed to fully
saturate the insulation. If the tape has a glass backing material it is porous and so allows good resin
penetration. On the other hand PET and PEN backing materials are not porous and so good resin
penetration is more difficult to achive if these materials are used. In some insulation systems the
mica tape used contains a catalyst to help promote impregnating resin gelling which reduces resin
run out when the stator is removed from the VPI tank at the end of the impregnation process. Once
the bars/coils are taped, the (green coils) are inserted in the slots, wedged, braced and connected.
The complete stator is then placed in the impregnation tank, where it’s usually first vacuum dried
under heat. For some manufacturers the stator winding is dried out in a baking oven at around 60°C
prior to installing it in the VPI tank so the first stage of impregnation only necessitates a dry vacuum
being drawn. Following, the stator is flooded with low-viscosity resin and pressurized with a non-
reactive gas. Some manufacturers measure the capacitance of the stator winding to obtain an
indication of when resin impregnation has ceased, i.e., the capacitance of the winding increases as
the voids between insulation layers fill with resin. After that, the wet stator is removed from the tank
for excess of resin draining purposes and then, cured in an oven. Some motor manufacturers rotate
the stator while it is in the oven to reduce resin run out from the insulation. Sometimes this process
of impregnation and curing is repeated twice or more. However, the second and subsequent cycles
only provide better sealing of the winding and do not fill any internal insulation voids and so some
manufacturers have standardized only one VPI cycle even when a sealed winding is required.

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This system provides in general a better performance of the overhang area regarding resin
impregnation and reduction of void formation than the resin-rich system (if careful attention is paid to
tape tensioning during manufacturing and careful monitoring of the press-curing stage is performed
then an equivalent reliable product is obtained in resin-rich). Also, as complete stator is impregnated
together in the tank, the final product is more robust and improves the thermal conductivity from
copper to core. Another advantage is that conformable felts can be used in endwinding bracing
between coils and between coils and radial bracing rings. After VPI and winding baking these felts
are full of cured resin and well bonded to the coil endwindings. Such bracing gives good support to
the endwinding structure to minimize the possibility of insulation damage from abrasion as a result of
high vibration induced by the presence of high electromagnetic forces present during motor starting.

From purchaser point of view, this system is cheaper than individual impregnated bar/coils but,
makes the removal and replacement of failed coil/bar legs without damage to healthy ones very
difficult, if in a top layer of the winding and impossible if in a bottom layer.

B Stage or Resin-Rich System: In this system the mica tapes are made with partially cured resin
(B Stage) in an amount in excess. The process basically consists of hot pressing the straight parts
of the bars/coils to obtain the manufacturing physical dimensions and, to make the resin to flow and
fill all the air pockets. The excess of resin flows axially to end winding region which is cured in an
oven after the coils are wound, wedged, braced and connected. Some manufacturers have
developed some manually hand-used clamps to press the end winding area after the straight part
and to improve the final result in this area. This manufacturing system is very attractive for
manufacturers because of some simplifications in the manufacturing process like for example, the
resin viscosity it’s not a factor for good impregnation and, the resin storage and maintaining it is
eliminated. However, the stage B resin impregnated mica tapes, felts, etc. used in this type of
insulation must be stored in a refrigerated area to prevent them from curing prior to application.

From purchaser's point of view and in the case of very large and critical motor, this method has the
advantage of allows partial winding repairs after a winding fault due to the possibility of easy
bars/coils removal. For multi-turn coil windings if the failure is in a bottom coil leg such repairs will
involve removing a number of top coil legs to gain access to the failed winding section and for its
replacement. New top coil legs then have to be spliced in to complete the repair. This is a labour-
intensive process since each coil top leg stand has to be brazed to the corresponding bottom coil leg
one and then insulated before new ground insulation is applied to the coil knuckles. This type of
insulation system is often used by workshops to replace global VPI windings in very large motors
because they do not have a large enough tank to accommodate them.

4.3. Factory quality Tests and Requirements:

Whether the bars/coils manufacturing process is Resin-Rich or Global VPI the purchaser usually
requests (depending of course in the importance of the motor and the purchaser supervision
capabilities) that a first set of manufactured bars/coils should be given some dimensional physical
checks. It is advisable that a wooden mock-up of a section of stator core, with slots in, it be used to
check coil shapes to ensure good fit in the slots and even spacing between endwinding sections.
Alternatively, stator into which the coils are to be wound can be used for this purpose. Once this first
set of bars/coils is accepted by the purchaser, control of the coil pulling machine settings should
ensure that the rest of the coils/bars for other identical motors being manufactured at the same time
are have the same dimensions. The following, individual quality tests are usually requested for each
stator bar/coil.

In case of Global VPI motors, there is an intrinsic limit due to the manufacturing process itself for the
checking of the impregnation and final quality of the bars/coils insulation due to the limitations in
sensibility that implies the testing of a complete stator or, in the best case a complete phase. It is
fully recommended the purchaser request in the motor technical purchase specification that 2 or 3
sample bars/coils, with their vertical straight sections clamped between steel or aluminium plates to
simulate a stator slot, be impregnated with each complete stator. One of these coils/bars should be

Page 6 of 35
cut open after the first VPI cycle, before oven curing, to confirm that the impregnating resin has
penetrated the groundwall insulation to the conductor stack. The other two coils should be
processed in the same manner as the complete stator and used for quality tests as described below.
It is important that these coils be attached to the inner bore of the stator to ensure that they are
subjected to a heat curing that is similar to that of the stator winding.

To confirm the quality of materials and workmanship during winding manufacture a.c. or d.c. hi-pot
and coil surge tests should be performed at voltage levels agreed between the purchaser and
manufacturer. The voltage levels used for global VPI windings, prior to impregnation, will be much
lower to avoid hidden carbonized paths inside the insulation that will promote insulation failure in
future although the hi-pot and surge tests had been passed without problem at this time.

Usually the most common tests requested for quality assurance of bars/coils manufactured in case
of resin-rich or, the 2 of the 3 samples of bars/coils inserted in the same tank windings given global
vacuum pressure impregnation are as follows:

– Dimensional checking of bars/coils individually and in core dummy.

– A.C. Hi-pot. Voltage levels depend on manufacturer procedures and requirements of
purchaser technical specification but, it is usually in between 3-4 times line voltage.
– Capacitance and Power factor tip-up with and without guard rings, usually from 0.2 to 1. 2
times line voltage in steps of 20%. (see IEC 60894, IEEE 286)
– Surface resistance of the slot semi-conductive paint or tape of the straight bar/coil part.
– A surge test to check the integrity of the coil turn insulation ( per IEC60034-15, IEEE 522)
– Partial discharge measurement record.(see IEC 60034-27, IEEE 1434)
– The poorest bar/coil, based in tan delta and partial discharge values previously obtained, is
tested with a.c. Hi-Pot up to flashover or failure for checking the maximum voltage withstand
and, for following investigation under electronic microscope of bar/coil cross section. If a
bar/coil does fail this test it should then be dissected at the point of failure to see if there is
evidence of a manufacturing defect contributed to the failure. This coil Hi-Pot should be
performed on each coil leg in an oil bath to prevent flashover at the connections.

In addition an off-line partial discharge or power factor/ dissipation factor tip-up test should be
specified for completed global VPI stator windings to confirm good resin impregnation. For this test
each phase should be tested individually and the purchaser should try to negotiate acceptance
criteria for the results of such tests with the motor manufacturer. A partial discharge test gives a
better evaluation of new winding condition since it should reveal any local defects and indicate
where in the insulation system they are located.

5. STATOR WINDING INSULATION TYPICAL DEFECTS.

No machine insulation system that is economically produced is expected to last forever. Regarding
[16] the winding insulation stator failure contributes to 6% of the total motor failures experience.

External Others
origin or 2%
accessory
components
6%
Non identified
vibrations and
elevated
temperatures
6% Mechanical
Electrical
69%
17%

Fig.02. CIGRE WG A1.19. Survey of motor failure distribution [16]

Page 7 of 35
The thermal, mechanical, electrical, and environmental stresses will gradually reduce the electrical
and mechanical strength of the insulating materials. At some point, the materials will have aged
significantly. In such a case, the insulation breaks down or cracks under the normal operating
voltages or as a result of a transient electrical (e.g., lightning or switching voltage surges) or
mechanical (from motor switch-on in-rush current or current transients from faults in the power
system, which cause large magnetic field impulses) situation. If the insulation breakdown occurs in
the stator groundwall or turn insulation, this will rapidly lead to high power-frequency fault currents
and circuit-breaker operation. Failure of the strand insulation in stator windings will not result in
motor failure. However, performance will be adversely affected since the magnetic field intensities
will be weaker and non-symmetrical, leading to vibration, or the efficiency of the machine will be
reduced due to circulating currents.

Different stresses combine in different ways to yield a wide variety of specific failure mechanisms in
both the rotor and stator windings. Some mechanisms are due to pure thermal stress. For
example, in windings that are operated at temperatures close to or above the thermal rating of the
insulation system for long periods of time, the insulation oxidizes, making it brittle and subject to
mechanical failure. Similarly, insulation abrasion can occur as a result of the combination of the
magnetically induced forces and the weakening of the slot support system and/or in the case of
Global VPI machines the bond between coil and core, causing the winding to rub against the stator
core, until the insulation is thin enough to puncture. In higher voltage stators (usually 6kV and
above) the rate of aging from this cause is further accelerated as a result of slot partial discharge.
Although relatively unusual, pure electrical failure can occur on stators operating above 6kV, since
partial discharge (small electrical sparks, sometimes referred to as corona) occur, which eventually
bore a hole through the organic insulation, causing a short circuit. Finally, partly conductive pollution
(for example, oil mixing with dirt) can lead to small currents flowing over the insulation surface in the
endwinding, leading to electrical tracking.

In addition to these single-stress deterioration processes, the stresses can combine to lead to more
complicated deterioration mechanisms. Long-term operation at moderately high stator winding
temperatures can lead to groundwall-insulation delamination, that is, the mica-tape layers de-bond,
allowing air gaps to occur within the groundwall. If the stator is operating mainly above 6.0 kV,
(there are reported machines rated at 4,16 KV with PD) there may be sufficient electrical stress
within these air gaps, causing electric breakdown of the air, i.e., sparks occur between the layers.
The sparks (called partial discharges) break the carbon-hydrogen bonds in the polymeric
components, eventually boring a hole through the groundwall, leading to failure. There are several
different multi-stress failure mechanisms that can occur.

Additional failure processes can occur due to on-off cycling of motors. Such cycling leads to large
and sometimes rapid swings in winding and conductor temperatures. These temperature swings
can lead to different thermally induced growth among the different winding components, developing
shear stresses between the components. For example, when a large motor goes from no load to full
load in a few minutes, the stator winding copper temperature goes from a low temperature to a high
temperature, and the copper grows axially along the slot. Immediately after the load increase, the
insulation temperature remains relatively low. The result is that the groundwall insulation
experiences a much smaller axial growth. Since the copper expands more than the groundwall, a
shear stress develops between the conductor stack and the insulation. With a sufficient number of
load cycles, the groundwall may de-bond away from the conductors, creating an air gap, leading to
failure from internal partial discharges. This cyclic stress may also contribute to breaking the bond
between coil surface and stator core in global VPI motors. .

The single and multi-stress interactions, together with load cycling, yield about 20 different
identifiable failure processes in stator windings. The most common ones are summarized in Table 1
which also contains a summary of the main failure processes. Which process will occur in a specific
machine and how quickly the failure will occur will depend on:

– The design stress levels (i.e., operating temperatures, mechanical stress, etc.) the machine
designer employed, and how close these levels are to the insulation material capabilities.

Page 8 of 35
 – How well the windings were manufactured and assembled.
– The operating environment the user provides, that is, is the machine run at constant load or
cycled, is it over-loaded; are oil, moisture, or abrasive particles present?
– How well the user maintains the windings, i.e., keeping them clean, keeping them tight to
prevent vibration, etc.

Knowing which deterioration process is occurring is important, since any winding maintenance to
extend winding life should directly address the processes.

Page 9 of 35
 Table 1. Common Stator-Winding-Insulation Deterioration Mechanisms

Mechanisms Description Root Cause Failure Mode Susceptible Relative Speed

Insulation Types
Long-term operation at Overloading, blocked Usually results in ground (earth)
high temperature, leading cooling, unbalanced supply fault due to mechanical failure of
Thermal Aging to bonding resin voltages, frequent starting the insulation. All Slow
embrittlement and
insulation delamination
Rapid, frequent on-off 0% to 100% load changes in Usually results in ground (earth) FW, asphaltic mica,
cycling leading to de- less than 15 min. fault due to mechanical failure of polyester mica, Epoxy
Load cycling lamination the insulation. mica. Moderate

Poor resin Voids in insulation leading Lack of penetration of mica Usually results in ground FW, polyester, and
impregnation to PD tapes, by epoxy, or insulation failure due to electrical epoxy, more likely in
polyester resin tracking. global VPI types. Moderate

Abrasion and partial Insulation, shrinkage over Can lead to mechanical failure of FW, RW, unlikely to
discharge attack of years, oil contamination ground insulation. occur in global VPI
Loose windings in insulation due to coil causing wedges to become type
slot movement in slot loose and perhaps even
Windings with Fast
migrate out of the slots.
magnetic slot wedges
Weakening of the wedge which tend to become
closing the slot: . loose and often break
up. Composite
magnetic and epoxy
glass laminate wedges
are less succeptible to
failure.
Electrical slot Partial discharge attack Semi-conductive coating is Slot discharges and resulting
discharge where semi-conductive poorly made, or applied. ozone can erode groundwall
coating missing or insulation leading to electrical FW Slow
degraded failure.
Motor supplied from a
voltage source variable
Degradation of frequency drive. Also If conventional silicon Can lead to electrical failure of Voltage Source Variable
voltage stress control occurs in conventional carbide grading materials groundwall insulation at or near Frequency Drives – Fast
grading material are used they overheat due the ends of the slots containing FW
high voltage fixed
frequency windings, but to high frequency leakage coils near the phase line ends.
degradation rate in this currents that flow through Fixed Frequency Motors -
type is very slow. the material. Slow

Page 10 of 35
 Contamination Surface discharges or
sparking in end windings
due to partly conductive
pollution
End-winding vibration Vibration of motor coils
mainly during motor
starting leading to
insulation abrasion,
cracking.
Electrical surges Puncture of turn insulation
by high-voltage pulses if
inadequate or degraded
turn insulation is present
Thermal damage due Fault in stator core near or
to faults in stator core at the slot surface
Mechanical damage Impact damage to stator
in end windings endwinding insulation
RW denotes random wound FW denotes form wound
Winding contamination and
poor maintenance.
Poor endwinding support
design, oil contamination.
Voltages developed by motor
switch-on or inverter-fed
drives combined with poor
or aged turn insulation
A defect in core lamination
insulation can develop
temperatures high enough
to cause melting.
An object detached from the
rotor or remaining in the
motor after maintenance
Resulting tacking on insulation
surfaces can lead to electrical
failure between phases or to All Slow
ground (earth)
Often leads to mechanical failure
of the insulation at the ends of the
stator slot or at radial endwinding All Moderate
support rings. Less likely to occur
in global VPI stator windings
Causes severe overheating of the
affected coil insulation, rapid
thermal aging and an eventual RW, FW, multi-turn Fast
failure to ground (earth). coils
Local overheating which burns
and causes rapid thermal aging of
the ground insulation and All Moderate
electrical failure to ground (earth)
or between phases.
Cracking, crushing the insulation
in the end windings and eventual
failure to ground. All Moderate, Fast
Page 11 of 35
6. METHODS OF DETERMINING THE CONDITION OF STATOR WINDING.

6.1. Introduction:

Maintenance Engineers involved in medium and high voltage motor´s life extension, have to select
between a variety of non-destructive testing techniques in order to track the condition of the stator
winding insulation and, in case of any insulation defect already present, to analyse the rate of at
which this degradation is taking place to take appropriate corrective decisions.

Maintenance testing tools should be selected taking into account motor stator winding insulation
typical ageing factors and defects, as well as, statistical failure analysis reports available in the
industry but, best practice is to analyse particularly in each case the insulation manufacturing
system, design stress level if available, environmental operating area and, type of motor running
(base load or cycling). All these previous inputs will provide individually for each machine a most
susceptible way of ageing and so that, of expected failure.

Ones the most susceptible ways of ageing are determined, most suitable testing tools should be
selected according to an economically predictive maintenance program. It’s clear no all tests can be
done during a machine outage and, no each test has the capacity for detecting a particular
insulation issue with enough sensitivity. So that, it’s the intention of this guide to provide information
about the sensitivity of each testing technique to detect a particular insulation problem, effectiveness
of each one and some theory about diagnosis and site testing performance.

Following, an overview of most common available diagnostic techniques will be develop, first
individually and following, through a summary table.

6.2. DC Insulation Resistance, Polarization Index and Absorption Current.

When winding stator insulation is energized with d.c. voltage between copper and ground, a current
flow is stabilised and measured by the measuring tester. In general, all insulation resistance testers
have an input third terminal called “guard” that implies that all the current flowing through the item
connected to this terminal will bypass the current meter of the tester and thus, it will not be included
in the measurement.

This measured current flow, after voltage application, decreases with time from a very high initial
value, which depends mainly on the geometrical capacitance of the winding under test (and the
internal resistance of the measuring tester), to a constant and much lower current value.

After the first seconds of the voltage application, the geometrical current decays to zero and, the
total current is determined by the following physical phenomena:

– Absorption Current: After these first seconds of the applied voltage to some minutes later,
the current is primarily determined by the physical behaviour of the polar molecules present
in the organic materials (dipole moments present due to unsymmetrical arrangement of
positively and negatively charged regions) and, the free charge carriers present in the bulk
insulation. The polar molecules tend to orientate under the presence of an electric field and
this rotation is done under a viscous medium and some friction between the shifting dipoles
and adjacent atoms or molecules takes also place.

The energy needed for that polar molecules orientation and heat dissipation due to friction is
supplied by the measuring tester in the way of current. The previous dipole polarization
mechanisms are due to charges that are locally bound in molecules. In addition to bound
charges, free charge carriers exist that can migrate for some distance through the dielectric.
When such carriers accumulate within the material or at interfaces, a space charge or
interfacial polarization occurs. This space charge has also influence in the polar molecules
orientation because the polarity.

Page 12 of 35
 Both phenomena are temperature dependent; in case of space charge, it increases due to
the higher kinetic energy of the free charge carriers with increasing temperature and, in case
of dipole polarization, the increase of electronic agitation with the increasing temperature
makes the orientation process hindered.

Each type of dielectric polarization is characterized by a relaxation time , which represents

the time taken for the polarization to respond to the applied electric field. Dipole and space
charge polarizations are let’s say a “slow” process due to dipole inertia and charge carrier
transport time. In solid materials there is often a broad distribution of dipole orientation
relaxation times. The relaxation time of the dipole orientation d depends as stated before
markedly on the molecular structure and state of the material and on the temperature, but it
generally lies in the region of 10-3 to 10-10 seconds. The relaxation time of space charge
polarization depends on the conductivity and arrangement of the constituent dielectric
components, but is usually slow and on the order of 1 to 10-3 seconds.

Absorption current is therefore mainly determined by the molecular structure of the dielectric
material and, it is temperature dependent.

– Conduction and Leakage current: Both are constant values during time of voltage application
and depend on several factors like: the voltage level, volume and surface of insulation and,
winding temperature and moisture/contamination status. Conduction current is the current
which passes through the bulk insulation from ground to the energized cooper and, the
leakage current is the current which passes over the insulation surface mainly in the
overhang area.
Conduction current in a well bonded modern epoxy or polyester insulation and in the absent
of high resistance crack or puncture in the insulation is near zero.
Surface leakage currents are highly dependent on external surface overhang condition
related with moisture and/or contamination and its own configuration.

Fig.03. Types of current under d.c. Voltage application for Epoxy-mica insulation [1].

The easiest way to analyse the current trace obtained during the testing voltage application
is, to parameterise it. That means, to obtain different ratios in the form of parameters with
numerical values and limits.

Page 13 of 35
6.2.1. Insulation Resistance Test.

Theory

Insulation resistance is the ratio of the d.c. testing voltage (always below the machine phase to
ground voltage level) applied between the winding cooper and ground, to the resultant current.

In order to standardize this parameter it´s common practice to record the reading obtained at 1
minute from the application of the testing voltage. As the insulation resistance value is highly
dependent on winding temperature and surface contamination/humidity status, the previous value is
always provided corrected to a standardized value of 20ºC or 40ºC through some of the available
temperature correction tables or graphs, or at least, all this previous data (winding temperature and
relative environment humidity) should be included in the measurement report.

The effect of temperature is different for each insulation material (and type of contamination if
present) and so that, all the previous mentioned graphs, tables and formulas to correct the insulation
resistance to a standardised value of 20ºC or 40ºC[1] are unreliable. Therefore, although the
insulation resistance was provided “corrected” in temperature, the tracking over time is sometimes
meaningless and this parameter it’s used in most cases as an indicator of the general state of the
winding in order to determine the need of winding cleaning or drying-out, the suitability for returning
the machine into service after an outage or, the suitability for performing high overvoltage tests.

Insulation resistance test is also the first test done after an incident or protection trip to evaluate the
absence of an insulation to ground defect and in this cases, the insulation resistance value is easily
recognized as unacceptable because a very low close to zero measurement or, the impossibility of
voltage application due to the high current flow.

Procedure and Diagnosis:

The general test procedure is dependent on the terminal box configuration, if neutral point is
available it´s recommended to perform a global test (all three phases together to ground) following
to individual phase measurements (One phase energized vs the other two connected to ground). All
three phases should provide very close results and in the range of 2-3 times the global one (more
close to three times if the other two phases are guarded) if not, there is a possibility of some
problem in the phase of lower and different insulation resistance, probably some high resistance
crack through all the ground insulation somewhere (partial cracks usually can’t be detected at this
voltage level below the phase to ground level) or, some problem to ground in this phase bushing
(contamination/humidity problems usually have a global presence in all the stator winding and same
effect in all three phases).

Of course, in case of a phase to phase tracking or puncture problem, it will have effect in two phases
during individual phase measurements if no guard is connected to the other two phases. During
global measurements all three phases are energized at same voltage level and so that, no phase to
phase problem can be detected because no voltage difference is taking place in between (that´s the
case if no neutral point in available in the terminal box).

Sometimes and due to the cable feeders configuration in the terminal box of the motor, there are
cases in which is very time consuming and costly the disconnection power supply cables or buses
from the motor terminals and so the testing is done from the switchgear. Such testing measures the
insulation resistance of the complete set of stator winding and cable feeders and so if low readings
are obtained the motor should be disconnected from its power supply and be testing from its
terminals to determine whether the low IR value(s) I due to defects in its stator winding. If the motor
is equipped with surge capacitors then, these must be disconnected prior to test because if not, very
low insulation resistance value will be obtained due to its internal discharge resistor value. Often the
surge capacitors are insulated from the motor main terminal box and grounded by a single cable or

Page 14 of 35
copper strap. For such configurations the grounding cable or strip need only be disconnected to
allow IR testing.

Recommended test voltages depending on machine rated line voltage are included in reference [1]:

Machine Rated Line Voltage Recommended Test

Voltage (V)
(V)
<1000 500
1000 – 2500 500 – 1000
2501 – 5000 1000 – 2500
5001 – 12000 2500 – 5000
>12000 5000 - 10000

Recommended minimum insulation resistance levels (just only for stator windings tested directly
from terminals) are included in the IEEE Std 43.2000 [1] for global three phase measurements (1
minute) and with temperature correction to 40ºC, as follows:

– Most Windings made before 1970 (usually thermal class B insulation) ………………… Line to
Line machine rated voltage + 1 (value in M).
– Windings made after 1970 (usually thermal class F insulation) …………………......... 100 M.

The above values should be multiplied by 4 if 20 º C temperature correction is used instead 40ºC.

Note: A revised version of IEEE 43 is presently being balloted and when approved will have different
IR temperature correction factors for epoxy and polyester bonded (thermosetting) stator winding
insulation system than are in the present version.

Because the insulation resistance test is always done below the machine phase to ground voltage
level, the behavior of the insulation if no problem is present should be linear and so that, the
performance of the insulation resistance at two or more different voltage levels will provide a further
diagnostic information.

6.2.2. Polarization Index:

In order to avoid the insulation resistance temperature dependence and to parameterise the
influence or predominance of absorption/leakage currents in the global current trace, a so called
“polarization index” parameter it´s used.

Polarization index (PI) is defined as the ratio of the global current at 1 minute to global current at 10
minutes or, what it´s the same the insulation resistance at 10 minutes to insulation resistance at 1
minute. Therefore, it´s a common practice to do a PI 10 minutes test and obtained at same time the
insulation resistance at 1 minute.

When a stator winding has surface contamination and/or moisture, the level of leakage current is
greatly increased and so that it, predominates in the global current measured. The insulation
resistance trace reaches the steady state in a short period of time from the voltage application and
thus, the lower polarization index value the higher leakage current is present. The recommended
minimum PI values regarding [1] are as follows:

Page 15 of 35
 Insulation Thermal class Minimum PI
Class A 1.5
Class B 2.0
Class F 2.0
Class H 2.0

Same reference [1] states that if the insulation resistance value at 1 minute is higher than 5 G, the
PI may not be meaningful and should be disregarded as a measure of the winding condition.

As with insulation resistance measurements, if the motor is equipped with surge capacitors, then
these must be disconnected prior to PI test because if not, very low PI value (in the range of 1) will
be obtained.

6.2.3. Reabsorption Currents.

Theory:

As stated in the previous paragraphs, the absorption current is primarily determined by the physical
behavior of the polar molecules present in the organic materials (dipole moments present due to
unsymmetrical arrangement of positively and negatively charged regions) and, the free charge
carriers present in the bulk insulation and both, are temperature dependent.

Usually, most insulation resistance testers have an automatic test setting that applies the test
voltage during 30 minutes (charging period) and after that, performs a discharge of the energy
stored in the winding to ground capacitor through the instrument’s internal discharge resistor to
quickly discharge the capacitive charge. Because as a result of the short-circuit across the current
meter, there is a real elastic reaction by the dielectric to the electrical field created by the charges of
these armatures, and a tendency for these charges to be rejected in the opposite direction from
what occurred during their displacement during the charging period (period of voltage application).

Fig.04. Types of current under during charge and discharge periods.

Consequently, it is possible to measure the absorption current (reabsorption current during the
discharge) because, since unlike what occurs during the charging period, the conduction current

Page 16 of 35
does not exist and does not therefore, act as a masking agent. It is accepted that this measure is
carried out one minute after establishment of the short-circuit condition.

In order to do the values of reabsorption current comparables between different machines (different
sizes and so that, insulation volume and geometric configuration), the value measured is
standardized in geometrical capacitance of the winding and test voltage applied (Current flowing
after 1 min (nA) / Test Voltage (V)  Winding capacitance (F)). As current is temperature
dependant it is necessary to record the test winding temperature for future trending or, to use some
temperature correction formula.

Diagnosis:

The value and behavior of this specific current can provide some good information about the internal
status of the groundwall insulation in terms of, the increasing in the level of polar molecules and
interface regions in the structure, mainly due to a thermal delamination processes. when a layer is
faulty between good layers, the time constant of the faulty layer will mismatch the others to yield a
higher reabsorption current value. A low reabsorption current value indicates that it is decaying
quickly, and the time constant of each layer is similar. A high value indicates that reabsorption
exhibits long relaxation times, which may point to a problem.

In order to provide a Guideline for diagnosis, the following values are used [2] if no previous values
are available but, better option is to trend over time the values obtained in a specific machine. It has
to be advised that the diagnosis of this parameter is only reliable when the machine’s winding has
no surface moisture or contamination because, the discharge reabsorption current value, is highly
influence by this winding status, becoming higher than the real one, and so that, it is mandatory to
check the polarization index and insulation resistance values before going ahead with the
interpretation of this parameter.

Reabsorption Current Insulation

(nA/VF) Condition
<2 Good
2-4 Questionable
4-7 Poor
>7 Bad

6.3. AC and DC HiPot Test.

Theory:

The principle of this tests is to apply a potential overstress through the insulation in order to try to
assure the future availability and safely operation in medium term of the winding groundwall
insulation, before it is put back into service after a maintenance outage or, for commissioning or
acceptance purposes in the case of new machines.

The purpose of this test is, to determine if there are any major flaws in the groundwall insulation by
applying a selected voltage level, which be enough to produce a breakdown in a damaged or
weakness insulation and, to be at the same time, safe for a good winding insulation.

In principle, this is a pass – fail test and the possibility of a winding failure should be always be taken
into account before the performance of the test. So that, an appropriate spare stator or complete

Page 17 of 35
spare motor should be always be considered, as well as, the time needed to return everything into
service in the case of a failure.

The fact is that in case of commissioning and acceptance of new machines a Hipot test is well
established and accepted in the industry but, in the case of maintenance purposes there are two
completely different opinions on it value; one of them is that, as a Hipot test can be destructive and
can cause delays and additional costs in case of winding failure that probably it would not occur for
a long time in service and, it is better to avoid the risks associated with performing it. The other is
that, an in-service failure of a critical motor can result in a significant disruption to the plant so a
scheduled Hipot test and the resulting damaged and repaired costs from a failure are less costly
than an in-service stator winding failure resulting in lost production costs.

Usually for transport issues, maintenance tests are carried out in DC voltage while for
commissioning and acceptance of new machines as stated previously, an AC Hipot is well
established and accepted in the industry by both OEM’s and purchasers (sometimes DC Hipot is
also used for commissioning).

The great differences in between both tests are the voltage distribution through the winding
insulation and the voltage test levels.

As stated in the IEEE 95-2002 [3] : the ratio of direct breakdown voltage to power frequency (rms)
(50 Hz or 60 Hz) breakdown voltage has been reported to vary from 1 to 3 and, it is reported that in
some cases the ratio can exceed 3. This was determined from tests comparing predicted direct-
voltage strengths with actual power frequency voltage (rms) strengths of machine insulation
containing incipient faults, and from tests comparing direct-voltage and power frequency voltage
(rms) strengths of large numbers of intact samples of new and used insulation.

In general, it appears that the well-compacted slot portions of armature coils appear to have an
average electrical strength ratio of direct voltage to power frequency voltage (rms) between 2 and 3.
However, in a machine winding the series coil or bar connections and leads external to the slots
cannot approach the same conditions of mechanical compaction and electrical strength in their
ground insulation. For testing complete armature windings of rotating machines, therefore, the ratio
between direct voltage and power frequency voltage (rms) defined in this recommended practice is
1.7 for both acceptance and maintenance tests.

Regarding the voltage distribution through the winding insulation during the test application, the DC
voltage distribution is mainly determined by the winding insulation resistivity and surface condition
while for AC voltage the stress distribution is mainly determined by the capacitance distribution of
the winding. So that, the stress distribution is completely different between both, especially in the
endwinding area.

Same reference [3] states that: In the slot portion of the winding, the voltage gradient is similar for
both the alternating and direct voltage tests. However, in the endwindings the stress distribution is
quite different depending on the nature of the test voltage. In the case of an alternating voltage test,
the potential on the surface of the endwinding reaches the full applied test voltage at a point very
near to the stator iron. Thus, the endwinding insulation is subjected to minimal voltage across its
thickness. In the direct voltage case, the maximum voltage on the endwinding surface is reached at
the maximum distance from the stator iron. Thus, the endwinding insulation is stressed at a higher
level, particularly near the stator core. Some consider that this type of stress on the endwindings
may result in unnecessary failures during direct voltage tests.

Speaking about the ageing of the groundwall insulation due to Hipot testing it has to be noted that
DC Hipot does not age the winding groundwall insulation because no partial discharge normally
occurs during test. During AC test a significant partial discharge activity is present and so that, some
small ageing of the insulation takes place, but this aging is not significant in terms of the life of a
stator winding [20].

Page 18 of 35
Procedure and Diagnosis:
In general the better procedure if possible (due to the connection box configuration) is to isolate the
phases and energize each phase with the other two grounded. If this is not possible as it is common
in a large number of smaller motors with internal star or delta winding phase connections, all three
phases are energized at the same time. Because no potential difference exists in between
endwinding coils/bars, no phase to phase problems or defects far from ground plane can be
detected. Before test all temperature detectors should be grounded and in the case of perform the
test in d.c. and from the Switchgear it has to be noted the possibility of cables ageing because a
process called “water treeing” especially in the case of cables with XLPE material and DC Hipot
testing.

Acceptance AC voltage Hipot level regarding IEC 60034, NEMA MG1 and IEEE 95 is 2 times the
rated line to line voltage plus one (2E+1) in KV (times 1,7 coefficient for DC tests). For maintenance
purposes it is a common practice as recommended in IEEE 95 to reduce this voltage level to be as
high as 65 – 75 % of the acceptance’s one.

The conventional AC and DC Hipot tests consist in quickly raising the test voltage up to the selected
level and held for usually for 1 minute. After this time, the test voltage is quickly lowered and the
winding grounded. If no breakdown has occurred during test the winding is considered to pass the
test and, no more diagnostic information is obtained.

Other variations are Step-Graded Hipot DC Test or Ramped DC Hipot test [3, 4]. Both may provide
some warning in advance during the test about the proximity of insulation breakdown, especially in
the case of the Ramped Test which is more sensitive to this condition (Step-graded test provides
some warning if the flaw is in the endwinding but no warning is given if the flaw is between the slot
[4]), and so that, to enable the user to avoid the insulation puncture). Also the Ramped test as it is
done at a constant capacitive current can provide some information about the groundwall
delamination status.

A compromise in between both DC and power frequency (50/60Hz) Hipot is the usage of VLF (very
low frequency) Hipot instruments (usually 0,1 Hz). Due to the lower capacitance current at 0,1 Hz,
the AC power needed to energise the winding and the dimension of the test set are considerable
lower than the one needed when power frequency instrument is used. The advantage if compared
with DC is that the voltage distribution in the winding is closer to the normal operation one. The test
voltage for VLF Hipot is the same than AC power frequency ones.

6.4. Capacitance, Tan Delta (Dissipation Factor / Power Factor) and Tip-Up.

Theory:

Dissipation Factor or Power Factor is an electrical value (promoting by a physical insulation

property) which allows measuring the amount of dielectric losses (Watts) related with the
capacitance (volume) of the winding insulation. When the copper winding is energized with AC
voltage to ground, some heating is produced due to the movement of the polar molecules present in
the organic materials of the insulation, toward the changing direction of the electric field applied
(changing from positive to negative 50 or 60 times per second). As this movement is done in a solid
medium, some friction takes place and heating is produced [4]. The energy needed to produce this
heating is supplied by the power supply unit of the measuring instrument.

So that, the dielectric losses (Watts) due to the heating discussed above, produces a resistive
component of the current supply to the condenser formed by the copper winding and the ground
plane (core). Dissipation factor (Tan ) is the tangent of the angle formed by the resistive current
(losses of the insulation) to capacitance current (Volume of the groundwall insulation) and it is
usually given in % or in some cases per unit (pu). Power Factor is about the same than dissipation
factor for the small dissipation factor values measured in rotating machines. During the same test
the capacitance of the winding to ground is measured.

Page 19 of 35
 Fig.05. Currents during a.c. voltage supply. Dissipation Factor (delta) angle.

Procedure and Diagnosis:

In general, the better procedure if possible (due to the connection box configuration) is, to isolate the
phases and energize each phase with the other two grounded. If this is not possible as it is common
in a large number of motors, all three phases are energized at the same time but, because no
potential difference exists in between endwinding coils/bars, no phase to phase problems or defects
far from ground plane can be detected.

The general rule for testing is to perform an initial measurement at a low voltage (below the partial
discharge inception) usually 20% of the Line to Ground Rated machine voltage and then, performs
subsequent measurements in steps of 20% of the rated Line to Ground voltage until the complete
Line to Ground voltage is achieve.

Dissipation Factor difference between the one measured at rated Line to Ground voltage and the
first one done at 20%, is called dissipation factor Tip-Up. Capacitance Tip-Up is obtained in the
same way as incremental difference in % from the initial value at 20% to the latest measured at
100% Line to Ground machine voltage.

It’s important to note that the dissipation factor test measures the global status of the insulation
under test and so that, the sensitivity of the test is greatly reduced when more insulation (bars/coils)
is tested in parallel. That’s why the dissipation factor test it is not sensitive for local defects when
complete phases are tested.

Another important note is that a low dielectric loss is desirable and usually when a new machine is
going to be purchase an upper limit of dissipation factor is specify in the purchaser quality assurance
specification but, the dielectric loss is a property of any particular insulation material/system and, it’s
not an indicator of insulation quality. For new machines a higher dissipation factor than expected
can be due to a lack of insulation curing because the dissipation factor of liquid resin is higher than
the cured one.

So that, the initial power factor (at low voltage 20%) is sensitive to global/average defects in the
machine like thermal degradation or moisture/contaminated windings. Both situations make the
dissipation factor rises over time if trending is done. The great difference is that, as during the test
the winding capacitance to ground is also measured, if thermal delamination is present, the increase
in dissipation factor is joined by a decrease in winding capacitance (the reason is explained in the
next paragraphs) and if moisture/contamination is present, the increase in dissipation factor is joined
by an increase in winding capacitance.

As explained in the previous paragraphs the trending of the dissipation factor with the stator winding
capacitance over time is an indicator of thermal and contamination problems. To a very rough
approximation, the capacitance (C) of the stator winding can be represented as a parallel plate
capacitor:

Page 20 of 35
where A is the effective surface area of the copper conductors or stator core in the slot
d is the average insulation thickness
 o is a constant
 r is the dielectric constant of the insulation.

The dielectric constant of typical insulation materials is 3 to 4, for water it is about 80, and for air (or
gas) it is 1. If the insulation overheats, some of the solid material sublimates to gases (vaporizes).
Thus the effective dielectric constant decreases over time, since r for a gas is lower than r for a
solid. That is, the capacitance decreases over time. Thus, although a single measurement of the
capacitance conveys no information on insulation aging, if there is a gradual decrease in winding
capacitance over time, it implies that insulation is thermally degrading. An accurate capacitance
measuring device (better precision than 0,1%) is needed, and the test procedure must be identical
from test to test. A 1% decrease in capacitance represents severely deteriorated insulation because,
in reality, very little of the solid insulation is converted to gas.

If moisture or contamination is present, leading to deterioration, then the capacitance measured at

20% of the rated line to ground voltage increases with time. As moisture is absorbed within the
insulation (more common in older insulation systems), the effective dielectric constant increases,
increasing the capacitance. Also, if the endwinding is contaminated with a partly conductive layer,
this effectively increases A (the area of the ‘plates’ ) again increasing the capacitance. Since the
dielectric constant of water is much higher than that of insulation, and the surface area can be
greatly increased, contamination can lead to fairly significant increases in capacitance. A very
contaminated winding may have more than 10% increases in capacitance over time.

Dissipation factor Tip-Up as explained before is, the difference of the DF values in % between the
result obtained at rated Line to ground voltage (over the partial discharge inception voltage and so
that with the energy dissipated by the partial discharge activity added to the intrinsic dissipation
factor of the insulation system) and, the initial dissipation factor measured at 20% of the rated line to
ground voltage (without partial discharge activity). Then, the Dissipation Factor Tip-Up is an
indicator of the global partial discharge activity in the winding. The problem is that when the test
voltage rises, the current flowing through the silicon carbide stress control tape at the slot exit rises
as well and, that means, some more losses added to the measurement due to this effect. Depending
on the gradient design this losses increment can be higher than those produced by the winding
partial discharge activity and so that, dominates in the dissipation factor Tip-Up. Usually significant
and widespread partial discharge activity should be present in the winding to overcome the level
produced by the stress control tape. Tip-Up test is mostly sensitive to partial discharges produced by
insulation delamination or load cycling but, it is not sensitive to loose coils in the slot,
semiconductive coating failure or endwinding electrical tracking.

Page 21 of 35
 3,50
3,00
Dissipation Factor %

2,50 19/04/1999
2,00 01/11/2000
1,50 15/07/2004
1,00 14/06/2005
0,50
0,00
1,2 2,4 3,0 3,6
Voltage (KV)

Fig.06. Dissipation Factor (Tan Delta) measurements over time in a medium voltage motor.

Capacitance Tip-Up is somewhat very similar in meaning than Dissipation Factor Tip-Up. It is a
measure of the average partial discharge activity of the winding and like dissipation factor is not
sensitive to local defects or the status of the worst coil of the winding. When a partial discharge
occurs in insulation voids the thickness of the capacitor winding to ground is reduced and hence the
capacitance value increases. As well as occurs with the dissipation factor Tip-Up the silicon carbide
stress tape modifies its surface resistance when the test voltage rises allowing more current flow as
voltage rises, that makes to increase the area of the capacitor winding to ground and therefore, the
capacitance increases as the test voltage is raised.

The first capacitance Tip-Up measured has little meaning because the effect of the silicon carbide
tape but, if it increases over time it will probably be related with thermal delamination or load-cycling
defect widespread in the whole winding under test.

There is an acceptance standardized values in Dissipation Factor Tip-Up for manufacturing quality
purposes over individual bars or coils (IEEE 286, IEC 60894), where the gradient coating effect can
be guarded and disregarded from the measuring but, no values are included in the standards for the
measuring of complete phases or complete windings. Therefore as a guideline the initial dissipation
factor (at 20% of line to ground voltage) of modern Epoxy/Polyester mica insulation is in the range of
1,5% or less and, the Dissipation Factor Tip-Up in the range of 1% or less but, the best way is as
explained before to trend the values over time.

6.5. ON-LINE and OFF-LINE Partial Discharge Test.

Theory:

Generally, electrical partial discharges occur only in windings rated over 5 KV rms and above
although, there are references of machines with partial discharges at voltage levels as low as 4 KV
rms.

Partial discharge is a gas electrical breakdown phenomenon that occurs in a gas – filled voids that
have solid insulation boundaries. In the case of a rotating machine:

– Between turn insulation and groundwall insulation: Mostly due to thermal cycling effects.
– Inside the groundwall: Due to thermal delamination or, bad impregnation during
manufacturing.
– Between semiconductive coating and core in slot area: Poor semiconductive-slot contact or
loose coils in the slot.

Page 22 of 35
 – Slot Exit discharges: Defect of the interface between the semiconductive and gradient
coating.
– Endwinding Discharges: between line end coils, different phases in circuit rings ,etc.

Fig.07. Sources of partial discharge in a stator winding insulation [15].

In order to initiate the process of gas void electrical breakdown, a minimum electrical field in
between its boundaries and a free electron should be present (it also depends on other parameters
like void geometry, gas temperature and pressure, charge distribution along the surface of the void
etc.) then, a very fast flow of electrons from one side to the other takes place. The current pulse
produced has a very fast rise time (typically few nanoseconds) a short pulse width and, it’s followed
by a pulse oscillation. Therefore, the partial discharge activity can be measured in a wide range of
frequency band from DC to GHz.

Each partial discharge event in somewhere of the winding is transmitted by different ways:
transmission, capacitive and inductive coupling and radiation. The partial discharge signal is
composed by a fast-mode or high-frequency component which travels to the terminals by a short
route (thought mainly due capacitive coupling) and, a slow mode which travels through the entire
winding before it arrives at the terminal of the motor. The pulses suffer significant attenuation
especially in the case of the high frequency signals and hence, some coils away from the pulse
location it is just not recognize as partial discharge. Nevertheless, during normal operation of the
machine only that coils operating at high voltage (closer to line ends and PD sensors) develops
partial discharge activity and so that, this attenuation problem is not really a great handicap.

The most common way to measure the partial discharges is by using like PD sensor a high voltage
capacitor connected to the stator line terminals. As the coupling capacitor is connected in parallel
with the winding to ground, it is in fact a filter which allows the transmission of the high frequency
pulses and, blocks the power and low frequency signals.

Depending on the measuring bandwidth selected by the user which is in fact composed mainly by
the measuring instrument, the inductive-capacitance network of the winding and, the capacitance of
the coupling capacitor (most common values are 80 pF and 1000 pF); the signal to noise ratio
(SNR) and PD sensitivity are increased or reduced in an inversely way (SNR increases with the
square root of the bandwith). If a high frequency band is selected (> 40-50 MHz up to hundreds of
MHz) for measuring, the signal to noise ratio will be better but, the amount of winding coverage from

Page 23 of 35
the sensor location under evaluation (sensitivity window) will be reduced due to the great attenuation
of the PD signal at this frequencies.

Another methods used in the industry for noise cancellation are time of arrival (using pairs of
coupling capacitors) and electronic pulse characteristic discrimination.

In some cases where there is not enough space in the terminal box for using coupling capacitors like
PD sensors or, just to allow more information over the one obtained by the coupling capacitors,
some instruments allows the usage at same time of other sensor types like; RFCT (Radio frequency
current transformers) or winding temperature detectors RTD’s. However, research has shown that it
is very difficult to interpret partial discharge measurements from RTD’s since it is their leads that
pick up the discharges which can be form more than one phase [21].

At the end, all PD sensors respond to the PD events in the way of current or voltage pulses. As the
degree of insulation damage (void size generated due to thermal and mechanical winding defect) is
in fact, related to the charge involved in each PD event, the measuring system performs an
integration of the current ( ) pulse events in order to obtain the equivalent apparent charge.

This apparent charge measured by the instrument is not equal to the amount of charge locally
involved in the origin PD source due to the fact that, the winding acts like an inductive-capacitive
transmission line. In order to quantity the apparent charge, it means, the attenuation of this specific
machine to PD in an specific measuring bandwidth of an specific measuring system, calibrating
pulses have to be injected into the terminals of the test object.

On complete windings a complete valid calibration can’t be done because of the limitations of the
various measuring methods, some studies suggests that if the complete respond including all the
frequencies could be measured and integrated, a proper calibration can be achieve and the
measurement doesn’t depend very much on the point of PD event. Standard PD detectors according
to IEC 60270 only integrate frequencies above 100 to 500 KHz.

Due to the limitations in performing a complete calibration in rotating machines, some manufacturers
of PD measuring devices, do not integrate the voltage/current pulses and the PD peak value is
provided in the way of mV instead of pC (apparent charge).

Procedure:
Off-Line:

Unlike Dissipation and Power Factor Tip-Up measurements off-Line PD measurements can detect
local/partial defects in the winding. The winding is energized phase to ground with an external PD
free Power frequency or 0,1 Hz supply transformer. If possible, the best is to energize in the
opposite end of where the coupling capacitor is connected and, energize one phase with the other
two grounded and it has been shown that this test method is effective for high frequency testing
even when there is low-level noise in the AC power supply. It is a good practice to reverse both
ends; the point of winding energization and the measuring point (coupling capacitor) and, perform
two tests per phase.

The voltage is gradually raised in order to determine the voltage level at which partial discharge is
first detected. This voltage is commonly called Discharge Inception Voltage (DIV). Then, voltage is
gradually raised up to line-ground voltage and held at this level for 10-15 minutes since the initial PD
levels tend to be higher at first minutes and then reduce due to void pressurization. The PD
magnitudes and patterns at this voltage level are then recoded for evaluation. Insulation defects
such as poor resin impregnation in the winding slot sections, thermal aging, voltage stress control
material degradation can be identified by analyzing PD pulse patterns and phase angles.

Voltage level is then again gradually decrease up to a level where PD is no longer measured, this
voltage level is recorded and it is commonly called Discharge Extinction Voltage (DEV).

Page 24 of 35
In some cases and when the machine line voltage is low (below 4 KV), the test can be done up to
line-line voltage instead line-ground, in order to can achieve enough electrical stress within the
internal voids to have significant PD to measure, otherwise at line to ground voltage levels although
in a heavily deteriorated winding, the PD magnitude wouldn’t be significant. This option is clearly a
reduced over potential test and, so that, a winding failure can occur during testing.

Due to the fact that during Off-Line PD testing usually there isn’t a great amount of noise, it is
recommended to perform the measurements in a low frequency bandwidth below 1 MHz, in order to
improve the sensitivity window of the system to PD.

Two other tests that can be performed in conjunction with an off-line PD test are the Radio
Frequency (RF) probe and blackout or ultraviolet imaging test.

RF Probe Test:
For the RF probe test the stator winding has to be energized to phase-to-ground voltage, preferably
on phase at a time. After a 15 minute soak period at this voltage the probe antenna is placed over
the slot near the end of the core and a reading is recorded. The antenna is usually in contact with
the core and bridges the stator slot. The probe antenna is then moved along the slot to the other end
and maximum readings and their locations are recorded. This procedure is repeated for all other
slots.

Blackout or Ulraviolet Imaging Tests

If a stator winding is energized one phase at a time, there will be some electrical stress in the
endwinding regions. If any insulation system surface material deterioration mechanisms are
occurring, then PD may occur, which can be observed by the light emission. Since the visible light
is very faint, the room containing the stator under test must be darkened (“blacked out”) for a short
time before the PD light will be visible to the human eye. Alternatively, ultraviolet light imaging
devices (UV cameras) can be used to locate the PD without having to darken the lights. Such
cameras are insensitive to visible light, so that there is no need to turn the lights out in the room
where the motor or generator is. Clearly this makes the test safer to perform than the blackout test.

The minimum test voltage to be applied for this test is rated phase-to-ground voltage and it is best to
test one phase at a time, with the other two grounded. Higher voltages up to phases-to-phase
voltage are sometimes applied to check for interphasal PD activity, but this does overstress the
ground insulation with a danger of failure if there are any weaknesses in it. Of course if a three
phase power supply is available then all three phases can be tested at the same time. More detailed
information on this test can be found in IEEE 1799 [22].

On-Line:

On-Line measurement requires a previous installation of a set of PD sensors and, a complete PD

acquisition system or just a PD terminal connection box. In the case of machines that are already in
service an outage is required to install the PD sensors, cables and termination box required for
periodic PD measurements. If continuous monitoring is required a permanently installed instrument,
that can be connected to the plant local area network, to provide remote monitoring and alarming, is
also required.

On-line PD measurements can be made continuously or periodically. For continuous monitoring a

PD measuring and recording instrument provides on-line machine supervision, it means, it recovers
with a defined time interval a sample of the PD’s in all the three phases and, trend it over time with a
warning alarm send to control room if some limit is overcome. In other hand, the installation of a
connection box terminal in the vicinity of the machine allows to the user to perform a periodic
measurement with a portable PD instrument, let’s say at 6 month intervals with the machine running.

Page 25 of 35
It is advisable to correlate the On-Line PD measurements with operational parameters of the
machine mainly real power (current flowing in the stator winding and so that, the vibration forces
acting over the bars) and, stator winding temperatures (thermal expansion and changes in the
gradient coating behavior).
On and Off-Line PD Test Diagnosis:
There are no absolute PD levels stated in standards mainly due to the limits in the calibration
process and because the differences in the measuring systems as discussed above. Also, partial
discharge is in fact, in most of the cases a symptom of a thermal or mechanical problem of the
winding and, it is not commonly by itself the main cause of a winding failure. So that, each of the PD
measuring methods described before (On-Line/Off-Line), have their own pros and cons in order to
detect the real cause which is developing the PD and could promote the winding to fail in service.

The measurement done with the machine running, has the great advantage of the real voltage
distribution over the winding from line to neutral point and, the presence of electromotive forces
acting over the bars/coils in the slots. That means, only that bars near the line end can suffer from
partial discharge activity due to high voltage and, as long as the PD location moves away from the
first bar or coil to the next ones, there is an attenuation in the PD signals and repetition rate, due to
the reduction in the voltage level present in each consecutive bar even, if the same amount of
deterioration was present in all bars. In other hand, the electromotive forces acting on the bars/coils
promotes one of the most dangerous and fast degradation mechanism, slot discharge due to bar
vibration into the slots and so that, only under the presence of this forces can be measured (Off-Line
PD test is not sensitive to this mechanism). However, since most of the stator windings in medium
voltage motors are manufactured by a global VPI system, winding looseness in the slot regions is
less probable than for those manufactured by resin rich or individual VPI and higher rated stator
currents machines.

During an Off-Line PD measurement same voltage level is applied in all winding length from line end
to neutral point and so that, several bars/coils in the proximity of the neutral point that under normal
operation never would develops partial discharge activity due to the absence of high voltage (it
doesn’t mean that this bars couldn’t have thermal or mechanical defects), will have enough voltage
level to initiate PD activity if a defect is present. This effect promotes more voids experiencing PD
activity and thus the number of PD events per second measured during this test are higher than
during On-Line.

During Off-Line testing and if the supply transformer has power enough or is a resonating system, it
is a good practice to perform in addition to per-phase measurement (including 2 measurements per
phase exchanging the position of coupling capacitor and energize point), a three phase to ground
PD measurement. As all phases are energized at same voltage level, no phase-phase PD can take
place and only slot and part of the gradient area close to slot exit are under evaluation.

As a general rule for analysis of the PD measurements the following table is of general use:

Asymmetry
Position of PD’s on Load Temperature
Failure Mechanisim between negative
power frequency Dependent Dependent
and positive cycle

Internal Discharges Decrease with

45º and 225º No predominance No
within groundwall temperature rising
insulation
Larger magnitudes
Slot Discharges Increase Decrease with
225º predominant during negative
(Loose windings) with Load temperature rising
voltage cycle

Loose bond between Larger magnitudes

Decrease with
insulation and cooper 45º predominant during positive Little
temperature rising
conductor (Thermal voltage cycle
cycling)

Page 26 of 35
 15º,75º,195º
Endwinding and 255º having
No predominance No No predictable
discharges between opposite polarity in
two phases different phases
225º predominant Larger magnitudes
Semicon-grading Increase with
If severely degraded during negative No
coating contact temperature rising
can move to 0º, 180º voltage cycle

RF Probe Test Diagnosis:

Usually, slots having the highest RF probe readings will have the greatest PD and, hence, are more
likely to be more deteriorated. IEEE 1434 gives guidelines of what constitutes a high reading for the
TVA version of the RF probe test and, CIGRE WG A1.28 will provide guidelines in testing
performance. If the indication in any slot is above about 20 mA for a modern epoxy-mica and 30 mA
for polyester-mica insulation, then significant PD is occurring in that area.

Blackout and Ultraviolet Imaging Test Diagnosis:

When either test is performed at rated line-to-ground stress on a new winding ideally there should
be no light emitted by the PD. Windings that have operated in service will usually have a few surface
PD sites. In each test, the approximate number of points of light should be estimated. If the
presence of phase-to-phase PD activity is to be assessed then the voltage is raised to the rated
value and a check is made for light emissions between high voltage sections of endwinding and
connections in different phases.

6.6. Surge Test.

Theory:

None of the tests methods described in the previous paragraphs are sensitive to turn to turn
insulation defects in stator multi turn coils. The surge test looks for the integrity of the turn-turn
insulation as well as the capability of the ground insulation to withstand step-front transients.

The test applies a high voltage surge to one phase (line end energized and neutral point grounded)
or, between pair of phases (neutral point can’t be disconnected in the terminal box) in the order of
0,1 - 0,2 s rise time. Due to the inductance of the winding, the same voltage can’t be present
simultaneously in the whole winding and, a voltage distribution between the energized point and
ground takes place (and so that between turns). Then, the instrument recovers the oscillation of the
winding to that voltage impulse with an oscilloscope. The winding at this frequency acts like a
lumped inductance and capacitance with a minimum resistance [8] and the oscillation frequency is
determined by the following formula as stated in the Annex A of the IEEE 522 [8].

The surge test can be likened to a Hi-Pot test for turn insulation since it can detect a weak point in it
If, during testing, the turn insulation fails. This modifies mainly the inductance of the winding under
test and, regarding the previous formula, when a reduction in inductance takes place the ringing
frequency increases and so that, it doesn’t match the graph response for a winding with healthy turn
insulation.

Page 27 of 35
 Fig.08. Example of turn-turn short during surge testing Annex A IEEE 522 [8].

The recommended test voltages to apply for different organizations and for 0,1-0,2 s risetime test
instrument and, for cured coils [17]:

It should also be noted that the minimum test voltage due to the Pashen’s curve (breakdown voltage
vs air spacing at standard temperature and pressure for an uniform field) is 350 V.

Procedure and Diagnosis:

In general, the better procedure if possible (due to the connection box configuration) is, to isolate the
phases and energize each phase individually. For individual phase testing the peak surge voltage is
slowly raised and turn insulation failure is indicate by an increase in waveform frequency as
indicated in Figure 08.

If individual phase testing is not possible as it is common in a large number of motors, a pair of
phases is energized and the comparison is made in terms of pair of phases. As explained before,
the diagnosis is made by means of compare the shapes of the traces obtained between phases or
pair of phases and, looks for small differences in the ringing frequency and the amplitude of the
traces obtained at the same voltage level.

The validity of conclusions drawn from comparison of the shapes depends first on the complete
matching of the phase impedances in terms of possible slightly differences due to variations in
insulation thickness, dimensions of coils and circuit parallels dimensions that can promote the two
shapes under test may not overlap completely also in the absence of a defect. Assuming same
impedance of all the phases or pair of phases tested, the sensitivity of the test is greatly reduced
when more coils are tested in series due to the fact that a turn to turn short will cause only a minor
change in impedance and so that in the shape and, a great experience of the user is needed for

Page 28 of 35
correct interpretation. However, it should be noted that there are factors that may give false
indication of turn insulation failures if this test configuration is used. These include impedance
difference between phases due to differences in connections or rotor position if the test is performed
on an assembled motor.

Page 29 of 35
7. CONCLUSIONS:
7.1. Summary of most common stator winding testing techniques: Effectiveness, Advantages and Disadvantages.
Test Purpose
Insulation Resistance Detection of serious flaws,
surface moisture or
IR (1min)
contamination. Determine the
previous status of the winding
to carry out following High
voltage tests.
Polarization Index Detection of serious flaws,
surface moisture or
PI (10 min)
contamination. Determine the
previous status of the winding
to carry out following High
voltage tests.
DC Reabsorption Detection of thermally ageing
current (30min charge/1 groundwall insulation.
min discharge).
DC Hi-Pot Detection of local weak points
in the winding. Only finds
serious defects like partial
cracks and punctures.
Detection of local weak points
in the winding. Only finds
DC Step Graded or
serious defects like partial
Ramp
cracks and punctures.
Effectiveness Advantages Disadvantages
Little skill required, High influence of winding temperature
equipment in test results. No effective
Moderate.
inexpensive. temperature correction available.
Less effective for Epoxy-mica
insulation.
Effective Little skill required, If IR greater than 5G less significant
equipment meaning about the status of the
inexpensive. winding.
No temperature
dependence.
Low-Moderate Some skill required, Influenced by winding temperature
equipment and superficial status of the winding.
inexpensive. Less effective for Epoxy-mica
insulation.
Moderate Little skill required, Test may cause an insulation
equipment breakdown. It’s not a diagnostic test.
inexpensive. Appears
to be better finding
defects in the overhang
area than AC Hi-Pot.
Moderate Provides more Requires experience to judge when to
diagnostic information abort the test.
than the standard 1min
Hi-Pot. Allows some
warning to the user
about when to abort
the test.
Page 30 of 35
 AC Hi-Pot Detection of local weak points
in the winding like cracks like
partial cracks and punctures.
Dissipation Factor and Detection of thermally aged
Capacitance groundwall insulation and
superficial moisture or partially
conductive contamination.
Dissipation Factor Detection of the global partial
discharge activity of the
Tip-Up
winding, mainly due to thermal
and load cycling ageing.
Off-Line Partial Detection of partial discharge
Discharge activity
On-Line Partial Detection of partial discharge
Discharge activity
RF Porbe Detection of partial discharge
activity in stator slots
Blackout or Ultraviolet Detection of surface partial
Imaging discharge activity in stator
endwindings
More effective Appears to be better
than DC Hi-Pot finding defects in slot
area than DC Hi-Pot.
The test can also
provide information
Moderate
about the contact
status of the
semiconductive coating
in the slot area.
Moderate Well Known. Repetitive
values
Good for track ageing
over time.
Partly effective Allow detection of PD
activity in areas close
to neutral (due to
mechanical defects).
No external
interference present.
Partly Effective Temperature and
electromagnetic forces
present. Real Voltage
distribution. Outage not
needed.
Effective Pinpoints localized high
levels of PD
Effective Identifies voltage stress
control material defects
and contamination and
inadeaquate spacing in
endwindings and
connections
Page 31 of 35
Greater size and expensive
equipment needed. Promotes some
small ageing to insulation each test.
Less effective for epoxy-mica
insulation in terms of thermally and
load cycling ageing detection.
Influence by losses in the grading
coating, severe PD activity should be
present to be seen above this noise
floor. Not allow detection of local
defects because it’s masked by
healthy winding section under test.
AC power supply free of PD activity
needed to energize the winding. No
temperature and electromagnetic
forces present during testing.
Only sensitive to PD activity in
the High Voltage side of the
winding. External
interference present.
There are safety concerns with
this test since it invloves
placing the RF probe
antenna close to a winding
energized with high voltage
Some safety concerns with the
blackout test since it
involves applying high
voltage to the stator
winding in a dark room.
Potential for over stressing
ground insulation if phase-

Turn Surge Test Detection of weak turn Low
to turn insulation in
windings with
multiturn coils.
to-phase voltage is applied.
No other Off-Line test Will not detect ageing or minor flaws.
can detect turn-turn No effective in windings with large
insulation weakness. number of turns in series. Experience
needed for interpretation.
Page 32 of 35
7.2. Flowchart.

Power Factor If Severe

Conductive
contamination and/or
Diagnostic Tests. moisture
Power Factor Tip-Up

Only detects the symptom

and not the root cause which Thermal ageing
is degrading the insulation. Insulation Resistance

Only can determine if a

degradation is taking place
and in some cases the
severity. Polarization Index Load Cycling Ageing
It’s not possible to ascertain if
a rewinding or new motor is Off-Line Partial
needed, it just only possible Discharge, RF Probe
to do an estimation of the and Blackout/
“risk of failure” under a future Ultraviolet Imaging. Loose Coils in the Slot
transient.

On-Line Partial
Motor Stator winding Discharge

Insulation End Winding Vibration

Assessment.
Weak turn-turn insulation
(repetitive Electrical Surges)
Semiconductive-
Grading coating
contact.

Severe Flaws in main

Surge Test insulation
Pass – No Pass Tests. Electrical slot
discharges
It is expected that a weakened Electrical Tracking
insulation fails during testing if it’s
subjected to a high enough voltage
(safe for healthy insulation) and, so DC Hi-Pot
that, it’s assumed that this same
Partial Cracks
insulation would fail in a relatively short
period of time if placed in service at
this condition.
AC Hi-Pot (Coil Abrasion) Weak
Groundwall points

Page 33 of 35
Acknowledgements.
The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Ian Culbert of IRIS POWER (QUALITROL
Company) who has given a great contribution to this WG.

Literature:

[1] IEEE 43. “IEEE Recommended Practice for Testing Insulation Resistance of Rotating
Machinery”

[2] MEGGER. “A guide to diagnostic insulation testing above 1 KV”

[3] IEEE 95. “IEEE Recommended Practice for Insulation Testing of AC Electric
Machinery (2300V and Above) With High Direct Voltage”.

[4] IEEE Press. “Electrical Insulation For Rotating Machines. Design, evaluation, ageing,
testing and repair”. Greg C. Stone, Edward A. Boulter, Ian Culbert, Hussein Dhirani.

[5] EPRI, Power Plant Electrical Reference Series, Volume 16. Handbook to assess the
insulation condition of large rotating machines. Ian M. Culbert, Hussein Dhirani, Greg C.
Stone.

[6] IEEE 286. “Recommended Practice for Measurement of Power Factor Tip-Up of
Electric Machinery Stator Coil Insulation”.

[7] IEC 60034-15. “Impulse voltage withstand levels of form-wound stator coils for rotating
a.c. machines”

[8] IEEE 522. ”Guide for testing Turn Insulation of Form-Wound Stator Coils for AC
Electric Machines”.

[9] IEC 60270. “High-voltage test techniques –Partial discharge measurements”

[10] IEEE 1434. “IEEE Guide for the Measurement of Partial Discharges in AC Electric
Machinery”.

[11] IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, Vol.7. February 2000.
“Importance of Bandwidth in PD Measurement in Operating Motors and Generators”. Greg C.
Stone.

[12] Electric Power Research Institute. Power Plant Electrical reference Series Volume 16.
“Handbook to assess the insulation condition of large rotating machines”. Ian Culbert, H.
Dhirani, Greg C. Stone.

[13] G.C. Stone: "Tutorial on rotating machine off-line and on-line partial discharge testing",
Cigre/EPRI Colloquium on maintenance and refurbishment of utility turbogenerators,
hydrogenerators and large motors, Florence, Italy, 14-16 April 1997.

[14] G.C. Stone, T.E. Goodeve, H.G. Sedding, W. McDermid: "Unusual PD pulse phase
distributions in operating rotating machines", IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical
Insulation,Vol.2, No.4, August 1995, pp.567-577.

[15] Nathaniel Taylor. Doctoral Thesis “Dielectric Response and partial discharge
measurements on stator insulation at varied low frequency” .KTH Electrical Engineering.

[16] CIGRE WG A1.16. “Motor Failure Survey” 2011. Convener: Vojislav Skundric,.

[17] John Wilson. Baker Instrument Company. “Current State of Surge Testing Induction
Machines”. IRIS Rotating Machine Conference. June 2003, Santa Monica,CA.

34
[18] IEC 60034-27. “Off-line partial discharge measurements on the stator winding
insulation of rotating electrical machines”.

[19] IEC 60894.”Guide for test procedure for the measurement of loss tangent of coils and
bars for machine windings”.

[20] B.K Gupta, G.C. Stone, J. Stein, “Stator Winding Hipot (High Potential) Testing”, 2009
IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,31 May to 3 June 2009

[21] S.R. Campbell, G.C. Stone, “Investigations Into the Use of Temperature Detectors as
Stator Winding Partial Discharge Detectors, “2006 IEEE International Symposium on
Electrical Insulation, Delta Chelsea Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada”, Conference Record pp
369-375.

[22] IEEE 1799 “IEEE Recommended Practice for Quality Control Testing of External
Discharges on Stator Coils, Bars, and Windings”.

35