Operation on Unbalanced Voltage: One Motor's Experience and More

Derating a motor for operation on an unbalanced voltage system is still much of a black art although National Electrical Manufacturers Association and International Electrotechnical Commission have generic derating charts for this application. Numerous papers have been written in an attempt to provide a theory for this operating mode and the losses that may be generated. This paper will discuss the instrumentation and testing of a four-pole 1120-kW induction motor that was tested at three different levels of unbalanced voltage. Results will be presented on the stator and rotor heating, the speed-torque and locked rotor performance, as well as noise, vibration and shaft voltage. The problem has also been analyzed using time-stepping finite-element analysis