Core losses of the induction motor operating in a wide frequency range supplied from the inverter

Abstract

Reducing motor losses is very important in connection with raising the requirements set by international regulations on reducing electricity consumption. As induction motors are increasingly powered by high-frequency voltage, core losses starting to play a dominant role in motor loss balance. The presented paper shows how to calculate the basic and additional losses in the core of the induction motor, generated by the reluctance and slot harmonics of the magnetic field in the motor and by the higher harmonics produced by the inverter, using analytical and field-circuit methods. The results for motor operation at frequencies of supply voltage 10, 20 and 350 Hz were presented and compared with the results of measurements. The main achievement is the statement that losses in the core of the motor fed from the inverter should be calculated as the sum of losses generated by individual harmonics both in the motor and generated by the inverter.