Sl. Ho et al., Thermal study of induction motors by phantom loading using multi-slice time stepping finite element modeling, IEEE MAGNET, 35(3), 1999, pp. 1606-1609
It is difficult to test large induction motors without expensive facilities
or suitable loading. This paper reports the findings in an attempt to asse
ss the thermal properties of commercial induction motors by injecting phant
om load currents into the windings. A multi-slice 2-D time stepping finite
element model is used to analyze the loss distributions in the machine with
phantom loading and with normal direct loading. It can be shown that the h
igh-order harmonic losses in the motor can be precisely estimated with the
proposed method. Both experimental and simulation results confirm that phan
tom loading can be used as substitutes of direct full-load temperature-rise
test of induction motors.