www.easa.

com September 2000

Use Polarization Index Test To Determine

Condition/Health Of Motor Insulation
By Chuck Yung The ratio should be
EASA Technical Support Specialist between 2 and 5,
normally. A ratio below
Insulation resistance is affected by several 2 indicates a dirty or
variables: the type of insulation, age of the moist winding. A ratio
material, surface area, moisture and contamination. above 5 may indicate a
Insulation resistance can be described as being very dry, brittle insula-
made up of four components: tion
Leakage, capacitance, conduction system.
and absorption. Capacitance There are
normally only affects the first few exceptions
seconds of the Polarization to the above guidelines. High-
Index (PI) test; conduction voltage VPI and pressed-coil insula-
should be essentially zero if the tion systems may yield a PI between
windings are dry; and leakage 1 and 2, for a perfectly good winding.
current is constant over time. Newer epoxy insulation systems have
The PI test is useful because the such a fast reaction time that the
remaining variable – absorption molecules polarize almost insantly.
current – indicates the health of According to IEEE 43-2000, when
the insulation. the “1-minute insulation resistance is
The PI test is used to determine over 5000 meg-ohms, the calculated
the condition of motor insulation to Figure – The upper sketch
PI may not be meaningful.”
ground. The ratio of 1-minute to When a winding is energized — by
shows the insulation molecules
10-minute resistance is recorded. megger or hipot or in service – the
at rest. The PI test measures the
insulation molecules polarize.
time required for the molecules Because it takes time for the insula-
10 minute resistance / 1-minute
to align (polarize) from their tion molecules to return to their “at
resistance = PI ratio
random orientation to resist the rest” position, the windings must be
flow of current. In the lower de-energized long enough to return to
The PI measures the time
sketch, molecules align rest. If the molecules are not fully at
required for molecules of
insulation to polarize to resist the themselves to resist the flow of rest, it will take less time for them to
flow of current. Insulation currents. polarize and the PI ratio will be
molecules at rest are randomly
oriented (see Figure, top). When
current is applied to the windings, the molecules IEEE 43-2000 clarified minimum
align themselves (see Figure, bottom) to resist the
insulation resistance as follows:
flow of current. How quickly this happens tells us
a lot about the condition of the insulation.
Because the PI measures insulation resistance Min. M Ω Winding under test
between the conductors and ground, this test is kV+1 Most windings made before
only useful for taped/sealed coils. The purpose of (about) 1970.
the PI test is to gauge the condition of the insula- 100 Most form coil DC armatures
tion, so a large amount of conductor surface and AC windings built after
exposed to air (air is an insulator) skews the 1970.
results. Humidity and surface contamination 5 Most random-wound stator
would greatly affect the values obtained. That coils, and form coils rated
makes the PI test ineffective for random windings, below 1 kV.
most fields and any winding with “appreciable
amounts of exposed conductors.”

1
Use Polarization Index . . . Continued
misleading. Megging a motor before the PI test
will artificially lower the PI ratio.
To ensure a valid PI test, ground the motor leads
to the frame for 20-30+ minutes before doing the PI
test. Doing a PI test immediately after the windings
are energized for any reason will skew the results of
the PI test.