A Study of Phase to Ground Leakage Current
in 3-Phase Induction Motor Fed by Switching
Voltage Source
Piampoom Sarikprueck, Pichit Lumyong, Member, IEEE
Department of Electrical Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
E-mail: kspiampo@kmitl.ac.th, klpichit@kmitl.ac.th
Abstract-- This paper presents a phase to ground leakage
current in 3-phase induction motor caused by switching
voltage source. The phase to ground leakage current of
induction motor is effected by impedance of motor insulator
which varied with switching frequency from voltage source.
So various testing voltage sources included variable
frequency square wave, variable frequency sine wave and dc
source are supplied to induction motor in order to find out
the impedance of motor insulator. Finally, test results of
1hp, 3hp and 5hp induction motors are shown and carried
out to evaluate the phase to ground insulation motor
impedance model.
Index Terms-- Leakage Current, Motor Insulation
Impedance, Capacitance of Insulator, Frequency Resistance
I. INTRODUCTION
Generally, 3-phase induction motor is used with
inverter to control various parameters such as speed,
torque etc. Because of this switching voltage source, the
phase to ground leakage current always appears in
induction motor as shown in Fig.1
Fig.1 Ground current fed by switching voltage source
The most past research show that the cause of this
problem effect from common mode voltage effect [1-3]
and the characteristics of leakage current are illustrated in
many means such as leakage current between heat-sink of
inverter and ground system [4]. In addition, the method
of grounding connection effect to current direction [1]. So
the various methods to mitigate this effect were explained
such as passive filter, active filter, etc [2-5].
Authorized licensed use limited to: UK ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. Downloaded on January 12,2023 at 13:00:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
This paper presents a method to obtain the cause of the
phase to ground leakage current problem. So the phase to
ground motor insulation impedance model is interested
because this model is the main cause of this problem.
Square wave, sine wave and DC voltage sources are used
to evaluate capacitance, frequency resistance and DC
resistance of phase to ground motor insulation impedance
model respectively. In addition, Square wave and sine
wave sources are supplied to induction motor by varying
frequency to simulate the operation of induction motor
fed by inverter.
II. PHASE TO GROUND INSULATION IMPEDANCE
The phase to ground leakage current of 3 phase
induction motor occur in circuit when the induction
motor is fed by switching voltage source such as PWM
inverter. So it shows that the leakage current is affected
by frequency switching which the switching frequency
increases, the leakage current will increase too. So the
internal parameters of induction motor effect with
switching frequency fed by supply. One parameter
directly influenced to phase to ground leakage current is
phase to ground motor insulation impedance because the
impedance is inverse proportional with current. The
phase to ground insulation impedance model of induction
motor affected to the frequency can be illustrated by
circuit in fig.2. These model described as dielectric loss
consists of paralleled resistance and capacitance series
with series resistance
Fig. 2 Phase to ground insulation impedance model of induction motor
III. EXPERIMENT TEST
In order to find out equivalent circuit of phase to
ground insulation impedance, Square wave, sine wave
and DC voltage sources are supplied to one phase to
ground of 3 phase induction motor.
 A. DC Testing
DC voltage is supplied to phase to ground induction
motor by variable ac voltage source connected with full
bridge rectified circuit and filter in order to vary DC
voltage from 50 to 250 Volt. In addition, terminals of
each coil motor are connected together in order that the
supply voltage for the whole coil is equal as shown in
fig.3. This method is used to find out DC resistance of
phase to ground insulation impedance which unvaried
with frequency.
Fig.3 DC Testing Circuit
B. Square Wave Testing
The square wave testing is a method for calculating
internal capacitance by RC time-constant method. A
testing circuit is composed of switching frequency square
wave source varied frequency from 1 kHz to 20 kHz. As
the same reason of DC testing, terminals of each coil are
connected together for averaging the supply voltage in
tested coil by testing at 380 Vpeak . The square wave
testing circuit is shown in fig.4
Fig.4 Square Wave Testing Circuit
C. Sine Wave Testing
The sine wave testing circuit is shown in fig.5
composed of variable voltage variable frequency source
and amplifier. Variable voltage variable frequency source
can be varied voltage up to 220 volt and frequency from
50 Hz - 20 kHz.. Moreover, the terminals of each coil are
connected together as the same reason of DC and square
wave testing. This testing is used to evaluate frequency
resistance of phase to ground insulator.
IV. TEST RESULTS
A. DC Testing
DC resistance, a part of the phase to ground motor
insulation model, is obtained by DC testing. Test results
of DC resistance of 1 hp, 3 hp and 5 hp induction motors
are shown in fig 6.
Authorized licensed use limited to: UK ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. Downloaded on January 12,2023 at 13:00:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Fig.5 Sine Wave Testing Circuit
Fig.6 DC Resistance of 1hp 3hp and 5hp Induction motor
As the results of DC testing in fig 6, DC resistances of
1 hp 3hp and 5hp tested by variable DC voltage are
slightly different. However all DC resistances are very
large value (GΩ) it can be concluded that the DC
resistance is constant with variable voltage supply. This
insulation parameter only occurs when induction motor is
supplied by DC Source.
B. Square Wave Testing
Test results of 5 kHz and 20 kHz square wave testing
to 1 hp induction motor are shown in fig.7
The characteristic of square wave signal is the same
characteristics of DC voltage because the condition of the
positive and negative signal is constant with time. So this
testing should evaluate the DC resistance. However, the
effect of DC resistance is neglected in this testing because
of the huge value of DC resistance.
As the results of square wave testing in Fig.7, the
voltage regulation between voltage drop at external
resistance and supply voltage occur all testing so the
insulation impedance model should have series resistance
connected with capacitance. The whole results, 1 kHz to
20 kHz, of 1hp, 3hp and 5hp induction motor are used to
evaluate series resistance which is 1.6 kΩ approximately.
In addition, capacitances can be evaluated by equation (1)
and the results are shown in table 1.
τ = ( R s + Rext ) × C (1)
Where τ is time constant (s), Rs is series resistance
(Ω), Rext is external resistance (Ω) and C is capacitance
(F)
 indicated that the phase to ground motor insulation
impedance model composes of resistance and reactance.

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)
Fig. 7 Waveform of square wave testing
(a) 5 kHz square wave testing
(b) 20 kHz square wave testing

TABLE I
CAPACITANCE OF 1 HP, 3 HP AND 5 HP PHASE TO GROUND MOTOR
INSULATION MODEL
Fre- 1hp 3hp 5hp
quency
(kHz) τ(μs) C (nF) τ(μs) C (nF) τ(μs) C (nF)
(c)
1 5.53 0.838 5.73 0.868 6.33 0.959 Fig. 8 Waveform of sine wave testing
3 5.86 0.888 5.66 0.858 6.33 0.959 (a) 1 kHz sine wave testing
(b) 5 kHz sine wave testing
5 5.25 0.795 5.45 0.826 6.33 0.959 (c) 20 kHz sine wave testing
7 5.98 0.906 5.58 0.845 6.43 0.974
Series resistance is neglected in reactance part in this
10 5.38 0.815 5.58 0.845 6.66 1.009
testing because it is much smaller than capacitance.
13 5.48 0.830 5.58 0.845 6.66 1.009 Moreover, DC resistance is neglected too because its
15 5.45 0.826 5.6 0.848 6.86 1.039 value is very high when compare with the frequency
20 5.78 0.876 5.47 0.829 6.86 1.039 impedance. This testing varies frequency from 50 Hz to
30 kHz and the test results indicate that the frequency
C. Sine Wave Testing resistance and reactance change with frequency as shown
Fig. 8 is illustrated the waveform of 1, 5 and 20 kHz in Fig. 9. However, reactance relates with frequency
sine wave testing of 1hp induction motor which current directly then the capacitance of motor insulation
lead voltage less than 90 degree in every result. So it is impedance constants with frequency. On the other

Authorized licensed use limited to: UK ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. Downloaded on January 12,2023 at 13:00:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 parameter, the frequency resistance decrease when
increasing frequency source. The relation between
frequency source and frequency resistance is exponential
function so the frequency of 1 hp 3 hp and 5 hp phase to
ground motor insulation model can plot to linear function
in logarithm graph as shown in fig.10.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.9 Frequency resistance and reactance of phase to ground motor
insulation model
(a) 1 hp induction motor (b) 3 hp induction motor
(c) 5 hp induction motor
From DC testing, frequency resistance, series
resistance and capacitance are unaffected by DC source.
For square wave and sine wave testing the DC resistance
is not effect because its value is larger than 3 parameters
values so the current will pass through only these
parameters. As the result of these 3 testing methods, it
shows that phase to ground motor insulation model
consists of dc resistance, series resistance, capacitance
Authorized licensed use limited to: UK ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. Downloaded on January 12,2023 at 13:00:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
and frequency resistance connected in parallel circuit as
shown in fig. 11
Fig.10 Frequency resistance of 1 hp, 3 hp and 5 hp phase to ground
motor insulation model
Fig.11 Phase to ground motor insulation impedance model
V. CONCLUSION
From the testing technique in this paper, the phase to
ground motor insulation impedance model consists of DC
resistance ( Rdc ), frequency resistance ( R f ), Series
resistance ( Rs ) and capacitance ( C ) paralleled together.
Because of the inverse proportionality between phase to
ground motor insulation impedance and switching
frequency, this impedance is low if motor is used in high
frequency .So the 3 phase induction motor is fed by
switching voltage source with high frequency, it will
occur higher leakage current than in low frequency.
VI. REFERENCE
[1] Kempski, A.; Smolenski, R.; and Strzelecki, R., “Common model
current paths and their modeling in PWM inverter-fed drives,”
Conf. Rec. of IEEE-PESC.,Vol. 3, 2002, pp. 1551–1556.
[2] Akagi, H.; Hasegawa, H. and Doumoto, T., “Design and
performance of a passive EMI filter for use with a voltage-source
PWM inverter having sinusoidal output voltage and zero
common-mode voltage,” IEEE Trans. Power Electronic , Vol.19,
No. 4,2004, pp. 1069-1076.
[3] Ogasawara, S.; Ayano, H. and Akagi, H., “An active circuit
forcancellation of common-mode voltage generated by a PWM
inverter,” IEEE Tran.Power Electronic,Vol. 13, No. 5, 1998, pp.
83-841.
[4] Mutoh, N.; Ogata, M.; Kayhan, G. and Harashima, F.,
“Controlling methods of EMI noises generated in motor drive
systems,” Conf. Rec. of IEEE-PESC.,Vol.3, 2002,pp. 1531–1536.
[5] Masayuki Morimoto, Reduction of High Frequency Leakage
Current from PWM inverter-motor system at the “Integrated
Grounding System”, Applied Power Electronics Conferences and
Exposition, APEC 2006, Twenty-First Annual IEEE, 19-23 March
2006 Page(s):4 pp.