IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 51, NO.

6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 4861

Premature Wear and Recurring Bearing Failures in

an Inverter-Driven Induction Motor—Part I:
Investigation of the Problem
Romero de Souza Araújo, Hélder de Paula, Member, IEEE, Ronaldo de Araújo Rodrigues,
Lane Maria Rabelo Baccarini, and Anderson Vagner Rocha, Member, IEEE

Abstract—This paper provides an analysis about early incipient
and recurring failures in three-phase induction motor bearings
when driven by pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverters, focusing
on a real industrial process. The potential problems preliminarily
defined were first discussed on a theoretical basis and afterward
experimentally assessed by means of vibration, stator current, and
common-mode current data acquisition and analysis. Over the
investigation, it was concluded that the presence of common-mode
currents at the verified levels could cause damages to the motor
bearings, which was confirmed when the machine stopped work-
ing due to another bearing failure.
Index Terms—Bearing failure, broken bars, common-mode cur-
rents, harmonics, vibration.
I. I NTRODUCTION
I NDUSTRIAL loads are usually driven by three-phase in-
duction motors, which are prone to failures over time,
causing equipment shutdown and/or productivity decline in
industrial processes, resulting in serious financial losses [1].
Publications on electric motor reliability reveal that bearings
are the component most heavily affected by failures in 3-phase
induction motors [2], [3]. A faulty motor gives indication of
defects in several ways: change in the signals associated with
mechanical vibrations, varying operating temperature, audible
noises, and alterations of the electromagnetic field, among
others.
Although electric rotating machines are usually well built
and robust, the possibility of defects is somewhat inherent,
Manuscript received June 24, 2013; revised June 29, 2014 and April 23,
2015; accepted June 22, 2015. Date of publication July 13, 2015; date of
current version November 18, 2015. Paper 2013-MIC-410.R2, presented at the
2013 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA,
October 6–11, and approved for publication in the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON
I NDUSTRY A PPLICATIONS by the Mining Industry Committee of the IEEE
Industry Applications Society.
R. de Souza Araújo and R. de Araújo Rodrigues is with the Electrical
Engineering Department, Aperam Inox South America, 35180-000 Timóteo,
Brazil (e-mail: romero_sa@hotmail.com; ronaldorode@ig.com.br).
H. de Paula is with the Electrical Engineering Department, Universidade
Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, Brazil (e-mail:
helder@cpdee.ufmg.br).
L. M. R. Baccarini is with the Universidade Federal de São João del Rei
(UFSJ), 36307-352 São João del Rei, Brazil (e-mail: rabelolane@ig.com.br).
A. V. Rocha is with the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas
Gerais (CEFET-MG), 35503-822 Divisópolis, Brazil (e-mail: andersonrocha@
des.cefetmg.br).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2015.2456059
0093-9994 © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
affecting their performance even before the occurrence of sig-
nificant failures. Methods for early problem detection, which
compare spectrums of vibration [4], electric current [5], [6],
and magnetic flow [7], enable maintenance engineers to plan
a corrective action and minimize the impacts of failures in the
production process.
The acquisition and analysis of dynamic signals from motors
became simpler with the advent of microcomputers and specific
software. In practice, among the methods available in industrial
maintenance processes, priority is given to vibration analysis
on bearing housings and bearings, due to the greater number
of occurrences associated to them. However, since the causes
of such defects may be of electromagnetic nature, an electrical
study has to be conducted as well. In the present work, the
analysis is carried out by means of data acquisition related
to vibration, stator current/voltage, and common-mode voltage
and currents in different points of the system.
This paper deals with recurrent damage on the bearings of an
induction motor in a real industrial process for annealing and
pickling of special steels. However, it should be highlighted
that such problem is likely to happen in all applications in-
volving pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverters and induction
motors, particularly those that employ long cables connecting
the inverter to the motor, as the case of mining and offshore
petroleum industries.
Through data analysis, the problem will be identified within
a group of probable causes, such as the following: 1) vibrations
produced by torque oscillations due to the existence of broken
bars; 2) presence of low-order harmonic currents, also resulting
in vibrations; 3) existence of common-mode currents generated
by the zero-sequence voltage produced by the inverter; and
4) multiple causes, resulting from a combination of the afore-
mentioned phenomena.
II. P OTENTIAL C AUSES OF B EARING DAMAGE
Nowadays, for matters of maintenance costs, the majority
of the companies perform vibration analysis and treat bearing
failures as being of mechanical nature only. As a result, there
is an excessive replacement of components and the dealing
with recurrent defects, since their causes are not thoroughly
investigated.
Among the causes of bearing deterioration, an important
one is the common-mode currents, which circulate through
4862 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 51, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
them, due to electrostatic charges induced in the motor shaft.
When reaching sufficiently high levels, such charges break the
dielectric strength of the (insulating) grease and cause a dis-
charging current through the bearings to the grounded frame of
the machine. This discharge deteriorates both race and rolling
balls of the bearings, and its destruction effects gradually build
up, eventually rendering the bearing useless. Another factor for
bearing damage is the torque pulsation that may occur due to
the existence of excessive low-order harmonics in the motor
supply voltage or resulting from broken bars.
A. Broken Bar Diagnosis
In a three-phase squirrel cage induction motor, broken or
cracked bars disturb the magnetic flux, causing the rotor fre-
quency to fluctuate and, as a result, also the motor rotation
and the current, as well. The oscillation that may appear in the
torque delivered by the machine potentially becomes one of the
bearing deterioration causes.
The evolvement of data acquisition and analysis systems
enabled the development of new detection methods for broken
bars, in addition to the evaluation of the motor current signature
[8]. In this context, the application of mechanical vibration
analysis started to be employed for broken bar detection, along
with the analysis of sound noises, sliding mode estimators [8],
and stator magnetic flow analysis [9].
1) Analysis by Electric Current: When analyzing the electric
current of motors having broken bars, in the frequency domain,
differences are noticed in the sidebands, around the fundamen-
tal frequency. According to [10], the equation that defines the
frequencies in the case of the current analysis is given by
FL (Hz) = (1 ± 2ks)fr (1)
where k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n; fr is the power network frequency [in
hertz]; and s is the motor slip.
Detection of broken bars is done by verifying the amplitude
of the nearest sideband in respect to the fundamental compo-
nent magnitude. The bigger the number of broken bars, the
smaller the amplitude difference between them. In [11], a table
is presented, showing the severity of the problem as a function
of the obtained current spectrum.
2) Analysis by Mechanical Vibration: Analysis of broken
bars using mechanical vibration follows the same principle
of the current analysis, with only the fundamental component
being different. The interaction between the field produced by
the stator and the one from the rotor generates torque and speed
oscillations. The frequency of these oscillations is given by
2sfr [12]. Taking into account that both stator voltage and
current frequency and the magnetized current in the rotor are
fr , the resulting flux from this interaction produces a frequency,
which is double the network frequency, or 2fr [13]. Therefore,
the motor slip can be calculated by (2), where fer is the
frequency [in hertz] resulting from stator–rotor interaction, and
fm2 is the second harmonic of the rotation frequency. The
values of the side frequencies from the mechanical vibration
are obtained from (3), where fm is the shaft rotation frequency
and fs is the synchronous frequency. Hence,
fer − fm2
s= (2)
fer
fL (Hz) = fm ± 2ksfs . (3)
B. Common-Mode Voltage in PWM Drives
When combining the output phase voltages of a PWM in-
verter, a “stepped” voltage waveform is obtained, with varia-
tions equivalent to one third of the dc link voltage. As a result of
this common-mode voltage, high-frequency transient currents
flow through the distributed capacitances of the motor to the
ground.
At high speeds, there is no electric contact between the
rotor and the outer race of the bearing (which is grounded),
due to an even distribution of the grease film. Therefore, due
to the electrostatic coupling between rotor and stator and the
existence of this common-mode voltage, the rotor potential
gradually increases in respect to the ground until it reaches a
level capable of breaking down the grease dielectric strength.
Thus, a discharge current is generated, random in nature, which
flows through the bearings. Such discharges (also known as
electrical discharge machining) lead to small holes, which
start overlapping each other, and in the long run, grooves
(depressions) appear on the bearing race surface, commonly
named as “fluting” or “pitting.” The erosion causes reduction
in the service life of the bearings and may lead to a premature
shutdown of the machine. Several papers have addressed this
issue, such as [14]–[18].
C. Harmonics Produced by PWM Switching
Although modern frequency inverters operate with suffi-
ciently high switching frequencies, when the motor runs at
speeds near the nominal value, the inverter is required to operate
in the overmodulation region, resulting in the reoccurrence
of low-frequency harmonics in the inverter output voltage,
of order 6k ± 1(k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n), leading to motor torque
pulsation. Taking as example the fifth and seventh harmonics, it
is found that the first is of negative sequence, whereas the latter
is of positive sequence, generating rotating fields in opposite
directions. In this way, both induce in the rotor frequencies
equivalent to the sixth harmonic, which generates torque pul-
sations in this same frequency. Such oscillations may become
unacceptable in view of the kind of application intended to
the motor drive and also the mechanical system, regarding the
bearings, couplings, and gears.
III. M ETHODS OF A NALYSIS FOR DAMAGED B EARINGS
A. Spectral Vibration Analysis
The bearing consists of four elements, which, when in mo-
tion, generate their own natural frequency (fn ). These frequen-
cies are defined as follows: 1) outer and 2) inner race frequency,
3) cage frequency, and 4) frequency of the balls. Their typi-
cal values and multiples [4] are obtained through (4)–(7), in
ARAÚJO et al.: PREMATURE WEAR AND RECURRING BEARING FAILURE IN AN INDUCTION MOTOR 4863

which n is the shaft rotation speed (in hertz); Dp and Dcr Park’s vector approach (EPVA)]. The authors, after a theoretical
are the primitive and rolling body diameters (in millimeters), exposition, suggest that the frequencies introduced by bearing
respectively,Ncr is the number of rolling bodies; and β is the problems, in the EPVA, are given by (10), where fn represent
contact angle (in degrees). Hence, the natural vibration frequencies of each element of the bearing.
  Hence,
Ncr Dcr
Outer race (Hz) = fbor = n 1− cosβ (4)
2  Dp  fEPVA = kfn . (10)
Ncr Dcr
Inner race (Hz) = fbir = n 1+ cosβ (5)
2 
Dp
2  E. Comparison of Bearing Analysis Methods
Dp Dcr
Ball (Hz) = fbs = n 1− cosβ (6) Comparative experimental results obtained through the
2Dcr Dp
  aforementioned diagnosis methods are presented in [1]. The
n Dcr tests were carried out based on known bearing malfunctions,
Cage (Hz) = fft = 1− cosβ . (7)
2 Dp deliberately introduced into the bearings in a similar way to the
procedure described in [5] and [7]. The experimental results
In this way, by knowing the expected frequencies from each
in [1] were obtained with bearings showing one radial hole of
element of the bearing, it becomes possible to evaluate the
8-mm diameter in the outer race. The traditionally used vibra-
vibration spectrum and determine the existence of defects. In
tion spectral analysis proved to be more sensitive than any other
addition, from the natural frequencies, it is possible to apply
method, allowing a diagnosis of the malfunction in an earlier
other failure analysis methods to diagnose bearings already
stage. Results obtained from the spectral analysis of the current
damaged, irrespective of the cause.
and the torque are similar, showing to be slightly sensitive in
relation to the incipient state of the malfunction or its location
B. Analysis of the Stator Current within the bearing. The spectral analysis of the electromagnetic
torque has a practical limitation due to measurement difficul-
The applicability of electrical current spectral analysis to
ties. Spectral analysis by EPVA showed to be more sensitive, in
the diagnosis of bearing problems in three-phase induction
respect to the incipient state of the malfunction, when compared
motors is shown in [5] and [6]. In these findings, it is said
to the spectral analysis of the current, but still less efficient than
that the presence of abnormalities in bearings of three-phase
the spectral analysis of vibrations.
induction motors is characterized by the existence of specific
spectral components relative to the motor stator current, whose
frequencies may be determined through (8), where fs is the IV. D IAGNOSIS OF M ALFUNCTIONS IN A M OTOR :
current fundamental component (in hertz) and fn are the natural E VALUATION OF AN ACTUAL C ASE
vibration frequencies, which have been previously referred to in The induction motor in focus is squirrel cage rotor type,
(4)–(7). Therefore, the presence of such components at levels 220 kW, 4 poles, 1785 r/min, 60 Hz, 346 A, cos ϕ = 0.87,
above the preset limits, or showing an increasing trend, allows frame 315 M/L, and fitted with bearing 6319 in the front
the diagnosis of defects in bearings before they actually fail, as housing and 6316 in the rear housing. It is driven by a two-
follows: level space vector PWM (SV-PWM) inverter. The machine is
fsc = fs ± kfn . (8) part of a strip tensioning control system of an annealing and
pickling line for processing stainless steel grades. It is installed
as a generator, being dragged by other motors.
C. Analysis of the Electromagnetic Torque
Starting from the general electromagnetic torque expression A. Analysis of Broken Bars
of a three-phase induction motor with p pairs of poles and after Regarding the measurements, which were performed, the
a lengthy mathematical development [7], it is found that the signal sampling rate is 40 kHz, with a filter between 55 and
frequencies introduced by bearing defects into the torque are 65 Hz, thus obtaining only the frequencies of interest. The
given by collector/analyzer used was CSI 2120 with a Fluke current
sensor (model 80i-1000s).
ft = kfn . (9)
As indicated in Fig. 1, the motor fundamental frequency was
With this technique, along with the knowledge of the natural measured as 60.66 Hz. Since it is a four-pole machine, the
frequencies of each element from the bearing, it becomes pos- synchronous frequency (fs ) is 30.33 Hz.
sible, from the motor magnetic flux, to perform the diagnosis of At the very moment that the current data were acquired, the
bearing problems. motor shaft speed was measured as 1825 r/min, correspond-
ing to a mechanical rotation frequency (fm ) of 30.416 Hz.
D. Analysis Through Park’s Vector Therefore, the slip is (30.33 − 30.416)/(30.33) = −0.0028
The negative signal indicates that the machine is operating as
The spectral analysis of the alternating component from a generator. The sidebands are given by
Park’s vector module of the stator current, for the diagnostic
of bearing problems, is proposed in [19] [also called extended fL (1 ± (2 × (−0.0028)) × 60.66 = 60.32 and 61.0 (Hz).
4864
Fig. 1. Analysis of the existence of broken bars from the stator current.
Fig. 2. Analysis of the stator current harmonics.
In Fig. 1, it can be observed that the bands match the
calculated values, with an amplitude difference in relation to
the fundamental frequency of around 35 dB. With this result,
based on the table shown in [11], the only recommendation is
a reduction of the inspection interval and checking of trend.
There is no indication of broken bars.
B. Low-Frequency Harmonics
Due to the fact that the inverter is operating in the nonlin-
ear region, an exaggerated level of low-order harmonics was
noticed in the operation with nominal voltage and frequency.
Fig. 2 presents the current spectrum. However, in spite of the
huge magnitude of low-order harmonics and the (probable)
corresponding high-torque pulsations, the resulting vibration
in the machine was much inferior than expected, as observed
in Fig. 3, which presents a vibration analysis of the motor
with all new bearings. With a motor voltage supply of 60 Hz,
the vibration levels for the 6th and 12th harmonics showed
to be negligible compared to the normal levels of the natural
frequencies of the components of a new bearing. Therefore, the
hypothesis that an excessive vibration resulting from the low-
order harmonics be the cause of the bearing failure was also
discarded.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 51, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
Fig. 3. Vibration spectrum of the motor with a new bearing.
Fig. 4. Illustrative diagram of the system under study with the indication of
the measured quantities.
C. Common-Mode Current
For the present analysis, the stator windings were connected
into the star (Y) configuration, to enable the measurement of the
common-mode voltage (neutral-to-ground voltage). The data
acquisition was carried out according to the diagram shown in
Fig. 4, which also shows the different paths of the common-
mode currents in the system.
The return current through the cable shielding, as shown in
Fig. 5, presents about 5 A (peak) and a frequency similar to the
frequency of the simultaneous sum of all the phase currents,
as shown in Fig. 6. The current on the motor frame grounding
cable (Iet ), which is not shown here, does not show a significant
value due to the fact that the power supply system (transformer)
is not grounded.
The voltage between the motor shaft and frame, which rep-
resents the voltage over the bearings, in Fig. 7, shows values as
ARAÚJO et al.: PREMATURE WEAR AND RECURRING BEARING FAILURE IN AN INDUCTION MOTOR
Fig. 5. (A) Common-mode voltage and (B) current in the cable shielding.
Fig. 6. (A) Common-mode voltage and (B) simultaneous sum of the currents
in the three phases.
Fig. 7. (A) Common-mode voltage and (B) voltage in the shaft (in relation to
the ground).
high as 2 V (peak), which is much higher than the maximum
350 mV recommended in the technical literature [20] for pre-
venting bearing deterioration. Thus, the hypothesis that electric
discharges through the bearings could be the cause of their
recurring damages gained force.
Under another operating condition, the voltage between the
grounded motor frame and the rotor, as well as the current
flowing from the shaft to the mechanical load Iec , were mon-
itored. Fig. 8 presents the results of measurements with the
motor shaft rotating at 1830 r/min. A significant amount of
4865
Fig. 8. (A) Current flowing from the shaft to the mechanical load (Iec ) and
(B) voltage in the shaft (in relation to the ground).
Fig. 9. Outer race of the motor bearing.
current circulates through the motor shaft (8-A peak), toward
the grounding of the machine gearbox. As mentioned in [21],
the use of a grounding brush on the motor shaft provides a low-
impedance path, which is parallel to the bearing, for draining
displacement currents originating in the rotor; however, to be
really effective, they must receive regular maintenance. Several
factors can contribute for these brushes to lose their function
and allow the bearing to go into a deterioration process: brush
wear, sticking, brush holder fixing, dirty, and grease.
D. Vibration Analysis
During the realization of the study, the bearings went again
into a failure state. When opening them up for analysis, the front
bearing showed heavy deterioration of the outer race, which
was caused by the circulation of electric discharge currents,
characterized by “stretch marks” on the race surface, which is
also called fluting. Fig. 9 shows a section view of the damaged
bearing.
The bearing on hand (6319) has the following characteristics:
Dp = 147.5 mm, Ncr = 8, β = 0◦ , and Dcr = 33.32 mm. For
the shaft rotation of 1175.4 r/min, which was measured with an
optical tachometer, its rotating frequency (n) is 19.59 Hz.
Therefore, from the bearing specification data and shaft
speed, the outer race frequency (60.66 Hz) and its integer
multiples, as shown in Table I, were obtained through (7).
Fig. 10 shows the corresponding vibration spectrum. The red
arrows indicate the natural frequency of the outer race and its
multiples, whereas the blue arrow points out a multiple of the
shaft rotation speed. In summary, the vibration spectral analysis
indicated a problem with the bearing outer race, which was
confirmed after the bearing dismounting (see Fig. 9).
4866 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 51, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
TABLE I
F REQUENCY OF THE O UTER R ACE AND I TS M ULTIPLES
Fig. 10. Vibration spectrum with the damaged bearing.
Comparing the vibration analysis of the bearing when it was
still in perfect condition (see Fig. 3) with that from the damaged
bearing (see Fig. 10), it is noticed that the amplitude of the most
relevant component of the outer race natural frequency (eighth
harmonic) increased 20 times.
V. C ONCLUSION
Having as a goal the identification of the cause(s) of pre-
mature and recurring deterioration of bearings of an induction
motor installed in an actual process, techniques for analyzing
the transient common-mode phenomena have been applied,
in addition to harmonic currents and broken bar detection
techniques. From the evaluation of the data obtained, the fol-
lowing conclusions and comments could be drawn: 1) For
failure detection of bearings, vibration analysis is the most
recommended approach, since it detects the failure in an ear-
lier incipient stage. 2) The analysis of current data did not
indicate the occurrence of broken bars; thus, for the present
case, the recommendation found in the literature is only to
continue with the measurements and checking out of trends.
3) The current showed to be rich of low-order harmonics, which
were caused by the inverter operation under overmodulation;
however, the corresponding effect in terms of vibration is not
the object of concern. 4) As revealed by the measurements,
the existence of high common-mode currents in the system,
and high voltage peaks induced in the motor shaft, indicated
the great possibility of discharge currents through the bearings
and resulting premature failures. A later dismounting of the
machine proved such hypothesis, showing, undoubtedly, that
the bearing indeed presented signs of failure by electric current
flow. 5) The installation of a brush on the motor shaft represents
a solution to avoid bearing damage, provided that it is strictly
maintained. 6) Another possible solution to the problem is
the use of electrically isolated bearings. This would eliminate
current circulation through them; however, as the electrostatic
induction on the shaft would continue, the currents would end
up circulating through other components, e.g., the gearbox
bearings or encoders coupled to the shaft, resulting in other
problems.
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Romero de Souza Araújo was born in Raul Soares,
Brazil, in 1970. He received the B.S. degree in elec-
trical engineering from the Instituto Católico de Mi-
nas Gerais (ICMG), Belo Horizante, Brazil, in 1997
and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from
the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG),
Belo Horizonte, in 2011.
He is currently a Senior Engineer with Aperam
Inox South America, Timóteo, Brazil, which is a
major producer of flat-rolled stainless and electrical
steels. He has over 15 years of experience with motor
drives control and ac/ac and ac/dc converters applied in all parts of the siderurgy
industry.
Hélder de Paula (M’10) was born in Uberlândia,
Brazil, on December 27, 1975. He received the B.S.,
M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Universidade Fed-
eral de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, in 1998, 2001, and
2005, respectively, all in electrical engineering.
Since 2006, he has been with the Electrical En-
gineering Department, Universidade Federal de Mi-
nas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizante, Brazil, as a
Lecturer and Member of the Industry Applications
Laboratory. He has worked on R&D projects on
line, cable, power converter, motor and transformer
modeling for high-frequency/transient studies. His main interests include motor
drives, electromagnetic compatibility, and underground power transmission.
4867
Ronaldo de Araújo Rodrigues was born in Ver-
melho Novo, Brazil, in 1970. He received the
B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the In-
stituto Católico de Minas Gerais (ICMG), Belo
Horizante, Brazil, in 1997 and the M.S. degree in
electrical engineering from the Universidade Fed-
eral de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizante,
in 2012.
He is currently a Senior Engineer with Aperam
Inox South America, Timóteo, Brazil, which is a
major producer of flat-rolled stainless and electrical
steels. He has over ten years of experience with ac/ac and ac/dc motor drives
and control systems applied in the siderurgy industry.
Lane Maria Rabelo Baccarini received the B.Sc.
degree (with class honors) from the Faculdade de
Engenharia Elétrica de São João del Rei [currently
known as the Federal University of São João del Rei
(UFSJ)], São João del Rei, Brazil, the M.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from the Federal University
of Itajubá (UNIFEI), Itajubá, Brazil, and the Ph.D.
degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais
(UFMG), Belo Horizante, Brazil, all in electrical
engineering.
She is currently a Professor of electrical engineer-
ing with UFSJ. She has been teaching courses on electrical machines since
1990. Her main research interests include machine learning techniques and
drive control and diagnosis in electrical machines.
Anderson Vagner Rocha (S’10–M’14) was born in
Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on February 13, 1970. He
received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering
from the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de
Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG), Belo Horizonte, in 1994
and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1997
from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo
Horizonte, where he is currently working toward the
Ph.D. degree in power electronics.
Since 1992, he has been a Faculty Member of
CEFET-MG, where he teaches courses on electrical
machines and drives. His current main research interests include medium-
voltage ac drives, power semiconductors, efficiency, reliability, and availability
of high-power converters and their applications.