Influence of motor cable on common-mode currents in an inverter-fed motor drive system

Induction motor drive systems fed by cables are widely used in industrial applications. However, high-frequency switching of power devices will cause common-mode (CM) voltages during operation, leading to serious CM currents in the motor drive systems. CM currents through the cables and motors in the drive systems can cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) with the surrounding electronic equipment and shorten the life of induction motors. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the CM currents in motor drive systems. In this paper, high-frequency models of unshielded and shielded power cables are formulated. The frequency-dependent effects and mutual inductances of the cables are taken into account. The power cable parameters are extracted by the finite element method and validated by measurements. High-frequency models of induction motors and inverters are introduced from existing works. The CM currents at the motor and inverter terminals are obtained, and the influence of the cable length and cable type on the CM currents is analyzed. There is a good agreement between the experimental results and the CM currents predicted by the proposed models.