Electrom Instruments Inc.

SURGE TEST
Pass/Fail Guidelines EAR%
Using Electrom Instruments Quick Surge© technology, manufacturers can track and trend
surge wave signature properties in each unique stator/coil/winding-based product. Leading
industry MROs rely on Electrom Quick Surge© diagnostics for simple onsite assessment and
use the surge test report as a quality stamp for overhauls performed at the service center. How
are Quick Surge© Wave Difference (WD) test results interpreted in the various applications
and designs?

Lead to Lead (Phase to Phase) surge comparison tests

The general guideline for a good, “PASS”, result is that the L-L %WD should be less than
10%. However, there is a “gray area” around 10% for lap wound stators. Concentric wound
stators may have differences up to 20%, sometimes even more. Many assembled motors,
especially fast running small motors, may have big differences because of influences by the
rotor.

Pulse to Pulse (P-P) surge tests

This is a test done on one coil, or one phase of a motor at a time. The surge voltage is
automatically raised in small voltage steps, and the surge wave at each voltage step is
compared to the wave from the previous step. This means that the coil/phase is compared to
itself. The %WD is calculated at each step. The maximum %WD seen by the tester is
displayed on the screen. A bar graph of all the WD percentages for each voltage step can be
displayed on the tester and be included in test reports. Since the comparisons are to “itself”,
there is no comparison to another phase, the position of the rotor in an assembled motor surge
test does not matter. The tests are independent of rotor positon, other phases, and other coils.
Failed surge test: Pulse to Pulse wave different greater than set threshold.

P-P failure pattern in the bar graph

When there is an arc turn to turn in a winding, the bar graph will usually have one to three
tall bars above 30% at the point where the arcing started and above.

Failed P-P test. The large bar indicates a flashover.

Surge test passed: Large %WD in L3, but P-P is good. Notice there are no large spikes in bar
graph.

The P-P test is used and useful in many service situations

The P-P test is often used as a tie-breaker when the L-L %WD is elevated, but not conclusive.
Here are some examples of when the P-P test is useful:

 Assembled motors: (rotor installed) where the rotor position influences the
inductance in the stator coils, and therefore the surge waves.
 Concentric wound motors: They sometimes have a large separation of the surge
waves indicating that there might be a turn to turn fault (arc). The P-P test will
determine if there is an arc or not. The difference in inductance, and therefore the
surge waves, is due to a lower level of symmetry in the construction of the stator
compared to lap wound stators.
 Single phase motors or other coils/windings where there is no other -coil to compare
to.
 Any time a phase to phase comparison is questionable.

Note: The P-P test PASS/FAIL result automatically supersedes the L-L PASS/FAIL result in
the Quick Surge© software.

P-P % between 15% and 30%

Pass/fail interpretation in two common cases of elevated levels of P-P:

  If there are a few bars at the beginning of the graph (left side – low voltages) up to
30%, the result is a pass.
 If there are many bars on the right side of the graph (high voltages) that are up to
30%, Partial Discharges (PD) have been detected.
 Flash-over in weak insulation (arcs) is typically represented by 1-3 bars above 30%.

Note: The P-P test is not designed to be a PD measurement and does not accurately detect
when PD starts. But, with enough PD several higher bars will usually be present in the P-P
bar graph.

The presence of PD does not necessarily mean there is a failure or problem, but can mean
that the insulation is starting to weaken, especially in low voltage motors. Around 30% and
above, the PD typically turns into an arc.

Test Passed. Line to Line %WD is high, but Pulse to Pulse is below the fail limit.

Faults not found by a P-P test

The P-P test looks for a change in the waves as the surge voltage rises. Therefore, if there is
a hard short, or welded short turn to turn in a winding, and at the same time the insulation
around this short is stable and strong, the P-P test will not find it since there will be no change
as the surge test voltage rises.

This fault can be seen with an L-L surge test. But, if the motor is assembled, one cannot
usually tell if it is rotor influence or a fault unless the fault is severe, or one knows that there
is no rotor influence in this motor.

High precision resistance measurements may tell if windings have shorted turns. If the
number of turns measured are more than say 50 or 100, this also becomes harder to interpret
since a welded adjacent turn changes the resistance by an amount that may be less than the
failure limit. Sometimes shorted turns in random wound motors are not adjacent but a few
turns away from each other. The resistance difference then is often easy to see with a high
precision micro-Ohm measurement, such as what is available in some Electrom iTIG II
models. Resistance measurements tracked over time can make the determination of good or
bad much easier.

An Inductance measurement can also be used, but not in an assembled motor with rotor
influence.

Alternative test to find welded shorts in an assembled motor

If it is possible to turn the rotor between surge tests of the 3 phases, this can help find a
welded short. The rotor must be turned between tests so that the waves line up. If they do
line up there is no problem. If the minimum difference attained is significant, there is a
problem. Beware of potential rotor problems when doing this test.

Pass/Fail guideline tables

Although L-L WD% less than 10% is normally used as “Pass”, the 8% is a more conservative limit that is better for motors with a high
turn-count.

Source: Electrom Instruments Inc.

 Pulse to Pulse Surge Tests When Windings Are Different; assembled
motors, concentric windings etc.

Motor windings and coils are not always physically identical. An example is concentric
wound coils where the size of the coils are different. Another example is when coils are
connected such that the stator is not symmetrical from an inductance point of view.

Assembled motors (with the rotor installed) may have stators that are lap wound and
electrically symmetrical. However, the rotor may cause the inductance in the stator phases to
be different because of the transformer action between the stator and rotor.

To address these situations the Pulse to Pulse Surge Test was designed.

Summary of what the P-P surge test is used for

1. Concentric wound stators with a %WD above expectations

2. Assembled motors (rotor installed) with rotor influence on the stator inductance that
creates different surge test waves in the 3 phases
3. Single phase motors
4. Any test where there is nothing to compare the standard surge test to
5. Any time the surge test results are questionable or in the “gray zone”
6. To find the Inception Voltage in Partial Discharge (PD) Measurments

How the P-P surge test works

Good pulse to pulse surge test.

Instead of rapidly going to the surge test design voltage and recording the surge wave after
the voltage is achieved, the P-P surge test raises the surge voltage in small steps up to the
design test voltage. At each step a surge wave is recorded, and the difference between this
wave and the wave from the previous step is calculated. This means that the winding under
test is compared to itself as the surge test voltage is raised. Since the comparison is to itself,
it does not matter that the phases are different, or that there is rotor influence in an assembled
motor. Hence for an assembled motor the rotor does not have to be turned during the test.

When the Pulse to Pulse surge test is completed the P-P %WD numbers for all voltage steps
are stored, and the highest P-P %WD displayed. With the Electrom iTIG II surge tester the
results from all the voltage steps are available in a bar graph.

If there is an arc or flash over at some voltage step, the P-P %WD will be significant for that
step because the wave frequency is different from the previous step. For information on
failure limits see Pass/Fail Guidelines.

Failed pulse to pulse surge test.

Since the P-P surge test is looking for a change during the voltage ramp, it may not see hard
shorts in the windings if the insulation around the hard or welded short is stable and strong.
In such a case there is no change or arc during the voltage ramp. Accurate micro ohm winding
resistance measurements or inductance measurements may be used to find such faults.

The other alternative for assembled 3-phase motors is to turn the rotor between each surge
test so that all 3 waves line up. If they cannot be made to line up properly, there is a failure.
Turning the rotor may not always be possible or practical making the P-P surge test a valuable
tool.