Conference Record of the 2004 LEE International Symposium on Elecuical Insulation, Indianapolis, IN USA, 19-22 September 2M)4
High Voltage DC Ramp Testing as a Diagnostic of Stator Insulation Condition
H.G. Sedding* B.K. Gupta,
Kinectrics Inc. AOK Technologies Inc.
Toronto, Canada Toronto, Canada
R. Schwabe, D. Levin
New York Power Authority
White Plains, NY
Abstract Machine users have used high voltage dc ramp testing
of stator winding insulation for almost 40 years. Traditionally,
this test has proved useful in assessing the couditiou of the
grouudwall insulation and in finding defects such as tape
separation and lack of resin cure. Recently, some organizations
have claimed that the high voltage de ramp test may also be used
to detect delamination in the groundwall insulation. This concept
has also been incorporated into the latest revision of IEEE
standard 95. However, to date, no theoretical basis exists to
explain the effect on the V-I characteristic attributed to iuternal
groundwall delamination. Thus, the use of dc ramp to detect
internal delamination in groundwall remains somewhat
controversial
A recent EPRl study involving high voltage de ramp testing in
the field and under laboratory conditions was performed as part
of an investigation into the eflicacy of the test as a detector of
delamination inside groundwall. ‘This paper describes the
investigation and the results obtained.
* Kinectrics Inc., 800 Kiphg Ave. (KL204), Toronto, ON
Canada M8Z 6C4 (correspondingauthor)
INTRODUCTION
AC and DC over-potential or hipot tests have been used
for many decades to assure the serviceable condition of
the insulation system in new machines in the factory as
well as in machines serving in plants [I, 2, 31. The
ramp test is a variation of the DC hipot test in which the
voltage is ramped up (increased slowly) and the
measured current (I) is recorded as a function of voltage
(V) applied [3]. The DC ramp test requires a small
power supply. Often a sudden uptum in the V-I curve
gives a waming of an impending breakdown in the
machine with poor insulation, enabling the operator to
abort the test and thus preventing any consequential
damage to the machine. Occasionally such a warning
may not be present, especially on a clean dry machine.
The DC ramp test, developed at Ontario Hydro in the
1960s [4], was found to be effective in diagnosing
problems due to tape separation and girth cracking in
0-7803-8447-4/04/$20.0002004IEEE 430
W.M.McDermid, J.C. Bromley
Manitoba Hydro
Winnipeg, Canada
J. Stein
Electric Power Research Institute
Palo Alto, CA
older asphaltic windings. However, recently some
authors have claimed that this test can detect
delaminations inside the groundwall [ 5 , 61 indicated by
some ‘snaking’ in the V-I curve. Although incorporated
into the latest revision of IEEE standard 95 [3], this
concept remains somewhat controversial as no
theoretical basis exists to explain the V-I characteristic
attributed to intemal groundwall delamination.
Therefore, when a large hydro-generator became
available for testing, an attempt was made to examine
this concept [7].
DC ramp tests were performed in situ on 8 coils groups,
four groups exhibited high partial discharge @ossible
intemal delaminations) and four with very low partial
discharge activity (little or no voids or delaminations).
Also, some bars with high and low partial discharge
activity were removed and subjected later to DC ramp
test in a laboratory.
MACHINE AND TESTS
The hydro-generator with nominal ratings of 13.8 kV,
167 MW, 120 rpm had 792 Roebel bars configured as
132 single turn coils per phase and three parallel paths
per phase. The winding was installed in 1983 and coils
were insulated with mica on a glass fibre backing tape
impregnated and consolidated with polyester resin. The
unit failed phase-to-phase in September 2001. A visual
inspection revealed that the most severely damaged part
of the stator winding and core was located in the area of
slots 210 to 217 at the bottom of the stator core. The
failure was deemed to be a phase-to-phase fault between
the top bar in slot 214 (white phase or T2) and the
bottom bar in slot 218 (red phase or TI) at the lower end
tum. Coils in 61 slots around the failure site were
isolated and tests were conducted on the remaining
‘undamaged’ coils to determine the failure cause and to
provide guidance on the condition of other similar
windings in the station. Tests included measurements of
insulation resistance (R) and polarization index (PI),
capacitance (C) and dissipation factor (DF), and partial Coil groups with high pd readings did not necessarily
discharges (F‘D) on individual phases of the have high or low leakage currents.
‘undamaged’ winding. The winding was surveyed for
PD activity using a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) .. ..
probe and slot locations with high and low PD activity -1
were noted.
In addition’to determining the cause of the failure, tests
were performed on the winding to answer two more
questions: (I) Do hipot tests damage the insulation
significantly? (2) Can DC ramp test detect delaminations
inside the groundwall insulation? The fust question was
addressed through DC and AC hipot tests conducted on
many judiciously selected coil groups as reported in an
earlier paper [SI. Hipot tests do not appear to damage
serviceable stator insulation. To answer the second
question, DC ramp tests were conducted in situ on
Figure 1 . D C ~ p t e sforcoilgroupA1-I
t
selected coil groups with the highest and the lowest PD
activity. Also some half coils or Roebel bars were
removed from high and low PD slots. DC ramp tests
were performed on these intact bars in a laboratory. The
DC ramp tests and the results are described below.

DC RAMP TESTS ON COIL GROUPS IN

SITU
Originally, overvoltage and breakdown tests were to be
performed on individual coils. However, testing
individual coils required significant time and effort to
make the necessary cuts and to provide clearances to
prevent external flashing to ground. Consequently coil
groups rather than coils were isolated. Note that the end
turns in the coils in this machine were relatively short.

High voltage dc ramp tests were performed on eight coil

groups. Four groups had at least one bar exhibiting high
pd (or TVA probe readings) and the other four groups
had all bars with low pd readings. Each coil group under
test was raised at 2 kV per minute to 37 kV dc. The
current (I) was recorded as a function of applied voltage
0. All eight coil groups withstood the high voltage dc
ramp test. However, the V-I traces provided no evidence
of correlation with the TVA probe readings. The
maximum measured current (I) for coil group AI-l
(coils 301, 302) was 20 pA (Figure I), though slot 301
had the highest TVA probe reading (270 mA).
Maximum measured current for coil group C1-10 (coils Figure 3. Repeat DC ramp test for group C1-10
12, 13, 14) was 120 pA (Figure 2), though the TVA
probe readings for slots 12, 13, 14 were the lowest (6 to It appears from the above tests that the differences
26 mA). A little cleaning of the coil group near the end between the V-I curves for the 8 coil groups are likely
turns reduced the maximum current to 80 pA (Figure 3). dominated by the surface condition, especially in the end

43 1
tums, of the stator bars. This issue was further
addressed during the laboratory phase of the project in
which high voltage dc ramp testing of individual bars
was conducted.
DC RAMP TESTS ON BARS IN
LABORATORY
Nine bars were judiciously selected from slots with high
and low pd readings, carefully removed from the slots,
and tested by Manitoba Hydro at Kinectrics laboratory
facilities in Toronto. The bars were subjected first to an
insulation resistance test at 5 kV. Then the voltage was
ramped at 2 kV/min rate up to 25 kV. The bars were
tested first without cleaning and then after increasing the
creepage distance by removing the stress grading coating
on the bars and dirt and grease from the end arms and
using guard electrodes.
and/or bars included those with very low pd and those
with very high pd (implying possible delamination in
groundwall insulation) as indicated by TVA probe
readings. In all these cases, the measured current
appeared to be dominated by the surface condition of the
coil groups or bars, and not by the inherent internal
quality of the insulation. Any small snaking in the V-I
curve, even if it were produced by an internal
delamination in the groundwall, will be difficult to
detect under these circumstances. It appears that for
machines in service in industrial plants or utility stations
DC ramp test may not be able to detect delaminations
within the groundwall insulation.

The V-I curve for bar 20 in the initial test is shown in

Figure 4 along with the current measured as function of
time in the megger test. The test was manually
terminated at about 20.5 kV because of a sudden upturn
in current above 18 kV. The V-I curve for the same bar
for the second test after increasing the creepage distance
in shown in Figure 5 . Note that the TVA probe reading
for this slot was 6 mA. For bar 135 with TVA probe
reading 110 mA, the V-I curves are shown in Figure 6
for test 1 (without cleaning) and in Figure 7 for test 2
(increased creepage distance).
Figure 4. DC ramp test 1 on bar 20
The results h m tests on 9 bars showed that there was
no correlation of the leakage current with the pd or TVA
probe readings. Also it appeared that the V-I curves
were dominated by the surface condition of the bars.
Significant efforts were required to enable measurements
to be made of the inherent characteristics of the
insulation. These efforts included removing the stress
grading coating on the bars, cleaning dirt and grease
from the end arms, and using guard electrodes. It would ~111
appear that any small snaking in the V-I curve, even if
produced by an internal delaminiation in the groundwall E

insulation, will be ovenvhelmed by the dominance of the

i
current by the surface condition of the bars or coils.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

DC ramp tests were performed in situ on eight coil

groups in a machine and in laboratory on nine intact coil Figure 5. DC mmP on bar 2o
bars removed from the machine. The tested coil groups

432
 ; I
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This’project was h d e d by Electric Power Research

Institute and New York Power Authority. The
assistance of John Dipaul and Rick Glowacki in
performing these tests is gratefully acknowledged.
i/
-!I
il
I\ ( REFERENCES:

1‘k -
Y
41CMI
[I] IEEE Std 4-2001, Standard Techniques for High
Voltage Testing
~

-
0 :I X,Oe,FS
[2]-IEEE Std 56-1977 (Reafirmed 1991), Guide for
40 e Le 8 “&. ,”
min Insulation Maintenance for Large AC. Rotating
Machinery
Figure 6. DC ramp test 1 on bar 135
[3] IEEE Std 95-2002, Guide for Insulating Testing of
AC Electric Machinery with High Direct Voltage

[4] B. L. McHenry. “Generator Insulation Testing by

Continuous Time-Function Application of Direct
Voltage”, IEEE Trans. On Power Apparatus & Systems,
PAS-86, Nov 1967, pp 1329-1333.

i
[5] W. McDermid, J.C.Bromley, “Response of Ramp
9.,O.-IFS
Test to Delamination in Stator Groundwall Insulation”,
*IF
Proceedings of the Electrical Insulation Conference and

-
,
;I
:-
Electrical Manufacturing & Coil Winding Conference,
f
5 11%MI Oct. 2001, IEEE Publication 01CH37264, pp 327-329.

[6] Rux, L., Grzybowski, S., “Evaluation of Delaminated

High-Voltage Rotating Machine Stator Winding
D IX(Oe7FS
Groundwall Insulation,” Conference Record of the 2000

433