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Tip of the Week: The Value of Insulation Resistance

Testing
Electrical Testing Brand
Mark Lamendola
Mon, 2017-06-12 10:23

Insulation resistance testing is one of the most useful predictive maintenance tests available. This
test gives insight into the integrity of insulation. The higher the resistance across the insulation, the
less current is escaping through it. Conversely, a low reading means that insulation is leaking.

An obviously low resistance (e.g., 500 ohms

instead of 150 megohms) indicates a bad cable or
motor winding. Performing insulation resistance
testing during or immediately following
installation will enable you to identify insulation
failures so they can be corrected (replace the cable
or motor) prior to energization. Thats an obvious
benefit of this testing.But if youre installing new
cables and new motors, why bother?

One reason is that cables sometimes do get

damaged during installation. You want to catch this as early as possible. A more important reason is
that testing at this juncture is the only way to get the baseline data you need for maintenance
trending.

The insulation resistance test really proves its worth when used over time rather than as a single go
no-go condition test. If you have baseline data and perform subsequent insulation resistance tests at
set intervals using the same test voltage, you can plot the results.

Many tools exist for tracking and plotting insulation resistance testing results. You can even make
your own by using a spreadsheet. Now imagine youre looking at a chart of a series of insulation
resistance test measurements for a particular cable, and each measurement is a plot point on that
chart. The vertical axis is the resistance value and the horizontal axis is time. Youll notice a line
drawn from each point gradually trends downward over time.

This downward slope is very slight. What youre looking for is a break in that line, where the slope
suddenly is steeper than normal. When you see this, you know the deterioration of that insulation
has accelerated beyond the normal rate.

Depending upon the rate of acceleration, you may decide to do any of several things, such as:

Add the cable to the list of cable to be replaced during the next shutdown.

Increase the test frequency tomonitorthe problem more closely.

 Replace the cable (or motor) as soon as the work can be scheduled.

Note that the value obtained to create the break in the trendline could easily be within an acceptable
range. That is, the insulation resistance isnt low on an absolute scale. Its low relative to the
previous set of readings.

Source URL: http://ecmweb.com/electrical-testing/tip-week-value-insulation-resistance-testing