Investigation of the harmonic content and its impact on the performance of induction motor

This paper is focused on the investigation of the harmonic content and the harmonic distortion of the voltage and the current of pulse width modulation voltage source inverter motor. Therefore, to give a well comprehension of the harmonic problem into the motor, this paper presents first a thorough analysis of the major detrimental effects of harmonics on the performance and on the life span of the motor, especially the overheating of the machine due to the additional losses and mechanical oscillations due the ripple torque. Subsequently, the simulated results of the voltage and current harmonic analysis of the pulse width modulation inverter motor operating at different speeds, under different load conditions and at different switching frequencies are investigated and presented in order to assess the effect of different operating conditions on the harmonic distortion. Finally the simulated results are verified experimentally using a 0.7 kW PWM motor.