Are you correctly monitoring your winding temperature?

The aging cycle of a machine is directly associated with the deterioration of the insulating material of its winding. We have already covered in previous issues that controlling the temperature of the machine is fundamental to avoid premature aging, because as we said, temperature is usually the predominant factor for the aging of insulating materials.

The most common practice to monitor the temperature is through the installation of temperature sensors (usually RTD type PT 100) that are in direct contact with the coils inside the slots. The installation of these sensors is usually in strategic regions of the winding, where the objective is to find the hottest point and control its limit. Remember that the greatest source of heat is in the copper losses in the coils (Joule effect).

As the sensors are contact sensors, they need to be protected by an enclosure. There will always be a temperature gradient between the inside of the copper and the temperature sensor. To adjust the temperature limits in the protection and alarm system, this difference must be taken into account.

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