Modified Slot Opening for Reducing Shaft-to-Frame Voltage of AC Motors

This paper presents a method to reduce the winding-to-rotor capacitance of electrical machines for the purpose of suppressing shaft-to-frame voltage, which causes reliability issues, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) and bearing current. The proposed method is based on the modification of slot opening shape of the stator core, including the variation of slot opening width and the use of oblique slot opening. For the verification of the suggested method, six different slot opening shapes, including a reference design, are analyzed and compared using finite element analysis, and the results show that the proposed method can reduce the shaft-to-frame voltage by 98%, compared to the reference design.