With the advent of power electronics, inverter-driven induction motor are finding increased use in industries because of applications that demand variable speed operations and because of the potential savings in energy usage. However, these drives sometimes produce unacceptably high levels in vibration and acoustic noise. A literature survey has revealed that while there has been intensive research on the design of inverters to minimize acoustic noise radiation from these drives, the vibro-acoustic behaviour of an induction motor structure has received relatively little attention. The primary objective of this research project, therefore, is to develop a general strategy/algorithm for estimating the acoustic noise radiated from inverter-driven induction motors. By using a three-phase, 2.2 kW induction motor, the vibration modes due to various structural components (such as the rotor, the stator/casing, the endshields and the base plate) of the motor structure were analysed by experimental modal testing. Results indicate that the vibration modes due to the rotor are only important at low frequencies. It has been found that the power injection method gives more accurate measurement of the damping of a motor structure than the modal testing and the time decay methods. If a point force excitation is used, then it is more accurate to measure the sound radiation efficiency than the power conversion efficiency for motor structures. The effect of three different inverter designs (an ideal ???almost sinusoidal??? controller and two commercially available PWM inverters) on the radiated acoustic power were assessed for both no-load and load conditions using sound intensity measurements conducted in an anechoic room. The results indicate that although the sound power level due to aerodynamic and mechanical noise increases at a rate of 12 dB per doubling of the motor speed, the electromagnetic noise dominates at low motor speeds and is still a significant noise source even at high motor speeds. For inverters with low switching frequencies, the radiated sound power level is almost 15 dB higher than the ideal case at low speeds and is relatively insensitive to the motor speed. For inverters that implement the random modulation technique, the change in the total sound power level with the level of the random modulation is very small but the tonal nature of the noise is greatly reduced. The vibration behaviour of a motor structure was modeled using the finite element method (FEM) and validated using the experimental modal testing results. It has been found that it is essential to model the laminated stator as an orthotropic structure. While the details of other structural components (such as the endshields, the teeth in the stator and the windings) are not so important, it is essential that they are incorporated into the structural model as simplified structures to account for their mass, stiffness and boundary conditions imposed on the motor structure. Based on this structural model, the radiated acoustic power for various operating conditions has been predicated using the boundary element (BEM) and the electromagnetic force calculated from an electromagnetic finite element model. The predicted results agree reasonably well with experimental measurements. Despite the success of the FEM/BEM approaches, they can be prohibitively expensive (in terms of computer resources required) to apply to large motors and high frequencies. Thus the feasibility of using a statistical method, namely, the statistical energy analysis (SEA), to estimate the radiated acoustic sound power from an inverter-driven induction motor has been examined. In order to carry out this analysis, analytical expressions for calculating the natural frequencies and radiation efficiency of finite length circular cylindrical shells (which are simplified models of the stator and casing of a motor structure) were firstly derived. The internal loss factors and coupling loss factors of the motor structure were determined experimentally using the power injection method. Then by introducing an equivalent surface mobility of circular cylindrical shells for the electromagnetic force, the vibration response and the acoustic noise radiated from each part of the motor structure were estimated. Results indicate that SEA method is potentially an efficient and effective tool in estimating the noise radiated from inverter-driven induction motors.

With the advent of power electronics, inverter-driven induction motor are finding increased use in industries because of applications that demand variable speed operations and because of the potential savings in energy usage. However, these drives sometimes produce unacceptably high levels in vibration and acoustic noise. A literature survey has revealed that while there has been intensive research on the design of inverters to minimize acoustic noise radiation from these drives, the vibro-acoustic behaviour of an induction motor structure has received relatively little attention. The primary objective of this research project, therefore, is to develop a general strategy/algorithm for estimating the acoustic noise radiated from inverter-driven induction motors. By using a three-phase, 2.2 kW induction motor, the vibration modes due to various structural components (such as the rotor, the stator/casing, the endshields and the base plate) of the motor structure were analysed by experimental modal testing. Results indicate that the vibration modes due to the rotor are only important at low frequencies. It has been found that the power injection method gives more accurate measurement of the damping of a motor structure than the modal testing and the time decay methods. If a point force excitation is used, then it is more accurate to measure the sound radiation efficiency than the power conversion efficiency for motor structures. The effect of three different inverter designs (an ideal ???almost sinusoidal??? controller and two commercially available PWM inverters) on the radiated acoustic power were assessed for both no-load and load conditions using sound intensity measurements conducted in an anechoic room. The results indicate that although the sound power level due to aerodynamic and mechanical noise increases at a rate of 12 dB per doubling of the motor speed, the electromagnetic noise dominates at low motor speeds and is still a significant noise source even at high motor speeds. For inverters with low switching frequencies, the radiated sound power level is almost 15 dB higher than the ideal case at low speeds and is relatively insensitive to the motor speed. For inverters that implement the random modulation technique, the change in the total sound power level with the level of the random modulation is very small but the tonal nature of the noise is greatly reduced. The vibration behaviour of a motor structure was modeled using the finite element method (FEM) and validated using the experimental modal testing results. It has been found that it is essential to model the laminated stator as an orthotropic structure. While the details of other structural components (such as the endshields, the teeth in the stator and the windings) are not so important, it is essential that they are incorporated into the structural model as simplified structures to account for their mass, stiffness and boundary conditions imposed on the motor structure. Based on this structural model, the radiated acoustic power for various operating conditions has been predicated using the boundary element (BEM) and the electromagnetic force calculated from an electromagnetic finite element model. The predicted results agree reasonably well with experimental measurements. Despite the success of the FEM/BEM approaches, they can be prohibitively expensive (in terms of computer resources required) to apply to large motors and high frequencies. Thus the feasibility of using a statistical method, namely, the statistical energy analysis (SEA), to estimate the radiated acoustic sound power from an inverter-driven induction motor has been examined. In order to carry out this analysis, analytical expressions for calculating the natural frequencies and radiation efficiency of finite length circular cylindrical shells (which are simplified models of the stator and casing of a motor structure) were firstly derived. The internal loss factors and coupling loss factors of the motor structure were determined experimentally using the power injection method. Then by introducing an equivalent surface mobility of circular cylindrical shells for the electromagnetic force, the vibration response and the acoustic noise radiated from each part of the motor structure were estimated. Results indicate that SEA method is potentially an efficient and effective tool in estimating the noise radiated from inverter-driven induction motors.