Abstract

Induction motors are ever popular in today’s world and can be found in most areas of life — industrial, agricultural, and even residential settings. These motors can have high inrush currents when being started up, sometimes 8-10 times the motor’s rated current. The large, instantaneous inrush current can result in voltage sags, nuisance trips of overload devices, flicker, and even cause other equipment to experience issues due to the disrupted voltage supply. By utilizing a power quality recorder, such as Power Monitors, Inc.’s Bolt shown in Figure 1, one can record motor startups and analyze what occurs during the startup and if corrective action should be taken.