The paper records a study of an investigating the performance of a solid-rotor induction motor with
a rectilinear inverter excitation to identify the effects of the associated time harmonics. The
performance is determined experimentally by using a stator of a three-phase laboratory induction
motor that is fitted with a solid-steel rotor and compared with the theoretical model developed
which uses the Fourier components of the supply voltage waveform. Final conclusions are drawn
from comparing motor performances with sinusoidal and inverter excitations. An equivalent circuit
model is developed to determine the harmonic currents. The development of the theoretical model
make use of the results of existing field analyses. Harmonic currents and other performance details
including the possible interactions between the co-existing harmonics are determined and discussed.
The measured values of torque, input current and power over full speed range with the two types of
excitation are presented, and compared with the theoretical values. The waveforms of current, phase
and line voltages are analyzed experimentally and compared with simulation results. The theoretical
results correlate well with measured results and the significant harmonic effects are identified