System integrators typically select bearings for their applications via a selection tool. These tools predict the bearing lifetime as function of expected radial and axial load (dynamic and static), and these bearing selection tools are typically provided by bearing manufacturers for calculation under well-defined nominal operating conditions.

However, in recent years, it is observed that bearing degradation in electric drives is caused also by shaft voltages and resulting bearing currents, which are not included in these tools. These phenomena become more prominent as more fast switching power electronics is used in the power electronic converter of modern drives in automotive and industry. The bearing currents cause material removal in the bearing raceway mainly via electric discharge machining (EDM), also known as spark eroding.

EBearDam targets to develop a generic multiphysics based tool that assesses the severity of electrically induced bearing damage. The tool will describe a number of tests to be done first by the user, in order to do parameter identification for the multiphysics model. Then, the tool computes three key indicators for bearing damage: shaft voltages, bearing currents, and potential material removal rate in the bearing, which indicates the severity of the damage. The indicators will be studied for several input parameters, which describe a wide range of operating conditions: rotating speed, axial/radial load on the bearing, temperature, and properties of the lubricant. In addition, the tool will compute these key indicators also for several software (PWM algorithm) and hardware countermeasures to reduce bearing damage. A measurement campaign will validate the tool, both on the bearing level and on the complete system-level of the drive. The tool will not give a quantitative bearing lifetime, but it will allow to assess the severity of electrically induced bearing damage based on a limited number of end-of-line tests.