MONITORING AND FAULT

DIAGNOSIS OF INDUCTION
MOTORS
EE7000-1
1
Oly Paz
Motor Fault and Diagnosis
Safety,
Reliability,
Efficiency, and
Performance
are some of the major concerns
and needs for motor systems
applications.

For a successful motor operation
the keys are:

Quality of the motor,
Understanding of the application,
Choice of the proper type of motor for
application, and
Proper maintenance of the motor.

Induction Motor
Major faults of electrical machines:
Stator faults resulting in the opening or shorting
of one or more of stator phase winding,
Abnormal connection of the stator windings,
Broken rotor bar or cracked rotor end-rings,
Static and or dynamic air-gap irregularities,
Bent shaft (akin to dynamic eccentricity) which
can result in a rub between the rotor and stator,
Shorter rotor field winding, and
Bearing and gearbox failures
Symptoms produced for one or
more of these faults:

Unbalanced air-gap voltages and
lines currents,
Increases torque pulsations,
Decreased average torque,
Increased losses and reduction in
efficiency, and
Excessive heating.


The diagnostic methods to identify
these faults can be:

Electromagnetic field monitoring, search coils,
coils wound around motor shafts,
Temperature measurements,
Infrared recognition,
Radio frequency (RF) emissions monitoring,
Noise and vibration monitoring,
Chemical analysis,
Acoustic noise measurements,
Motor current signature analysis (MCSA),
Model, artificial intelligence and neural network
based techniques.
ON-LINE CONDITION
MONITORING OF MOTORS
USING ELECTRICAL
SIGNATURE ANALYSIS
Electrical signature analysis is the
procedure of acquiring the motor current
and voltage signals, performing signal
conditioning and analyzing the derived
signals to identify the various faults.

A FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analyzer is
required for converting the signals from
the time domain to the frequency domain.

A motor current signal is ideally a perfect sinusoidal wave at 50 Hz.
The amplitude of the peak in frequency is equal to RMS amplitude of
the sine wave. As this theoretical situation with no harmonics, we see
only one peak in the frequency spectrum.
During actual operation, many harmonics will be present in the motor
signal. This is know as the motors current signature. Analyzing these
harmonics after amplification and signal conditioning will enable
identification of the various motor faults.
Stator current power spectra around 50 Hz of supposedly healthy motor.
Various types of Faults and
Their Detection Techniques
Broken rotor bar and end ring
faults.
Eccentricity related faults.
Bearing Faults.
Stator or Armature Faults.
BROKEN ROTOR BAR AND
END RING FAULTS
Rotor bar and end ring breakage can be caused by:
Thermal stresses due to thermal overload and
unbalance, hot spots or excessive losses,
Magnetic stresses caused by electromagnetic
forces, unbalanced magnetic pull, electromagnetic
noise and vibration,
Residual stresses due to manufacturing problems,
Dynamic stresses arising from shaft torques,
centrifugal forces and cyclic stresses,
Environmental stresses,
Mechanical stresses due to laminations, fatigued
parts, bearing failure, etc.
Magnetic field distribution: (a) Healthy rotor cage. (b) Five broken bars.
The broken bar frequencies are given by


Where,
electrical supply frequency
por unit slip
=1, 2, 3,
number of pole pairs
due to normal configuration,

The amplitude of frequency

component can be

evaluated by

Where is the stator current

fundamental frequency component


is the number of broken bars

( )
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
= s s
p
k
f f
s brb
1
s
f
s
k
p
,... 13 , 11 , 7 , 5 , 1 / = p k
brb
I
( ) s f
s
2 1
( ) o t
o

~
2 2
sin
p I
I
s
brb
s
I
R
p R
b
t
o
2
=
b
R
The difference in amplitude between the line frequency peak and the pole
passing frequency sidebands is an indication of the rotor bar health.
Empirical research has shown that a difference of over 60 dB indicates an excellent rotor
bar condition. A difference of about 48 dB would indicate the presence of high resistance
joints whereas a difference of about 35 dB would indicate multiple broken bars.
ROTOR BAR DAMAGE
ECCENTRICITY RELATED FAULTS
There are two types of air gap
eccentricity:
The static air gap eccentricity, and
The dynamic air gap eccentricity.

In case of the static air-gap eccentricity, the position of the minimal
radial air-gap length is fixed in space.

In case of the dynamic air-gap eccentricity, the center of the rotor is not
the center of rotation and the position of minimum air-gap rotates with
the rotor.








The sideband frequencies associated with an eccentricity are



where,
rotor slop number
rotating eccentricity order
stator MMF harmonic order

This scheme has the advantage of separating the spectral components produced
by an air-gap eccentricity from those caused by broken rotor bars, but it has the
disadvantage that it requires an intimate knowledge of the machine construction, i.e.,
the rotor slot number.

The second method monitors the behavior of the current at the fundamental
sidebands of the supply frequency. These frequencies of interest are given by




where

This scheme provides the advantage of not requires any knowledge of the
machine construction.






R

d
n


e
n


(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
p
s
m f f
s ecc
1
1
,... 3 , 2 , 1 = m
( )
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
+ e
n
p
s
n kR f f
d s ecc slop
1
Static eccentricity is the phenomenon of uneven stator-rotor air-gap, typically
caused due to soft foot in the foundation, cocked bearing or an improperly adjusted air-
gap for plain bearings. High peaks at the principal rotor bar passing frequency appearing
as sidebands to the line frequency and its harmonics.
STATIC ECCENTRICITY
DYNAMIC ECCENTRICITY
Dynamic eccentricity is the phenomenon of a variable stator-rotor air-gap,
typically caused due to worn out bearing housings or end covers. High peaks at the
principal rotor bar passing frequency and its harmonics along with the running speed
sidebands around these.
FOUR TYPES OF ROLLING ELEMENT BEARING
MISALIGNMENT
o i s bng
mf f f
,
=
(

= | cos 1
2
,
pd
bd
f
n
f
r o i
where,
n
number of bearing balls

r
f
mechanical rotor speed in hertz

bd ball diameter
pd
bearing pitch diameter

| contact angle of the balls on the race


The mechanical displacement resulting from
damaged bearing causes the machine air gap to
vary in a manner that can be described by a
combination of rotating eccentricities moving in
both directions generating stator currents at
frequencies given by


where and is one of the characteristic vibration
frequencies which are based upon the bearing
dimensions
All bearings have a set of unique defect frequencies.
The presence of high peaks at these bearing defect frequencies can identify and pinpoint
the problem. The degree of degradation can be assessed based on the amplitude of
these peaks.
BEARING PROBLEMS
STATOR OR ARMATURE FAULTS
Stator insulation can fail due to several reasons:
High stator core or winding temperatures,
Slack core lamination, slot wedges and joints,
Loose bracing for end winding,
Contamination due to oil, moisture and dirt,
Short circuit or starting stresses,
Electrical discharges,
Leakage in cooling systems.

Interturn shorts lead to excessive heating in the stator coil and also current
imbalance. The current spectrum can pick up interturn shorts as well as
interturn insulation degradation.
INTERTURN SHORTS