Diagnosis of Short-Circuit Faults in Stator Winding inside Low-Voltage Induction Motor Using Impulse Voltage Test

Abstract

Short-circuit faults in windings due to the deterioration of insulation is one of the most common faults in motor drive systems. An easy and effective fault diagnosis method is urgently required to ensure a highly reliable operation. This paper proposes a novel method for the diagnosis of short-circuit faults in stator winding inside a low-voltage induction motor without removing the rotor, by performing an impulse voltage test. As the rotor does not need to be removed from the motor in the novel diagnosis method, the method can be applied for practical use. In this study, first, several impulse voltage tests are carried out on the stator windings of motors. Second, the values of two features that represent the characteristics corresponding to the condition of the motor are calculated, and it is found that the shape of the feature distribution does not depend on the rotor position but on the condition of the winding. Third, the distance between the feature distribution for the healthy motor and features obtained from a target motor is calculated. On the basis of this distance, the quality of stator winding inside the induction motor is determined. The effectiveness of the proposed diagnosis method is verified by performing experiments that involve several motors with healthy and faulty windings.