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Aim :

Explain rotor fault in induction motor

Theory :
Although induction motors are reliable electric machines, they are susceptible to many electrical and mechanical types of faults. Electrical faults include inter-turn short circuits in stator windings, open-circuits in stator windings, broken rotor bars, and broken end rings, while mechanical faults include bearing failures and rotor eccentricities.

1. Broken rotor bars / Broken end rings 2. Rotor eccentricities

Percentage of failure by component


IEEE-IAS 44 26 8 22 Percentage of failures (%) EPRI 41 36 9 14

Failed Component Bearings Related Windings Related Rotor Related Others

1.

Broken rotor bars / Broken end rings

Rotor cage fault (broken rotor bar/end-ring) accounts forapproximately 510% of all induction motor failures . ForMV motors, the rotor cage fault is even more common thanthat of small motors due to the extensive thermal stresses on therotor. Normally, broken rotor bar can be caused by the followingreasons : 1) thermal stresses due to thermal overload; overheatingof the rotor cage can cause thermal expansion and thusmechanical stresses;

2) magnetic stresses caused by electromagnetic forces, un-balanced magnetic pull; 3) dynamic stresses due to shaft torques; 4) environmental stresses due to contamination, abrasion ofrotor material; 5) mechanical stresses due to loose laminations, etc. For MV motors, the broken rotor bar/end-ring faults are com-monly caused by the high thermal stresses during starting.Therefore, the MV motors can only be started for much lesstimes than small motors, before a rotor cage failure happens.Once cracked or broken, rotor bars develop in the motors, therotor cage normally cannot be repaired. The rotor cage fault canalso lead to shaft vibration and thus bearing failures and air gapeccentricity, etc. Therefore, early detection of the broken rotorbar/end-ring is essential not only for the rotor protection butalso for reducing other types of motor failures. As shown in Fig. the squirrel cage of an induction motor consists of rotor bars and end rings. A broken bar can be partially or completely cracked. Such bars may break because of manufacturing defects,frequent starts at rated voltage, thermal stresses, and/or mechanical stress caused by bearing faults and metal fatigue . A broken bar causes several effects in induction motors. A well-know effect of a broken bar is the appearance of the so-called sideband components . These sidebands are found in the power spectrum of the stator current on the left and right sides of the fundamental frequency component. The lower side bandcomponent is caused by electrical and magnetic

asymmetries in the rotor cage of an induction motor , while the right sideband component is due to consequent speed ripples caused by the resulting torque pulsations . The frequencies of these sideband are given by: fb = (12s)f where sis the slip in per unit and fis the fundamental frequency of the stator current (power supply). The sideband components are extensively used for induction motor fault classification purposes . Other electric effects of broken bars are used for motor fault classification purposes including speed oscillations , torque ripples, instantaneous stator power oscillations, and stator current envelopes .

2.

Air-Gap Eccentricity
Air gap eccentricity is the condition when the air gap between the stator and the rotor is unequal. Severe air gap eccentricity may lead to unbalanced magnetic pull and eventually result in the stator to rotor friction, which can cause

severe damage to the stator and rotor core. There are two types of air gap eccentricity, namely, static and dynamic eccentricity. Intrinsic static eccentricity even exists for newly manufactured motors . The unbalanced magnetic pull, caused by static eccentricity, may lead to bent rotor shaft, bearing failures, dynamic eccentricity, and eventually stator to rotor rub, causing a major breakdown of the motors. For MV motors, as the air gap is relatively smaller in per-unit values compared to small motors, a relatively small eccentricity maylead to a severe motor failure. Therefore, the detection of airgap eccentricity at early stage is essential for the protection ofthe motor system. The effect of dynamic eccentricity or combined eccentricity is the appearance of characteristic sideband frequency components is the stator current spectrum, which are given by

Wherefsis the stator supply frequency,pis the number of polepairs , andsis the slip. As the fault becomes more severe, the amplitude of the indicative frequency coefficients gets also higher values.

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