2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems
Detection of Simultaneous Unbalanced Under-
Voltage and Broken Rotor fault in Induction Motor
Sridhar. S
Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
RNS Institute of Technology
Bangalore, INDIA
prof_sridhar6@rediffmail.com
Abstract— In recent years voltage unbalance and fault
analysis in induction motor independently has been researched
by engineers dealing with power quality issues. The exposure of
the motor to unbalanced supply, combined with broken rotor bar
fault significantly increases the temperature and reduces the
efficiency and life of the motor. In this paper the effect of
unbalance on broken rotor bar fault of the squirrel cage
induction motor is analyzed. The performance of the induction
motor is studied using symmetrical component analysis for the
extracted stator current. The electromagnetic torque is analyzed,
and is found to give sufficient information about the fault and the
unbalance condition. The simulation of the proposed
methodology is done using MATLAB SIMULINK.
Keywords—Induction motor, symmetrical components,
unbalanced condition, broken rotor bar fault
I. INTRODUCTION
Induction motor is widely used because of its ruggedness,
low cost, simplicity, high torque, low inertia and high
reliability. Hence, induction motors play a pivotal role in
industry and there is a strong demand for their reliable and safe
operation. The modern industry has widely used condition
based and reliability based maintenance strategies to reduce
unexpected failures and downtime. There are many published
techniques [1-3] and many commercially available tools to
monitor induction motors to ensure high degree of reliability.
In spite of these condition monitoring tools, many companies
are still facings unexpected system failures and reduced motor
lifetime. Environmental, duty, and installation issues may
combine to accelerate motor failure far sooner than the
designed motor lifetimes. The major faults of electrical
machines can broadly be classified as follows [4]:
1. Stator faults (38%)
2. Rotor faults (10%)
3. Bearing balls faults (40%)
4. Other faults (12%)
Mechanical faults contribute for more than 95% of the
overall failures. Fault in electrical machines produces one
or more of the following.
• Unbalanced air gap flux and line currents
• Increased torque pulsation
• Increased losses
978-1-4799-0083-1/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
K. Uma Rao
Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
R. V. College of Engineering
Bangalore, INDIA
drumarao@yahoo.co.in
• Excessive heating
• Decreased average torque
• Reduced efficiency
As rotor bar fault is an ‘incipient fault’ as it represents a
small and often slowly developing continuous fault. Its effects
on the system in the beginning are almost unnoticeable. The
resistance of the rotor becomes a time varying parameter, and
hence the impedance of the rotor is no longer balanced upon
the occurrence of the fault. Several diagnostic methods have
been applied for the identification of rotor bar fault in the
induction motor. Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) is
one of the powerful technique for the diagnosis of the motor
faults.
Many researches are normally focused on the
unsymmetrical supply voltage, load oscillation and monitoring
techniques to ensure a high degree of safety of induction motor.
Detection of motor fault under unbalance supply voltage in the
early stage is needed to avoid the reduction in efficiency,
heating and consequently, the damage to the induction motor
[5]. There are many reasons for unbalance in the supply, such
as generators terminal voltages, load currents, faults, power
factor correction equipment and voltage regulators in the utility
distribution lines [6]. According to National Electrical
Manufacturers Association (NEMA) the unbalanced voltage
percentage is given by (1):
Uunb = (maximum voltage – rated voltage) / rated voltage (1)
The general rule of thumb is that for every 1% voltage
unbalance, a 7% current unbalance is expected which is
equivalent to the negative sequence voltage that causes
negative braking torque. Unbalanced currents in stator winding
occur due to the unequal line voltage of induction motor. The
allowable variation in voltage is ±10% when the frequency is at
its rated value and ±5% in frequency when the voltage is at its
rated value [7]. These allowable may vary between utilities
across different countries.
The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance
of induction motor subjected to broken rotor bar fault and
unbalanced under voltage supply simultaneously. The fault is
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 2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems
simulated using MATLAB SIMULINK software. An induction
motor of 1.1KW, 380V, 50Hz, 4 pole was selected to perform
the simulation. The rotor bar is broken at 0.3 sec after the start
up in the steady state region and an unbalanced under voltage
of 7% in magnitude of the supply voltage was introduced in
one phase at 0.3 sec for a period of 0.2 sec (i.e upto 0.5 sec).
Symmetrical component analysis is performed for the stator
currents, there by extracting the magnitude of negative
sequence component. The electromechanical torque and the
negative sequence component were simultaneously analyzed to
capture the pattern in them, to enable detection of both broken
rotor bar fault and unbalanced under voltage simultaneously.
II. ROTOR FAULTS
Rotor failure account for 8-10% of the total induction
motor failure. Rotor faults are of the following types [8-10];
• Broken or cracked (high resistance) rotor bars or end
rings.
• Bad or high resistance connection between rotor bars
and end rings.
• Short circuit rotor laminations.
A. Broken rotor bar fault
The main reasons for a broken rotor bar in squirrel cage
induction motors are [11]
• Residual stress due to manufacturing problems.
• Thermal stress due to thermal overload and
unbalance, hot spots or excessive losses, sparking
(mainly in fabricated rotors).
• Magnetic stress caused by electromagnetic forces,
unbalanced magnetic pull, electromagnetic noise and
vibration.
• Dynamic stresses arising from shaft torque,
centrifugal forces and cyclic stresses.
• Environmental stresses caused by contamination or
abrasion of rotor material due to chemicals or
moisture.
• Mechanical stresses due to loose laminations, fatigue
parts or bearing faults.
Broken rotor bar model should reflect the amount of
severity of the fault and their locations. However, this process
is very complicated [12]. Rotor bar fault are simulated by
increasing one of the rotor phase resistance [12-14] while
neglecting the inductance involved. This is because the change
in the inductance is not significant, if only very few rotor bars
are assumed to be broken. The incremental resistance
corresponding to the broken bar to be considered in the
external rotor circuit is computed as follows [15].
n (2 N s ) 2
∆Rinc = × × Rb (2)
( N / 3) − n N /3
Where ‘n’ is the number of contiguous broken bars, N is the
number of rotor bars, Ns is the turn number of stator phase
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winding and Rb is the rotor bar resistance. The unbalance
created due to rotor broken bar produces positive and negative
sequence currents in the rotor. The positive sequence rotor
current results in positive sequence emf and a positive
sequence stator current in the stator with angular frequency
ωr + sω = ω (1 - s) + sω = ω (3)
The negative sequence rotor current results in emfs and
currents of frequency in the stator
ωr - sω = ω (1 - s) - sω = (1- 2s)ω (4)
where ωr is the angular frequency in rad/ sec of the rotation of
the rotor shaft and ‘s’ is the slip of the induction motor. The
rotor asymmetry induces the current in the stator with
frequency (1-2s)f. Due to the interaction of (1-2s)f component
of flux, an oscillation is seen in the torque at 2sf frequency as
in equation (5)[16]. Where ‘f’ is the supply frequency.
3
T(t) = pψInrsin(2sωt- (Φψ – Φnr)) (5)
2
Where ‘p’ is the number of pole pairs, Inr is the amplitude of
the stator current component originating from the negative
sequence rotor current, Φψ and Φnr (rad) the displacement
referring to the fundamental component of current and ψ (wb)
is the amplitude of the magnetic flux in induction motor.
III. PERFORMANCE OF INDUCTION MOTOR UNDER
UNBALANCE SUPPLY VOLTAGE
An unbalanced voltage applied across the stator of a three
phase symmetrically wound induction motor can be resolved
into positive, negative and zero sequence components. The
effect of applying unbalanced voltage can be obtained by
superposing the effects due to positive, negative and zero
sequence components of voltages.
Positive sequence voltages induce positive sequence rotor
currents which circulate at ‘s’ times the supply frequency
(where ‘s’ is the slip of the induction motor) and produces a
positive torque. The negative sequence voltage induce negative
sequence rotor current at (2-s) times the supply frequency in
the reverse direction and hence produce negative torque.
Torques produced by positive and negative sequence
component is
2 2
3I pr Rr 3I nr Rr
Tp = and Tn =
sω s (2 − s )ωs
Where Tp = positive sequence torque, Tn = negative sequence
torque, Ipr = positive sequence rotor current, Inr = negative
sequence rotor current, Rr = rotor resistance referred to stator,
ωs = synchronous speed. The net output torque is given as
3Rr ⎛⎜ I pr I nr ⎞⎟
2 2
T = Tp + T n = − (6)
ω s ⎜⎝ s 2 − s ⎟⎠
Though the resultant torque is due to both positive and negative
sequence component, the variation in the torque is mainly
because the variation in the negative sequence component.
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 2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems
Since the negative sequence varies predominantly under state region are zero and one per unit respectively, which
broken rotor bar fault and unbalanced under voltage supply indicates that it is a healthy machine with balanced supply.
condition, the stator current analysis is done for the negative
sequence component which gives a clear indication of both
unbalance and broken rotor bar fault. Since zero sequence
voltages do not produce any net torque, they are not considered
for the analysis in this paper. The nature of variation in the
torque is investigated for the following cases.
• Healthy machine with balanced supply.
• Healthy machine with unbalanced supply.
• Faulty machine with balanced supply.
• Faulty machine with unbalanced supply.

Faulty machine, in this paper is referred to broken rotor bar

fault only. The MATLAB simulation model used for this work
is presented in Fig. 1

Fig. 3. Magnitude of negative sequence stator current of healthy motor with

balanced supply.

Fig. 1. MATLAB SIMULINK model for the proposed techniques

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

case 1:Healthy machine with balanced supply
Fig. 4. Electromechanical torque of healthy motor with balanced supply.

case 2:Healthy machine with unbalanced supply

Fig. 2. Stator current waveforms of healthy motor with balanced supply

Fig 2 to Fig 4 corresponds to the waveforms of stator currents,

negative sequence component and electromechanical torque of
a healthy motor with balanced supply. It is observed that the
current in all the three phases of the induction motor attain Fig. 5. Stator current waveforms of healthy motor with unbalanced supply
steady state after 0.2 sec. The magnitude of the negative from 0.3 sec to 0.5sec
sequence current and electromechanical torque in the study

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 2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems
frequency of variation in the magnitude of the torque is twice
the supply frequency with a peak magnitude of 1.4A as seen in
Fig.7. The FFT of the stator current in Fig. 8 indicate the
presence of additional frequency component at 5 Hz along with
the fundamental due to unbalance.
case 3: Faulty machine with balanced supply

Fig. 6. Magnitude of negative sequence stator current of healthy motor with

unbalanced supply from 0.3 sec to 0.5sec.

Fig. 9. Stator current waveforms of IM with balanced supply and fault from
0.3 sec onwards.

Fig. 7. Electromechanical torque of healthy motor with unbalanced supply

from 0.3 sec to 0.5sec.

Fig. 10. Magnitude of negative sequence component of stator current with

balanced supply and fault from 0.3 sec onwards.

Fig. 8. FFT of stator current.

Fig 5 to Fig 8 corresponds to the waveforms of stator currents,

negative sequence component, electromechanical torque and
FFT of the stator current of a healthy motor with unbalanced
supply. The magnitude of the negative sequence stator current Fig. 11. Electromechanical torque of induction motor with balanced supply
is increased because of unbalance. It is observed that the and fault from 0.3 sec onwards.

51 CATCON2013
 2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems

Fig. 15. Electromechanical torque of induction motor with unbalanced supply

Fig. 12. FFT of stator current from 0.3 sec to 0.5sec and fault after 0.3 sec

Fig 9 to Fig 12 corresponds to the waveforms of induction

motor with balanced supply and fault being present from 0.3sec
onwards. The variation in the negative sequence components of
the stator current appeared due to the reaction to the rotor
asymmetry. The effect of the newly induced stator currents,
which are the reaction of the induction motor to the oscillating
torque is also seen. The variations in the magnitude of negative
sequence and torque from 0.3 to 0.5 sec, indicating the
presence of unbalance. As seen from the FFT waveform of the
stator current, an additional frequency component is introduced
at 35Hz due to presence of unsymmetrical rotor.
case 4: Faulty machine with unbalanced supply
Fig. 16. FFT of stator current

Fig 13 to Fig 16 corresponds to the waveforms of induction

Fig. 13. Stator current waveforms of IM with unbalanced supply from 0.3 sec
to 0.5sec and fault after 0.3 sec.
motor with simultaneous unbalanced supply from 0.3 to 0.5 sec
and fault being present from 0.3 sec onwards. The variation in
the magnitude of negative sequence and torque waveforms
from 0.3 to 0.5 sec, indicating the presence of both unbalance
and fault. The high frequency oscillation in the magnitude is
observed because of the difference in the frequency of the
asymmetrical rotor induced stator current and the frequency of
the unbalanced supply. As seen from the FFT waveform of the
stator current, an additional frequency component is introduced
at 35Hz, 68.5Hz, 78.1Hz and 132Hz due to presence of both
unsymmetrical rotor and unbalanced supply. It is observed that
the peak value of the torque is 2.34 (pu). Magnitude of torque,
positive sequence, negative sequence and Total Harmonic
Distortion (THD)[18] for a healthy and faulty motor are
presented in Table 1 and 2 respectively.

TABLE I. TORQUE, SEQUENCE COMPONENTS AND THD OF A HEALTHY

INDUCTION MOTOR

Magnitude of Magnitude of
positive negative
Torque
sequence sequence THD
(pu) component component
(%)
(pu) (pu)
Balanced
1.05 1.4 0 0.01
condition
Unbalanced
1.4 1.47 0.436 0.84
condition

Fig. 14. Magnitude of negative sequence component of stator current with

unbalanced supply from 0.3 sec to 0.5sec and fault after 0.3 sec

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 2013 IEEE 1st International Conference on Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems
TABLE II. TORQUE, SEQUENCE COMPONENTS AND THD OF A BROKEN
ROTOR BAR INDUCTION MOTOR
Magnitude of Magnitude of
positive negative
Torque THD
sequence sequence
component component (%)
(pu)
(pu) (pu)
Balanced
2.14 2.25 0.187 0.87
condition
Unbalanced
2.34 2.405 0.493 3.19
condition
. May 2005.
During the fault and unbalance condition, the magnitude of the
torque and sequence component are not steady and vary at a
certain rate. Hence the peak values of the components have
been presented. It is observed that the torque, sequence
components and THD value are highest in the presence of
simultaneous under voltage unbalance and broken rotor fault.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper an attempt has been made to study the nature of
variation of stator current, sequence components of the stator
current and torque during under voltage unbalance, rotor bar
fault and simultaneous under voltage unbalance and broken
rotor bar fault. The observations of the simulation results
indicate that the stator current is sufficient to give information
about the nature of the fault and the health of the induction
motor. When a healthy machine is subjected to unbalance
under voltage supply, the magnitudes of the three phase stator
currents differ, providing the signature for the fault. In the
presence of a rotor bar fault, in an otherwise healthy machine,
it has been observed that the stator current has other frequency
components lower than the supply frequency, superimposed on
the fundamental. When both unbalanced under voltage and
rotor bar fault exist, the stator current has multiple frequencies
arising due to asymmetrical rotor and the presence of negative
sequence currents, due to voltage unbalance. Hence, we can
conclude that the pattern of the stator current can be used to
make an inference on the nature of the supply and the health of
the rotor bars. If the stator current can be captured and
displayed, the waveform observation will alert the operator on
the onset of asymmetry in the rotor due to broken rotor fault.
Therefore, this simple method can be used for reliability
centered maintenance, where an incipient fault can be detected
at the early stages before the degradation is large enough to
trigger, protection relays. This would lengthen the life of the
machines and improve the efficiency of their performance.
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