Stator Current Processing-Based Technique for Bearing Damage Detection in Induction Motors

Induction motors are the most commonly used electrical drives because they are rugged, mechanically simple, adaptable to widely different operating conditions, and simple to control. The most common faults in squirrel-cage induction motors are bearing, stator and rotor faults. Surveys conducted by the IEEE and EPRI show that the most common fault in induction motor is bearing failure (${\sim}$40% of failure). Thence, this paper addresses experimental results for diagnosing faults with different rolling element bearing damage via motor current spectral analysis. Rolling element bearings generally consist of two rings, an inner and outer, between which a set of balls or rollers rotate in raceways. We set the experimental test bed to detect the rolling-element bearing misalignment of 3 type induction motors with normal condition bearing system, shaft deflection system by external force and a hole drilled through the outer race of the shaft end bearing of the four pole test motor. This paper takes the initial step of investigating the efficacy of current monitoring for bearing fault detection by incipient bearing failure. The failure modes are reviewed and the characteristics of bearing frequency associated with the physical construction of the bearings are defined. The effects on the stator current spectrum are described and related frequencies are also determined. This is an important result in the formulation of a fault detection scheme that monitors the stator currents. We utilized the FFT, Wavelet analysis and averaging signal pattern by inner product tool to analyze stator current components. The test results clearly illustrate that the stator signature can be used to identify the presence of a bearing fault.