Current And Vibration Monitoring For Fault Diagnosis And Root Cause Analysis Of Induction Motor Drives.

Abstract

Induction motor drives are the most widely used electrical drive systems and they typically consume 40 percent of an industrialized nation’s total generating capacity. In the USA the total generating capacity is approximately 800,000 MW, consequently induction motor drives are major assets in the process and energy industries. The asset management of electrical drives requires reliable maintenance strategies that include condition monitoring and online diagnostics. Due to the complex electromagnetic and mechanical characteristics of an electrical drive system, a unified monitoring strategy has distinct advantages over monitoring only one parameter (e.g., vibration) to diagnose problems. This paper focuses on industrial case histories to demonstrate the application of current and vibration analysis to diagnose problems in induction motor drives. The results show how the root cause of a problem can be established when a combination of current and vibration monitoring is used in comparison to only analyzing one signal.