Investigation of motor current signature and vibration analysis for diagnosing rotor broken bars in double cage induction motors

Abstract

This paper investigates the detectability of rotor broken bars in double cage induction motors using current signature and vibration analysis techniques. Double cage induction motors are commonly used for applications where successive loaded starts-up are mandatory. Experimental results were performed under healthy and faulty cases, and for different load conditions using each technique. Rotor broken bars fault detection based on sideband current components may fails due to the presence of inter bar currents that reduce the degree of rotor asymmetry, yielding to a decrease of the magnitude of these spectral components. But inter bar currents produce core vibrations in the axial direction, which can be detected using vibration analysis, in order to overcomes the limits of the classical (MCSA) in this condition.