Low-Cost Diagnosis of Rotor Asymmetries of Induction Machines at Very Low Slip With the Goertzel Algorithm Applied to the Rectified Current

Abstract

[EN] Induction machines (IMs) are essential components of many industrial installations and, therefore, their faults must be detected early. Fault detection using current spectrum analysis is attracting an increasing interest as a condition-based monitoring (CBM) technique. However, its use to detect rotor asymmetries in high-power IMs, which operate at very low slip, is particularly challenging, due to the closeness of the characteristic fault harmonics to the fundamental component, separated only a few MHz. Their reliable detection in harsh industrial environments requires a very high spectral resolution, that is, long acquisition times and a huge number of current samples, which hinders its implementation on embedded, online devices with limited computing resources. To address this problem, this article presents a novel combination of diagnostic techniques, the use of the rectified current as diagnostic signal, and the Goertzel algorithm as signal processing tool. This unique combination allows for an optimized implementation of the Goertzel algorithm, which provides a high spectral resolution in the full load range of the machine, with a low computational cost and a negligible memory footprint. This proposal is validated experimentally with the fault diagnosis of a high-power medium-voltage industrial motor.