The Advantages of Machine Fault Detection Using Artificial Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic Technologies
MO-yuen Chow
IEEE Senior Member
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7911
US A
A brtract
!&chine fault detection has been attracting singificant
anenbon from industry. The early detection of faults in rotating
machines can significantly enhance the safety, reliability, and
economic issues of industril operations. With the emerging
technology of artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic, the
motor fault detection problem can be solved using an innovative
approach based on easy accessible measurements, without the
need for expensive equipment or accurate mathematical models
that are required from conventional fault detection techniques.
This paper will describe the advantages and the challenge of
using the technology of artificial neural networks to solve motor
fault detection problems. and also highlights parts of the research
results obtained by the author.
I. Introduction
Machine monitoring, fault detection, and diagnosis are
very important and difficult topics in the engineering field. It
ranges from a small dc motor used in intensive care unit to the
huge motors used in nuclear power plants. With proper machine
monitoring and fault detection schemes, improved safety and
reliability can be achieved for different engineering system
operations. The importance of incipient fault detection can be
found in the cost savings which are realized by detecting
potential machine failures before they occur. Non-invasive.
inexpensive, and reliable fault detection techniques are often
preferred by many engineers. Many of the inexpensive and
noninvasive techniques available for fault detection and dngnosis
in machines are based on mathematical models of the system of
interest, such as parameter estimation (model k e d techniques)
[ 11. However. since most machine dynamics are non-linear and
stochastic. many assumptions must be made regarding the
system in order to arrive at a simple and reasonable mathematical
model of the machine. In other words, the fault detection or
diagnosis system is not robust enough in the presence of noise
and perturbations because the underlying mathematical model of
the system is not well represented.
The emerging artificial neural network technology has
been applied successfully to perform fault detection and control
of dfferent engineering systems, such as motors I7.81 and power
distribution systems [9]. The demand for the use of artificial
neural networks to solve engineeiing problems is expected to
increase significantly in the next ten years, due to several
hreakthroughs in this field and also to the limitations of the
conventional engineering problem solving techniques. Artificial
neural network configura-tions, training data requirements,
robustness issues, and design considerations of motor fault
detection have been investigated [l-6). Results to date have
demonstrated their significant performance advantages relative to
the conventional methods. Although the ANN can provide the
correct input-output fault detection relation, it is essentially a
“black box“ device; i.e., it does not provide heuristic reasoning
about the fault detection process. Fuzzy logic could be a
solution to this problem. Fuzzy logic can easily and
systematically transfer heuristic, linguistic, and qualitative
knowledge, @ref& by humans) to numbers and quantitative
knowledge, (preferred by computers), and vice-versa. This
provides a simple method to heuristically implement fault
detection principles and to heuristically interpret and analyze their
results. Unfortunately, the major drawback of fuzzy logic is the
difficulty in giving an exact solution to the problems, while an
exact solution is essential for motor fault detection. Given the
technologies of artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic, we can
construct hybrid neural/fuzzy systems that can take advantage of
the powerful features of both technologies while minimizing the
effects of their drawbacks. The motor fault detection hybrid
neuraVfuzzy systems can be used to solve motor fault detection
problems with great accuracy and robustness and also provide
heuristic explanation of the fault detection process.
This paper will give some overview of the advantages,
challenges. and results obtained from the motor fault detection
aspects. Parts of the research results obrained by the author are
highlighted. Derailed description and theory of most of the
results presented in this paper can be found in the references cited
within this paper. This paper will also discuss a novel
neural/fuzzy motor fault detection system that is a noninvasive,
economical, accurate and reliably technique to perform motor
fault detection and can also be explained in a heuristic way (using
Fuzzy Logic concepts) that humans can easily understand.
11. Problem Formulation
Two of the most common types of incipient faults in a
single-phase squirrel-cage induction motor : stator win$ing fault
and bearing wear are used as illustrationsof the application of the
artificial neural network technology to perform incipient fault
detection in machines. The motor is assumed to operate under a
known load torque at steady-state condition. A turn-to-tum
insulation incipient fault in the main winding of the motor will
cause a change in the corresponding number of equivalent turns,
N,of the main winding. Likewise, bearing wear of the motor is
83
reflected in the damping coefficient of the motor, E . From
analysis, the steady-state current, I, and the rotor speed, a of the
motor can be related to the main winding equivalent turns N and
the damping coefficient B by a nonlinear equation :
g U , W , N,B ) = 0, (1)
where g = [gl, g2IT. The stator current I and the rotor speed w
are found to be very sensitive to the changing conditions of the
stator winding and bearings and can be used to indicate the stator
winding and bearing conditions. Moreover, the current and speed
are easily accessible and can be measured quite accurately.
Therefore, for the detection of turn-to-turn insulation faults and
bearing wear in single phase induction motors, the inputs to the
neural network based fault detector are { I ,w ] , the stator current
and rotor speed,and the desired network outputs are {N,,B , ] , the
qualitative conditionsof the winding insulation and bearing wear.
The conditions of the main winding and the bearing of
the motor are reflected in the numerical values of the main
winding equivalent turns N and the damping coefficient B ,
respectively. For the specific induction motor application under
study, the conditions of N, and B , are then quantized into three
condition levels (good, fair, bad) based on the values of N and B .
Define m, as'the mapping from {I,w ] to {N,B ) :
m1: l I . 4 + IN&), (2)
and m2 as the mapping of the quantization of { N,B ) to { N,,
B,l :
m2 : IN&) + {N, B,). (3)
As a result, the mapping m from { l , ~to] { N , , B , ] can be
written as a composition of ml and m2:
m = m1 m2 : ( / , U )+ {N,,B,). (4)
The mapping m is very complex due to the high degree of
nonlinearity of the induction motor dynamics and of the
discretization involved; thus obtaining an accurate analytical
expression for m for a given induction motor is rather difficult.
The complexity of the mapping m nevertheless can be avoided
by training a neural network to learn the desired mapping of m,
based solely on input-output examples which can be obtained
accurately.
An artificial neural network with input-output mapping
n learns the mapping m by adjusting the network weights, w ,
in the weight space, w , through training algorithms such as
backpropagation [ 11. The training process can be represented as :
min
W E vlln(w.x) - m(x)llv x E x,
where x E X , the input spacem is the input pattern, y = m(x)
E Y,the output sppace, is the corresponding output pattern, and
114 is some appropriate functional norm measure. Generally, m
input-output measurements are taken from the mapping 3"(1. and
are used as the training examples for the artificial neural network
to train the network. The training process is then approximated
as :
84
WmE iwl'Jt(w,xi)
n - m ( x i ) l l i = 1, ..., m, subject to 11'11 < Q, (6)
where xi E 7 is the i-th input pattern, y i = m ( x i ) E Y is the
corresponding output, and 7 c 31 is the training pattern space.
Let J ; = ~ ( w J ; )be the corresponding network output given
input x i . Denote e i . the error between the network output j ;
and the actual output y;, as :
ei = j ; - y i = n ( w , x i )- Yk(x;). (7)
The network training is stopped, i.e., the network is sufficiently
trained, when the training error E, defied as
m
i=l , (8)
is less than or equal to the preset tolerance value ET. Again, 114
is some appropriate norm measure, two-norm being a popular
choice.
111. Design and Training Considerations of the
Motor Fault Detector Artificial Neural
Network
In the posed problem, the values of N, and B , for each
combination of I and w are obtained by an experts' heuristic
interpretation of the measured data. This set of input-output
patterns can then be used to train the network to perform
satisfactory fault detection and achieve 98% accuracy.
Sometimes, if a-priori information about the relationship of the
inputs and outputs is available and used correctly, then the
network structure and training time can be reduced and the
network accuracy can be significantly improved. As shown in
Fig. 1, the bearing condition is basically a quadratic function of I
and w. A high-order net, with network inputs { I ,w, 12, 02,
I * @ ) is
, used and gives faster training and better accuracy. The
increase in performance is attributed to the fact that the training
error to be minimized is more convex in the high-order input
space than in the normal input space. More detailed discussion
on high-order net for fault detection can be found in [2].
Figure 1. Surface plot of bearingwear as a function of motor
current and rotor speed.
Many neural network configurations can solve the same
motor fault detection problem satisfactory. However, different
configurations can have different performance in noisy
conditions In [ 4 ] ,a relative robustness measure. based on
sensitivity analysis, is derived and proposed to be used as a
measure of neural network robustness subject to small
perturbations. The relative robustness of the network with
respect to input x with trained weights w is-expnsed as :
where
S(XlW) = fuzzy logic for the design of neural network configurations was
aXNl
aj2(xiw)
(11)
... ajNLhw)
is the network sensitivity matrix, and NI and NL are the number
J.
of inputs and outputs of the motor fault detector artiticial neural
network respectively. For the network trained with m training
patterns, the relative robustness vector becomes r = [r(xllw),....
r(x,lw)lT and the relative robustness measure of the overall
network configurahon is defined as :
R = I1 r(rlw) 11. (12)
where 11-11 is some appropriate norm. The relative robustness
measure has been used to demonstrate that a Multi-Sample
Incipient Fault Detector Artificial Neural Network, which uses
tapped-delay lines to increase the number of inputs to the neural
network [ 4 ] ,increases the motor fault detection artificial neural
network performance in noisy conditions, which in turn
improves its reliability.
Different network performance criteria. such as the
accuracy, training time, sensitivity. and number of neurons. are
considered when evaluating a given configuration. Apparently,
different neural n e t w d configuratiorrS will yield different fault
detection performances. Usually there will be certain badeoffs
between the various performance critaia The cost function
approach can be a good solution to Compromise the different
performance criteria. Four measures will appear in the cost
function representing each of the evaluation criteria mentioned
above as an illustration. n !. general, the accuracy of the neural
network is inversely d a e d to an erra measurement. Thus, the
minimization of erroc is considered as a maximization of the
accuracy. The emx. training time. sensitivity, and number of
neurons will be denoted as E . T.S. and N respectively. There is
a ‘‘cost” associated with each of the criteria, which will be
denoted as JE. I, Is. and Jw respectively. A cast function of the
form
J(ni. n h ) = q1JE(n;. n A ) q2 / A n r . nh) + q3 Js(ni.nh) + q4JN(ni, nh).
+
(13)
is used to provide a method of evaluating various network
configurations. The values of q = [q,. q2.q3. qJT in (13) are the
weights that can be used to tailor the cost function to the
individual preferences of the network designer. The problem can
be posed as a minimization problem through the selection of the
number of input nodes, ni. and the number of hidden nodes, nh.
Conventional optimization techniques are not suitable to solve
the optimization problem because many of the evaluation criteria
do not have explicit mathematical models. A fuzzy logic
approach has been presented in [ 5 ] that can be used to
automatically configure an optimal or near optimal motor fault
detection neural network structure by translating known trends
and experience into network modifications, based on heuristic
reasoning and linguistic variables. The motivation behind using
realized when the following questions were asked.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Is the training e m small enough?
Is the training time too long?
Is the network robust in the presence of input
noise?
Are too many or too few hidden layers and hidden
nodes being used?
All of these questions have fuzzy answers in the sense that they
contain a certain amount of imprecision. Fuzzy logic will allow
us to quantitatively evaluate the answers to these questions in a
systematic manner. After choosing reasonable membership
functions and fuzzy rules to search for the optimal network
configuration, a weighted defuzzification mle is used to determine
what the change in network configuration should be. The
general procedure is depicted in flow chart format in Fig. 3.
(-7
I YeS
Fig. 3. Flowchart of a fuzzy logic nTural network configuration
process.
As an example, an artificial neural network was to be
designed for bearing wear fault detection with design criteria q =
[ l . 0.1.0.7, 0.15IT.This choice of q represents a network with
an emphasis on the training accuracy and the sensitivity, while
discounting the training time and number of neurons used. The
results are presented in Table I, with the fuzzy logic correctly
driving the initial n,,,., configuration to the optimal n6.z.i
configuration, which is the optimal solution based on the
exhaustive simulation of different network configurations. This
example is shown in Table I.
85
 Table I : Configuring the MS-IFDANN with q = [l, 0.1.0.7,
L and motor current also increase while the rotor speed decreases.
3 Rs.s.1 0.597 +2 -0 Tt.io.s.i
Optimal 4 ~IOB,I 0.2626 -2 -2 fb.6.1
5 n8.6.1 0.5976 +2 +2 Exit
L I
I L
IV. Motor Fault Detection NeuraVFuzzy System
As mentioned in the introduction section, the major
drawback of using artificial neural network alone to perform
motor fault detection is its black box approach. In this section,
we will present some preliminary results of the combination of
the artificial neural network and fuzzy logic technologies to
perform motor fault detection as well as give heuristic reasoning
of the fault detection process. The artificial neural network
motor fault detector is configurated in a module form based on
fuzzy rules and membership functions as shown in Fig. 4.
Therefore, aftes tfaining, the motor fault detection NN/FZ system
will not only gives satisfactory fault detection accuracy, but also
give heuristic reasoning behind the fault detection process [61.
h a z y Rule Moduk
Figure 4. Motor fault detection n e d f u z z y system shucture.
The fuzzy membership function module performs the mapping
rp, which maps the input space, (I, w ) , to the fuzzy
membership function space, M . Each output of the neural
network in this module represents a fuzzy membership function
set pi E M. Through backpropagation training, the mapping,
f",is manipulated to provide the correct membership function
representation of the input space. The fuzzy membership space
is linearly mapped to the fuzzy rule module in the fuzzy rule
space, R. The mapping, F,., is also performed by a fully
connected feedforward structure. Through bckpropagation
training, the weights adjust the mapping, .Fr, which is
86
manipulated to provide the correct fuzzy rules necessary for
proper fault classification. The rules are determined by a
principle of excitatory and inhibitory weights which perform the
mapping r r 161.
Bearing wear fault detection is used once again as an
illustration. As bearing wear increases, the coefficient of friction
Bearing wear generally contributes five to ten percent of all
rotational power losses experienced by a healthy condition
motor. Considering this, a rule base for bearing wear can be
easily constructed based upon the following heuristics:
loss + Pmtor loss + Pmtationd loss)
Ross = as€(ot'r
IF Pmtationd loss 5 0.05 (PIOM) THEN GOOD
IF 0.05 m o s s ) < Proutional loss 20.10 (Ross) THEN FAIR
(15)
IF 0.10 m o s s ) < Pmtationd loss THEN BAD
Based on Fig. 1, a preliminary rule base (for off-line training to
initialize the fuzzy/neural system) of the neural/fuzzy fault
detection system is constructed and shown in Table 11. The
inputs, I and w, are evaluated as LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH
(L,M,H). The resulting rule decision is classifiid as either
WI
BAD,FAIR,orGOOD ( B 3 . G ) orDISCARD (d).
Table 11. Fuzzy rule base for bearing wear.
M F F
H B B G
Through backpropagation training, the fuzzy rule base was
modified by adaptation of the mapping Fr to provide the proper
classification output. This adaptation modified the fuzzy rule
base by eliminating three unnecessary rules. The modified fuzzy
rule base is shown below in Table III which agrees with heuristic
reasoning.
Table HI. Reduced fuzzy rule base. for bearing wear.
Given the initial fuzzy membership functions (three
random fuzzy membership function sets per input), the
neuraUfuzzy system modified these fuzzy membership functions
through backpro-pagation training by adapting the mapping Fp
The change in the membership functions provide knowledge to
determine the actual iange of "high current, "low" speed, etc. for
safe operation of the motor in question. These modified
membership functions are shown below in Fig. 5 , which gives
the heuristic description of the membership functions of bearing
wear detection.
 I ~ Low

Medium
........ High I Induction Motors Using Artificial Neural Networks,"
IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 6, no. 3,
pp. 536-545, Sept. 1991.
1 MO-yuen Chow, Griff Bilbro, Sui Oi Yee, "Application
131
0.8 of Leaming Theory to a Single Phase. Induction Motor
0.6 Incipient Fault Detection Artificial Neural Network,"
International Journal of Neural Systems, vol. 2, nos.
") 0.4 1&2, pp. 91-100, 1991.
0.2 [4] MO-yuen Chow, Sui Oi Yee, "A Measure of Relative
0 Robustness for Feedforward Neural Networks Subject to
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Small Input Perturbations," International Journal of
Neural Systems, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 291-299, 1992.
- ....... [5] Robert N. Sharpe, MO-yuen Chow, "A Methodology
Using Fuzzy Logic to Optimize Feedforward Artificial
Medium Neural Network Configurations," IEEE Transactions on
Systems, Man. and Cybernetics, vol. 24, no.5, pp. 760-
768, May 1994.
[a MO-yuen Chow, Paul V. Goode, "Adaptation of a
Neural/Fuzzy Fault Detection System," Proceedings of
Conference of Decision and Control 93, San Antonio,
TX,December 15-17.1993.
m Ismel E. Alguindigue, Anna Loskiewicz-Buczak, Robert
~I

0
I

0.2 0:4 0:6 0.8

, I

1
w@u)
Figure 5 . Membership functions of the stator current and motor
speed for motor fault detection (after training).
V. Conclusions
This paper has presented the advantages, challenges, and
highlights of the research results of the application of the
artificial neural network and fuzzy logic technologies to perform
motor fault detection based on NSF sponsored Incipient Fault
Detection Using Artificial Neural Networks project. This paper
also presented some preliminary results on a motor fault
detection neural/fuzzy system which not only gives highly
satisfactory performance as a non-invasive, inexpensive, and
robust motor fault detection technique but also provides valuable
heuristic reasoning of the fault detection a m . The results
obtained from the project so far i h c a t e a promising future of
using artificial neural network and fuzzy logic technologies to
solve machine fault detection problems.
E. Uhrig, "Monitoring and Diagnosis of Rolling Element
Bearings Using Artificial Neural Networks," I E E E
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 40, no. 2, pp.
209-217, April, 1993.
[8] T. H. Lee, W.K. Tan, M.H. AngJr., "A Neural Network
Control System with Parallel Adaptive Enhancements
Applicable to Nonlinear Servomechanisms," I E E E
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 41, no. 3, pp.
269-277, June, 1994.
[9] Mo-yuen Chow, Sui Oi Yee, Leroy S. Taylor,
"Recognizing Animal-Caused Faults i n Power
Distribution Systems Using Artificial Neural Networks,"
IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 8, no.3, pp.
1268-1274, July 1993.

VI. Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would llke to acknowledge the

support of National Science Foundation. for Grant No. ECS-
8922121.

References

[l] MO-yuen Chow, Robert N. Sharpe. James C. Hung, "On

the Application and Design Consideration of Artificial
Neural Network Fault Detectors," f E E E Transactions on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 40. no. 2. pp. 181-198, April,
1993.
[2] MO-yuen Chow, Sui-Oi Yee, "Methodology For On-Line
Incipient Fault Detection in Single-Phase Squirrel-Cage

87