IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO.
2, MARCH/APRIL 2007
Performance Analysis of a Three-Phase Induction
Machine With Inclined Static Eccentricity
Xiaodong Li, Student Member, IEEE, Qing Wu, and Subhasis Nandi, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—Fault diagnosis is gaining more attention for electric
machines running critical loads, whose sudden breakdown can
result in unpredictable revenue losses. Consequently, the motor
drive systems with fault diagnostic and prediction features are
of great concern and are becoming almost indispensable. Among
all kinds of common faults, quite a few have relationship with
unequal air gap. So far, work on detection of eccentricity-related
faults in induction and synchronous machines has been well doc-
umented. However, a few are reported on faults resulting from
axial nonuniform air gap. This paper investigates the perfor-
mance of a three-phase induction machine with nonuniform static
eccentricity (SE) along axial direction or inclined SE. A variant of
modified winding function approach is applied to study this fault.
The relationship between the number of rotor bars and poles,
and the existence of fault-related current harmonics is discussed.
It is shown that inclined eccentricity also demonstrates similar
characteristics such as circumferential nonuniform air gap (SE).
More importantly, it has been proved conclusively that inclined
eccentricity symmetric to the midpoint of the machine shaft cannot
be recognized from the current spectrum and would therefore re-
quire some other form of detection. Finite-element results to verify
the inductance values used in simulation are also presented. The
analysis is supplemented by the stator current spectra obtained
from simulated results for different load and fault conditions.
Finally, a four-pole 45-rotor-bar 2-kW induction motor is used
to validate the theoretical and simulation results experimentally.
Both current as well as vibration spectra are presented.
Index Terms—Inclined static eccentricity (SE), induction motor.
I. I NTRODUCTION
A S THE DOMINANT electricmechanical energy con-
version device available currently, induction machines
are widely used as critical components in many industrial
processes. In spite of their comparative robustness and reli-
ability, sudden failures of these motors can result in significant
plant downtime and unpredictable revenue losses or can even
cause damage to other equipment and personnel. Consequently,
the motor drive systems with fault diagnostic and prediction
features are of great concern and are thus becoming almost
indispensable [1], [2].
Paper IPCSD-06-104, presented at the 2005 IEEE International Electric
Machines and Drives Conference, San Antonio, TX, May 15–18, and approved
for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by
the Electric Machines Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.
Manuscript submitted for review January 1, 2006, and released for publication
November 16, 2006. This work was supported in part by the Canada Foundation
for Innovation, in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada, and in part by the University of Victoria.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada (e-mail:
xiaodong@uvic.ca; qwu@ece.uvic.ca; snandi@ece.uvic.ca).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2006.889806
0093-9994/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
531
In recent years, while the design of cage rotors has undergone
little change, marked progress have been achieved in not only
the design and manufacture of stator windings but also in the
development of insulation material and treatment process. As
a result, rotor failures now account for a larger portion of
total induction motor failures [2]. Quite a few rotor faults are
nonuniform air-gap related. These can be further subdivided
into two categories: circumferential unequal air gap and axial
unequal air gap. The former can be regrouped into: static
eccentricity (SE) and dynamic eccentricity (DE). In the case
of SE, the rotor rotates around its own geometric axis, which
is not the geometric axis of the stator. In case of DE, the rotor
is not concentric and rotates around the geometric axis of the
stator. In reality, both SE and DE tend to coexist. An inherent
level of SE exists even in newly manufactured machines due to
the build-up of tolerances during manufacturing and assembly
procedure, as has been reported by the study in [3].
The reasons that lead to unequal air-gap may involve many
different factors. It can be caused by: 1) unbalanced load;
2) bearing wear; 3) bent rotor shaft; 4) mechanical resonance
at critical load; and 5) manufacture and assembly tolerance.
Unequal air gap causes unbalanced magnetic pull (UMP) [4]
on the rotor, which brings up mechanical stress on some part of
the shaft and bearing. After a prolong operation, these factors
can snowball into broken mechanical part or even stator to rotor
rub, causing major breakdown of the machines [1].
Axial unequal air-gap occurs when the rotor’s geometric
axis is not parallel to that of the stator. Then, along the axial
direction, the degree of eccentricity is not constant. Thus,
axial or inclined eccentricity can also be treated as a variable
circumferential eccentricity.
The initial work in the detection of SE [5] provided the oft-
quoted rotor-slot-related formulas using motor current signa-
ture analysis (MCSA) and vibration. Later, the study in [3]
analyzed the effect of combined SE and DE. Subsequently, the
study in [1] and [6] extended the work presented in [3] and [5]
to quantify the relationship between the motor pole pairs and
rotor slots for MCSA-based detection of static, dynamic, and
mixed eccentric machines. Use of parallel winding in reducing
the UMP due to SE in induction machines has been reported by
the study in [7]. The effect of rotor shapes (totally open, totally
closed, and semiclosed) on SE levels on motor currents using
finite-element (FE) techniques has been discussed in [8]. It was
found that semiclosed slots showed maximum increase in the
presence of SE. In [9], it was shown that rotor slot skewing
also drastically reduces the SE components in current. Other
work in this area include detection of eccentricity faults on the
basis of current Park’s vector component [10], first difference
532 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

phase space [11]. All of this significant work on eccentricity

inherently assumed that SE is uniform in nature. This may not
necessarily be the case in practice, given the unequal loading
conditions of the bearing, due to manufacturing, mounting
deformities, and uneven stress experienced inside the motor.
The first and only mention of inclined eccentricity that the
authors could dig out appeared in [12] and [13], and the authors
just mentioned it in passing without any analysis. Thus, the ob-
jective of this paper is to analyze the detectability of the inclined
eccentricity in a three-phase induction motor, primarily through
MCSA. This paper is organized in the following way. Section II
gives the mechanism of the generation of eccentricity-related
harmonics in stator current spectrum. A variant of modified
winding function approach (MWFA) is discussed to evaluate
motor inductances in Section III. The evaluation of inductances
under inclined SE is also presented in this section. Section IV
introduces a simple state-space induction machine model based
on coupled magnetic circuit. The verification of the theoretical
analysis through computer simulations and experiments are
presented in Sections V and VI, respectively. A conclusion is
given in Section VII. More simulation and experimental results
and their comparisons are presented in Appendix II.

II. M OTOR C URRENT S IGNATURE A NALYSIS

It has been clearly shown [1], [6] that the presence of air-
gap eccentricity can be detected using MCSA. The equation
describing the frequency components of interest is

fh = f [(kR ± nd )(1 − s)/p ± ν] (1)

where nd = 0 in case of SE, and nd = 1, 2, 3, . . . in the case of

DE (nd is known as the eccentricity order), f is the fundamental Fig. 1. Simulated line current spectra for a four-pole induction machine with
supply frequency, R is the number of rotor slots, s is the slip, (from top to bottom): 28 bars, healthy; 28 bars under uniform 50% SE; 43 bars,
healthy; and 43 bars under uniform 50% SE.
p is the number of pole pairs, k is any integer, and ν is the
order of the stator time harmonics that are present in the power
are illustrated by MATLAB1 simulation results of line current
supply driving the motor (ν = 1, 3, 5, etc.). The principal slot
spectrum given in Fig. 1.
harmonics (PSH) are also given by the above equation, with
nd = 0, ν = 1, and k = 1. In case one of these harmonics
is a multiple of three, it may not exist theoretically in the III. MWFA AND C ALCULATION OF THE I NDUCTANCE IN
line current of a balanced three-phase machine. However, it AC M ACHINES W ITH I NCLINED SE
has also been shown by the study in [6] that only particular
In case of pure SE illustrated in Fig. 2, the position of radial
combinations of machine pole pairs and rotor slot number will
minimal air-gap length is fixed in space. The air-gap length at
give rise to significant only SE- or only DE-related components.
any position ϕ can be expressed as
This relationship for a three-phase integral-slot 60◦ phase belt
machine is given by g(ϕ) = go (1 − a cos ϕ) (3)

R = 2p [3(m ± q) ± r] ± k (2) where go is the average air-gap length in a symmetric machine,

ϕ is the stator position measured from a reference point on the
where m ± q = 0, 1, 2, 3, . . ., r = 0 or 1, and k = 1 or 2. stator, and a is the SE that is given by
Equation (2) assumes only the fundamental eccentricity com-
ponent in the inverse air-gap function. However, with k = 2, a = (gmax − gmin )/(2go ) (4)
these components are very weak and noticeable only under
light load conditions [14]. For example, a four-pole machine where gmax and gmin are the maximum and minimum air gap
with 28 bars (k = 0) can generate only PSH for both healthy around the rotor, respectively.
and SE conditions, while the same one with 43 bars will show
eccentricity-related harmonic only under SE condition. These 1 MATLAB, The Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA, 2004.
LI et al.: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-PHASE INDUCTION MACHINE WITH INCLINED SE 533

rotor is inclined, the original MWFA will not be valid to com-

pute inductance. Thus, the MWFA shall have to be extended
to 3-D to calculate inductances in an induction machine with
inclined rotor.
By using MWFA, the calculation of inductances in a static-
inclined eccentric machine can be derived as follows. First, to
simplify the equations to describe an ac motor, the following
are assumed in this approach [15], [16].
1) Flux crosses the air gap radially (axial flux is negligible).
2) Saturation is negligible.
3) Average core saturation is incorporated by using Carter’s
coefficient to adjust air-gap length.
4) Eddy current, friction, and windage losses are neglected.
Fig. 2. Circumferential unequal air gap. C1 is the center of the stator. C2 is
5) Cage bars are insulated.
the center of the rotor. 6) The magnetic material has an infinite permeance.
7) Slot effects are negligible.
By considering a cylindrical volume located just inside the
stator inner surface, it can be shown that the modified winding
function of a coil is given as [17]

M (ϕ, θr , y) = n(ϕ, θr , y) − M (θr , y) (8)

where n(ϕ, θr , y) is the turns function of the winding, and

M (θr , y) is the average value of the modified winding func-
tion, which can be expressed as

2π
Fig. 3. Axial or inclined unequal air gap. 1
M (θr , y) = −1
n(ϕ, θr , y)g −1 (ϕ, y)dϕ (9)
If the rotor is axially inclined, it also causes SE shown in 2π g (θr , y)
0
Fig. 3. However, a will not be a constant, but the function of the
position along the axial direction. β is assumed to be a planar where
angle. Through geometric analysis on Fig. 3, it is easy to show
that the eccentricity ratio at any point along the shaft as 2π
 −1
 1
g (θr , y) = g −1 (ϕ, θr , y)dϕ (10)
a(y) = (2a0 − ls sin β/go )/2 + y tan β/go (5) 2π
0
where ao is the SE at the midpoint of the rotor, ls is the length
of the stack, β is the inclined angle of the rotor, and y is the is the average part of g −1 (ϕ, θr , y). θr is the rotor position
distance from the reference point on one end of the stack. measured from the same reference point from which ϕ is
Thus, the air gap at any point y and ϕ is given as measured.
The differential inductance of winding A due to the current
g(ϕ, y) = go [1 − a(y) cos ϕ] . (6) in winding B is thus given as [1], [18], [19]

With Fourier series analysis, the inverse air-gap length is dLAB (θr , y) = µo r
given approximately as  2π 

1 ×  nA (ϕ, θr , y)MB (ϕ, θr , y)g −1 (ϕ, θr , y)dϕ dy
g −1 (ϕ, y) ≈
(11)
go 1 − a(y)2 0


2 1− 1− a(y)2
+
cos ϕ. (7) where µo is the permeability in vacuum and r is the average
go 1− a(y)2 a(y) radius of the machine.
Substituting (8) into (11) will give
Before simulating the motor with inclined eccentricity, the
machine inductances are needed to be evaluated first. Winding dLAB (θr , y) = µo r
function approach (WFA) and MWFA are frequently used in  2π 
−1
 0 nA (ϕ, θr , y)nB (ϕ, θr , y)g (ϕ, θr , y)dϕ 
motor inductance calculation. The former is only limited to
uniform air-gap case, while the latter takes the nonuniform × 2π
 dy.
 (12)
circumferential air gap into consideration. However, since the −1
−MB (θr , y) nA (ϕ, θr , y)g (ϕ, θr , y)dϕ
air-gap length changes in both axial and radial directions if the 0
534 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

The integral part of the second term can be substituted using moment of inertia of the rotor; and Te is the electromagnetic
(9), thus, torque. Te can be evaluated by

dLAB (θr , y) = µo r Te = ∂Wco /∂θr |(Is , Ir are assumed independent of θr ).

 2π  (21)
−1
n (ϕ, θ , y)n (ϕ, θ , y)g (ϕ, θ , y)dϕ
× 0 A r B r r  dy. (13) In a linear magnetic system, the coenergy Wco is equal to the
 −1  stored magnetic energy in the air gap
−2π MA (θr , y) MB (θr , y) g (θr , y)
Wco = 0.5(Ist Lss Is + Ist Lsr Ir + Irt Lrs Is + Irt Lrr Ir ). (22)
Based on above calculation, we can derive the equivalent induc-
tance for the whole machine Since even under static-inclined eccentricity, stator self-
inductance Lss is independent of θr ; only the last three terms
ls
in (22) will be used for torque calculation.
LAB = dLAB (θr , y). (14) With X = [Is Ir ωr θr ]t as state variables, we can or-
0 ganize them into standard state-space equations of the form

Thus, Ẋ = AX + BU. (23)

LAB = µo r Equation (23) can be solved dynamically to obtain the motor

 ls2π  currents, speed, etc., under inclined eccentricity condition. Ad-
−1 ditionally, only two of three stator phase currents need to be
0 0 n A (ϕ, θ r , y)nB (ϕ, θ r , y)g (ϕ, θ r , y)dϕdy 
×
. (15) solved, since the sum of the three phase currents is always zero
ls  −1   for a star connected machine.
−2π MA (θr , y) MB (θr , y) g (θr , y) dy
0

V. S IMULATION R ESULTS
As long as the magnetic circuit is linear, it can easily be
proved following [1] that A. Inductances Calculation and Verification
The machine studied in this paper is a three-phase four-pole
LAB = LBA . (16) star-connected 2-kW induction motor. It has a stator of 36 slots
and a cage rotor consisting of 45 bars [conforming to (2) with
k = 2]. The turns function for the ith phase and the jth rotor
IV. T RANSIENT M ODEL OF AN I NDUCTION M OTOR loop are given, respectively, as follows:
I NCLUDING I NCLINED SE ∞
  
2N hπ
nsi (ϕ) = sin
Based on a coupled magnetic approach, a general model of hπ 3
h=1,3,5,...
single-phase or multi-phase motor can be derived [15], [20].
  
The effects of non-sinusoidal air-gap magnetomotive force hπ
× 1 + 2 cos
(MMF) produced by both the stator and rotor currents have 9
been incorporated into the model. The machine is regarded as   
(i − 1)π
a system of coupled circuits with coupling inductances used to × cos 2h ϕ −
define the interaction between various circuits. 3
Based on above assumption, the machine can be described 3N
by a series of circuital equations +
2
(24)
Vs = Rs Is + Lss dIs /dt ∞    
 4 hα hγ
+ Lsr dIr /dt + ωr (dLsr /dθr )Ir (17) nrj (ϕ, θr ) = sin sin
h2 πγ 2 2
h=1,2,3,...
Vr = Rr Ir + Lrr dIr /dt + Lrs dIs /dt
α
+ ωr (dLrs /dθr )Is × cos (h (ϕ − (j − 1)α − θr )) +
(18) 2π
ωr = dθr /dt (19) (25)

Te − Tl = Jdωr /dt (20)
where V , I, R, and L are the voltage vector, current vector,
resistance matrix, and inductance matrix, respectively; the sub-
script “s” or “r” denotes stator or rotor; θr is the rotor position;
ωr is the machine rotation speed; Tl is the load torque; J is the
where α = 2π/R, R is the number of rotor bars, N is the
number of series connected conductors in a coil, and γ is
the rotor skew angle. Fig. 4 illustrates the turns functions and
the winding functions of stator phase “a” and rotor loop “1.”
In order to show the effects of inclined eccentricity, the
variation of mutual inductance Lsra1 (between stator phase a
LI et al.: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-PHASE INDUCTION MACHINE WITH INCLINED SE
Fig. 4. Turns functions n(ϕ) and winding functions N (ϕ) of stator phase a
(top) and rotor loop 1 (bottom).
Fig. 5. Variation of mutual inductance between stator phase A and rotor
loop 1 and its derivative (top). Magnetizing inductance of rotor loop 1 and its
derivative (bottom) under inclined eccentricity (one end is 50% SE and the other
end is −50% SE).
and rotor loop 1), self-inductance Lrr11 (for rotor loop 1), and
their derivatives with respect to rotor position along rotor shaft
under inclined eccentricity are shown in Fig. 5.
535
Fig. 6. Variation of mutual inductance Lsra1 between stator phase a and rotor
loop 1 obtained from MWFA (left) and FE (right) for one end is 50% SE and
the other end is −50% SE.
In order to verify the inductance profiles obtained by MWFA
techniques, a FE-based software—Maxwell2 2-D and 3-D—is
used to evaluate the inductances again. Since FE methods
compute inductances by directly analyzing the magnetic field,
they include factors such as saturation, slots effects, etc., auto-
matically. Hence, the results are more accurate. However, the
influence of slot effects may not be very important according to
the study in [21]. Average core saturation can be incorporated
in MWFA by using Carter’s coefficient and also as shown in
[22]. Additionally, MWFA can take rotor bar skewing into con-
sideration, which has a large impact on eccentricity harmonics.
Maxwell 2-D also cannot include skewing since the simulation
is limited to 2-D. Also, it is easy to isolate different factors
such as slot effects, saturation in MWFA to evaluate their effect
individually, which cannot be realized in FE. Furthermore, the
time for FE simulation is much larger (more than 100 times)
compared with MWFA, which is the main reason in using
MWFA rather than FE for the simulation of all the inductances
of the motor. Some inductance plots obtained from both MWFA
and FE are presented in Figs. 6 and 7. It is quite apparent
that the plots coming from different methods demonstrate a
satisfactory match. In particular, good matches of MWFA with
3-D-FE (Fig. 7) results conclusively prove that the inductance
formula, as shown in (15), correctly accounts for the inductance
variation along the axial length.
From the calculation of inductance using MWFA and FE-
3-D (Fig. 7), it can be seen that the inductances for an inclined
case actually are the average value of inductances along the
shaft axis. For example, a motor with inclined rotor (one end is
40% SE and the other end is 60% SE) shall demonstrate char-
acteristics of one with a uniform 50% SE. Thus theoretically,
the fault-related harmonics would become undetectable for the
case with average zero SE (one end is 50% SE and the other
end is −50% SE). Thus, to detect this type of fault, a different
technique other than MCSA has to be used.
B. Dynamic Simulation
Digital simulations of the 45-bars motor under different fault
and load conditions have been done in MATLAB. The start-
up characteristics of the motor with inclined eccentricity are
presented in Fig. 8. Full load is applied after 3 s. The stator
current spectra were then extracted, respectively, for different
cases to detect the fault-related harmonics. Fig. 9 presents the
2 MAXWELL 2-D and 3-D, Ansoft Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, 2004.
536 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

Fig. 8. Start-up characteristics of an induction motor with inclined eccen-

tricity (one end is 40% SE and the other end is 60% SE).

Fig. 7. Comparison of mutual inductances obtained by WFA (only top left

plot), MWFA (left), and 3-D FE (right). From top to bottom are mutual
inductances (Lsra1) between rotor loop 1 and stator phase a with: 1) healthy;
2) one end is −50% and the other end is 50% inclined eccentricity; 3) 25%
uniform SE eccentricity; and 4) one end is zero and the other end is 50%
inclined eccentricity, respectively, versus rotor position (θr). Because slot
effects are neglected, the WFA and MWFA generated profiles are smoother.

current spectra under full load condition for different eccen-

tricity levels. Table I shows the magnitude of fault-related har-
monics for the different cases under different load conditions.
Obviously, the magnitude of harmonics of interest increases
with the severity of average eccentricity. Also, as is clear from
Fig. 9 and cases 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 in Table I, the harmonics
components under the same load condition and same level of
average eccentricity are similar, which clearly corroborates the Fig. 9. Simulated normalized stator current spectra under full load for (from
observations made from the inductance profiles in Fig. 7. More top to bottom): healthy; 50% SE; one end is 45.78% SE and the other end is
simulation results are given in Appendix II. 65.06% SE; and one end is 50% SE and the other end is −50% SE.

VI. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
A. Motor Current Signature Analysis
A machine identical to the one simulated has been used
in the experiments. Eccentric sleeves were made with maxi-
mum eccentricity points marked on them. In order to create
an inclined SE, they were put into the bearing housing with
these points located diametrically opposite to one another. The
experiments were repeated under almost similar load conditions
as in the simulation. The results for full load are shown in
Fig. 10. Due to the inherent SE, the healthy machine also shows
the components predicted by (1). The harmonics of interest
were detected clearly, and their amplitude increases with the
LI et al.: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-PHASE INDUCTION MACHINE WITH INCLINED SE
TABLE I
SIMULATED NORMALIZED AMPLITUDE OF FAULT-RELATED HARMONICS
UNDER DIFFERENT FAULTY SITUATIONS AND LOAD LEVELS
Fig. 10. Experimental normalized stator current spectra under full load for
(from top to bottom): healthy; 50% SE; one end is 46.8% SE and the other end
is 63.8% SE; and one end is 50% SE and the other end is −50% SE.
severity of eccentricity, as shown in Table II. Also, the cases
with same average eccentricity level show similar characteristic
components. The special case of near-zero average eccentric-
ity does indeed demonstrate similar amplitude of eccentricity
harmonic as in the healthy case. Theoretically, only the higher
component predicted by (1) would be present for the motor. The
existence of a lower component in the experimental spectrum
537
TABLE II
EXPERIMENTAL NORMALIZED AMPLITUDE OF ECCENTRICITY-RELATED
HARMONICS UNDER DIFFERENT FAULTY SITUATIONS AND LOAD LEVELS
Fig. 11. Simulated normalized line current spectrum with 10% unbalance in
supply voltage under uniform 50% SE.
TABLE III
EXPERIMENTAL NORMALIZED AMPLITUDE OF ASYMMETRY-RELATED
HARMONICS UNDER DIFFERENT FAULTY SITUATIONS AND LOAD LEVELS
is due to machine constructional asymmetry and unbalance in
three-phase power supply, which can be proved theoretically
following the study in [20], as well as by simulation (Fig. 11).
Also, unlike the higher one, the amplitude of this harmonic
is less sensitive to the severity of eccentricity, as shown in
Table III. Thus, this component may not be the appropriate
one for detecting eccentricity. The higher amplitude of the
eccentricity harmonics in columns (3) and (4) of Tables II
and III is primarily due to the interaction of supply voltage
unbalance, inherent machine constructional asymmetry, and
eccentricity. The component arising out of the interaction of
inherent asymmetry and eccentricity cannot be seen in the
simulated machine due to the assumptions made in Section III.
They will, however, influence the experimental results. Thus, it
would be prudent only to match the position information of the
eccentricity-related components from the simulated data with
the experimental ones rather than their magnitude.
538
Fig. 12. Sensor positions for vibration analysis.
Fig. 13. Experimental vibration spectra under full load for healthy (top) and
50% uniform SE.
TABLE IV
VIBRATION COMPONENTS (IN DECIBEL) AT POSITION 13
B. Vibration Analysis
Since MCSA did not produce sufficiently strong signatures
for faults that are substantial near the bearings but low on the
average, an accelerometer was used to measure the eccentricity
at different levels. First, higher order vibration frequencies
capable of detecting SE at low order (1, 2, and 3) pole-pair
numbers (modes) were determined based on the study in [5].
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007
TABLE V
VIBRATION COMPONENTS AT (IN DECIBEL) POSITION 83
Fig. 14. Simulated normalized stator current spectra under no load for (from
top to bottom): healthy; 50% SE; one end is 46.8% SE and the other end is
63.8% SE; and one end is 50% SE and the other end is −50% SE.
With slip equal to 0.017 and including saturation-related
poles, they can be determined as 1088, 1208, 1328, and
1448 Hz. Fig. 12 shows the testing locations. Fig. 13 shows
the plot for vibration results obtained for the healthy and 50%
uniform eccentricity cases, with the accelerometer located at
position 13. While all the harmonic components in question
showed increase for the uniform eccentricity case, the results,
as shown in Table IV, are not very consistent for inclined
eccentricity conditions for different locations. In particular,
for the ±25% eccentricity case, 1088-Hz components, which
showed increase by 10 dB at this point, did not show in-
crease at other accelerometer locations. For example, only the
LI et al.: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-PHASE INDUCTION MACHINE WITH INCLINED SE
Fig. 15. Experimental normalized stator current spectra under no load for
(from top to bottom): healthy; 50% SE; one end is 46.8% SE and the other
end is 63.8% SE; one end is 50% SE and the other end is −50% SE.
1328-Hz component showed (Table V) considerable increase
(15 dB) at the sensor position 83. However, at least one of the
aforementioned frequency components showed increase when
the test was repeated in eight different locations shown in
Fig. 12. Thus, it is felt that inclined eccentricities with a low
average value, but high values near the ends, are detectable
using vibration signal, provided all vibration components are
monitored. Better results could possibly be obtained if three
axis accelerometer readings are taken. This is because the
vibrations in this case are set up by varying lateral forces
or (UMP) with their direction reversing at the center of the
motor and while being maximum near the bearings. It is
felt that more research is necessary to quantify UMP set up
by varying flux density along the axis and then estimating
the resulting vibration components. This will be addressed in
the future.
Even though the average SE may be small, with a larger end
eccentricity, a rub is still possible at the two opposite ends of
the motor. Thus, the inclined axial eccentricity can also prove
equally catastrophic for the motor as uniform eccentricity. More
experimental results are presented in Appendix II.
539
Fig. 16. Variation of the amplitude of eccentricity-related components under
different load levels for the experiment (left) and simulation (right). From top
to bottom, the average eccentricity is around 50%, 0, and 25%.
VII. C ONCLUSION
This paper analyzes the detection of inclined SE of induction
machines due to axial nonuniform air-gap in great detail. To
the best knowledge of the authors, this has not been attempted
before. Detailed modeling and inductance calculation proce-
dures have been included. Inductances have been calculated
using a variant of MWFA. These values were verified using FE.
Fault-indicative high-order harmonics in line current are found
in both simulated and experimental results. In particular, the
following have been proved conclusively.
1) The magnitude of the predictive current harmonic with
the inclined eccentricity is similar to what is expected
with uniform eccentricity equal to the average of the
inclined eccentricity.
2) Cases with low average SE will be difficult to identify
with traditional MCSA. Other signals, such as noise,
bearing vibration and temperature, additional stress on
bearing, etc., may therefore have to be used in these cases
for extracting fault signature. Vibration components show
increase, but are position dependent.
3) The voltage unbalance and asymmetry-related frequency
component in the line current is not sensitive enough to
detect the level of eccentricity.
Although only static-inclined eccentricity is considered in
this paper, severe SE would bring up some degree of DE too.
The authors thus plan to analyze this more complicated variant
of inclined SE in the future.
540 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007
Fig. 17. Variation of the amplitude of eccentricity-related harmonics, with the
average eccentricity severity under different load levels for the experiment (left)
and simulation (right). The test points are healthy, 22.89% and 32.53%, uniform
50%, and 45.78% and 65.06%. From top to bottom, the load levels are: no load,
25% load, 50% load, 75% load, and full load.
TABLE VI
VIBRATION COMPONENTS (IN DECIBEL) AT POSITION 11
A PPENDIX I
M OTOR D ATA
Rating 208 V, star connected, 60 Hz, and 2 kW.
Stator 36 slots; double layer lap winding with short pitch
(six slots) with 312 turns per phase. Resistance
per phase: 0.6 Ω. Leakage inductance per phase:
2.92 mH.
Rotor 45 slots, 11◦ skew. Bar resistance: 5.83 µΩ.
Bar leakage inductance: 0.343 nH. End-ring re-
sistance: 0.45 µΩ. End-ring leakage inductance:
0.275 nH.
Stator bore 76 mm. Air gap: 0.5 mm. Mean air-gap radius
from the center of the shaft: 73.75 mm.
A PPENDIX II
M ORE S IMULATION AND E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
See Figs. 14–17, Tables VI and VII.
TABLE VII
VIBRATION COMPONENTS (IN DECIBEL) AT POSITION 81
R EFERENCES
[1] S. Nandi, R. M. Bharadwaj, and H. A Toliyat, “Mixed eccentricity in
three phase induction machines: Analysis, simulation and experiments,”
in Conf. Rec. 37th IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc. Conf., Oct. 6–10, 2002, vol. 3,
pp. 1525–1532.
[2] M. E. H. Benbouzid and G. B. Kliman, “What stator current processing-
based technique to use for induction motor rotor faults diagnosis?” IEEE
Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 238–244, Jun. 2003.
[3] D. G. Dorrell, W. T. Thomson, and S. Roach, “Analysis of air-gap flux,
current, vibration signals as a function of the combination of static and
dynamic air-gap eccentricity in 3-phase induction motors,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Appl., vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 24–34, Jan./Feb. 1997.
[4] A. C. Smith and D. G. Dorrell, “Calculation and measurement of unbal-
anced magnetic pull in cage induction motors with eccentric rotors. Part 1:
Analytical model,” Proc. Inst. Electr. Eng.—Electr. Power Appl., vol. 143,
no. 3, pp. 202–210, May 1996.
[5] J. R. Cameron, W. T. Thomson, and A. B. Dow, “Vibration and current
monitoring for detecting air-gap eccentricity in large induction motors,”
Proc. Inst. Electr. Eng., vol. 133, no. 3, pt. B, pp. 155–163, May 1986.
[6] S. Nandi, S. Ahmed, and H. A. Toliyat, “Detection of rotor slot and
other eccentricity related harmonics in a three phase induction motor
with different rotor cages,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 16, no. 3,
pp. 253–260, Sep. 2001.
[7] M. J. DeBortoli, S. J. Salon, D. W. Burow, and C. J. Slavik, “Effects of
rotor eccentricity and parallel windings on induction machine behavior:
A study using finite element analysis,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 29, no. 2,
pp. 1676–1682, Mar. 1993.
[8] A. Barbour and W. T. Thomson, “Finite element study of rotor slot designs
with respect to current monitoring for detecting static airgap eccentricity
in squirrel-cage induction motors,” in Conf. Rec. 32th IEEE Ind. Appl.
Soc. Conf., Oct. 5–8, 1997, vol. 1, pp. 112–119.
[9] W. T. Thomson and A. Barbour, “On-line current monitoring and appli-
cation of a finite element method to predict the level of static airgap ec-
centricity in three phase induction motor,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers.,
vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 347–357, Dec. 1998.
[10] A. J. M. Cardoso and E. S. Saraiva, “Computer-aided detection of air-
gap eccentricity in operating three-phase induction motors by Park’s
vector approach,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 897–901,
Sep./Oct. 1993.
[11] J. F. Bangura, R. J. Povinelli, N. A. O. Demerdash, and R. H. Brown,
“Diagnostics of eccentricities and bar/end-ring connector breakages in
polyphase induction motors through a combination of time-series data
mining and time-stepping coupled FE-state-space techniques,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 1005–1013, Jul./Aug. 2003.
[12] Y. Akiyama, “Unbalance-heating phenomena of induction motor with
eccentric rotor,” in Proc. IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting, Houston, TX,
Oct. 4–9, 1992, vol. 1, pp. 107–114.
[13] Y. Akiyama and O. Sugiura, “A study of 2sf beat phenomena in induction
motor,” in Proc. IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting, Houston, TX, Oct. 4–9, 1992,
vol. 1, pp. 100–106.
[14] S. Nandi, H. A. Toliyat, and X. Li, “Condition monitoring and fault diag-
nosis of electrical machines—A review,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers.,
vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 719–729, Dec. 2005.
[15] H. A. Toliyat and T. A. Lipo, “Transient analysis of cage induction ma-
chines under stator, rotor bar and end ring faults,” IEEE Trans. Energy
Convers., vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 241–247, Jun. 1995.
[16] H. A. Toliyat, M. S. Arefeen, and A. G. Parlos, “A method for dynamic
simulation of air-gap eccentricity in induction machines,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 910–918, Jul./Aug. 1996.
[17] N. A. Al-Nuaim and H. A. Toliyat, “A novel method for modeling dy-
namic air-gap eccentricity in synchronous machines based on modified
winding function theory,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 13, no. 2,
pp. 156–162, Jun. 1998.
LI et al.: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-PHASE INDUCTION MACHINE WITH INCLINED SE
[18] J. Faiz, I. T. Ardekanei, and H. A. Toliyat, “An evaluation of inductances
of a squirrel-cage induction motor under mixed eccentric conditions,”
IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 252–258, Jun. 2003.
[19] G. M. Joksimovic, M. D. Durovic, J. Penman, and N. Arthur, “Dynamic
simulation of dynamic eccentricity in induction machines—finding func-
tion approach,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 143–148,
Jun. 2000.
[20] S. Nandi and H. A. Toliyat, “Novel frequency-domain-based technique
to detect stator interturn faults in induction machines using stator-
induced voltages after switch-off,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 38, no. 1,
pp. 101–109, Jan./Feb. 2002.
[21] S. Nandi, “Modeling of induction machines including stator and rotor
slot effects,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 1058–1065,
Jul./Aug. 2004.
[22] ——, “A detailed model of induction machines with saturation extendable
for fault analysis,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 1302–1309,
Sep./Oct. 2004.
Xiaodong Li (S’02) received the B.Eng. degree in
1994 from Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai,
China, and the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineer-
ing in 2004 from the University of Victoria, Victoria,
BC, Canada, where he is currently working toward
the Ph.D. degree.
From 1994 to 2002, he was an Electrical Engineer
with the Zhuhai HongWan Diesel Power Company,
the local power company in south China, where he
was conducting power generation system mainte-
nance. His research interests include power electron-
ics and fault diagnosis of motor drive.
541
Qing Wu received the B.Eng. degree in electrical
engineering from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China,
in 1997. He is currently working toward the M.A.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering at the University of
Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
From 1997 to 2003, he was an Electrical Engi-
neer with the Thermo-Electric Power Plant, Qilu
Petrochemical Company, Zibo, China. His research
interests are mainly in the area of fault diagnosis of
electric machines and drives.
Subhasis Nandi (S’97–M’00–SM’06) received the
B.E. degree from Jadavpur University, Calcutta,
India, in 1985, the M.E. degree from Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, India, in 1988, and the Ph.D.
degree from Texas A&M University, College Station,
in 2000, all in electrical engineering.
Between 1988 and 1996, he was with the TVS
Electronics and the Central Power Research Institute,
Bangalore, working in the areas of power electronics
and drives. He joined the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria,
Victoria, BC, Canada, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His main
research interests are power electronics and drives, and analysis and design of
electrical machines, with special emphasis on fault diagnosis.