Stator inter-turn shortcircuit fault diagnosis of induction motor based on characteristic current

Purpose This paper aims to facilitate reliable online diagnosis of early faults in the stator winding inter-turn short circuits of induction motors (IMs) under various operating conditions. Design/methodology/approach A novel fault characteristic component, the characteristic current amplitude, is proposed for the fault. Defined as the product of short-circuit coefficient and short-circuit current, the characteristic current is derived from the positive and negative-sequence components of the stator-side current and voltage. Findings Simulation models of the IMs pre- and postfault, along with an experimental platform for the motor’s inter-turn short circuit, were established. The characteristic current amplitude proves more robust against voltage unbalance and load variations, which offers enhanced reliability and sensitivity for early fault diagnosis of inter-turn short circuit in IMs stator windings. Originality/value A novel feature is proposed. Compared with negative-sequence current, which is considered as a traditional fault feature, the characteristic current amplitude exhibits a greater robustness against the imbalanced conditions, which simultaneously possesses the attributes of both reliability and expeditiousness in fault detection.