Induction Motors with Variable Frequency Drives: A Systematic Review with Focus on Health Monitoring

Induction motors (IMs) with variable frequency drives (VFDs) are widely used in various industrial applications, including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, pumps, fans, chillers, and air handling units (AHUs), due to their cost-effectiveness, robust performance, enhanced energy efficiency, and low maintenance needs. Therefore, monitoring the health of IM drives is crucial to minimize system failures and enhance the reliability of motor drive systems. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the different failures in IMs and VFDs, along with the available health monitoring techniques. Moreover, it discusses the standard VFD architecture and its control mechanism for IM. This paper then details the most common failure modes in IMs and VFDs, along with the existing diagnostic methods for these failures. Additionally, it examines the key benefits and limitations of traditional health monitoring schemes and presents a comparative study of these reported methods.