Fault Detection and Diagnosis of Electric Drives Using Intelligent Machine Learning Approaches

Electric motor condition monitoring can detect anomalies in the motor performance which have the potential to result in unexpected failure and financial loss. This study examines different fault detection and diagnosis approaches in induction motors and is presented in six chapters. First, an anomaly technique or outlier detection is applied to increase the accuracy of detecting broken rotor bars. It is shown how the proposed method can significantly improve network reliability by using one-class classification technique. Then, ensemble-based anomaly detection is utilized to compare different methods in ensemble learning in detection of broken rotor bars. Finally, a deep neural network is developed to extract significant features to be used as input parameters of the network. Deep autoencoder is then employed to build an advanced model to make predictions of broken rotor bars and bearing faults occurring in induction motors with a high accuracy

Mixed Fault Classification of Sensorless PMSM Drive in Dynamic Operations Based on External Stray Flux Sensors

This paper aims to classify local demagnetisation and inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) on position sensorless permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) in transient states based on external stray flux and learning classifier. Within the framework, four supervised machine learning tools were tested: ensemble decision tree (EDT), k-nearest neighbours (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and feedforward neural network (FNN). All algorithms are trained on datasets from one operational profile but tested on other different operation profiles. Their input features or spectrograms are computed from resampled time-series data based on the estimated position of the rotor from one stray flux sensor through an optimisation problem. This eliminates the need for the position sensors, allowing for the fault classification of sensorless PMSM drives using only two external stray flux sensors alone. Both SVM and FNN algorithms could identify a single fault of the magnet defect with an accuracy higher than 95% in transient states. For mixed faults, the FNN-based algorithm could identify ITSC in parallel-strands stator winding and local partial demagnetisation with an accuracy of 87.1%.publishedVersio

Modelling and Detecting Faults of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors in Dynamic Operations

Paper VI is excluded from the dissertation until the article will be published.Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) have played a key role in commercial and industrial applications, i.e. electric vehicles and wind turbines. They are popular due to their high efficiency, control simplification and large torque-to-size ratio although they are expensive. A fault will eventually occur in an operating PMSM, either by improper maintenance or wear from thermal and mechanical stresses. The most frequent PMSM faults are bearing faults, short-circuit and eccentricity. PMSM may also suffer from demagnetisation, which is unique in permanent magnet machines. Condition monitoring or fault diagnosis schemes are necessary for detecting and identifying these faults early in their incipient state, e.g. partial demagnetisation and inter-turn short circuit. Successful fault classification will ensure safe operations, speed up the maintenance process and decrease unexpected downtime and cost. The research in recent years is drawn towards fault analysis under dynamic operating conditions, i.e. variable load and speed. Most of these techniques have focused on the use of voltage, current and torque, while magnetic flux density in the air-gap or the proximity of the motor has not yet been fully capitalised. This dissertation focuses on two main research topics in modelling and diagnosis of faulty PMSM in dynamic operations. The first problem is to decrease the computational burden of modelling and analysis techniques. The first contributions are new and faster methods for computing the permeance network model and quadratic time-frequency distributions. Reducing their computational burden makes them more attractive in analysis or fault diagnosis. The second contribution is to expand the model description of a simpler model. This can be achieved through a field reconstruction model with a magnet library and a description of both magnet defects and inter-turn short circuits. The second research topic is to simplify the installation and complexity of fault diagnosis schemes in PMSM. The aim is to reduce required sensors of fault diagnosis schemes, regardless of operation profiles. Conventional methods often rely on either steady-state or predefined operation profiles, e.g. start-up. A fault diagnosis scheme robust to any speed changes is desirable since a fault can be detected regardless of operations. The final contribution is the implementation of reinforcement learning in an active learning scheme to address the imbalance dataset problem. Samples from a faulty PMSM are often initially unavailable and expensive to acquire. Reinforcement learning with a weighted reward function might balance the dataset to enhance the trained fault classifier’s performance.publishedVersio

DATA-DRIVEN TECHNIQUES FOR DIAGNOSING BEARING DEFECTS IN INDUCTION MOTORS

Induction motors are frequently used in many automated systems as a major driving force, and thus, their reliable performances are of predominant concerns. Induction motors are subject to different types of faults and an early detection of faults can reduce maintenance costs and prevent unscheduled downtime. Motor faults are generally related to three components: the stator, the rotor and/or the bearings. This study focuses on the fault diagnosis of the bearings, which is the major reason for failures in induction motors. Data-driven fault diagnosis systems usually include a classification model which is supported by an efficient pre-processing unit. Various classifiers, which aim to diagnose multiple bearing defects (i.e., ball, inner race and outer race defects of different diameters), require well-processed data. The pre-processing tasks plays a vital role for extracting informative features from the vibration signal, reducing the dimensionality of the features and selecting the best features from the feature pool. Once the vibration signal is perfectly analyzed and a proper feature subset is created, then fault classifiers can be trained. However, classification task can be difficult if the training dataset is not balanced. Induction motors usually operate under healthy condition (than faulty situation), thus the monitored vibration samples relate to the normal state of the system expected to be more than the samples of the faulty state. Here, in this work, this challenge is also considered so that the classification model needs to deal with class imbalance problem

A Study on Comparison of Classification Algorithms for Pump Failure Prediction

The reliability of pumps can be compromised by faults, impacting their functionality. Detecting these faults is crucial, and many studies have utilized motor current signals for this purpose. However, as pumps are rotational equipped, vibrations also play a vital role in fault identification. Rising pump failures have led to increased maintenance costs and unavailability, emphasizing the need for cost-effective and dependable machinery operation. This study addresses the imperative challenge of defect classification through the lens of predictive modeling. With a problem statement centered on achieving accurate and efficient identification of defects, this study’s objective is to evaluate the performance of five distinct algorithms: Fine Decision Tree, Medium Decision Tree, Bagged Trees (Ensemble), RUS-Boosted Trees, and Boosted Trees. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset, the study meticulously trained and tested each model, analyzing training accuracy, test accuracy, and Area Under the Curve (AUC) metrics. The results showcase the supremacy of the Fine Decision Tree (91.2% training accuracy, 74% test accuracy, AUC 0.80), the robustness of the Ensemble approach (Bagged Trees with 94.9% training accuracy, 99.9% test accuracy, and AUC 1.00), and the competitiveness of Boosted Trees (89.4% training accuracy, 72.2% test accuracy, AUC 0.79) in defect classification. Notably, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) exhibited comparatively lower performance. Our study contributes valuable insights into the efficacy of these algorithms, guiding practitioners toward optimal model selection for defect classification scenarios. This research lays a foundation for enhanced decision-making in quality control and predictive maintenance, fostering advancements in the realm of defect prediction and classification

Online Condition Monitoring of Electric Powertrains using Machine Learning and Data Fusion

Safe and reliable operations of industrial machines are highly prioritized in industry. Typical industrial machines are complex systems, including electric motors, gearboxes and loads. A fault in critical industrial machines may lead to catastrophic failures, service interruptions and productivity losses, thus condition monitoring systems are necessary in such machines. The conventional condition monitoring or fault diagnosis systems using signal processing, time and frequency domain analysis of vibration or current signals are widely used in industry, requiring expensive and professional fault analysis team. Further, the traditional diagnosis methods mainly focus on single components in steady-state operations. Under dynamic operating conditions, the measured quantities are non-stationary, thus those methods cannot provide reliable diagnosis results for complex gearbox based powertrains, especially in multiple fault contexts. In this dissertation, four main research topics or problems in condition monitoring of gearboxes and powertrains have been identified, and novel solutions are provided based on data-driven approach. The first research problem focuses on bearing fault diagnosis at early stages and dynamic working conditions. The second problem is to increase the robustness of gearbox mixed fault diagnosis under noise conditions. Mixed fault diagnosis in variable speeds and loads has been considered as third problem. Finally, the limitation of labelled training or historical failure data in industry is identified as the main challenge for implementing data-driven algorithms. To address mentioned problems, this study aims to propose data-driven fault diagnosis schemes based on order tracking, unsupervised and supervised machine learning, and data fusion. All the proposed fault diagnosis schemes are tested with experimental data, and key features of the proposed solutions are highlighted with comparative studies.publishedVersio

A Novel Machine Learning-Based Approach for Induction Machine Fault Classifier Development—A Broken Rotor Bar Case Study

Rotor bars are one of the most failure-critical components in induction machines. We present an approach for developing a rotor bar fault identification classifier for induction machines. The developed machine learning-based models are based on simulated electrical current and vibration velocity data and measured vibration acceleration data. We introduce an approach that combines sequential model-based optimization and the nested cross-validation procedure to provide a reliable estimation of the classifiers’ generalization performance. These methods have not been combined earlier in this context. Automation of selected parts of the modeling procedure is studied with the measured data. We compare the performance of logistic regression and CatBoost models using the fast Fourier-transformed signals or their extracted statistical features as the input data. We develop a technique to use domain knowledge to extract features from specific frequency ranges of the fast Fourier-transformed signals. While both approaches resulted in similar accuracy with simulated current and measured vibration acceleration data, the feature-based models were faster to develop and run. With measured vibration acceleration data, better accuracy was obtained with the raw fast Fourier-transformed signals. The results demonstrate that an accurate and fast broken rotor bar detection model can be developed with the presented approach

Robust Active Learning Multiple Fault Diagnosis of PMSM Drives with Sensorless Control under Dynamic Operations and Imbalanced Datasets

Authors accepted manuscript© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This paper proposes an active learning scheme to detect multiple faults in permanent magnet synchronous motors in dynamic operations without using historical labelled faulty training data. The proposed method combines the self-supervised anomaly detector based on a local outlier factor (LOF) and a deep Q-network (DQN) supervised reinforcement learner to classify interturn short-circuit, local demagnetisation and mixed faults. The first fault, which is detected by LOF and verified by an expert during maintenance, is used as training data for the DQN classifier. From that point onward, the LOF anomaly detector and DQN fault classifiers are working in tandem in the identification of new faults, which require expert intervention when either of them identifies a fault. The robustness of the scheme against dynamic operations, mixed fault and imbalanced training datasets is validated via a comparative study using stray flux data from an inhouse test setup.acceptedVersio

Condition monitoring of bearing faults using the stator current and shrinkage methods

Producción CientíficaCondition monitoring of bearings is an open issue. The use of the stator current to monitor induction motors has been validated as a very advantageous and practical way to detect several types of faults. Nevertheless, for bearing faults, the use of vibrations or sound generally offers better results in the accuracy of the detection, although with some disadvantages related to the sensors used for monitoring. To improve the performance of bearing monitoring, it is proposed to take advantage of more information available in the current spectra, beyond the usually employed, incorporating the amplitude of a significant number of sidebands around the first eleven harmonics, growing exponentially the number of fault signatures. This is especially interesting for inverter-fed motors. But, in turn, this leads to the problem of overfitting when applying a classifier to perform the fault diagnosis. To overcome this problem, and still exploit all the useful information available in the spectra, it is proposed to use shrinkage methods, which have been lately proposed in machine learning to solve the overfitting issue when the problem has many more variables than examples to classify. A case study with a motor is shown to prove the validity of the proposal.CAPES (process BEX552269/2011-5