Detection and Analysis of Winding and Demagnetization Faults in PMSM based Marine Propulsion Motors

A marine electrical power systems fate in terms of its quality and maintenance heavily relies on the efficiency of its fault detection. This paper analyses and develops an online approach to detecting winding and demagnetization faults in surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMM) in a marine propulsion setting. The proposed methodology uses search coils to determine faults that reveals data to pinpoint which slot/magnet is affected by the faults, segregating fault symptoms from other asymmetric problems such as load imbalance and input unbalanced voltage. This paper is distinctive in its acute detection of faults even when the severity of the fault is very minimal. The proposed model used for simulation in two-dimensional (2-D) Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a 3-phase, 42 poles, 54 slots fractional slot concentrated wound, SPMM. In addition to the use of search coils, the proposed research looks into the torque profile with various conditions of fault and analyzes the machine current using Hilbert-Huang transform. The simulated results reveal potential for the proposed method to provide reliable data on fault diagnosis of marine propulsion motors.