Fault detection in synchronous motor drives, a co-simulation approach

This paper presents a multi-domain co-simulation based approach to identify faults in large power industrial three-phase synchronous motor drives. The goal is to develop an integrated simulation platform capable to capture faults caused by failing electronic components of the brushless exciter, as one of the key parts of these drives. The signal signature analysis is used for monitoring the operation of the excitation field fed through a full wave diode bridge rectifier with failing power diodes. Simulated faults of the synchronous machine are analyzed, focusing on one shorted rotor pole internal fault. The approach is based on the co-simulation of the synchronous motor finite element analysis (FEA) model, using ANSYS Maxwell™ software, with the brushless exciter and mechanical load models built with ANSYS Simplorer™.