Diagnosis of Stator Faults in Synchronous Generators: Short Review and Practical Case

Electrical Machines are crucial elements in the power generation system. In this regard, Synchronous Generators (SG) are capital components in Power Generation plants and their eventual outages may have very negative repercussions. Despite these machines are extremely monitored, one of the most important problems still faced by SG relies on the proper determination of the insulation condition. Although there are several methods that are commonly used for diagnosing the health of such element, some critical aspects remain unsolved. This paper reviews the different methods and techniques that are nowadays employed in the field to determine the condition of the insulation system in SG. This review comes together with several practical measurements and real cases referred to Medium Voltage SG operating in real plants. The paper provides a critical insight on the state of art in the field, remarking the open research lines related to this important part of the machine.