Attenuation of magnetic field components through an AC machine stator

Abstract

PurposeNon‐intrusive magnetic measurements in AC machines are possible with small flat coils stuck on the external surface of the housing of a running motor. The aim of the paper consists in determining transmission coefficients able to give a direct relationship between the weak external flux density and the airgap one.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental approach shows that the decoupling principle can be applied. Transmission coefficients are determined separately for the stator yoke, the motor housing and the external air.FindingsFor low frequencies and a housing made of steel, eddy current can be neglected. The transmission coefficient depends strongly of the mode (number of poles) of the rotating field. Conversely, for higher harmonic ranks, the additional attenuation caused by eddy currents in the housing does not practically depend on the mode but is strongly dependant on the frequency.Research limitations/implicationsThe transmission coefficients are determined considering a 2D electromagnetic model and several simplifying hypothesis. Experiments prove the validity of the proposed approach up to 550 Hz.Practical implicationsUp to now, many fault detection systems are based on the presence of additional harmonics in the external magnetic field spectrum. With the knowledge of simple transmission coefficients, an analysis of the variation of the magnitude of critical spectrum lines is now possible for a more precise fault detection in AC machines.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, the only alternative way for the interpretation of external field measurements consist in using a numerical method with a full model of the machine which takes a lot of computation time. The proposed transmission coefficients provide a faster method valid for most of the interesting spectrum lines.