Fault Diagnosis of BLDC Motor Drive using Vibration Spectrum Analysis: Part II

Abstract

This paper discusses the fault diagnosis of the Permanent Magnet (PM) Brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive using vibration signatures of the motor. Finite Element (FE) based co-simulation modelling of a PM BLDC motor is used for obtaining the vibration spectrum of the machine under healthy and fault conditions. The continuous operation of a PM BLDC motor in industrial applications steers to unfavorable environmental conditions leading to the emergence of faults. Faults can be of various types depending on the cause and effect in addition to the location of existence in the machine. However, in the proposed research work, the demagnetization fault in the rotor PMs is currently under study. Such faults on the rotor side is generally inflicted by the changes in magnetic coercivity (HC) leading to the demagnetization of a PM in the motor. A fault can be predicated in its incipient state by investigating the changes encountered in the vibration spectrum of the machine. Every individual component of the vibration spectrum is affected by the change in machine quantities, thus diagnosing the fault. Therefore, the characteristic performance of a BLDC motor is investigated through the numerical based co-simulation analysis for the diagnosis machine faults.