Time Domain Signature Analysis of Synchronous Generator under Broken Damper Bar Fault

Abstract

Fault detection of electrical machines can avoid unplanned outage of the electricity generation at a power plant. Research related to a different type of faults in the synchronous generator, the broken damper bar (BDB) fault attracts less attention due to the low statistical population. However, a comprehensive condition monitoring system requires a method to diagnose this few in number faults also. Detection of BDB fault is difficult since damper bars are active only during a transient period, which could be start-up intervals or as a reaction to power system dynamics. In this paper, the BDB fault is detected during the machine start-up. The Radius of Gyration (RG) was introduced using a time series data mining (TSDM) approach that was applied to induced electromotive force of the rotor field winding due to BDB fault. Location and number of BDBs effect on the nominated feature are also studied.