Analysis of Various Levels of Air Gap Eccentricity Faults In Switched Reluctance Motor

Abstract

The tremendous changes in solid state electronics technology from few decades, it leads the Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is trending machine in the areas of aerospace, electric and hybrid electric vehicles etc. Even though this motor is fault tolerant but it is not absolute. In order to avoid discontinuity of service, loss of economy and time wastage, predefinition of various faults is most important. Eccentricity problem is one of the mostly occurring mechanical faults in rotating machines due to the non-uniformity in air gap. It is prerequisite to forecast and diagnose the faults to achieve better performance of the motor. The simulation results for the sample 500 watt motor successfully exhibited the effects of the air gap faults and its impact on the currents through the stator windings, and analyzed how differential current varies with respect to various degrees of faults.