© PHOTODISC

hree-phase induction motors are the workhorses of industry because of their

Michael J. Devaney
and Levent Eren
T widespread use. They are used extensively for heating, cooling, refrigeration,
pumping, conveyors, and similar applications. They offer users simple,
rugged construction, easy maintenance, and cost-effective pricing. These fac-
tors have promoted standardization and development of a manufacturing infrastructure
that has led to a vast installed base of motors; more than 90% of all motors used in
industry worldwide are ac induction motors [1].
Causes of motor failures are bearing faults, insulation faults, and rotor faults [1], [2].
Early detection of bearing faults allows replacement of the bearings, rather than replace-
ment of the motor. For example, a 100 hp, three-phase ac motor costs approximately
US$7500. The replacement ball bearings for the same motor cost approximately US$250.
The same type of bearing defects that plague such larger machines as 100 hp are mir-
rored in lower hp machines, such as the machine in Figure 1, which has the same type of

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bearings. A cutaway view of a 5 hp, two-pole ac induction current frequencies, fCF , due to bearing c h a r a c t e r i s t i c
machine, depicting the bearings and air-gap, is shown in vibration frequencies are calculate by
Figure 1.



Even though the replacement of defective bearings is the fCF =
fe ± mfv
. (1)
cheapest fix among the three causes of failure, it is the most
difficult one to detect. Motors that are in continuous use Here, the power system fundamental frequency, fe , becomes
cannot be stopped for analysis. We have developed a cir- the carrier frequency, and the vibration frequency becomes the
cuit monitor for these motors. Incipient bearing failures are modulation frequency.
detectable by the presence of characteristic machine vibra-
tion frequencies associated with the various modes of bear-
ing failure. We will show that circuit monitors that we Variable Name Definition
developed can detect these frequencies using wavelet pack- fe Power system fundamental
et decomposition and a radial basis neural network. This frequency
device monitors an induction motor’s current and defines a fCF Characteristic current
bearing failure. frequency
fv Characteristic vibration
Vibration Analysis frequency
Machine vibration analysis is one of the most widely used fOD Outer race defect frequency
condition monitoring techniques [4]. Vibration monitoring is fID Inner race defect frequency
very effective in detecting bearing fault, but it requires addi- fBD Ball defect frequency
tional sensors to be fitted to the machines. While some large fCD Cage defect frequency
motors may already come with vibration transducers, it is n Number of balls
not economically or physically feasible to provide the same m Positive integer multiplier
for smaller machines. This means that small- to medium-size
motors must be checked periodically by portable equipment
that moves from machine to machine.
Unfortunately, periodic checks by portable equipment
do not provide continuous monitoring and does not guaran-
tee accessibility. Some motors used in critical applications,
such as nuclear reactor cooling pump motors, may not be

COURTESY OF EMERSON ELECTRIC

easily accessible during reactor operation. The Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in the United States directed the initial
efforts in motor current signature analysis (MCSA) to pro-
vide nonintrusive means for detecting the mechanical and
electrical abnormalities in both motor and driven equip-
ment [5]. Schoen and Habetler showed that the relationship
of bearing vibration to the stator current spectrum can be
determined by an equation based on Kliman’s work for
dynamic eccentricity [2], [3]. The bearing fault related vibra- Fig. 1. Cutaway view of a 5-hp, three-phase induction motor. Industry’s heavy
reliance on induction machines in critical applications can cause very costly
tion frequencies are easily calculated with known bearing
production shut downs due to motor failures. In addition to monetary damage
geometry and rotor speed. The vibration frequencies show
resulting from production loss, machinery replacement, and idled workforce,
up in the current spectrum as the modulation frequencies, worker injuries may occur.
therefore it is possible to provide continuous monitoring
using motor current data. The circuit monitors detect these
frequencies using wavelet packet decomposition and a radi- Number of Balls (n)
al basis neural network.

Bearing Faults
Bearing faults such as outer race, inner race, ball defect, and Pitch Diameter (PD)
train defect cause machine vibration. These defects have
vibration frequency components, fv, that are characteristic of
each defect type. The mechanical vibration caused by the
bearing defect results in air gap eccentricity. Oscillations in air
Ball Diameter (BD)
gap length, in turn, cause variations in flux density. The varia-
tions in flux density affect the machine inductances, which
produce harmonics of the stator current. The characteristic Fig. 2. Ball bearing geometry.

December 2004 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 31

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 The characteristic vibration frequencies due to bearing Rotor speed, frm, is in revolutions per minute. Figure 3
defects can be calculated given that the rotor speed and the shows both vibration and current spectrum of a ball bearing
bearing dimensions are available. The typical ball bearing with an outer race defect. The bearing outer race fundamen-
geometry is displayed in Figure 2. tal defect frequency for the test ball bearing is 107.4 Hz at a
no-load speed of 1798 r/min.
Outer Race Defect Frequency
Outer race defect frequency, the ball passing frequency on Inner Race Defect Frequency
the outer race, is given by Inner race defect frequency, the ball passing frequency on

 the inner race, is given by
n BD
fOD = frm 1 − cos φ . (2)

2 PD n BD
fID = frm 1 + cos φ . (3)
2 PD

Figure 4 shows both vibration and current

Vibration and Current Spectrum for Outer Race Defect spectrum of a ball bearing with an inner
0.04 race defect. The bearing inner race funda-
Vibration Amplitude

mental defect frequency for the test ball

0.03
bearing is 167.3 Hz at a no-load speed of
0.02 1798 r/min.

0.01
Ball Defective Frequency
0 Ball defective frequency, the ball spin fre-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
quency, is given by
0.06

 
Current Amplitude

0.05 PD BD 2
fBD = frm 1 − cos φ .
2
(4)
0.04 2BD PD
0.03
0.02
Figure 5 shows both vibration and current
0.01
spectrum of a ball bearing with a ball defect.
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 The bearing ball fundamental defect fre-
Frequency (Hz) quency for a 6205 ball bearing is 70.5 Hz at a
no-load speed of 1798 r/min.
Fig. 3. Outer race fault. Frequency spectrums of both current and vibration data for an induction
motor with a faulty shaft-end bearing. Cage Defect Frequency
Cage defect frequency, caused by irregulari-
ty in the train, is given by
Vibration and Current Spectrum for Inner Race Defect
0.04

1 BD
fCD = frm 1 − cos φ . (5)
Vibration Amplitude

2 PD
0.03
Figure 6 shows both vibration and current
0.02
spectrum of a ball bearing with a cage
0.01 defect. The bearing ball fundamental defect
frequency for a 6205 ball bearing is 18 Hz at
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 a no-load speed of 1798 r/min.

0.05
Analysis of the
Current Amplitude

0.04 Frequency Spectrum

0.03 In traditional MCSA, the frequency spec-
0.02 trum of the steady-state motor current is
analyzed using the Fourier transform (FT).
0.01
Then, the magnitudes of the characteristic
0 fault frequencies are compared with base-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
line values to detect any deterioration in
Frequency (Hz)
bearing health. The major advantage of this
Fig. 4. Inner race fault. Frequency spectrums of both captured current and vibration data for an approach is its low computational com-
induction motor with a faulty shaft-end bearing. plexity. However, it does not deal well

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with nonstationary signals. Bearing defect frequencies In the succeeding data analysis, the baseline data cate-
change with variations in rotor speed, and the stator cur- gory to be used can be chosen by determining the rotor
rent is nonstationary. speed from the captured data. The rotor speed sidebands
Another analysis tool, wavelet decomposition (WD), is show up in the current spectrum due to rotor eccentrici-
also available [6]. It provides a better treatment of nonsta- ties. All motors have some degree of rotor eccentricity,
tionary signals, yet it does not have the resolution required permitting possible speed detection. The speed resolution
for harmonic analysis. The frequency separation achieved by depends on the length of the current data. Once the speed
WD is depicted in Figure 7. is determined, the torque can be estimated from the curve
Wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) provides a solu- of torque versus speed with reasonable accuracy.
tion to this, but the computational complexi-
ty is high [7]. Therefore, it is important to
select filters with a minimal number of coef-
ficients. The frequency separation achieved Vibration and Current Spectrum for Ball Defect
by WPD is depicted in Figure 8. 0.04

Vibration Amplitude
The WPD of the motor current signal is an 0.03
alternate approach. The wavelet packet trans-
form (WPT) analysis permits tailoring of the 0.02
frequency bands to cover the range of bear-
0.01
ing-defect-induced frequencies resulting from
rotor speed variations. Also, wavelet packet 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
techniques provide better analysis of nonsta-
tionary signals than Fourier techniques. 0.06
Current Amplitude

0.05
WPD of the Motor 0.04
Current Signal 0.03
The basic steps of the algorithm are dis- 0.02
played in Figure 9. First baseline data for the 0.01
motor is collected with a healthy set of bear- 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
ings. The motor current data are then cap-
tured at user-determined intervals to check Frequency (Hz)
the status of bearings. The stator current data
is notch filtered to suppress both the power Fig. 5. Ball fault. Frequency spectrums of both captured current and vibration data for an
system harmonics and rotor eccentricity fre- induction motor with a faulty shaft-end bearing.
quency components. Then, the signal is
decomposed into 7.5 Hz frequency bands
using the fast wavelet packet algorithm. The Vibration and Current Spectrum for Cage Defect
all-pass implementation of elliptic half-band 0.04
Vibration Amplitude

filters is used in the fast wavelet packet filter

algorithm. The resulting wavelet packet coef- 0.03
ficients are used to calculate the root mean
0.02
square (rms) values for defect frequency
bands. Finally, rms values for defect frequen- 0.01
cy bands are compared to baseline data to
0
detect bearing faults and identify the type of 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
the fault. Figure 10 plots wavelet packet coef- 0.06
ficients for a healthy and a faulty (outer race
Current Amplitude

0.05
fault) bearing. 0.04
Since the motor current amplitude will
0.03
increase with increased load, the bearing
0.02
baseline data should be collected with a
0.01
healthy set of bearings under varying load
0
conditions. The baseline data can then be 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
categorized under various load condi- Frequency (Hz)
tions. As a result, the possibility of misde-
tection due to an increase in load current Fig. 6. Cage fault. Frequency spectrums of both current and vibration data for an induction motor
can be minimized. with a faulty shaft-end bearing.

December 2004 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 33

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 The sampled current data contains coefficients are used to calculate the
Bearing faults
power system harmonics, as well as rms values. The wavelet packet coeffi-
frequency components resulting from are the primary p
cients, dj,k , can be used to calculate the
rotor eccentricity. The induced fre- rms value of any node (p, j)
quency components in the stator cur- cause of
rent spectrum from a bearing fault are

three-phase  p 2
significantly smaller than the power xrms ( j, p) = dj,k . (6)
system harmonics. Therefore, prepro- induction motor k

cessing the current signal suppresses

the power system harmonics before the
signal is decomposed into 7.5 Hz pack-
ets using the fast wavelet packet algo-
rithms. A second-order notch filter suppresses the power
system harmonics.
An all-pass implementation of an elliptic half-band infi-
nite impulse response (IIR) filter decomposes the notch-fil-
tered current data into 7.5 Hz wavelet packets. After the
signal is decomposed into 7.5 Hz packets, wavelet packet
Constant Relative Bandwith (WT)
failure. The new readings are compared
with baseline readings to determine
any degradation in the bearing
health. Usually, readings may be flagged as defective
that are two standard deviations higher than the base-
line readings.
The use of frequency bands minimizes the number of rms
values to be determined and provides better detection in case
of slight frequency variations that can be caused by changes in
slippage. The reduced number of coefficients leads to simpler
systems if detection algorithms are used. The use of frequency
bands also overcomes the leakage problem that is caused by
the lack of resolution in fast FT (FFT) analysis.

Frequency

f0 2f0 3f0 4f0 5f0 6f0 7f0 8f0

H(z) y0(n) Collect Baseline Data

H(z) 2
G(z) y1(n)
x(n)

Collect Current Data

G(z) 2 y2(n)

Notch Filter Power

Fig. 7. Wavelet decomposition. Harmonics

Wavelet Packet
Constant Bandwith (WPT)
Decomposition

Frequency

f0 2f0 3f0 4f0 5f0 6f0 7f0 8f0

Calculate rms from
WP Coefficients
H(z) y0(n)
H(z) 2
G(z) y1(n)
x(n) Compare with Baseline
Data
No
H(z) y3(n)
Change
G(z) 2 Significant Change
G(z) y2(n)

Fig. 8. Wavelet packet decomposition. Fig. 9. Basic steps of the algorithm.

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Neural Networks
A neural network can improve No Defect
the fault detection rate. In addi-
tion to improved accuracy, it is
23
also possible to detect and clas-
sify different types of faults
using neural networks, which
22
may be useful in determining
the cause of bearing failure.
A neurocomputing approach 21

Node Number
to information processing 0 50 100 150
involves a learning process with- Outer Race Defect
in an artificial neural network
that adaptively responds to
inputs according to a learning 23
rule. A neural network must fol-
low important topics that are
useful for complex problem 22
solving: nonlinearity, input-out-
put mapping, adaptivity, evi- 21
dential response, and image 0 50 100 150
processing. Coefficient Number
This study used radial basis
function neural networks Fig. 10. Outer race fault. WPC plots for race defect and no defect. WPCs for two different frequency bands;
(RBFNNs) to improve the proce- nodes, are plotted: 157.5–165 Hz and 165–172.5 Hz. Increased amplitude in node 23 for the bottom chart indicates
dure for detecting bearing fault. the outer race fault.
Figure 11 depicts the architecture
of the RBFNN. The network consists of three layers: an input
layer, a single layer of nonlinear processing neurons, and an
output layer.
The RBFNN is a multilayer, feedforward network with X w T∈Rm×n
the hidden units containing the radial basis function, a statis- Φ
tical transformation based on a Gaussian distribution. Fewer y
X Σ
hidden layers, one set of weights requirement, and faster Φ
convergence are advantages of RBFNNs over commonly
X
used multilayer perceptron neural networks.
The implementation of RBFNN to the bearing fault detec- Σ y
tion resulted in 97% accuracy in the fault detection rate. The Φ
training and testing of the neural network was based on actu-
al field data from two types of faults: outer race and cage X
faults. Outer race fault was introduced by drilling various size
holes on the outer race of the shaft-end bearing, while the
cage defect was created by causing deformation in the cage. Fig. 11. Radial basis function neural network architecture.

Summary assess this spectrum, which is less sensitive than the FT to

Bearing faults are the primary cause of three-phase induc-
tion motor failure. Incipient bearing failures are detectable
by the presence of characteristic machine vibration frequen-
cies associated with the various bearing failure modes. These
vibrations modify the machine’s air-gap flux and thus serve
to amplitude modulate its stator current. Current monitoring
can detect these vibrations.
Monitoring the induced current frequencies to detect the
characteristic bearing failure involves suppressing the more
dominant power system harmonics and then analyzing the
remaining current spectrum. WPD provides a means to
variations in the motor speed, which may result from
changes in mechanical load or line voltage. A radial basis
neural network then provides an effective means of detect-
ing two common sources of bearing failure.
The migration of circuit monitors from the mains to
branch circuits for purposes of assessing power and power
quality has increased the likelihood that such a device is
monitoring an induction motor’s current. The ability to
monitor the motor bearing health via such a monitor then
becomes a value added benefit.
(continued on page 50)

December 2004 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 35

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Conclusions
Uncertainty is a pervasive and persistent quality of real-time
systems. The total elimination of uncertainty is often impossi-
ble, however, because of the complex nature of the systems
under control. But rather than admit defeat, a proactive
approach to mitigating uncertainty is needed. This approach
starts with acknowledging uncertainty’s existence and then
identifying its possible causes so that the mitigation strategy
can be designed.
Each mitigation strategy is a custom engineered solution.
But whatever the solution, one thing is for certain; in real-
time systems you will need to deal with uncertainty in its
many forms.
References
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Detecting Faults
References
[1] M. Peltola, “Slip of ac induction motors and how to minimize it,”
Drives Mag., Aug. 19, 2002 [Online]. Available:
http://www.drivesurvey. com
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50 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
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[5] P.A. Laplante, Real-Time Systems Design and Analysis: An
Engineer’s Handbook, 2nd ed. Piscataway NJ: IEEE Press, 1997.
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Phillip A. Laplante (plaplante@gv.psu.edu) received his
B.S., M.Eng.,A. and Ph.D. in computer science, electrical
engineering, and computer science, respectively, from
Stevens Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the
University of Colorado. He is an associate professor of soft-
ware engineering at Penn State Great Valley Graduate
Center and codirector of the software engineering laborato-
ry. His research interests span real-time and embedded sys-
tems, software engineering, and image processing. He has
authored numerous papers and 20 books, including Real-
Time Systems Design and Analysis (IEEE/John Wiley). He
cofounded the journal Real-Time Imaging and serves on the
editorial boards of several journals and is editor-in-chief of
the CRC Press Series on Image Processing. He is a member
of SPIE, IS&T, and ACM and a Senior Member of the IEEE.
He is a registered professional engineer in the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania.
continued from page 35
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Software. MA: A.K. Ltd., 1994.
Michael J. Devaney (DevaneyM@missouri.edu) is a professor
of electrical and computer engineering at the University of
Missouri-Columbia. He is a member of IEEE Instrumentation
and Measurement Society.
Levent Eren is an assistant professor of electrical and elec-
tronics engineering at the University of Bahcesehir in
Istanbul, Turkey. He is a member of IEEE Instrumentation
and Measurement Society.
December 2004