Stator winding fault detection of permanent magnet synchronous motors based on the bispectrum analysis

The popularity of high-efficiency permanent magnet synchronous motors in drive systems has continued to grow in recent years. Therefore, also the detection of their faults is becoming a very important issue. The most common fault of this type of motor is the stator winding fault. Due to the destructive character of this failure, it is necessary to use fault diagnostic methods that facilitate damage detection in its early stages. This paper presents the effectiveness of spectral and bispectrum analysis application for the detection of stator winding faults in permanent magnet synchronous motors. The analyzed diagnostic signals are stator phase current, stator phase current envelope, and stator phase current space vector module. The proposed solution is experimentally verified during various motor operating conditions. The object of the experimental verification was a 2.5 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor, the construction of which was specially prepared to facilitate inter-turn short circuits modelling. The application of bispectrum analysis discussed so far in the literature has been limited to vibration signals and detecting mechanical damages. There are no papers in the field of motor diagnostic dealing with the bispectrum analysis for stator winding fault detection, especially based on stator phase current signal.