Currents and Vibrations in Asynchronous Motor with Externally Induced Vibration

This paper presents an experimental investigation ofthe airgap variation model for vibration and current harmonicsrelationship in induction motors. To this aim, an external vibrationsource was employed, together with ball bearing alterationsin order to decrease stiffness. The direction of the externalvibration is radial with respect to the axis of the electricmachine under test. To maximize the effect of externally inducedvibrations, the frequency chosen was near the flexural resonanceof the rotor, determined by FEM analysis.During tests both currents and vibration of the machine wereacquired. The test rig allowed to vary speed, vibration level andbearing stiffness. An electromagnetic brake provided a variableoutput load for the electric machine. The focus of the paper isthe review of fault models used in literature. Radial effects areusually visible only in case of large failures that result in air-gapvariations, as the experiments confirmed