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Published in IET Renewable Power Generation Received on 27th June 2011 Revised on 19th April 2012 doi: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2011.0168

ISSN 1752-1416

Condition monitoring of wind turbine induction generators with rotor electrical asymmetry
S. Djurovic1 C.J. Crabtree2 P.J. Tavner 2 A.C. Smith1
1 2

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M19 3PL, UK School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK E-mail: sinisa.durovic@manchester.ac.uk

Abstract: This study investigates the condition monitoring of wind turbine wound rotor and doubly fed induction generators with rotor electrical asymmetries by analysis of stator current and total power spectra. The research is veried using experimental data measured on two different test rigs and numerical predictions obtained from a time-stepping electromagnetic model. A steadystate study of current and power spectra for healthy and faulty conditions is performed to identify fault-specic signal changes and consistent slip-dependent fault-indicators on both test rigs. To enable real-time fault frequency tracking, a set of concise analytical expressions, describing fault frequency variation with operating speed, were dened and validated by measurement. A variable speed study, representative of real wind turbine operations, of current and power frequency components for healthy and faulty conditions was then carried out on one test rig, which could simulate wind conditions. The current and power fault frequency tracking previously identied achieved reliable fault detection for two realistic wind turbine generator fault scenarios of differing severity. Conclusions are drawn on the relative merits of current and power signal analysis when used for wind turbine wound rotor induction machine fault detection and diagnosis.

Introduction

Wind power is at the forefront of contemporary sustainable power generation with global wind generating capacity increasing annually. A large proportion of todays wind turbines (WTs) use induction generators (IGs) for energy conversion. The dominant market concepts for high power (MW scale) variable speed WTs typically use IGs in two topologies: the doubly fed IG (DFIG) has a grid-connected stator and a partially rated power electronic converter in the rotor circuit; the wound rotor IG (WRIG) has an electronically controlled variable resistance in the rotor circuit [1]. Undetected generator faults may have a catastrophic effect on the turbine drive train resulting in costly and lengthy repairs. It is desirable that faults are detected early to allow planned preventative maintenance and increased availability. As WTs increase in capacity and move to windier, less accessible offshore environments, condition monitoring (CM) of WTs and their generators has become essential to reduce downtime and improve capacity factors. Generator CM is signicant as generator defects have been shown to be a major contributor to WT downtime [2 4]. Indeed, [3] showed that 30% of annual downtime was because of converter power module failures, 30% of which resulted directly from the generator. Two dominant failure locations in conventional AC generators are bearings and windings [5]. However, a recent industrial survey of commercial WT generator failure rates [6] highlighted brush-gear and slip-ring failures in WRIGs. These
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accounted for 16% of failures in 2 MW range generators whereas 50% of failures originate from rotor imbalance in smaller MW scale machines [6]. WT CM systems should ideally use non-invasive monitoring methods. Established induction machine monitoring techniques, including motor current signal analysis, typically use non-invasive, spectral-based machine terminal quantity analysis. Previous works [7, 8] showed that induction motor cage faults can be detected by either current or power analysis and [9] demonstrated power signal analysis for WT fault detection. Consequently, a number of authors have investigated steady-state winding fault detection in WRIGs [10 20] based on the analysis of readily available current or power signals. The reported works range from analysis of experimental data only, investigation based on both simulation and experimental data [10 15] or analytical explanations of the origins of fault frequencies [13, 15, 17, 20]. Fault modelling was based on connecting either resistive or inductive elements to machine windings [10 14, 18, 19] or actual short and open circuit fault simulation [15, 17, 20]. Changes in the WRIG stator and rotor current spectral content, originating from winding faults, were reported in [10, 12 20]. Theoretical and analytical explanations of fault frequencies and their generation were attempted in [13, 15, 17, 20]. The analyses in [10 17, 20] focused on steady-state stator and rotor current signals to identify winding fault spectral indicators. This paper builds on the research in [18, 19] to present a complete and in-depth investigation of the inuence of rotor electrical asymmetry on the stator line current and total
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instantaneous power spectra of WT IGs in DFIG or WRIG congurations. The paper initially investigates steady-state operation at xed speed to illustrate the spectral content of current and power signals which is useful for fault detection. Experimental results are compared with a detailed time-stepped DFIG model [16] and are in turn supported by, and analysed against, analytical expressions. The expressions describe the spectral content of current and power as a function of machine speed. Reliable fault indicators are summarised and are taken as the basis for the analysis of the non-stationary signals produced by variable speed operation such as encountered in modern, variable speed WTs. The analytical expressions enable fault frequencies to be recalculated over time to account for different operating conditions. A frequency tracking method for analysing these non-stationary fault indicators is described and applied to experimental current and power data for on-line machine operation and for different degrees of fault severity. Finally, the spectral fault indicators identied in the steady state are analysed using the frequency tracking algorithm to demonstrate the fault detection potential of both the algorithm and of the dened spectral components for CM of WT DFIGs and WRIGs. magnitude, from 0.01 V at 100 A to . 0.2 V at low current [2123]. Commercial WT generator brush gear system specications indicate contact resistivity values in the order of; 0.1 V cm2 at rated brush current, with multiple brushes used in a phase winding [24]. Furthermore, brush wear and pressure irregularity, material defects or high current density can lead to high contact resistance and uneven current distribution between brushes [2225]. The fault conditions in this work are therefore those of rotor resistive imbalance, and the imbalance levels to be investigated are representative of values reported in the literature for brush contact resistance. The effect of a rotor winding short- or open-circuit fault is much less linear as the whole winding impedance changes in this case and not only its resistive part. This affects the coupling of electric circuits within the machine and consequently the air-gap ux distribution in a more profound manner than is considered experimentally in this work and consequently yields different results for the current spectral content [1517, 20] that may be clearly differentiated from rotor electrical imbalance effects reported in this work. Fault conditions were emulated by introducing additional resistance into one rotor phase winding circuit. The rotorrated phase resistance of both test generators was 0.07 V. To model a DFIG or WRIG fault experimentally on the Manchester generator, 0.05 V was introduced externally to one rotor phase circuit. To achieve the same speed points at Durham while avoiding the driving motor torque limit imposed through the gearbox, the WRIG healthy phase resistance was increased to 0.9 V per phase with an additional 0.4 V in one phase in the imbalanced condition. To clearly identify fault spectral signatures, slightly increased additional resistance levels were used in steadystate analysis. Once the fault indicators had been established it was found that smaller, more representative faults were detectable at lower resistance levels for transient analysis. The change of resistance investigated is favourably comparable to levels used in previous rotor electrical imbalance or brush-gear damage work [12, 13, 26].

2
2.1

Simulation and experimental tools

Time-stepped model

The model used in this work is based on harmonic conductor distributions and a coupled-circuit approach [16]. Higherorder air-gap eld space harmonics are included in the calculations when evaluating machine parameters, thus making the model competent for frequency domain analysis of machine electrical quantities. The model validity in both time and frequency domains was veried by comparison with experimental data [16 18] and a detailed model description can be found in [16]. Machine geometry and design data used as model inputs for this research match the specications of the commercial WRIG used in the University of Manchester tests. 2.2 Experimental test rigs

3 Steady-state current and power signal spectra

3.1 Analytical expressions

Experimental research was performed on specially constructed test rigs at the Universities of Manchester and Durham. The two test rigs and data acquisition systems were designed to capture different aspects of the machine and WT behaviour and are summarised in the Appendix (see Tables 2 and 3). The Manchester rig operates as either a DFIG or WRIG at user-dened xed speeds. The Durham rig features a WRIG with variable resistance in the rotor circuits, driven at either constant speed or with nonstationary and variable speed conditions. The rigs are shown schematically in Fig. 1. Both machines were synchronised with the grid during experiments with star connected rotor and stator windings. 2.3 Fault modelling

The analytical work utilises a set of expressions for current spectral content originating from principles presented in [17]. In general, EMF frequencies induced in wound rotor induction machine stator conductors can be expressed as a function of air-gap eld pole numbers [17]
n ,m find = j+

nm (1 s) f p

(1)

Rotor electrical and brush-gear faults typically manifest themselves as uneven rotor current distributions. In addition, despite brush resistance being low in comparison with rotor winding resistance, the sliding brush to collectorring contact constitutes the dominant brush-gear resistive component and can be signicant [21]. Healthy brush contact resistance is reported to range, depending on current
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where n and m are the stator and rotor air-gap eld pole numbers, p is the machine pole pair number, s is the fractional slip, j 1, 2, 3 . . . is the order of the grid supply induced current harmonic components and f is the grid supply frequency. Equation (1) is generalised to include the effects of higher-order grid supply harmonics [27]. By introducing appropriate constraints for possible pole numbers n and m, analytical expressions can be derived for possible primary current frequencies for particular operating conditions of interest. For a machine operating with no imbalance, n and m can be written as n, m p(1 2 6m), where m 0, +1, +2, +3 . . .
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Fig. 1 Test rig congurations

a Manchester b Durham

[17]. Substituting into (1) yields the expression for possible stator current frequencies in a healthy machine
k = |j + 6k (1 s)|f find

(2)

where k 1, 2, 3 . . . A general expression is derived for machine operation with rotor electrical imbalance by assuming a secondary MMF pattern resulting in the air-gap eld with any number of poles (n, m +1, +2, +3 . . .) and a stator-winding layout capable of coupling with such disturbances. Based on this assumption, the general expression for faulty current spectra can be derived from (1)
k find

emulated in this work gives rise to reverse rotating elds at slip frequency. Current signal fault components will therefore be shown to be a subset of the spectral series identied by (3). Expressions dening the spectral content of healthy and faulty WRIM total instantaneous power signals are obtained by multiplying three-phase stator current signals dened by (2) and (3) with an assumedly unbalanced three-phase supply voltage Va =
i i VMa cos(ivt + bi ) i VMb cos(ivt + bi 2p/3) i i VMc cos(ivt + bi 2p/3) i

k = j + (1 s) f p

Vb = (3) Vc =

(4)

However, the fundamental effect of rotor imbalances

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i i i where VMa , VMb , VMc are the respective i-th stator phase voltage harmonic peak values, v is the supply fundamental angular frequency, bi is the ith harmonic phase angle with respect to the fundamental and i is the harmonic voltage order number, where i 1, 2, 3 . . . . It is assumed that the harmonic three-phase supply contains all higher-order harmonics and can only be imbalanced in magnitude while the respective phase angles remain symmetrical. The presence of grid supply imbalance was shown in [17] not to introduce additional spectral components to those dened by (2) in the stator current signal. The expression for power signal frequencies for healthy machine operation is obtained by multiplying (4) with the three-phase current system of frequency (2) k ,i , j find = |j + 6k (1 s) + i|f

(5)

The total instantaneous power signal operation with rotor electrical imbalance is formed by multiplying the threephase current excitation of frequency (3) with the voltage system (4) giving k k ,i find = j + (1 s) + i f p 3.2 DFIG current and power spectra (6)

The effect of rotor electrical asymmetry on DFIG steady-state current and power signal spectra was investigated on the Manchester test rig. Tests were rst performed for a typical on-line operating point of 1572 rpm with balanced windings and a load torque of 20 Nm. The measured supply frequency was 50.05 Hz in the experiments. Additional resistance of 0.05 V was then introduced in one rotor phase to emulate fault conditions and stator line current and total instantaneous power signals were recorded. The

measured DFIG load torque and stator and rotor fundamental RMS voltages were used as inputs to the numerical model to recreate the test conditions. Stator and rotor excitations are represented as single-frequency sinusoidal voltages. Fig. 2 compares measured healthy and faulty current spectra, Figs. 2a and b, with calculated healthy and faulty spectra, Figs. 2c and d. The measured spectra are seen to be component rich and a number of frequencies of interest are identied. The harmonic frequency components found in the current signal arise largely from supply harmonic voltages [27, 28] whereas inter-harmonic components are slip-dependent and characteristic of WRIGs [14, 16, 17, 20]. Figs. 2c and d show the predicted current spectra ignoring the supply harmonic frequencies. The measured faulty current spectra indicate that rotor imbalance induces a change of considerable magnitude in a number of frequencies. These are 2sf sidebands on dominant spectral components, and are most pronounced at 54.8, 259.6 and 369.2 Hz. An increase is also present in the 154.8 Hz component, which roughly doubles in magnitude with fault presence. This is less obvious in gures because of logarithmic scaling. The observed frequencies can be obtained directly from (2) and are discussed in more detail below. A clearer indication of fault spectral signature is obtained by comparing calculated healthy and faulty DFIG current spectra given in Figs. 2c and d, respectively. There is a clear increase in the magnitude of the dominant fault-related components at 54.8, 154.8, 259.6 and 369.2 Hz. Fig. 2 demonstrates that the identied fault-specic components are also present in healthy machine current spectrum, but with signicantly lower magnitudes. During healthy machine operation these can originate from any pre-existing rotor excitation imbalance or inherent manufacturing imperfections [16, 17]. The model predictions and measurements of current spectral content are in good agreement where content originating from fundamental excitation is concerned. The data differ, however, in the

Fig. 2 Line current spectra at 1572 rpm (s 20.047)

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general noise levels, with measurements exhibiting a much higher noise levels compared with the simulations. Fig. 3 shows measured and calculated stator total power signal spectra corresponding to the current spectra in Fig. 2. The measured power spectra are noticeably noisier than the current spectra because of the effects of voltage and current multiplication. As before, frequencies of interest are labelled in the graphs. The harmonic components in the power spectra originate from the interaction of current and voltage harmonic frequencies, whereas inter-harmonic frequencies result from modulation of current interharmonic spectral content with supply harmonic voltages. This leads to component-rich power signal spectra, shown in Figs. 3a and b. More importantly, the comparison of healthy and faulty data indicates a signicant rise in magnitude of a number of spectral components. These are directly related to fault-induced changes observed in current spectra but are reected at different spectral frequencies in the power signal. The fault-related change of magnitude is most pronounced at 4.8, 104.8, 309.6 and 319.2 Hz. The calculated healthy and faulty power spectra are shown in Figs. 3c and d and conrm the previous observations. The difference between predictions and measurements is consistent with that commented upon for current signal data. As with the current signals, fault-specic frequencies can also be found in the healthy machine power signal, however, they are of considerably lower magnitude in comparison with faulty operation. 3.3 WRIG current and power spectra imbalance in WRIG steady-state signals was investigated by comparing the data measured on the two test rigs for similar operating conditions. A typical set of healthy and faulty current and power traces are shown, respectively, in Figs. 4 and 5 for an arbitrarily chosen operating speed of 1560 rpm (s 2 0.04). The supply frequency measured during experiments was 50.05 Hz on the Manchester test rig and 49.93 Hz on the Durham test rig. The measured spectral content is seen to be consistent with spectra observed for DFIG signals in Section 3.2. The absence of the rotor converter is not seen to lead to signicant changes in noise or spectral content in the signal bandwidth examined in this work. Frequencies of interest are labelled throughout. The healthy current spectra in Figs. 4a and b indicate comparable spectral content despite different levels of rotor resistance in the Manchester and Durham machines. Differences exist between the harmonic content of the two test rigs and are indicative of different supply conditions in the Manchester and Durham laboratory environments. The inter-harmonic spectral content, however, is in good agreement between the rigs, which is a good test of the universality of the approach. The dominant inter-harmonic components are labelled a and b in the graphs. The line current spectra, after the rotor imbalance was applied, are shown in Figs. 4c and d. Frequencies a and b remain consistent in the faulty machines, as do the supply harmonics. There is, however, a clear increase in spectral content in both current data sets. The rotor fault manifests itself as an increase in the magnitude of components c f. As before, these are present as 2sf components around the dominant spectral components. There is a much greater increase in component f in the

In order to identify consistent spectral signatures for different operating environments, the spectral fault signature of rotor

Fig. 3 Total power spectra at 1572 rpm (s 20.047)

a b c d Healthy measured data Faulty measured data Healthy calculated data Faulty calculated data 211

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Fig. 4 Measured line current spectra

a b c d Manchester, healthy Durham, healthy Manchester, faulty Durham, faulty

Fig. 5 Measured total power spectra

a b c d Manchester, healthy Durham, healthy Manchester, faulty Durham, faulty

Manchester data, resulting from a lower rotor resistance compared to the Durham test rig and therefore greater speed ripple in the presence of the fault. Good agreement between the two test rig measurements is also seen in the healthy and faulty power signal data from Fig. 5. Frequencies a b in the power signals originate from the interaction of supply voltage harmonic content with a and b current signal frequencies. The presence of the fault results in signicant magnitude increase in components c f where, again, the Manchester data
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demonstrate a higher fault-induced magnitude increase of f because of the rotor resistance effects already mentioned. 3.4 Frequency selection

Sections 3.2 and 3.3 establish an understanding of fault inuence on the IG current and power signals and identify consistent spectral content patterns and fault frequencies of interest for WRIG/DFIG current and power monitoring. For CM it would be impractical to observe all possible fault
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Table 1
Constants for healthy and faulty line current spectra Constant j 50 Hz multiples a, b (healthy) a, b (faulty) cd e f 1, 2, 3, . . . 1 1 1 1 1 k 0 1 12 4 8 16 l 1, 2, 3, . . . 1 1 1 1 1
k find

Frequency label

Expression Line current = |j + 6k (1 s )|f k (1 s ) f p k = j + (1 s ) f p

k find

Total power = |j + 6k (1 s ) + i |f k (1 s ) + i f p k = j + (1 s ) + i f p

k find = j+ k find

k find = j+ k find

frequencies given by (2) and (4) and, as demonstrated, this would not be necessary as not all frequencies given by (2) and (4) are signicant in the spectra. The steady-state analysis enables a reduced set of frequencies of interest to be dened and corresponding equation constants to be identied. These are listed for current and power signal frequencies of interest in Table 1. It is clear from the data in Table 1 that the current fault frequencies c f are found by a systematic increase in the integer constant k. As expected, the power fault frequency constants are highly consistent with those for line current. The values identied in Table 1 establish simple expressions that enable real-time prediction of fault frequencies of interest for variable-speed generator operation.

4
4.1

Frequency tracking and fault detection

Frequency tracking

DFIG and WRIG WTs are variable load and speed systems operating under highly dynamic conditions as illustrated in Fig. 6 by the operational load and speed data from a 1.67 MW variable speed WT. These conditions result in CM signals that vary signicantly in both magnitude and spectral content. Any WT IG CM experimental and analysis technique must take an account of these non-stationary characteristics.

This paper has shown that rotor faults manifest themselves as changes in the magnitude of dened spectral components. Therefore faults could be detected by examining these component magnitudes over time, taking into account the variable operating conditions. One approach to achieve this would be to decrease fast Fourier transform (FFT) time lengths so that the signals are stationary during analysis. However, this produces overwhelming numbers of spectra with speed-dependent spectral content requiring manual interpretation. WT IG CM would soon become unmanageable for operators with large WT populations. The short-time Fourier transform and wavelet transform are popular non-stationary signal analysis tools producing graphical representations of wide-band spectral content over time but require high computing power. These graphical representations also require considerable manual interpretation to obtain CM results. To counter this, the frequency tracking methodology assumes spectral fault indicators are dened as a function of an operational signal. Processing requirements and times are reduced by analysing only the frequencies of interest at a given point in time. As has been shown above DFIG/WRIG spectral content is dened as a function of machine speed. A frequency tracking methodology was described in [29] using the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to extract the energy of a calculable spectral component over time. A localised CWT was deployed to analyse a narrow band including the frequency of interest dened by a speed signal. The CWT was selected for its popularity in analysis of non-stationary signal such as machine starting currents [30]. The algorithm proved capable of detecting rotor electrical asymmetry by extracting power signal 2sf energy over time, however, it was computing intensive. Following this a simpler Fourier-based algorithm was conceived to reduce complexity. The application of Fourier principles is a logical step in the analysis of current and power signals as they are inherently sinusoidal. By contrast, the CWT is most effective in analysing impulsive signals. The principal stages in the iterative localised discrete Fourier transform (IDFTlocal ) algorithm are calculate required sample length of analysis signal and machine speed signal; calculate frequency of interest from mean speed signal within the time window; apply discrete Fourier analysis over narrow band around frequency of interest; extract peak amplitude within the frequency window; repeat until the entire signal has been analysed; plot peak amplitude from each iteration against time.

Fig. 6 Operational data from a 1.67 MW DFIG WT

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The advantage of this approach is that only the frequency of interest and a narrow error band are analysed at each iteration
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rather than the entire spectrum, producing a simplied gure indicating the magnitude of a fault-related component with time. Importantly, this reduces the amount of manual interpretation required by giving directly comprehensible results. Furthermore, the iteration sample length is adapted to analyse a xed number of rotations per iteration rather than a xed time length. This removes much of the variability seen in [29] that resulted from variable speed operation. The full algorithm is described and discussed in [31].

Results

The spectral components in Section 3.4 were selected based on the steady-state analysis of the two different test rigs and a detailed model. However, their relevance to CM under variable, non-stationary WT conditions needs to be validated. The IDFTlocal algorithm was applied to stator current and power signals recorded from the Durham test rig, which was driven by variable speed data derived from a detailed 2 MW WT model. The scaled generator speed signal used here is shown in Fig. 7a. The fault conditions here were lower in magnitude than those used for the steady-state operation such that the rotor phase resistance was 1.2 V per phase when balanced, with 0.25 and 0.5 V added in one phase to create 23 and 46% asymmetries, respectively. Figs. 7b and c show the line current and total instantaneous power signals recorded from the test rig at 5 kHz. 5.1 Analysis of line current

Fig. 7 Raw signals for analysis using the IDFTlocal algorithm, sampled at 5 kHz
a Generator speed b Stator line current c Stator total instantaneous power

The IDFTlocal algorithm was applied to each spectral component of interest in the stator line current, as dened in Table 1. Figs. 8a, c and e show the instantaneous frequency of three of the components of interest, components c, d and e, respectively. It is clear that these signals are non-stationary so a standard FFT of entire signal lengths would yield little useful information. The results of IDFTlocal analysis of each component of interest are shown in Figs. 8b, d and f, respectively. Each

component shows, to a differing extent, a step change in magnitude when the fault condition was present or has changed. Component f is not shown, in the interest of conciseness, as the result did not show a marked change for these fault levels. This was expected, as component f was most sensitive to the operating environment because of its low magnitude in Fig. 4 against background noise. Step changes in components c and d are clear despite the low fault magnitude compared to the overall circuit resistance although, interestingly, the third harmonic sideband, component d gave a more dened change than the fundamental sideband, component c, which is generally the focus of current analysis research.

Fig. 8 Stator line current frequencies of interest and their IDFTlocal analysis results against time
a b c d e f Component c Its amplitude over time Component d Its amplitude over time Component e Its amplitude over time IET Renew. Power Gener., 2012, Vol. 6, Iss. 4, pp. 207 216 doi: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2011.0168

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Fig. 9 Total instantaneous power frequencies of interest and their IDFTlocal analysis results against time
a b c d e f Component c Its amplitude over time Component d Its amplitude over time Component e Its amplitude over time

These results show that the selected spectral components remain valid as fault indicators under variable load and speed conditions and also suggest that fault severity can be derived from spectral component amplitude. 5.2 Analysis of total instantaneous power

Total instantaneous power signal components were also veried under variable speed conditions. The total power results proved highly comparable with current analysis results. Similarly, Fig. 9 subplots (a), (c) and (e) show the instantaneous frequency of three components of interest, c, d and e, respectively. These show the same characteristics as in line current; however they are shifted by 50 Hz taking the fundamental sideband c down towards zero. Fig. 9 subplots (b), (d) and (f) show the results of IDFTlocal analysis of components c, d and e in the stator total instantaneous power signal. Again, the gures show marked changes when a fault condition is present, with the harmonic sideband around 100 Hz giving the clearest result. Component f is again not shown as it did not yield a clear result. However, it is believed that analysis of a machine with a lower overall rotor resistance, as in full-size WT DFIGs and WRIGs, would bring this component forward as a valid fault indicator and the clarity of component e would also improve.

Conclusions

These fault frequencies have been veried on two independent test rigs under different on-line operating environments. It has been shown that there is a range of inter-harmonic components in WRIG current and power spectra, in addition to the commonly used (1 2s)f and 2sf rotor fault indicators, whose magnitudes are signicantly greater under fault conditions. Analytical means of calculating the reported fault frequencies are provided and an algorithm has been developed to track them reliably under WT variable speed conditions. This algorithm has been applied to fault frequencies in both stator current and total power spectra to reliably detect IG rotor electrical fault on a test rig under non-stationary, variable speed and wind-driving conditions. The results demonstrate that this approach will be valid for application to full-size WT generators; the observed fault spectral signatures originate from the fundamental rotor electrical fault induced air-gap eld disturbances and it is reasonable to expect that these will be identically exhibited for machine designs with larger frames than the ones considered in this research. The results show that both stator current and total power spectra are valid for fault detection. The current spectrum has some benets, from the point of view of simplicity and lower noise, while the total power spectrum provides benets from the point of view of globality, that is, observing characteristics from all phases, and lower measurement frequency.

This paper demonstrates that realistic and common WT WRIG and DFIG rotor electrical faults can be detected reliably by measurement of identied fault frequencies in stator current or total power spectra. The following specic conclusions arise: Frequencies from common rotor electrical faults in WRIGs have been identied from a published predictive high-order air-gap eld space harmonic model.
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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UK EPSRC as part of the Supergen Wind Consortium under grant EP/D034566/1 and the assistance of Strathclyde University in this Consortium for the provision of the wind turbine model is acknowledged.
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PhD thesis, Durham University, UK, 2011

Appendix: summary of test rigs

Manchester and Durham test rig machine parameter summary Generator (30 kW, manufacturer Marelli Motori) Type No. of poles Rotor resistance, V 0.07 1.2 Converter Gearbox Driving motor (DC) Grid connection

Table 2
Test rig

Manchester Durham

DFIG or WRIG cong WRIG only

4 4

back-to-back, 8 kHz switching none

none 5:1 helical

40 kW constant speed 54 kW variable speed

direct or via Variac direct

Table 3
Test rig

Manchester and Durham test rig data acquisition and analysis parameters Data acquisition Hardware Sampling frequency, kHz 2 2 5 Power calculation, Wm 2 2 3 Speed MATLAB FFT analysis Bandwidth presented 0500 Hz N/A Resolution 214 points 0.1 Hz

Manchester Durham (xed speed) Durham (variable speed)

precision oscilloscope precision oscilloscope NI LabVIEW

encoder in-line pulse in-line pulse

216

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