Rotor faults diagnosis in synchronous generators using feature selection and nearest neighbors rule

M. Biet, A. Bijeire

AbstractFeature selection and nearest neighbors rule technique is used to diagnose large-generator rotor faults. Thus, a specic experimental setup has been designed to perform the methodology of rotor faults detection. This experimental setup is a small scale prototype of a nuclear plant turbo-generator, which is actually DC excited synchronous machine. In this generator, electrical (turn-to-turn failures) and mechanical faults (eccentricities) can be carried out. Sixteen functional states have been performed for ve operating points. Stator current, voltage and ux density in the air-gap have been recorded. A list of features is then extracted from these records. To reduce their number, the SBS algorithm is used and the classication is performed by using the k-NN rule. As a result, the classication accuracy is 77.4% and the rotor faults accuracy reaches 85.1% which prove the efciency of the method. Index TermsFault diagnosis, Magnetic ux, Turbogenerators, Features selection, k-nearest neighbors.

I. I NTRODUCTION N France, most of the units which started producing power in the 70s and the 80s are soon to exceed 30 years of exploitation. With ageing generators, a very costly maintenance schedule is established to prevent generator failures. Despite this maintenance schedule, generators failures play an important role in units unavailability. Rotor ground faults have often been recorded. This fault can have several origins: a weakness in the original design, a problem during the maintenance phase, or ageing of the rotor winding. Hence, it is essential to monitor, record, analyze, and study the transient processes that can occur during power production in order to detect abnormal rotor behaviors. To do this, most generators have recently been equipped by ux probes located in the air gap. In theory, the ux probe is able to detect electrical and mechanical faults caused by mechanical imbalance, eccentricities defects, shaft alignment, or magnetic imbalance like shortcircuits. Indeed, if we assume the rotor winding is perfectly symmetric, rotor faults can be detected by comparing ux density under each pole : On one hand, the mechanical faults change the air gap size and thus the magnetic forces, on the other hand, short-circuits induce ampere-turns decrease. But, this comparison is quite complicated because of the very slow evolution of faults and the dependence of the ux density shape on the operating point. Moreover, when a fault is diagnosed, it is sometimes difcult to know the kind and thus its potential danger [5].
M. Biet is with EDF-R&D, 1 Av. General de Gaulle 92141 Cedex, Clamart, France (e-mail: melisande.biet@edf.fr). A. Bijeire was intern in EDF-R&D, 1 Av. General de Gaulle 92141 Cedex, Clamart, France.

In order to detect air-gap eccentricity problems or rotor shortcircuits in generators, many diagnosis techniques have been proposed [6] [7] [8], but only a few of them are based on magnetic eld analysis. However, there has been research to theoretically predict either the stray magnetic eld [9] or the ux density in the air-gap [10] in the case of several rotor faults. The most advanced study is dedicated to prevent eccentricities of low-speed generator by using measurement coils [11]. The proposed monitoring strategy measures 2 modulation functions, which enable them to monitor rotor and stator magnetic conditions. A drawback of this study could be the use of 15 coils set on the periphery of the stator stack, as advised by the authors to avoid diagnosis errors. In this context, this paper presents a diagnostic method based on current, voltage, electromotive force (...) measurements, and statistical pattern recognition analysis. For that purpose, a specic experimental setup has been designed to perform rotor faults detection. This experimental setup is a fortieth part of a DC excited synchronous machine designed like a French nuclear plant turbo-generator (cylindrical-rotor synchronous machine) (Fig. 1). This turbo-generator prototype advantage is to enable us to perform real, controlled and measurable faults, what is impossible on real power plant.

Fig. 1. Experimental setup: small scale turbo-generator prototype coupled with a driving motor.

Among the numerous of ux sensors put in this setup, only two radial ux sensors have been used (Fig. 2). With this experimental setup, the aim of the study is to propose an efcient approach for on-line rotor faults detection and localization that could be applicable to power plants. A new signature from the signals is extracted and a classication rule

978-1-4244-9303-6/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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Fig. 2.

Radial ux probe principle for large air-gap turbo-generator.

is used to detect new functional states. As far as we know, this methodology has not been yet presented for cylindrical synchronous machine. The rst section presents a brief review of the rotors faults that can be realized with the experimental setup and how they are commonly detected. The second section presents the methodology to extract the features from the signals processing. Some of these features could be irrelevant or redundant. Therefore, the sequential Backward Selection (SBS) algorithm is applied to the complete set of features to select the most relevant. The third section introduces how to assign an incoming vector to the appropriate class. In terms of diagnosis, this decision concerns recognizing the functional state that this measurement corresponds to. For our purpose, the decision procedure uses the k-nearest neighbors (kNN) classication rule. Finally, the diagnosis results show the efciency of this approach. II. ROTOR FAULTS IN THE TEST GENERATOR A. Description of the test generator The test generator is a fortieth part of a French nuclear plant turbo-generator. It is a DC excited cylindrical-rotor synchronous machine of 21 kW with: an operating frequency of 50 Hz, four poles, 48 stator slots, 36 rotor slots and a constant air-gap thickness of 1,6 mm. Short-circuited damping bars are set inside the rotor slots. Besides, this machine is driven by a 27 kW induction motor (Fig. 1). In this generator, electrical (turn-to-turn failures) and mechanical faults (eccentricities) can be carried out. Turn-toturn failures are created on two adjacent poles (A and B pole of Fig. 3).

In this paper 3 types of turn-to-turn failures are investigated (Fig. 4): - a 6 shorted turns in the A pole located in slots with the number 1, StA1, this failure results in a decrease in the Ampere-turns of 3.7% in pole A. - a 24 shorted turns in the B pole located in slots with the number 4, StB4(a decrease in the Ampere-turns of 14.8% in pole B). - a 12 shorted turns in the B pole located in slots with the number 2 and a 24 shorted turns in the B pole located in slots with the number 4, StB2B4 (a decrease in the Ampere-turns of 22.2% in pole B). Among the mechanical faults, only static eccentricities

Fig. 4.

Detail of shorted turns execution in the rotor.

(misalignment) can be carried out on this test generator: A static eccentricity appears if the rotor shaft assembly is stiff and if there is a displacement of the rotational center with respect to the geometrical center of the stator bore. Static eccentricity occurs if the rotor is offset relative to the center of the stator bore, such that the airgap is thinner at one point and larger at the diametrically opposite point as shown in Fig. 5. In our experimental setup, symmetric and

Fig. 5.

Static eccentricity principle.

Fig. 3. Cross section of the test machine rotor. The 4 poles are represented by a letter: A, B, C and D. Each rotor slot has a number. 2 rotor slots in a pole with the same number are connected.

asymmetric eccentricities can be done: the rst ones concern eccentricities with similar amplitude on both opposite sides of the machine and the second one concerns eccentricity with different amplitude (the shaft is misaligned). In this paper 4 types of static eccentricities are examined: - a slight symmetric eccentricity, named Ecc-1-1 corresponding to the following rotor offset in X and Y

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 directions for both sides: ( , ) = (0.3, 0.1), - an intermediate symmetric eccentricity, named Ecc33 , ) = (0.5, 0.5)), (offset: ( - a high symmetric eccentricity, named Ecc55(offset: , ) = (0.3, 1.0)), ( - an intermediate asymmetric eccentricity, named Ecc3 , ) = (0.5, 0.5), load 3(motor side offset: ( side offset: ( , ) = (0.5, 0.5) ).

B. Flux probes selection The commonly shorted turn detection is done by comparing pole to pole ux density distribution at the same load, with only one ux probe. As we know that ux probe waveform displays a peak for each rotor slot, shorted turn calculations are performed by measuring the magnitude of each lead slot peak and then making a pole-to-pole comparison for each coil. This method is illustrated in Fig. 6 for the shorted turn StB4: two poles of the rotor (in the circled areas) display smaller peaks than the two other poles.

Fig. 7. a- Radial ux density sum for two sensors 180 electrically shifted: comparison of 3 cases (healthy, Ecc33, StB4 at 25kW). b- FFT of the 3 sums over a mechanical period.

C. Experimental data The aforesaid turbo-generator is used for experimental investigations. Its rotation frequency is 25 Hz (4-poles). Sixteen states have been performed : - the healthy case, - the four eccentricities, - the three turn-to-turn failures, - eight combined faults (Ecc-1-1 and StA1, Ecc-1-1 and StB4, Ecc33 and StA1, Ecc33 and StB4, Ecc33 and StB4, Ecc3-3 and StA1, Ecc55 and StA1, Ecc55 and StB4). These operating conditions are studied for ve different loads: no load, two resistive loads (12.5 kW and 25 kW) and two inductive loads (10 kVA and 20 kVA). For each functional state and each load, twenty 1 s time long acquisitions, at 15 kHz, have been made in order to check the signature robustness. Among the 20 acquisitions, 10 are used to perform the training set. The ten remaining constitute a test set being used to validate the performance of the diagnostic method. Thus, the training set is made of 800 samples, 10 by operating modes. This gives rise to a total of 80 classes (Table I). For example, the classes 8 and 17 correspond to the Ecc-1-1 at 25kW and the Ecc3-3 at 12.5kW, respectively. III. R ELEVANT SIGNATURE FOR TURBO - GENERATOR
MONITORING

Fig. 6. Radial ux density (integration of the electromotive force) during 1 turn (a mechanical period). Comparison between the healthy machine, the machine with short turn StB4 and the machine with eccentricity Ecc33 at 25 kW.

But in the case of eccentricities detection, two ux probes are needed. Indeed, Ecc33 compared with the healthy case results in an augmentation of the lead slot peaks (Fig. 6), which means that our sensor is in an area where the air-gap is thinner than in the healthy case. This observation is not enough to make a diagnosis, especially by comparing pole to pole (i.e. without a baseline set of data). To overcome this problem, two sensors, 180 electrically shifted signals (90 spatially shifted because the turbo-generator prototype has 4 poles), are required [10]. Theoretically, in the case of a healthy machine, the sum of this two measured signals equals zero. In the case of a static eccentricity, as distances between the two sensors and the rotor are different, the sum of the radial ux density is no more nil (Fig. 7a). The resultant signal leads to specic harmonics which could be seen as signatures of eccentricity cases (Fig. 7b). Thus, for our study two ux probes are required in order to diagnose shorted turns and eccentricities.

A. Currents,voltages and ux density signature In order to monitor the turbo-generator under a large number of faults, a list of features is extracted from current ( , , ), voltage ( , , ), and radial ux density signal analysis. Six features are obtained by current and voltage signal analysis. Among these features, ve are extracted with the use of Concordias transformation which represents the stator threephase winding (, , ) in a ctive two-phase one (, ). The other one is given by the estimation of the positive sequences components of the lines voltages and currents. Then, twenty-seven features are extracted from radial ux density frequency analysis. All the features are summarized in Table II.

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Table I I NITIAL TRAINING SET COMPOSITION Classes 1 , ..., 5 6 , ..., 10 11 , ..., 15 16 , ..., 20 21 , ..., 25 26 , ..., 30 31 , ..., 35 36 , ..., 40 41 , ..., 45 46 , ..., 50 51 , ..., 55 56 , ..., 60 61 , ..., 65 66 , ..., 70 71 , ..., 75 76 , ..., 80 Functional state Healthy Ecc-1-1 Ecc33 Ecc3-3 Ecc55 StA1 StB4 StB2B4 Ecc-1-1StA1 Ecc-1-1StB4 Ecc33StA1 Ecc33StB4 Ecc3-3StB4 Ecc3-3StA1 Ecc55StA1 Ecc55StB4 Load
0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA 0, 12.5kW, 25kW, 10kVA, 20kVA

Fig. 8. FFT and DSP of the sum, for the healthy machine at 25kW. Signals recorded over 1s. Table II F EATURES OF INTEREST: N OTATION AND DEFINITION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-21 22-24 29-31 32-33 Notation (2 )... (16 ) (34 )... (40 ) (70 )... (72 ) (75 )... (76 ) Denition Standard deviation of , and , , respectively Deformation of the normalized characteristic ( ) Direct impedance = / PSD estimation from the second to the 16 harmonic PSD estimation from the 34 to the 40 harmonic PSD estimation from the 70 to the 72 harmonic PSD estimation from the 75 to the 76 harmonic

1) Currents and voltages signature: As [ , ] = [ , , ], and [ , ] = [ , , ] with the Concordias matrix, the peak-to-peak value of and is given by: = = max( ) min( ) max( ) min( ) (1) (2)

, Furthermore, the standard deviation of , and called , and are used. , is the currents modulus: where 2 + 2 , = (3) 2) Radial ux probes signature: The ux probe signature is extracted from the sum of 2 radial ..., which are 180 electrically shifted signals. A transformation is made on this sum, written (), in order to calculate features. This transformation is the power spectral density (PSD), which describes how the power of a signal is distributed with frequency. The PSD estimation is given by (Appendix A): 1 ( ) = 1 ( ) ( ) = ( )2 (4) where is the interval length. An example is given in Fig. 8 for the healthy machine at 25kW in which FFT and PSD magnitudes are plotted as a function of frequency. It shows that the PSD clarify and amplify the contribution of meaningful harmonics. B. Features selection by SBS algorithm In order to reduce the number of features, a selection method is used. According to Kudo and Sklansky [1], the sequential backward selection (SBS) is fast but low in performance. However, this method is useful for the preliminary feature selection because it is one of the most simple feature selection method [2]. The SBS algorithm allows us to seek, among initial features,

a subset of features giving the most information. For that aim, this algorithm deletes, at each step, the feature which penalizes a selection criterion, , based on separability and compactness of classes:
1 . ) = (

(5)

where and are respectively the within-class and the between-class scatter matrices. The result of the selection procedure is presented in Fig. 9 for all the iterations (from d=33 to 1). It shows that the selection gives rise to eliminating current an voltage features since they are eliminated after the 16 step. IV. D IAGNOSIS BY PATTERN RECOGNITION A. Decision phase:k-Nearest Neighbors rule The features selection previously carried out enables us to choose a new feature space with a smaller dimension. Assuming that the set of initial vectors, = (,1 , ,2 , ..., , ),

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Fig. 10. Fig. 9. Features selection result, obtained with SBS algorithm.

Classication accuracy as a function of dimension.

( = 1, ..., ), becomes a set of new vectors = (,1 , ,2 , ..., , ), the new feature space is still composed with all the dened classes (1 , ..., , ..., 80 ). Thus, each class is contained in a new cluster. , must be To perform a diagnosis, a new observation, assigned to a cluster. For that aim, the k-nearest neighbors in the best(k-NN) rule is used to assign a new sample represented class among its k-NN. This best-represented class is found by comparing the Euclidian distances, between and the training samples ( = 1, ..., ). 1/2 ) = [( ).( ) ] ( ,

= 6. Thus, the subspace dimension is xed to = 6. In that case, the selected features are 7 , 9 , 12 , 17 , 22 , 23 which correspond to the 50, 100, 175, 300, 850 and 875 HzPSD harmonics. As the subspace dimension equals 6, the data can be projected in a two or three-dimensional subspace to be displayed. Fig. 11

(6)

To reduce classication errors, a reject option is used. Its purpose is to detect patterns which could belong equally to two classes: { 0 , if = max =1..80 < /2 (7) , if = max =1..80 /2 where 0 is the ambiguity reject class, the number of found in the class . neighbors of B. Reduction of dimension versus classication accuracy In this section the classication accuracy is considered as a function of dimension in order to nd the best pattern vector. It has been previously shown that pattern vectors are constituted of features (1 , ..., , Table II) that are selected by the SBS algorithm (Fig. 9): for instance, the 3 features optimal pattern vector uses 7 , 9 and 22 . Hence, the classication accuracy is analyzed for = 2, .., 11 with 5 neighbors (k) xed. The training set is made of 80 classes (Table I) with 10 samples each. The kNN rule is applied to classify the other samples (10 remaining samples). The classication accuracy is shown in Fig. 10 for = 2, ..., 11. The best value of the classication accuracy, 77.4% is obtained for = 6. However, by considering only rotor faults (without considering its load), the accuracy reaches 85.1% for
Fig. 11. Classes representation in the best 3-dimensional subspace obtained with PCA.

shows the different classes in the best three dimensional space obtained from the principal components analysis (PCA). The three-dimensional space is a linear combination of the six features contained into the pattern vector. The information, which is kept after the projection in a three-dimensional subspace can be quantied by , a ratio of eigenvalues: 3 =
=1 =1

(8)

The eigenvalues 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 are respectively 2.0852, 1.7739, 1.1909, 0.8006, 0.1265 and 0.0228, this yields

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to = 84.17%. As a result, all the functional states can be easily distinguished by their position in the 3 dimensional space: - the healthy case (in black) is located in the area between -1 and -2 on the 1 axis and between 0 and 1 in the 2 axis. -the most serious shorted-turn lain along the 1 axis, and on the positive side of the 2 axis (36 , ..., 40 ). -the most serious eccentricity is located along the 2 axis, and on the negative side of the 1 axis (21 , ..., 25 ). - mixed serious shorted-turns and eccentricities are placed along the diagonal between the 1 and the 2 axis (56 , ..., 60 ,76 , ..., 80 ). V. D ISCUSSION The commonly used detection based on radial ux density pole-to-pole comparison tends towards ambiguous conclusions about presence of rotor faults. Actually, even if the ux curves have been tted pole-to-pole with accuracy, subjectivity of the qualitative conclusion according to rather small changes of the ... curve form complicates the analysis. This effect is emphasized with increase in the number of turns in rotor coils, which induces the shorted turn of a coil and becomes less noticeable in ... curve of the sensor [12]. Others ambiguities could be: the occurrence of symmetric shorted turns which hide the detection, or false turn shorts due to differences in slot magnetic modulation. The methodology of feature selection and nearest neighbors rule resolves those ambiguities but needs a supervised learning. However, this methodology has proved its efciency to diagnose rotor faults. With our large number of rotor faults combination and, despite defaults like small eccentricities (Ecc-1-1) and very small shorted turns (StA1), the classication accuracy is 77.4% and the rotor faults accuracy reaches 85.1%. Of course, those promising results are not as good as those presented in asynchronous machines studies [2], [3], [4] with broken bars faults. But we can say that broken bars faults are much more evident to detect that small shorted turn or eccentricities. VI. C ONCLUSION A diagnostic methodology based on pattern recognition was presented and applied to the detection of rotor faults in cylindrical-rotor synchronous machine. For that purpose, stator currents and voltages, and radial ux density in the air-gap were studied to calculate the features. However, the appropriate feature vector with the desired dimension selected only the radial ux density features. Then, the k-NN rule, associated with one reject option was used. The decision rule allowed discriminating several functional states associated with a load. Since the functional states are known, the classication accuracy is good although it have to be improved later. In fact, classes representation in the three-dimensional space obtained by PCA and the tests of classication demonstrated the relevancy of our pattern vector and a good accuracy of the kNN rule. Moreover, as our interest is focused on rotor faults and not on load, the fault detection is better than the classication accuracy.

Finally, this method will allow monitoring large turbogenerators provided that they are equipped with two ux probes. VII. A PPENDIX A. Proof of the PSD estimation As () is measured on a nite interval, its autocorrelation is given by: ( ) = 1
1 =0

( + ) (), = 0, 1, ..., 1, (9)

where is the interval length. ( ) is used and ( ) When < 0 property ( ) = equals zero for . And if () = () , where F is a rectangular frame, the autocorrelation becomes: 1 ( ) = ( + ) (10) () = 1 ( ) (11) ( ) Then, by applying Fouriers transformation on ( ), the PSD estimation is given by: = ( ) = 1 ( ) ( ) = 1 ( )2 where ( ) =
= 1 =0

(12)

() exp( ) =

() exp( ) (13)

R EFERENCES Periodicals:
[1] M. Kudo and J. Sklansky, Comparison of algorithms that select features for pattern classiers, Pattern Recognition 33 (1), 25 - 41, 2000. [2] R. Casimir, E. Boutleux, G. Clerc and A. Yahoui, The use of features selection and nearest neighbors rule for faults diagnostic in induction motors, Engineering Applications of Articial Intelligence 19, 169 - 177, 2006. [3] O. Ondel, E. Boutleux, G. Clerc and E. Blanco, FDI based on pattern recognition using Kalman prediction: Application to an induction machine, Engineering Applications of Articial Intelligence 21, 961 - 973, 2008. [4] N.-T. Nguyen and H.-H. Lee, Induction motor fault diagnosis based on the k-NN and optimal feature selection, International journal of electronics, vol. 97, no9-10, pp. 1071 - 1081, 2010.

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[5] J. Stein, Main Generator Rotor Maintenance, EPRI Project ManagerFinal Report, 2006.

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[6] D. Canha, W. Cronje, A. Meyer and S.J. Hoffe, Methods for diagnosing static eccentricity in a synchronous 2 pole generator, IEEE Power Tech, pp 2162-2167, Lausanne, 2007. [7] A. Foggia, J. Torlay, C. Corewinder, A. Audoli and J. Herigault, Circulating current analysis in the parallel-connected windings of synchronous generators under abnormal operating conditions, IEMD International Conference on Electric Machines and Drives, 634 - 636, Seattle, 1999. [8] J. Torlay, C. Corenwinder, A. Audoli, J. Herigault and A. Foggia, Analysis of shaft voltages in large synchronous generators, IEMD International Conference on Electric Machines and Drives, 607 - 609, Seattle, 1999.

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[9] O. Chadebec, V.P. Bui and P. Granjon, Rotor fault detection of electrical machines by low frequency magnetic stray eld analysis, SDEMPED, International Symposium on Diagnostics for Electric Machines, Power Electronics and Drives, Vienna, Austria, 2005. [10] B.A.T. Iamamura, Y. Le Menach, A. Tounzi, N. Sadowski and E. Guillot, Study of Synchronous Generator eccentricities using analytical approach and FEM, ICEM Internacional Conference on Electrical Machines, Roma, 2009. [11] J.J. Simond, M.T. Xuan and R. Wetter, An Innovative Inductive Air-Gap Monitoring for Large Low Speed Hydro-Generators, ICEM Internacional Conference on Electrical Machines, Villamoura, 2008. [12] M. Roytgarts, Method of Shorted Turn Monitoring in the Turbogenerator Rotor Winding, WSEAS/IASME Internacional Conference on Electric Power Systems, High Voltages, Electric Machines, Tenerife, Spain, December 2005.

Melisande Biet is graduated from the Hautes Etudes Industrielles, France, in 2004, received an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 2004 from the University of Science and Technologies of Lille (USTL), Villeneuve DAscq, France, and a Ph.D. degree from the USTL, France, in 2007. She is currently with EDF Research and Development division. Her main eld of interest now deals with condition monitoring, diagnosis tools and numerical modeling of electrical machines.

Antoine Bijeire is graduated from Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France, in 2010 and was intern in EDF Research and Development division.

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