IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 7] JULY 2013

ISSN 2320 6020

Comparative Study of FFT and Wavelet Techniques for Induction

Machine Having Bearing Fault
Ashish Kamal and V. K. Giri
ABSTRACT- Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) has been successfully used for fault diagnosis in induction machines.
The current spectrum of the induction machine for locating characteristic fault frequencies is used in MCSA. The spectrum is
obtained using a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) that is performed on the signal under analysis. The fault frequencies occur in
the motor current spectra are unique for different motor faults. However FFT does not always achieve good results with nonconstant load torque. Other signal processing methods, such Wavelet transforms techniques may also be used for analysis. These
techniques are capable of revealing aspects of data like trends, breakdown points, and discontinuities in higher derivatives, and
self similarity which are not available in FFT analysis. In the present paper, the comparisons of various techniques are discussed
to analyze the experimental results obtained.
KEYWORD - Induction Motor, Bearing fault, Wavelet transform, Fast Fourier transforms

INTRODUCTION
Advances in digital signal processing technology have
enabled researchers to process more data in less time. As a
result, information that is not previously available can be
extracted from the collected data. In the light of these
developments, condition monitoring via MCSA has recently
drawn more attention from researchers. MCSA focuses its
efforts on the spectral analysis of the stator current and has
been successfully used in the detection of broken rotor bars,
bearing damage and the dynamic eccentricity [1]. MCSA
analyzes the stator current in search of current harmonics
directly related to new rotating flux components, which are
caused by faults in the motor flux distribution [2]. The
advantage of this technique is that it is well recognized
nowadays as a standard due to its simplicity: It needs only
one current sensor per machine and is based on
straightforward signal processing techniques such as Fast
Fourier transforms (FFT). But, Fourier analysis has also
some other serious drawbacks. One of them may be that
time information is lost in transforming to the frequency
domain. When looking at a Fourier transform of a signal, it
is impossible to tell when a particular event has taken place.
If it is a stationary signal this drawback isn't very
important. However, most interesting signals contain
numerous non-stationary or transitory characteristics: drift,
trends, abrupt changes, and beginnings and ends of events.

These characteristics are often the most important part of the

signal, and Fourier analysis is not suitable in detecting them.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of FFT
and wavelet transforms methods for stator-current analysis
to detect the bearing faults in induction machines.
BEARING FAULT
A characteristic frequency can be associated with each
type of bearing fault. This frequency corresponds to the
periodicity of occurrence of the abnormal physical
phenomenon related to the existence of the fault. For
example if one considers a hole on the outer raceway, then,
as the rolling elements move over the defect, they are
regularly in contact with the hole which produces an effect
on the machine at a given frequency. The characteristic
frequencies are functions of the bearing geometry and the
mechanical rotor frequency . A detailed calculation of
these frequencies can be found in [4]. The frequencies of the
two fault types considered here, are given by
Outer Raceway
=

cos

(1)

1 +

cos

(2)

Inner Raceway
Author Ashish kamal is currently pursuing master of
technology program in Power Electronics and Drives
from Madan Mohan Malaviya Engineering College,
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.. E-mail:
hsihsamtec@gmail.com.
Co-Author V. K. Giri is currently Professor and Head

of Department of Electrical Department in Madan

Mohan Malaviya Engineering College, Gorakhpur,
Uttar Pradesh, India. E-mail:girivkmmm@gmail.com.

Where is the number of balls, & are the inner and

outer raceway diameters, and is the slip angle as shown in
Fig. 1.

ijbstr.org

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 7] JULY 2013

ISSN 2320 6020

Where, the arctangent function here returns values of phase
between -p and +p , a full range of 2p radians.
Using the rectangular to polar conversion function to
FFT (A)
convert the complex array
to its magnitude and phase

() is equivalent to using the preceding formulas.

FAULT DETECTION USING WAVELET
TRANSFORM
Fourier analysis uses the basic functions sin (t), cos (t), and
exp(it). In the frequency domain, these functions are
perfectly localized, but they are not localized in the time
domain, resulting in a difficult to analyze or synthesize
complex signals presenting fast local variations such as
transients or abrupt changes [5]. To overcome the
difficulties involved, it is possible to "window" the signal
using a regular function, which is zero or nearly zero outside
a time segment [-m, m]. The results in the windowedFourier transform [6]:
(, ) = ()( )

(5)

Shifting and scaling a different window function, called in

this case mother wavelet, it is obtained the so called Wavelet
Transform.
Fig. 1: Geometrical characteristics of the rolling-element bearings

FAULT DETECTION USING FAST FOURIER

TRANSFORMS (FFT)
To detect the fault, spectrum is obtained using a Fast Fourier
Transformation (FFT) that is performed on the signal under
analysis. But, the FFT in the stator current is quite difficult
to apply with accuracy due to problems such as frequency
resolution, magnitude accuracy at steady state, and more
generally, due to data processing [3]. The present paper
discusses new methods (Wavelet transform) based on statorcurrent analysis for online fault detection in induction
machines, which would overcome the averaging problems of
classical FFT. This section also discusses bearing faults of
induction motors which can be online detected with help of
MCSA.
The Power spectrum is computed from the basic FFT
function. The power spectrum shows power as the mean
squared amplitude at each frequency line. The amplitude of
the FFT is related to the number of points in the timedomain signal. The following equation can be used to
compute the amplitude and phase versus frequency from the
FFT.
Amplitude spectrum in quantity peak
Magnitude[FFT(A)]
=
N
[FFT (A)]2 + [FFT (A)]2
=
(3)

Phase spectrum in radians = Phase[FFT(A)]

= arctangent

img [FFT (A)]

real [FFT (A)]

(4)

(, ) =

(6)

Where, a is the scale factor, u is the shift, (t) is the mother

wavelet and (, ) is the wavelet transform of function
s(t).
The discrete version of Wavelet Transform, DWT, consists
in sampling not the signal or not the transform but sampling
the scaling and shifted parameters. This result in high
frequency resolution at low frequencies and high time
resolution at high frequencies, removing the redundant
information . A discrete signal x[n] could be decomposed:
1
[] = , , [] + = , , [] (7)

Where, [n] = Scaling function

0

, []=2 2 (2 ): Scaling function at scale s=2

shifted by k.
(n)= Mother wavelet

, [] = 22 (2 ): Scaling function at scale s=2

shifted by k.
, : Coefficient of approximation at scale s=2
, : Coefficient of detail at scale s=2
N= 2 : being N the number of sample of samples of x[n]

In order words, a discrete signal could be constructed by

means of a sum of a j jo details plus a one approximation
of a signal at scale s = 2 .The details and the
approximations at different scales could be obtained by
means of a tree decomposition showed in Fig. 2.

ijbstr.org

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 7] JULY 2013

Fig. 2: Wavelet Tree Decomposition

ISSN 2320 6020

Fig. 4: Frequency Spectrum of Induction Motor having Bearing Fault

RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The frequency spectrum of stator current of healthy
induction motor is shown in fig. 3. From the fig. 3, it can be
seen that the fundamental frequency (50Hz) has maximum
amplitude of 103 db and other harmonic components has a
range of amplitudes from -4 db to 90 db.

Hence, the presence of harmonics component

fundamental frequency in the current spectrum can
detected by transforming signal from time-domain
frequency-domain. But, the percentage of change
magnitude is not clearly visible in frequency domain.

of
be
to
in

1. FFT ANALYSIS
Fig. 5 shows the FFT analysis of current spectrum of healthy
induction motor. Where, the relative magnitude of
harmonics component is shown.

Fig. 3: Frequency Spectrum of Healthy Induction Motor

The stator current of induction motor having bearing fault,

leads to fig. 4. It can be seen from the fig. that harmonic
components has a magnitude range slightly larger than as in
case of healthy induction motor i.e. 0 db to 90 db.

Fig. 5: FFT Analysis of Current Spectrum of Healthy Induction Motor

In case of healthy induction motor, 48 Hz, 49 Hz, 51 Hz and

52 HZ frequency has a relative magnitude 6 %, 12%, 14 %
and 8 %. It can be seen in fig. 5.

ijbstr.org

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 7] JULY 2013

ISSN 2320 6020

Fig. 6: FFT Analysis of Current Spectrum of Induction Motor having

Bearing Fault.

Fig. 6 shows the FFT of current spectrum of induction motor

having bearing fault. It can be seen from fig.6 that even the
frequency 48, 49, 51, and 52 has increased their relative
magnitude, but also other frequency harmonic has also
increased their magnitude.
Since, a particular order of frequency is fixed for certain
type of fault. But, the FFT analysis of a signal is not capable
to identify the certain fault.
2. WAVELET ANALYSIS

Fig.8: Decomposition of Stator Current of Induction Motor having

bearing fault at 12 Levels

Now in fig.8, the waveform of decomposition level 12 has

magnitude 4 units. This rise in magnitude shows the
presence of damage in the motor. The frequency of
waveform of decomposition level 12 alters slightly.

The wavelet analysis is performed on current spectrum of

both healthy and damage bearing motor. The decomposition
level is set at 12, to obtain lower frequency order.
CONCLUSION
Fig. 7, Shows the decomposition of stator current spectrum
at level 12. It can be seen from the fig. that decomposition at
level 12, the magnitude of lower frequency is 2.

In this paper, Motor current signature analysis for the

detection of induction motor faults based on FFT and
wavelet analysis of stator current are discussed with some
experimental results which are useful for online diagnosis in
industrial applications. MCSA detects changes in a
machines permeance by examining the current signals and
uses the current spectrum of the machine for locating
characteristic fault frequencies. The spectrum is obtained
using a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) that is performed
on the signal under analysis. The fault frequencies that occur
in the motor current spectra are unique for different motor
faults. However this method does not always achieve good
results with not constant load torque. Therefore, this paper
proposes a different signal processing methods: Wavelet
Transform. The wavelet transform determines the sinusoidal
frequency and the phase content of the local sections of a
signal as it changes over time. At last, we can conclude that
the wavelet analysis can effectively diagnose bearing fault in
induction motor.
REFERENCES
1.

Fig.7: Decomposition of Stator Current of Healthy Induction Motor at 12 Levels

ijbstr.org

Neelam Mehala, Ratna Dahiya An Approach of

Condition Monitoring of Induction Motor Using
MCSA, International Journal of Systems
Applications, Engineering & Development, Volume
1, Issue 1, pp. 13-17, 2007.

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 7] JULY 2013

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

ISSN 2320 6020

Neelam Mehala, Ratna Dahiya (2008), Motor

Current Signature Analysis and its Applications in
Induction Motor Fault Diagnosis, 7th WSEAS
International conference on Signal Processing,
Robotics and Automation (ISPRA-08), Cambridge,
UK, pp. 442-448, Feb. 2004.
C. B. Vilakazi, T. Marwala, P. Mautla, E. Moloto,
On-line Condition Monitoring using Computational
Intelligence, WSEAS Transactions On Power
Systems, Issue 1, Volume 1, pp. 280-286, January
2006.
B. Li, M. Chow, Y. Tipsuwan, and J. Hung,
"Neural Network based motor rolling bearing fault
diagnosis, " IEEE Trans. Ind. Electronics, vol. 47
(5), pp. 1060-1069, Oct. 2000.
Niaoqing Hu, Yue Zhang, Fengshou Gu, Guojun
Qin, Andrew Ball, Early, Fault Detection using A
Novel Spectrum Enhancement Method for Motor
Current Signature Analysis, 7th WSEAS Int. Conf.
on Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering
And Data Bases (AIKED'08), University of
Cambridge, UK, pp. 470-475, Feb 20-22, 2008.
Reza Haghmaram, Abbas Shoulaie, Parameters
Effects on Force in Tubular Linear Induction
Motors with Blocked Rotor, WSEAS Transactions
On Power Systems, Issue 1, Volume 1, pp. 55-60,
January 2006.
Jung J.H., Jong-Jae Lee & Bong-Hwan
Kwon,Online Diagnosis of Induction Motors
Using MCSA, IEEE Trans. on Industrial
Electronics, Vol. 53, pp.1842-1852, 2006.
Cho, K.R., Lang, J.H., Umans, S.D, Detection of
broken rotor bars in induction motors using state
and parameter estimation, Industry Applications,
Vol. 28, pp. 702-709, 1992.
J. F.Watson and S. Elder, Fault detection in
induction motors as a result of transient analysis,
in Proc. Fourth Int. Conf. Electrical Machines and
Drives, pp. 182186, 1989.
Hargis C., Gaydon B. G., & Kamash K., The
Detection of Rotor Defects in Induction Motors,
Proc. of the Instt. of Electrical Engineers (IEE),
Conf. on Electrical Machines - Design and
Applications, 213, pp. 216- 220, 1982.
R.W. Schafer and L. R. Rabiner, Design and
analysis of a speech analysis- synthesis system
based on short time Fourier analysis, IEEE Trans.
Audio Electroacoust., vol. 21, pp. 165174, 1973.
Hachemi Benbouzid M.El., A review of induction
motors signature analysis as a medium for faults
detection, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., Vol. 47, pp.
984993, 2003.

ijbstr.org