Infrared thermography based diagnosis of inter-turn fault and cooling system failure in three phase induction motor

Thermography has been widely used as a technique for anomaly detection in induction motors. International Electrical Testing Association (NETA) proposed guidelines for thermographic inspection of electrical systems and rotating equipment. These guidelines help in anomaly detection and estimating its severity. However, it focus only on location of hotspot rather than diagnosing the fault. This paper addresses two such faults i.e. inter-turn fault and failure of cooling system, where both results in increase of stator temperature. Present paper proposes two thermal profile indicators using thermal analysis of IRT images. These indicators are in compliance with NETA standard. These indicators help in correctly diagnosing inter-turn fault and failure of cooling system. The work has been experimentally validated for healthy and with seeded faults scenarios of induction motors.