Apparatus and method for monitoring and/or analysis of electrical machines during operation

• US 20050200378A1
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Technology GmbH (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: Alstom Technology Ltd. (Alstom SA)
• Inventors: Hobelsberger, Max, Posedel, Zlatimir, Kirchhoff, Ingo
• Granted Patent: US 7,102,379 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/765.10
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/1227 of components, parts or materials G01R31/1209, G01R31/1218, G01R31/18 take precedence; circuits therefor G01R31/14; testing vessels of electrodes G01R31/16
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/343 in operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/346 Testing of armature or field windings

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for monitoring and/or analysis of electrical machines during operation, wherein the electrical machine has at least one generator with a shaft and drive means for driving this shaft, wherein the shaft is grounded at the first end of the generator, and wherein a measurement unit for measurement of shaft voltage and/or shaft current as a function of time is provided on the shaft at the second end of the generator. An apparatus such as this allows the combined and simultaneous measurement of various fault states by supplying signals for the shaft voltage and/or the shaft current to an analysis unit, wherein the analysis unit allows combined and simultaneous analysis of at least two potential fault states of the electrical machine. Simultaneous cross-relationships between the individual measurement results of individual fault states may be provided so as to allow a clearer and more reliable diagnosis of critical states, not possible when individual phenomena are considered separately.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring and/or analysis of electrical machines during operation, the electrical machine having at least one generator with a shaft and a drive element for driving the shaft, the apparatus comprising:

a shaft grounding configured to ground the shaft at a first end of the generator;

a measurement unit disposed on the shaft at a second end of the generator and configured to measure at least one of a shaft voltage and a shaft current as a function of time so as to obtain at least one first signal; and

an analysis unit configured to receive the at least one first signal and to perform a combined and simultaneous analysis for at least two potential fault states in the electrical machine.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two potential fault states are selected from the group consisting of:

a turns short in a rotor winding of the electrical machine;

a functional weakening of the shaft grounding;

an insulation weakness in the shaft;

an insulation weakness in the rotor winding;

a spark erosion on the shaft;

a brush sparking;

a partial discharge in at least one of a stator, a rotor and an excitor apparatus of the electrical machine;

a dangerous oscillation of the shaft;

sparks in at least one of the excitation apparatus and the rotor winding; and

at least one of rotationally synchronous shattering and witness marks.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the fault states includes at least one of radio-frequency spark activity, and dangerous oscillations of the shaft.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the radio-frequency spark activity includes at least one of a spark erosion on the shaft and sparks in at least one of an excitation apparatus and a rotor winding of the electrical machine and the dangerous oscillations include at least one of transverse bending oscillations, hunting and torsional oscillations of the shaft.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the shaft grounding includes a grounding unit for providing a second measurement of at least one of the shaft voltage and the shaft current as a function of time so as to provide at least one second signal, and wherein the analysis unit is configured to receive the at least one second signal and to combine the at least one second signal with the at least one first signal and to evaluate the at least one second signal simultaneously with the at least one first signal.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis unit is configured to perform the analysis both in a low-frequency and in a radio-frequency signal range.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the analysis unit is configured to use the low-frequency range, simultaneously and in a combined form, to determine at least one of a turns short and a dangerous oscillation of the shaft, and to use the radio-frequency range to determine a spark activity.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the analysis unit is configured to determine the at least one of the turns short and the dangerous oscillation using Fourier analysis.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the analysis unit includes at least one filtering element for filtering the at least one first signal and the at least one second signal on a frequency-selective basis.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the at least one filtering element includes a low-pass filter and a radio-frequency bandpass filter configured to filter the at least one first signal and the at least one second signal, either simultaneously or alternatively in a switched manner.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the low-pass filter passes frequencies below 20 kHz, and the radio-frequency bandpass filter adjustably passes frequencies in the range from 20 kHz to 40 MHz.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the radio-frequency bandpass filter adjustably passes frequencies in the range from 1 MHz to 40 MHz.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the analysis unit is configured to receive at least one further signal indicative of a fault state and not based on a measurement of the shaft voltage or shaft current, and to evaluate the at least one further signal in a combined and simultaneous manner with at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the analysis unit is configured to perform a sampling process as part of the analysis.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the analysis unit includes analog/digital converter for use in performing the sampling process.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein a sampling rate is used in the sampling process corresponding to one of a mains frequency and an integer multiple of the mains frequency divided by a number of pole pairs of the generator.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the analysis unit is configured to investigate the at least one first signal with respect to at least one of a frequency modulation, an amplitude modulation, and frequency lines contained in at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal, so as to analyze the at least one first signal.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the frequency lines are in baseband.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the analysis unit is configured to evaluate transient processes in a spectrum of at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the sampling process includes performing a Fourier transform in sections of at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal and a resulting spectrum is analyzed for at least one of line broadening, sidebands, and frequency lines in baseband.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 20, wherein the Fourier transform is performed after demodulation or down-mixing of at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal with a carrier frequency.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein the carrier frequency is at least one of a mains frequency and an integer harmonics of the mains frequency divided by a number of pole pairs.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal is sampled at a sampling rate of 1-200 kHz, and is Fourier-transformed in each case in sections in the range from 0.5 k to 1 000 k data points.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal is sampled for low-frequency components in the region of 5 kHz and is sampled in the region of 200 kHz for radio-frequency components.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 24, wherein at least one of the at least one first signal and the at least second signal is Fourier-transformed in each case in sections in the region of 64 k data points.

26. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the shaft grounding includes a grounding unit having a contact apparatus for contacting the shaft, a high resistance to the contact apparatus, a low resistance to a grounding point, a fuse disposed in parallel with the high resistance, and a measurement resistance, and wherein the grounding unit is configured to tap off the shaft voltage between the high resistance and the contact apparatus and the grounding point, and to tap off the shaft current across the measurement resistance.

27. The apparatus as recited in claim 26, wherein the measurement resistance is disposed between the grounding point and the low resistance.

28. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the measurement unit has a contact apparatus on the shaft, a fuse connected to the contact apparatus, one or more capacitances disposed in parallel with each other, a resistance to the grounding point disposed in parallel with the one or more capacitances, and a measurement resistance disposed between the grounding point and the parallel-disposed one or more capacitances and resistance, and wherein the shaft voltage is tapped off between the fuse and the grounding point and the shaft current is tapped off across the measurement resistance.

29. A method for monitoring and/or analysis of electrical machines during operation, the electrical machine having at least one generator with a shaft and a drive element for driving the shaft, the method comprising:

grounding the shaft at a first end of the generator;

measuring at least one of a shaft voltage and a shaft current as a function of time using a measurement unit disposed on the shaft at a second end of the generator;

providing at least one signal indicative of at least one of the shaft voltage and the shaft current to an analysis unit; and

performing a combined and simultaneous analysis for at least two potential fault states in the electrical machine using the analysis unit.

30. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the at least two potential fault states are selected from the group comprising:

a turns short in a rotor winding of the electrical machine;

a functional weakening of the shaft grounding;

an insulation weakness in the shaft;

an insulation weakness in the rotor winding;

a spark erosion on the shaft;

a brush sparking;

a partial discharge in at least one of a stator, a rotor and an excitor apparatus of the electrical machine;

a dangerous oscillation of the shaft;

sparks in at least one of the excitation apparatus and the rotor winding; and

at least one of rotationally synchronous shattering and witness marks.