Method and device for detecting interlaminar short circuits

• US 7,705,623 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2009
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Technology GmbH (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: Alstom Technology Ltd. (Alstom SA)
• Inventors: Hobelsberger, Max
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Ha Tran T
• Assistant Examiner(s): BENITEZ ROSARIO, JOSHUA
• Application Number:
  US12/352,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20090179663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 469 Days
• Field of Search: 324/158.1, 324/500, 324/537, 324/545, 324/772, 318/490, 322/99, 340/500, 340/648, 702/115, 703/2
• US Class Current: 324/765.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/343 in operation

Abstract

A method for determining a short circuit between at least two stator laminates in an electrical machine having a rotor mounted on a shaft and a stator, includes rotating the rotor on the shaft relative to the stator so to pass a magnetic stator flux, varying over time, through the stator, determining, during the rotation, a measurement variable sensitive to a short-circuit current caused by the magnetic stator flux between the at least two stator laminates, and determining the magnetic stator flux. In addition, a theoretical model is provided describing a relationship between the magnetic stator flux and the measurement value or an auxiliary variable derived from the measurement value, and the measurement variable or the auxiliary variable is compared with the theoretical model. A device for carrying out a method for determining a short circuit is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for determining a short circuit between at least two stator laminates in an electrical machine having a rotor mounted on a shaft and a stator, the method comprising:

rotating the rotor on the shaft relative to the stator so as to pass a magnetic stator flux, varying over time, through the stator;

determining, during the rotation, a measurement variable sensitive to a short-circuit current caused by the magnetic stator flux between the at least two stator laminates;

determining the magnetic stator flux;

providing a theoretical model describing a relationship between the magnetic stator flux and the measurement value or an auxiliary variable derived from the measurement value; and

comparing the measurement variable or the auxiliary variable with the theoretical model.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the magnetic stator flux is performed by at least one of a measurement and a calculation.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the comparing is performed to determine a measure for at least one of a probability of a presence of the short circuit;

a magnitude of the short circuit; and

a spatial position of the short circuit in the stator.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the rotating of the rotor is performed at a rotation frequency and further comprising determining spectral components of the measurement variable or of the auxiliary variable at multiples of the rotation frequency, and comparing the spectral components with the theoretical model.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising determining a transfer function between a spectral component of the magnetic stator flux and a spectral component of the measurement variable or of the auxiliary variable for the same multiple of the rotation frequency for a plurality of multiples of the rotation frequency, and comparing the transfer function with a theoretical model of the transfer function.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the measurement variable is a shaft voltage.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the auxiliary variable is determined as a change in the shaft voltage relative to a reference value and further comprising calculating a transfer function between a spectral component of the magnetic stator flux and a spectral component of the auxiliary variable for the same multiple of a rotation frequency for a plurality of multiples of the rotation frequency, and determining an extent to which at least one of the following characteristics, derived from a theoretical model, is satisfied:

an amplitude of the transfer function depends on a square of the multiple of the rotation frequency;

a phase of the transfer function depends linearly on the multiple of the rotation frequency.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the measurement variable is a ring flux along a closed path around the shaft.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the auxiliary variable is determined as a change in the ring flux relative to a reference value and further comprising calculating a transfer function between a spectral component of the magnetic stator flux and a spectral component of the auxiliary variable for the same multiple of the rotation frequency for a plurality of multiples of the rotation frequency, and determining an extent to which at least one of the following characteristics, as theoretical model, is satisfied:

an amplitude of the transfer function is linearly dependent on the multiple of the rotation frequency;

a phase of the transfer function depends linearly on the multiple of the rotation frequency.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the auxiliary variable is a change in the measurement variable with respect to a reference value.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising determining reference values of the measurement variable at a reference time for selected reference load states of the electrical machine and storing the reference values in a memory, and wherein the determining of the auxiliary value is performed using at least one reference value of the measurement variable in a reference load state similar to an instantaneous load state.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the magnetic stator flux is determined during the rotating.

13. The method as recited claim 12, further comprising determining reference values of the magnetic stator flux at a reference time for selected reference load states of the electrical machine and storing the reference values in a memory, and wherein the comparing with the theoretical model is performed using at least one reference value of the magnetic stator flux in a reference load state similar to an instantaneous load state.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the magnetic stator flux is performed using at least one magnetic measurement probe disposed in one of the stator and an air gap between the stator and the rotor.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the magnetic stator flux is performed using a calculation from at least one of a terminal voltage, a machine parameter and a load parameter of the electrical machine.

16. A device for determining a short circuit between at least two stator laminates in an electrical machine having a rotor rotating on a shaft and a stator, a magnetic stator flux varying over time passing through the stator, the device comprising:

a measurement arrangement configured to determine a measurement variable sensitive to a short-circuit current caused by the magnetic stator flux between at least two stator laminates;

a unit configured to determine the magnetic stator flux;

an evaluation unit configured to compare the measurement variable or an auxiliary variable derived therefrom with a theoretical model for the relationship between the measurement variable or the auxiliary variable and the magnetic stator flux.

17. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the evaluation unit includes a transformation module configured to determine spectral components of the measurement variable or of the auxiliary variable, and wherein the evaluation unit is configured to compare selected spectral components with the theoretical model.

18. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the measurement variable is a shaft voltage and the measurement arrangement includes at least two brushes configured to determine the shaft voltage between two different axial points on the shaft.

19. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the measurement variable is a ring flux along a closed path around the shaft, and wherein the measurement arrangement includes at least one magnetic measurement probe for determining the ring flux.

20. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the unit includes at least one magnetic measurement probe.