DEVELOPMENT OF CONDITION MONITORING TECHNOLOGY FOR ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEMS

摘要

This paper concerns the development of condition monitoring for a novel electric motor, the Transverse Flux Motor (TFM). This machine is currently being developed by Rolls-Royce with the UK MoD as a possible propulsion motor for a range of future Royal Navy vessels. Although condition monitoring based on vibration and current analysis has proved valuable in the detection and diagnosis of faults in conventional electric machines, the development of the TFM has enabled new technologies to be considered and conventional ones to be reassessed. One approach currently being researched and investigated is that of monitoring the flux paths within the machine. This has so far proved particularly useful and has been used to detect a range of anomalies and incipient faults within the machine prototypes. This paper will outline the TFM topology before concentrating on the use of flux based monitoring using copper search coils permanently mounted within the machine. A theoretical understanding of the use of flux monitoring is then discussed, including the transformation from the measurement to flux domains. A detailed analysis of real flux waveforms is then presented and anomalies detected in the data, through manual inspection, are highlighted. This paper also addresses the relevance of such work in the broader context and its role in the changing maintenance and Navy environments.