Diagnosis of rotor broken bars faults in squirrel cage induction motor using continuous wavelet transform

Purpose Squirrel cage induction motors suffer from several faults such as rotor broken bar. One of the powerful methods to detect induction motor faults is the line current signature analysis. This paper aims to present a novel algorithm based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to diagnose a rotor broken bar fault. Design/methodology/approach The proposed CWT has high flexibility in monitoring any frequency of interest in a waveform. Based on this transform, stator current frequency spectrum is analyzed to diagnose the rotor broken bar fault. The algorithm distinguishes the healthy motor from the faulted one based on a proper index. The method can be used in steady-state running time of induction motor and under different loading conditions. Experimental results are presented to show the validity of the proposed approach. Findings The proposed index considerably increases at the broken bars conditions compared to the healthy conditions. It can clearly diagnose the faulty conditions. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical and simulated results. The proposed method can reduce the noise and spectral leakage effects. Originality/value The main contribution of the paper are as follows: using CWT for detection of broken bar faults; introducing a proper index for diagnosing broken bars; and introducing a supplementary index to reduce the noise and spectral leakage effects.