Static and dynamic eccentricity fault diagnosis of large salient pole synchronous generators by means of external magnetic field

Although synchronous generators are robust and long-lasting equipment of power plants, consistent electricity production depends on their health conditions. Static and dynamic eccentricity faults are among the prevalent faults that may have a costly effect. Although several methods have been proposed in the literature to detect static and dynamic eccentricity faults in salient pole synchronous generators (SPSGs), they are non-sensitive to a low degree of failure and require a predefined threshold to recognise the fault occurrence that may vary based on machine configuration. This article presents a detailed magnetic analysis of the SPSGs with static and dynamic eccentricity faults by focusing on the external magnetic field. The external magnetic field was measured using two search coils installed on the backside of the stator yoke. Also, advanced signal processing tools based on wavelet entropy were used to analyse the induced electromotive force (emf) in search coils to extract the fault index. The proposed index required no threshold to recognise the starting point of fault occurrence and was sensitive to a low degree of fault. It was also non-sensitive to load variation and noise that may induce a false alarm.