Development of a test rig for eccentricity fault studies on an axial-flux permanent magnet (AFPM) wind generator

Detection of faults in AFPM generators is important as they become increasingly deployed in wind turbines. Hence, this paper describes the techniques developed for implementing and diagnosing eccentricity faults in an axial-flux permanent magnet (AFPM) wind generator. The main features of the system are related to ease and correctness of the fault implementation, isolation of faults, in-situ capability of the measurement procedure, accuracy of the instrumentation system and the reliability of the data acquired. A static eccentricity fault diagnostic study using frequency techniques has been presented to show the effectiveness of the developed test rig.