Experimental evaluation of motor current signature and vibration analysis for rotor broken bars detection in an induction motor

In this paper a comparison between two popular fault detection methodologies is performed for detecting rotor broken bars in an induction motor: Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) and Vibration Analysis. Tests are performed in a 3-phase, 2 hp induction motor dedicated for this type of study. Experiments are performed under different levels of fault severity and load conditions. Analysis of each signal is carried out in Matlab^® environment. Experimental results show different performance in fault detection and evaluating the fault severity of each technique under different load scenarios. As a result, MCSA is recommended when the motor is running under a significant load condition. Meanwhile, vibration analysis is suggested under low load regimes.