Co-simulation of induction motor fed by PWM inverter under a broken bar fault

The paper presents a finite element (FE) based efficient analysis procedure for induction machine (IM). The study based on finite element models (FEM) offers much more information on the phenomena characterizing the operation of electrical machines than the classical analytical models. This explains the increase of the interest for the finite element investigations in electrical machines. This paper attempts to present a dynamic model involving Finite Element Analysis and equivalent circuit simulation together for PWM inverter fed induction motor assisted based on Maxwell 2D and Simplorer. The nonlinear magnetization characteristics have been considered and calculated by FE software Maxwell. The circuits of the inverter are built by using the circuit components in Simplorer environnement. Based on finite element models, this paper studies the influence of the rotor broken bar fault on the IM behavior under various conditions and severity. The comparison of the results obtained by simulation tests allowed verifying the precision of the proposed FEM model. Using the simulated model, this paper presents a technical method based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of stator current and electromagnetic torque to detect the faults of broken rotor bar. The technique used and the obtained results show clearly the possibility of extracting signatures to detect and locate faults.