Study of Broken Rotor Bar Fault for Asymmetrical Six-Phase Induction Motor

Multiphase induction machines have gained more attentions due to their superior fault tolerant capabilities. This work aims to assess the Broken Rotor Bar (BRB) faulty operation of asymmetrical six-phase Induction Machine (IM). Additionally, a comparison in terms of BRB fault feature between the mentioned machine and conventional 3-phase IM has also been performed. Assessment process has been performed initially using Finite Element Algorithm (FEA). Then, a prototype has been re-wound for semi-12-phase arrangement which is an alternative name of asymmetrical 6-phase IM. It has been confirmed experimentally that the BRB fault indicators, the Side Band Harmonic Components (SBHC) of stator current for asymmetrical 6-phase IM, are greater than those of their 3-phase counterparts. Analysis has been concluded with various BRB fault scenarios including single and double BRB cases with variable loading conditions. Furthermore, a fault classifier has also been proposed which could detect and classify the BRB fault for asymmetrical 6-phase IM.