A Simple Analytic Method to Model and Detect Non-Uniform Air-Gaps in Synchronous Generators

The air-gap of electrical machines may become non-uniform due to low accuracy of the manufacturing machinery, in assembling processes, or by aging. Detection and monitoring of this phenomenon is very important and of interest. There are several methods to model non-uniform air-gaps and to detect them by monitoring systems. One of the most widely used methods is by the analysis of the line currents. In this paper a new, simple and comprehensive method is presented to model and detect non-uniform air-gaps in synchronous generators with skewed rotors. The influence of non-uniform air-gaps on the harmonics of the induced voltage of the stator is investigated by the proposed method. Simulations are performed for three cases: uniform air-gap, static rotor eccentricity, and stator ovality in a two phase generator. The experimental results are also presented. The good correspondence between the simulation and the experimental results clearly validates the theoretical findings put forward in this paper.