Proceedings of the 10th Asian Control Conference 2015 (ASCC 2015)
Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015
Diagnosis of Distributed Faults in Outer Race of
Bearings via Park’s Transformation Method
Muhammad Irfan1, Nordin Saad2, Rosdiazli Ibrahim3, Vijanth S. Asirvadam4, Nguyen Tuan Hung 5
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak 31750, Malaysia
irfan16.uetian@gmail.com1
Abstract— The Park’s transformation method has been used in
this paper to analyze distributed defects in the outer race of the
bearing. The existing non-invasive motor current analysis and
instantaneous power analysis methods are unable to detect
distributed defects in the bearings, due the fact that
characteristics defect frequencies models are not available for
these type of bearing defects. Thus, this paper proposes a
graphical approach based on the Park’s transformation of three
phase current to analyze bearing distributed defects. The
theoretical and experimental work conducted shows that the
proposed method can detect bearing distributed defects without
use of any extra hardware. The results on the real hardware
implementation confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Keywords— Non-Invasive Method; Bearing Faults; Condition
Monitoring.
Abbrevations:
ANN Artificial Neural Network
CM Condition Monitoring
CBM Condition Based Maintenance
DAQ Data Acquisition
IPA Instantaneous Power Analysis
MCSA Motor Current Signature Analysis
PVA Park Vector Analysis
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
IAS Industry Application Society
I. INTRODUCTION
Condition monitoring (CM) provides the current status of
machines and indicates type of maintenance required whilst
achieving optimal use of machine parts and guarantees
breakdowns will not occur unexpectedly [1,2]. With the help of
intelligent diagnostic fault diagnosis system, CM would be able
to present the exact and valuable information about the
situation of the machine. Many methods have been developed
which support the development of condition monitoring system
using specialized and expensive sensors [3,4]. It is necessary to
explore on a more effective and less costly methods with
capability to detect various motor related faults under arbitrary
loading conditions of the motor. The techniques such as
vibration analysis, acoustic emission, noise analysis, chemical
analysis and temperature measurements have been applied to
protect motors from faults [5-7]. However these methods use
expensive sensors for data measurements and require access to
the machine which is not possible in every type of application.
Also these sensors have limited life period after which their
accuracy and reliability decreases.
A survey was conducted by electric power research institute
and industry application society (IAS) in 2005 to know about
the various reasons of the motor failures [8,9]. The detail
statistics of the survey report are shown in Fig.1. According to
this survey report more than 40 % failures of the motor in the
industry were related to various bearing defects and hence it is
essential to have a non-invasive on-line condition monitoring
scheme which would have the ability to detect the various
bearing defects under different loading conditions [10-14].
Therefore, this paper addresses analysis of bearing surface
roughness defects via Park transformation method.
Fig. 1. Statistics related to motor failures (EPRI and IAS Survey 2005)
Bearing consists of an inner and an outer race, balls and
cage. Stresses are developed in the motor due to varying torque
improper lubrication, contamination, improper installation,
corrosion and environment temperature. It causes various types
of defects in bearings of the motor. The bearing defects are
categorized mainly in two types: Type 1 is the localized defects
(single point defects like flaking or spalling or holes). The
localized defects in the bearing element produces the vibration
at the characteristic defect frequencies which is related to the
motor’s speed and bearing dimensions [12]. These types of
defects could be diagnosed via non-invasive IPA and MCSA
[1,6,15]. Type 2 is the distributed defects i.e. surface roughness
or multiple holes in inner or outer race. The characteristic
defect frequencies related to distributed defects are still
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Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015

unknown. Due to this reason, the MCSA and IPA methods TABLE I. COMPARISON OF VARIOUS FAULT DETECTION METHODS
could not be used to diagnose bearing distributed defects
No CM Technique Advantages Drawbacks
[2,15].
This paper first presents the issues in condition monitoring
of induction motors and thus section II gives an overview of · Require expensive
Vibration
1 Reliable sensor
condition monitoring methods and the faults types as related to Analysis
· Invasive
motor bearing. Section III discusses the theoretical background
of the Park’s transformation method. Section IV presents the
experimental set-up and section V presents results and analysis · High signal to noise
· Require expensive
for the diagnosis of bearing outer race surface roughness Acoustic ration
2 sensor
Emission · Detects fault at
defects. Finally section VI gives the conclusions of this paper. incipient stages
· Invasive

II. BACKGROUND OF CONDITION MONITORING

The non-invasive motor current signature analysis (MCSA) · Require expensive
Temperature sensor
has been reported in the literature [11-19]. In [12] multiple 3
Measurement
Simple method
· Invasive
signal classification method was used to evaluate stationary as
well as non-stationary signals based on autocorrelation matrix.
A statistical analysis method was used in [13]. This method is
· Require expensive
independent of sampling frequency and time acquisition sensor
period, however, it does not give information about amplitude 4 Sound Analysis Simple method
· Invasive
of various fault related frequencies. In a similar work, [14]
suggests the use of the motor stator current and efficiency of
the motors to find faults in bearing. The earlier work by
[15,16], propose a technique that use torque frequency contents Chemical Detects fault at Applicable only to large
5
which can be observed in the stator current spectrum. The Analysis incipient stages size motors
review as reported in [17] indicates that the MCSA is the most
suitable non-invasive and economical method for the detection
· Unable to detect
of the motor defects. Although the MCSA proves to be non- defects at incipient
invasive and economical for motor bearing fault detection, 6 MCSA
· Inexpensive stages and under
however, the change in amplitude values of the current signals · Non Invasive unloaded conditions
· Effected by the
are difficult to detect especially at no-load conditions [18,19]. environment noise
As related to this, the instantaneous power analysis (IPA) · Inexpensive
method has been used to detect bearing, rotor, eccentricity and · Non Invasive
torque related defects at no-load and full-load conditions and at · Can detect defects at Effected by the
7 IPA
incipient stages and environment noise
incipient stages, see for examples [1,2,3]. However IPA under unloaded
method generates erroneous results in noisy environment conditions
especially under low load conditions of the motor.
Park
Alternatively, an advanced Park vector approach was used by 8 Transformation
· Inexpensive
In development stages
[21,22] to detect bearing single point defects and broken rotor Method · Non Invasive
bars. In the earlier work, Park vector method was used by
[23,24] to diagnose stator voltage unbalance defects. However, III. THE MODELS OF THREE PHASE CURRENT AND ITS PARK
analysis of bearing surface roughness defects has not been TRANSFORM
reported in the literature.
The bearing localized defects create vibration which causes
The comparison of various fault detection techniques is
modulation in the stator current. The frequencies of these
presented in Table I.
modulations depend upon the bearing geometry, shaft speed,
fault location and could be calculated using (1) to (3) [5,16].
These defect related frequencies could be found as side bands
in MCSA and IPA.
݂௜௙ ൌ ͲǤ͸ܰ௕ ݂௥ (1)
݂௢௙ ൌ ͲǤͶܰ௕ ݂௥ (2)

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Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015

஽೎ ஽್మ ଵ ଵ
݂௕ௗ ൌ ݂ ቀͳ െ ܿ‫ߙ ݏ݋‬ቁ ‫ܫ‬௤ ൌ  ‫ܫ‬ െ ‫ܫ‬ (8)
஽್ ௥ ஽೎మ
(3) ξଶ ௕ ξଶ ௖

where: Under ideal conditions i.e. in absence of harmonics, the (7)

and (8) leads to the (9) and (10).
݂௜௥ , is the bearing inner race defect frequency
݂௢௙ , is the bearing outer race defect frequency ‫ܫ‬ௗ ൌ 
ξ଺
‫ܫ‬ •‹ ʹߨ݂௦ ‫ݐ‬ (9)
ଶ ௌ
݂௕ௗ , is the bearing ball defect defect frequency
ξ଺ గ
ܰ௕ , is the number of balls inside the bearing ‫ܫ‬௤ ൌ  ‫ܫ‬ •‹ ቀʹߨ݂௦ ‫ ݐ‬െ ቁ (10)
ଶ ௌ ଶ
݂௥ , is the rotor frequency in Hz
s, is the slip of the motor The ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves under ideal conditions of the motor
‫ܦ‬௕ , is the ball diameter (6 mm) represent a circular pattern centered at the origin as shown in
‫ܦ‬௖ , is the pitch diameter of bearing (25 mm) Fig. 3. However, the shape of the circle changes in presence of
α, is the ball contact angle (zero degree) the faults inside the motor and the various types of faults
Notably, specific information related to bearing geometry is generate various types of shapes. Thus by detection of various
required to implement MCSA and IPA. It has been observed patterns, one can analyze the type of fault inside the motor.
that the low energy vibration produced due to bearing surface 0.2
roughness defect and MCSA/IPA proves to be less efficient to
detect low energy spectra especially under noisy environment 0.1
[2,3,15]. Therefore, it is essential to have some advance signal
processing method to identify low energy vibrations induced

Iq
due to bearing surface roughness defects. Hence, the Park’s 0
transformation method has been proposed in this study to
diagnose the bearing surface roughness defects -0.1
The three phase supply to the induction motor does not
involve neutral so it does not contain homo-polar component. -0.2
The stator current under ideal conditions can be represented by -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2
the (4) to (6) [22]. Id
‫ܫ‬௔ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ  ‫ܫ‬௙ …‘•ሺʹߨ݂௦ ‫ ݐ‬െ ߜሻ (4) Fig.3. The ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves under ideal conditions of the motor

‫ܫ‬௕ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ  ‫ܫ‬௙ …‘•ሺʹߨ݂௦ ‫ ݐ‬െ ʹߨȀ͵ െ ߜሻ (5) IV. EXPERIMENTAL TEST RIG DESIGN
‫ܫ‬௖ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ  ‫ܫ‬௙ ܿ‫ݏ݋‬ሺʹߨ݂௦ ‫ ݐ‬൅ ʹߨȀ͵ െ ߜሻ (6) A test rig was developed to test and confirm the viability of
where: Park’s transformation method for the analysis of bearing outer
‫ܫ‬௙ , is the fundamental supply current race surface roughness defects. The block diagram of the
݂௦ , is the fundamental frequency experimental test rig is shown in Fig. 4. The rig has been
ߜ, is the initial phase angle designed using the commonly available firm-wares in industry
i.e. three phase induction motor, current sensor, tachometer and
By applying Park Transformation, the three dimensional the National Instrument data acquisition (NI DAQ) module
currents as represented in (4) to (6) are converted to two along with LabVIEW® software. The specifications of the test
dimensional currents‫ ݀ܫ‬and ‫ܫ‬௤ as given by the (7) and (8). The motor and data acquisition card are shown in Table II and III
Park Transformation process is shown in Fig. 2 [23,24]. respectively. The ball bearing installed on the motor shaft has
the pitch diameter (ୡ ) of 25 mm. Each bearing contains 8
balls with diameter (ୠ ) of 6 mm. The contact angle of the ball
with the race (α) is assumed to be zero degrees. The total of
500 samples was acquired in continuous mode with sampling
rate of 3 KHz.
TABLE II
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE TEST MOTOR
No. Parameters Rating
1 Power 0.25 HP
2 No. of Phase 3
3 No. of Poles 4
Fig.2. The Park transformation of the motor stator currents 4 Frequency 50 Hz
ଶ ଵ ଵ 5 Speed 1395 rpm
‫ܫ‬ௗ ൌ  ට ‫ܫ‬௔ െ ‫ܫ‬௕ െ ‫ܫ‬௖ (7)
ଷ ξ଺ ξ଺

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Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015

TABLE III 0.1

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE DAQ
S.r No. Specifications
0.05

Amplitude (V)
1 Analog Inputs 16
2 AI Range േͳͲ Volts 0
3 Max. Scan Rate 625 KS/s
4 AI Resolution 18 Bits -0.05
5 AO 2
6 AO Range േͳͲ Volts -0.1
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
7 AO Resolution 16 Bits
Time (Sec)
(a)
0.1

0.05

Amplitude (V)
0

-0.05

-0.1
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Time (Sec)
(b)
Fig.5. The three phase stator current in time domain under no load conditions
of the motor for (a) healthy bearing (b) defected bearing
0.2

0.1
Fig.4. The block diagram of the developed experimental test rig
Iq

0
V. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The artificial surface roughness defects were created on the -0.1
outer race of the bearing. A total of six experiments were
conducted under various loading conditions of the motor and -0.2
the measured stator currents were processed in LabVIEW by -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2
applying the Park’s transformation algorithm. Id
The time domain representation of the three-phase stator (a)
current for the healthy and defected bearings is shown in Fig. 0.2
5. It has been observed through the comparison of Fig. 5 (a)
and (b) that time domain signals does not have distinguishable 0.1
variations due to the presence of the fault. Thus time domain
analysis of the three phase stator current is unable to diagnose
Iq

0
bearing surface roughness defects.
The ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves for healthy and defected bearings under
-0.1
various loading conditions are shown in Fig. 6 to 8. Ideally,
healthy motor should have ‫ܫ‬ௗ and ‫ܫ‬௤ curves with circular shape.
-0.2
However, in real time operation healthy motor does not have -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2
pure circular shape due to the presence of inherent asymmetries Id
in the motor and due to supply unbalance. (b)
Fig.6. The ‫ܫ‬ௗ and ‫ܫ‬௤ curves under no load conditions of the motor for (a)
healthy bearing (b) defected bearing

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Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015

0.2 It can been observed from Fig. 6 to 8 that the profile of the
‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves is shown to be slightly disfigured in the case for
0.1 defected bearings as compared to healthy bearings. The
increase in curve thickness is due to the harmonics induced by
the defects inside the bearing of the motor. Apparently, the size
Iq

0
of the curve is different, depending on the operating conditions
-0.1 of the motor. Thus the ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ patterns for healthy and faulty
motors are different in terms of thickness and sizes of the
-0.2
curves. Therefore the analysis of the ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves can be useful
-0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 means for the fault diagnosis of the induction motor. As for the
Id future work, a neural network can be incorporated into the CM
(a) system and trained to automatically detect the various patterns
0.2 of the ‫ܫ‬ௗ , ‫ܫ‬௤ curves and this eventually would lead the
development of an intelligent fault diagnosis system via Park’s
0.1 transformation method.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
Iq

0
This work proposes a non-invasive method to analyze the
bearing surface roughness defects in induction motor. The
-0.1
commonly available on the shelf firm-wares are used to
develop experimental test rig. The experimental results indicate
-0.2
-0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 that graphical analysis of the three-phase stator current via
Id Park’s transformation method is an excellent fault diagnosis
(b) tool for induction motor operating under various loading
conditions. It has been foreseen that the proposed method will
Fig.7. The ‫ܫ‬ௗ and ‫ܫ‬௤ curves under 50 % loading conditions of the motor for (a)
healthy bearing (b) defected bearing results in the enhancement of the reliability and accuracy of the
methods used for the on-line detection and diagnosis of various
0.2 bearing defects.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
0.1
The authors acknowledge the support from Universiti
Teknologi PETRONAS and Ministry of Higher Education
Iq

0 (MOHE) Malaysia for the award of the Exploratory Research

Grant Scheme (ERGS /1/2012/TK02/UTP/02/09).
-0.1
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Kota Kinabalu, 31st May - 3rd June 2015
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