Finite element analysis of a solid rotor induction motor under stator winding defects

A method to predict the stator currents of a solid rotor induction motor under a defective condition of the stator winding is presented. Since the induction machine is a voltage operated device, a time-domain finite-element method tailored to such devices is used. The method determines the magnetic vector potentials over the cross section of a defective induction machine. These are used to produce contour plots of the variation of the magnetic field over the machine. They are also used to determine the stator currents under the simulated defect. These results will be useful in the computation of the shaft torque of the machine and, hence, the reduced load that the machine can carry until a preventive maintenance and/or replacement is scheduled