Black Box for Electrical Machines

This paper describes a specific monitoring system for electrical machines developed in KONCAR – Electric Engineering Institute Inc., called Black Box for Electrical Machines (EMBB). A detailed analysis and data collection about problems and fault conditions that may occur on all electrical machines and systems has been made. Based on this data and by measuring and monitoring various parameters like voltage, current, temperature, vibrations, etc. Black Box detects and records various fault conditions and errors: asynchronous operation, incorrect synchronization, significant asymmetry, two-phase operation, run-out (over- speed), overloading, excessive heating of stator iron or stator winding, excessive vibration of the generator housing, etc. In addition to these harmful working conditions, EMBB system records the number of machine starts, which also represents vital information that significantly affects the machine lifetime. The aim of this paper is to show how data measured, calculated and stored by Black Box can extend the life-time of the machine, give manufacturers and users of the machine insight in useful information during machine work period that can help in better asset management.