Practical Test on the Operation of the Three-Phase Induction Motor under Single-Phasing Fault

Abstract

Single-phasing is a common problem in the three-phase electrical grid. Despite the fact that the fault occurs in one phasing, the three-phase load is affected, and therefore the load is typically turned off. The three-phase induction motor is the most commonly used in the industry; therefore, this research investigates the behavior of the three-phase induction motor under a single-phasing fault. The main aim of this paper is to answer the question, should the three-phase induction motor be turned off under a single-phasing fault? The problem is investigated theoretically and compared with practical tests to explore the parameters of the induction motor (current, stator temperature, and vibration) that are affected under healthy and single-phasing fault conditions. A practical test machine is built to test the motor behavior under single-phasing faults, where the practical experiment results are compared to those of the simulations. Despite the common recommendation under single-phasing fault is to turn off the induction motors, the preliminary results of this study show that turning off an induction motor under single-phasing can be avoided under certain operating conditions with a simple protection scheme, which is useful in some practical situations.