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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 1435

Root Cause AC Motor Failure Analysis


with a Focus on Shaft Failures
Austin H. Bonnett, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—The squirrel-cage induction motor remains the work- TABLE I


horse of the petrochemical industry because of its versatility and STATOR STRESSES [12]
ruggedness. However, it has its limitations, which if exceeded will
cause premature failure of the stator, rotor, bearings or shaft. This
paper is the final abridgement and update of six previous papers
for the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee of the IEEE
Industry Applications Society presented over the last 24 years and
includes the final piece dealing with shaft failures. A methodology
is provided that will lead operations personnel to the most likely
root causes of failure. Check-off sheets are provided to assist in
the orderly collection of data to assist in the analysis. As the petro-
chemical industry evolves from reactive to time based, to preven-
tive, to trending, to diagnostics, and to a predictive maintenance
attitude, more and more attention to root cause analysis will be
required. This paper will help provide a platform for the establish-
ment of such an evolution. The product scope includes low- and
medium-voltage squirrel-cage induction motors in the 1–3000–hp
range with anti friction bearings. However, much of this material
is applicable to other types and sizes.
TABLE II
Index Terms—AC motors, bearing, failure analysis, failure ROTOR ASSEMBLY STRESSES [14]
methodology, root cause, rotor, stator.

I. INTRODUCTION

A METHODOLOGY is provided that will lead operations


personnel to the most likely root causes of failure.
Check-off sheets are provided to assist in the orderly collection
of data to assist in the analysis. This paper is organized as
follows. In Section II, a summary of motor stresses is given,
followed by root cause methodology in Section III. Section
IV contains a methodology checklist, Section V discusses
shaft failures, and concluding remarks are given in Section VI.
Finally, Appendixes A–D contain photographs of the common
failures.

II. SUMMARY OF MOTOR STRESSES


The majority of all motor failures are caused by a combina-
tion of various stresses acting upon the winding, rotor, bearings,
and shaft.
If these stresses are kept within the design capabilities of
the system, premature failure should not occur. However, if any
combination of them exceeds the design capacity, then the life may be drastically diminished and a catastrophic failure could
occur.
These stresses can be broken down into the groups or classi-
Paper PID 00–03, presented at the 1999 IEEE Petroleum and Chemical In-
dustry Technical Conference, San Diego, CA, September 13–15, and approved fications shown in Tables I–IV.
for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the In summary, these stresses are shown in Table V.
Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society. Manuscript submitted for review September 15, 1999 and released for
publication April 24, 2000. III. ROOT CAUSE METHODOLOGY
The author is with U.S. Electrical Motors, Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA
(e-mail: austinh@usmotors.com). Building upon the various stresses as they relate to the var-
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(00)07694-5. ious motor components, there are five key areas which should
0093–9994/00$10.00 © 2000 IEEE
1436 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

TABLE III TABLE V


BEARING STRESSES [27] MOTOR COMPONENT/STRESSES

TABLE IV TABLE VI
SHAFT STRESSES SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY FOR ANALYSIS

be considered and related to one another in order to accurately


diagnose the cause of failure. They are the following:
1) failure mode;
2) failure pattern;
3) appearance;
4) application;
5) maintenance history.
Each of these key areas needs to be considered with respect
to the stator, rotor, bearings, and shaft.

A. Methodology
Combining all of these stresses leads to a methodology
that falls into two categories. The first deals with failure
modes/classes and failure patterns, as shown in Table VI, which
can serve as a check-off sheet when conducting an inspection
of the failed motor. The second category deals with the motor
appearance, application, and maintenance history. This will be IV. METHODOLOGY CHECKLIST
covered in Section IV of the paper. A. Appearance of Motor and System
As the second part of the methodology, this section will serve
B. The Motor and System as a check-off list to be used to gather critical information per-
Although a complete system analysis is beyond the scope of taining to the appearance, application, and maintenance history
this paper, when conducting a root cause failure analysis, it is of the motor and other related equipment Some of these ques-
important to recognize that the motor is only one component of tions overlap.
a system. Many factors affecting the system will also affect the When coupled with the class and pattern of failure, the gen-
motor and may contribute to the motor failure and vice versa. eral motor appearance usually gives a clue as to the possible
Fig. 1 shows a typical system. Note it also includes the process cause of failure. The following checklist will be useful in eval-
requirement. uating assembly conditions.
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1437

Fig. 1. Typical motor system including the power supply and driven equipment.

• Does the motor exhibit any foreign material? • Are any mechanical parts missing, such as balance
• Are there any signs of blocked ventilation passages? weights, bolts, rotor teeth, fan blades, etc., or has any
• Are there signs of overheating exhibited by insulation, contact occurred between rotating parts that should
lamination, bars, bearings, lubricant, painted surfaces, maintain a clearance?
etc.? • What is the condition of the coupling device, driven equip-
• Has the rotor lamination or shaft rubbed? Record all loca- ment, mounting base, and other related equipment?
tions of rotor and stator contact. • What is the condition of the bearing bore, shaft journal,
• Are the topsticks, coils, or coil bracing loose? seals, shaft extension, keyways, and bearing caps.
• Are the rotor cooling passages free and clear of clogging • Is the motor mounted, aligned, and coupled correctly?
debris? • Is the ambient usual or unusual?
• What is the physical location of the winding failure? Is it • Do the stress risers show signs of weakness or cracking?
on the connection end or opposite connection end? If the (The driven end shaft keyway is a weak link.)
motor is mounted horizontally, where is the failure with When analyzing motor failures, it is helpful to draw a sketch
respect to the clock? Which phase or phases failed? Which of the motor and indicate the point where the failure occurred,
group of coils failed? Was the failure in the first turn or first as well as the relationship of the failures to both the rotating and
coil? stationary parts, such as shaft keyway, etc. A picture is worth a
• Are the bearings free to rotate and operate as intended? thousand words.
• Is there any sign of moisture present on the stator, rotating
assembly, bearing system, or any other parts? B. Application Considerations
• Are there any signs of movement between rotor and shaft
or bar and lamination? Usually, it is difficult to reconstruct conditions at the time of
• Is the lubrication system as intended or has there been failure. However, a knowledge of the general operating condi-
lubricant leakage or deterioration? tions will be helpful. The following items should be considered.
• Are there any signs of stalled or locked rotor? • What are the load characteristics of the driven equipment
• Was the rotor turning during the failure? and the loading at time of failure?
• What was the direction of rotation and does it agree with • What is the operating sequence during starting?
the fan arrangement? • Does the load cycle or pulsate?
1438 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

• What is the voltage during starting and operation? Is there


a potential for transients? Was the voltage balanced be-
tween phases?
• How long does it take for the unit to accelerate to speed?
• Have any other motors or equipment failed on this appli-
cation?
• How many other units are successfully running?
• How long has the unit been in service?
• Did the unit fail on starting or while operating?
• How often is the unit starting, and is this a manual or au-
tomatic operation? Is it part winding, wye-delta, or vari-
able-frequency drive (VFD), or across the line?
• What type of protection is provided?
• What removed or tripped the unit from the line?
• Where is the unit located and what are the normal envi-
ronmental conditions? What was the environment at time
of failure?
• What was the ambient temperature, at time of failure,
around the motor? Is there any recirculation of air? Is the
exchange of cooling air adequate?
• Was power supplied by a VFD? What is the distance be-
tween the VFD and the motor?
• How would you describe the driven load method of cou-
pling and mounting?

C. Maintenance History
Fig. 2. Typical motor shaft configurations. From top to bottom: large motor
An understanding of the past performance of the motor can spider shaft; vertical motor hollow shaft for pumps; totally enclosed fan-cooled
give a good indication as to the cause of the problem. Again, a shaft; open dripproof shaft; close-coupled shaft for pumps; and splined or geared
checklist may be helpful. take-off shaft.

• How long has the motor been in service?


• Have any other motor failures been recorded and what covered in the author’s previous papers for the Petroleum and
was the nature of the failures? What failures of the driven Chemical industry Committee of the IEEE Industry Applica-
equipment have occurred? Was any welding done? tions Society (PCIC).
• When was the last time any service or maintenance was Fig. 2 shows a variety of different rotor shafts used in typical
performed? electric motors.
• What operating levels (temperature, vibration, noise, insu-
lation, resistance, etc.) were observed prior to the failure? B. Motor Shaft Materials
• What comments were received from the equipment oper- For most motor applications, hot rolled carbon steel is a good
ator regarding the failure or past failures? choice. When higher loads are present, an alloyed steel such
• How long was the unit in storage or sitting idle prior to as chromium–molybenum (Cr–Mo) is frequently used, and for
starting? applications with extreme corrosion or hostile environment a
• What were the storage conditions? stainless steel material is required. Table VII shows some of the
• How often is the unit started? Were there shutdowns? most common steels and their characteristics.
• Were correct lubrication procedures utilized?
• Have there been any changes made to surrounding equip- C. The Tools of Shaft Failure Analysis
ment?
The ability to properly characterize the microstructure and the
• What procedures were used in adjusting belt tensions?
surface topology of a failed shaft are critical steps in analyzing
• Are the pulleys positioned on the shaft correctly and as
failures. The most common tools available to do this can be
close to the motor bearing as possible?
categorized as follows:
V. CAUSE, ANALYSIS, AND PREVENTION OF MOTOR SHAFT • visual inspection;
FAILURES • optical microscope;
• scanning electron microscope;
A. Introduction • transmission electron microscope;
In Sections II and III of this paper, the various stresses acting • metallurgical analysis.
on a motor shaft were covered along with a proposed method- This paper assumes that it may be necessary to employ the
ology for determining the root cause failure. This section deals services of a metallurgical laboratory to obtain some of the re-
with the various causes of shaft failures, which is a subject not quired information. However, it is the author’s experience that
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1439

TABLE VII
COMMON STEELS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

Fig. 3. Overhung load. Failure mode: bending fatigue and shaft rub. The force
may be in any direction of the 360 .

TABLE VIII
CAUSES OF SHAFT FAILURES (ADAPTED FROM [18]

Fig. 4. Axial load. Failure mode: bearing failure.

a significant number of failures can be diagnosed with a funda-


mental knowledge of motor shaft failure causes and visual in- Fig. 5. Torsional load. Failure mode: torsional failure.
spection.

D. Causes of Failure
Studies have been conducted to try to quantify the causes of
shaft failures. One industry study provided the results for ro-
tating machines shown in Table VIII.
There are other informal studies that suggest that fa-
tigue-caused failures are much higher. For motor applications,
it climbs into the 90% range when the effects of corrosion and Fig. 6. Typical rotor assembly cross section. All of the highlighted areas create
new stress raisers are considered. Hence, the main focus of this stress raisers. Points F, H, I, and J are usually the most vulnerable areas because
paper will be failures associated with fatigue. of the shaft load at these points. A shaft is unlikely to fracture at points A, B, C,
D, or E.

E. Stress Systems Acting on Shafts


of the shaft from point H–K. Although in most cases where an
A clear understanding of shaft loading is necessary before
axial load will result first is in a bearing failure, there are nu-
causes of shaft failure can be determined. merous examples where the shaft is damaged before the motor
is stopped.
F. Typical Motor Shaft Loading
The following three cases (Figs. 3–5), provide the most H. Shaft Keyways
common types of motor shaft loading that can lead to fa- Keyways are commonly used to secure fans, rotor cores, and
tigue-type failures. couplings to the shaft. All of these cause stress raisers. However,
the keyway on the take-off end or driven end of the shaft is
G. Areas of Highest Concentration the one of most concern because it is located in the area where
Fig. 6 illustrates areas on a normal motor shaft where de- the highest shaft loading occurs. When this loading has a high
sign stress concentrations (raisers) will exist. Wherever there torsional component, fatigue cracks usually start in the fillets or
is a surface discontinuity, such as bearing shoulders, snap ring roots of the keyway.
grooves, keyways, shaft threads, or holes, a stress raiser will Keyways that end with a sharp step have a higher level of
exist. Shaft damage or corrosion can also create stress raisers. stress concentration than those that use a “sled-runner” type of
Fatigue cracks and failure will usually occur in these regions. keyway. In the case of heavy shaft loading, cracks frequently
For motors, the two most common places are at the shoulder on emanate from this sharp step. Fig. 7 illustrates this type of
the bearing journal (point H) or in the coupling keyway region failure. It is important to have an adequate radius on the edges
(point J). The most common area for shaft damage is on the part of the keyway.
1440 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

Fig. 7. Peeling-type cracks in shafts usually originate at the keyway. Fig. 8. S–N diagram for 1040 steel.

TABLE IX
COMMON CAUSES OF SHAFT FAILURES FOR MOTORS

I. Failure Mode
As stated previously, for motor shafts, 90% of all failures can
be placed into the fatigue modes shown in Table IX. If the shaft
is not designed, manufactured, applied, or used properly, a pre-
mature failure can occur with any of the failure modes.
The shaft fatigue failures can be classified as bending fa-
tigue, torsional fatigue, and axial fatigue. In the case of axial fa- Fig. 9. Surface of a fatigue fracture displaying two distinct regions.
tigue for motors, the bearing carrying the load will fatigue (con-
tact fatigue) before the shaft does. This is usually evidenced by
spalling of the bearing raceways. In the bending mode, almost The failure process consists of the following.
all failures are considered “rotational” with the stress fluctuating • The fatigue leads to an initial crack on the surface of the
or alternating between tension and compression. This is a cy- part.
cling condition that is a function of the shaft speed. Torsional • The crack or cracks propagate until the remaining shaft
fatigue is associated with the amount of shaft torque present and cross section is too weak to carry the load.
transmitted load. • A sudden fracture of the remaining area occurs.
Understanding fatigue strength and endurance limits is im- Fatigue-type failures usually follow the weak-link theory.
portant because most shaft failures are related to fatigue associ- That is, the cracks form at the point of maximum stress or
ated with cyclic loading. These limits are expressed by an S–N minimum strength. This is usually at a shaft discontinuity
diagram, as shown in Fig. 8. between the edge of the rotor core shaft step and the shaft
For steel, these plots become horizontal after a certain number coupling.
of cycles. In this case, a failure will not occur as long as the stress
is below 27 klbf/in , no matter how many cycles are applied. K. Appearance of Fatigue Fractures
However, at 10 cycles, the shaft will fail if the load is increased The appearance of the shaft is influenced by various types of
to 40 bf/in . The horizontal line in Fig. 8 is known as the fatigue cracks, beach marks, conchoidal marks, radial marks, chevron
or endurance limit. For the types of steels commonly used for marks, ratchet marks, cup and cone shapes, shear lip, and a
motors, good design practice dictates staying well below the whole host of other topologies [17]. Some of the most common
limit. Problems arise when the applied load exceeds its limits ones associated with motor shafts that have failed are due to ro-
or there is damage to the shaft that causes a stress raiser. tational, bending fatigue. The surface of a fatigue fracture will
usually display two distinct regions as shown in Fig. 9. Region
J. Defining the Fatigue Process A includes the point of origin of the failure and evolves at a rel-
Fatigue fractures or damage occur in repeated cyclic stresses, atively slow rate (seconds through years) depending on the run-
each of which can be below the yield strength of the shaft ma- ning and starting cycle and of course the load. Region B is the
terial. Usually, as the fatigue cracks progress, they create what instantaneous or rapid growth area (cycles through seconds) and
is known as ratchet marks. exhibits very little plastic deformation. The shape and spacing
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1441

TABLE X
SURFACE FINISH AND FATIGUE LIFE IN CYCLES (ADAPTED FROM [19])

M. Corrosion Failures
In corrosion failures, the stress is the environment and the
reaction it has on the shaft material. At the core of this problem
is an electrochemical reaction that weakens the shaft. Pitting is
one of the most common types of corrosion, which is usually
confined to a number of small cavities on the shaft surface. Only
a small amount of material loss can result in perforation, with a
Fig. 10. View of slow growth and instantaneous regions.
resulting failure in a relatively short period of time without any
advanced warning. On occasion, the pitting has caused stress
raisers that result in fatigue cracks.

N. Residual Stress Failures


These stresses are independent of external loading on the
shaft. Many manufacturing or repair operations can affect the
amount of residual stress, including:
• drawing;
• bending;
• straightening;
• machining;
• grinding;
• surface rolling;
• shot blasting or peening;
• polishing.
All of these operations can produce residual stresses by
plastic deformation. In addition to the above mechanical pro-
Fig. 11. Initiation sites originated at the root of the keyway.
cesses, thermal processes that introduce residual stress include:
• hot rolling;
• welding;
of the conchoidal mark may assist the “trained eye” to determine • torch cutting;
how the load is varying or the degree of mechanical unbalance. • heat treating.
In Fig. 10, both the slow growth region and instantaneous
All residual stress may not be detrimental; if the stress is par-
regions can be seen. This shaft fractured at the snap ring groove
allel to the load stress and in an opposite direction, it may be ben-
which is a high stress raiser area. Note the presence of ratchet
eficial. Proper heat treatment can reduce these stresses if they
marks on the periphery of the shaft; they point to the origin of
are of excessive levels.
the cracks.
In Fig. 11, the initiation sites originated at the root of the
keyway. Both the slow and instantaneous areas are present. O. Shaft Fretting
Shaft fretting can cause serious damage to the shaft and the
L. Surface Finish Effects mating part. Typical locations are points on the shaft where a
“press” or “slip” fit exists. Keyed hubs, bearings, couplings,
In most applications, the maximum shaft stress occurs on the shaft sleeves, and splines are examples. Taper fits seem to be
surface. Hence, the surface finish can have a significant impact an exception to this rule and experience little or no fretting
on fatigue life. During the manufacturing process and subse- The presence of ferric oxide (rust) between the mating surfaces,
quent handling, repairs must not produce a surface finish coarser which is reddish brown in color, is strong confirmation that fret-
than intended by the design. The impact of surface finish and fa- ting did occur. The cause of this condition is some amount of
tigue life in cycles can be seen in Table X. movement between the two mating parts. Fatigue cracking may
1442 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

Fig. 13. Failure caused by rotational bending.

Fig. 12. Shaft fatigue.

be initialed by the presence of fretting. Uncorrected shaft vibra-


tion can also worsen this condition.

P. Surface Coating [17]


Metallic coatings to protect or restore a shaft can cause
harmful residual stresses which can reduce the fatigue strength
of the base metal. In most cases, there are enough safety
factors to handle this additional stress. However, if the shaft
is being stressed to its design limits, then such processes as
electroplating, metal spray, or catalytic deposition could be a
source of fatigue failures.
During some plating processes, it is possible to introduce hy-
drogen into the base metal. If it is not removed by the appro- Fig. 14. Shaft fatigue.
priate heat treatment process, severe hydrogen embrittlement
may occur, which can greatly reduce the tensile strength of the
shaft.
The repair of shafts by welding is beyond the scope of this
paper. However, caution must be used in this process. The se-
lection of the proper weld material, method of application, stress
relieving, surface finish, and diameter transition are all critical
to a successful repair. Not all shaft materials are good candidates
for welding-type repairs.

Q. Miscellaneous Nonfracture-Type Shaft Failures


There is a broad category of shaft failures or motor failures
that does not result in the shaft breaking. The following is a
list of the more common causes (it is acknowledged that fatigue
failures that are caught in the early stages would also fit in the
nonfracture category): Fig. 15. Failure caused by rotational bending.
• bending or deflection causing interference with stationary
parts; • residual stress causing a change in shaft geometry;
• incorrect shaft size causing interference, run out, or incor- • material problems;
rect fits; • excessive corrosion and wear;
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1443

Fig. 16. Failure due to impact loading.

Fig. 19. Failed due to rotational bending fatigue.

Fig. 17. Twist caused by impact loading.

Fig. 20. Failed due to rotational bending fatigue.

Fig. 18. Failure due to reverse torsional loading.

• excessive vibration caused by electrical or mechanical im-


balance.
Catastrophic bearing failures can cause serious shaft damage,
Fig. 21. Extreme corrosion wear.
but seldom result in a fracture.

R. Prevention 2) The motor manufacturer must be sure that proper mate-


rials are selected. For the most part, steel with the prop-
Several practices will minimize the probability of a premature erties of hot rolled 1045 steel is adequate.
shaft failure. The following is a list of some of the more critical 3) The manufacturing processes are critical. During the pro-
steps. cessing of the shaft, care must be taken not to introduce
1) Be sure that the application and the possible loading on stress raisers and to achieve the required shaft finish.
the motor are well understood and communicated. It is 4) The installation phase and operation phases are also
imperative to know if there is an overhung load. The en- critical. Care must be taken not to damage the shaft
vironmental conditions are also critical. when coupling it to the driven equipment. For belt-driven
1444 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

Fig. 24. Damaged caused by water intrusion.

Fig. 22. Smear marks on roller caused by debris.

Fig. 25. Fretting corrosion caused by loss fit and vibration.

Fig. 23. Metallic contamination in raceway.

loads, remember the moment principle (force distance)


in placement of the pulley.
Fig. 26. Pitting caused by electrical currents.

VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS


it going forward on critical applications or applications known
All too often when a motor fails, the major and sometimes to have experienced difficulties in the past. Another point to
only focus is the repair or replacement and get it “up and running consider is that, when a motor goes down, the normal tendency
again.” Without diminishing the importance of this goal, time is to quickly remove the motor and install a new one or get the
should be spent collecting valuable information that will assist damaged motor to the repair shop and back into operation. No
in a root cause analysis. This paper, along with the previous thought is given to collecting information that may be helpful
papers will provide the reader with the methodology to conduct for an accurate analysis prior to the tear-down. Investing a few
an analysis that will properly identify failures and hopefully take extra minutes before shutdown or removal may yield critical
the necessary steps to eliminate them. information for the eventual analysis. It is recognized that this
This proposed methodology will yield the best results when option is not always available, but when it is utilize it.
the motor under analysis has been “bench marked” along with Appendixes A–D provide the reader with descriptions of pho-
the system at the time of installation or restart. Also, information tographs of the most common types of motor failures to be used
collected during a normal or abnormal operating cycle can be of in conjunction with the prescribed methodology of this paper.
great value. Of course, it may not be practical to have this kind They will be most useful in identifying the failure mode and
of information on all plant systems; it might be wise to collect pattern.
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1445

Fig. 27. Fluting caused by internally generated current.

Fig. 30. Turn-to-turn shorting.

Fig. 28. Advanced stages of spalling.

Fig. 31. Single-phase turn-to-turn shorting.

Fig. 29. False brinelling and fretting caused by vibration in a nonoperating


condition.
Fig. 32. Stator cross section where shorting can occur.

APPENDIX A
COMMON SHAFT FAILURES Fig. 18 is a shaft material that is unknown, but possibly 4100
high tensile steel alloy. The failure is a fatigue failure due to
Figs. 12 and 13 are of a 1045 carbon steel motor shaft that reversed torsional loading.
failed due to rotational bending fatigue. The point of failure was Figs. 19 and 20 are of a 1051 carbon steel turbine shaft that
at the shoulder of the customer take-off end failed due to rotational bending fatigue. There were also signs
Figs. 14 and 15 are of a 1040 carbon steel motor shaft that of minor torsional fatigue. Cracks initiated at the toe of a cou-
failed due to rotational bending fatigue. The point of failure was pling weld. This material has poor weldability characteristics.
at the bearing journal shoulder. There were also signs of misalignment. Note the surface pit and
Figs. 16 and 17 are shafts that failed due to high-impact grinding marks; both of these conditions can weaken the shaft.
loading. The material is 1045 carbon steel, which has good Fig. 21 is an example of extreme corrosion, wear; and
ductility, which allowed for the severe twisting. cracking on a pump shaft; the material is unknown.
1446 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

Fig. 36. Typical cast air-ducted rotor; any damage to the fans, end rings, or air
ducts can cause overheating and damage to the cage.

Fig. 33. Nonsymmetrical shorting without grounding.

Fig. 34. Nonsymmetrical shorting with grounding.


Fig. 37. Overheated aluminum cast rotor end ring.

Fig. 38. Incomplete rotor bars on aluminum cast rotor.


Fig. 35. Same stator as Fig. 34 at point of grounding.

APPENDIX B shorting. The cause of failure was excessive overheating caused


COMMON TYPES OF BEARING FAILURES by an overload condition.
In Fig. 31, the pattern is single phasing; one complete phase
These include contamination (Figs. 22–24), defective
has over heated and failed due to turn-to-turn shorting. The
fits/seats (Fig. 25, shaft currents (Figs. 26 and 27), fatigue (Fig.
cause of failure was single phasing.
28), and mechanical failure (Fig. 29).
In Fig. 32 is a cross section of a typical stator slot. It is not
uncommon to have turn-to-turn shorts in this region.
APPENDIX C
In Fig. 33, the pattern is nonsymmetrical without grounding;
COMMON TYPES OF STATOR FAILURES
several groups of coils have been overheated. The failure mode
In Fig. 30, the pattern is symmetrical; each coil of each phase is also multiple turn-to-turn shorting. The cause of failure was
has been overheated. The failure mode is a multiple turn-to-turn damaged wire.
BONNETT: ROOT CAUSE AC MOTOR FAILURE ANALYSIS 1447

Fig. 35 is the same stator shown in Fig. 34. The actual ground
fault can be seen. Note that the turn-to-turn shorting occurred
180 opposite the grounded coil.
APPENDIX D
COMMON TYPES OF ROTOR FAILURES
See Figs. 36–41.
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1448 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000

Austin H. Bonnett (M’68–SM’90–F’92) was born in


Los Angeles, CA, in 1936. He received the B.S. de-
gree in electrical engineering from California State
University, Los Angeles, and the Master’s degree in
business from the University of Phoenix, Phoenix,
AZ.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1958
as an Electrician aboard the Icebreaker, Burton Is-
land. He joined U.S. Electrical Motors, a Division of
Emerson Electric Company, in 1963 and has held po-
sitions in the Service, Manufacturing, Quality Con-
trol, and Engineering Departments. He was the Plant Manager of the Prescott,
AZ, facility for five years prior to holding the position of Vice President of Engi-
neering, directing all U.S. Electrical Motors engineering functions for ten years.
Presently, he holds the position of Vice President-Technology Emeritus at the
Emerson Motor Technology Center, St. Louis, MO. He has published numerous
technical papers on rotating machinery. He serves on NEMA, EPRI, and DOE
Committees.
Mr. Bonnett received the 1994 IEEE Meritorious Award. In 1996, he was
selected for the IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement
Award. He has also served on various IEEE Committees. He received the 1999
NEMA Kite and Key Award for outstanding service to the electrical industry.

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