A Methodical Review of Condition Monitoring Techniques for Electrical Equipment

Condition monitoring has a great potential for enhancement in the reliability of operation, machine up-time, reduction in consequential damage and improving operational efficiency at lower operational cost. In electrical equipment incipient faults are often characterized by variations in temperature, vibro-acoustic signature, etc. Different condition monitoring techniques use dedicated sensing and data analysis tools to analyze particular type of variation in operational characteristics. Research in this domain is primarily focused on specific use of a sensing technology. However, this work is aimed to act as a guide for an industrial or academic user to choose the right technique for condition based maintenance of their equipment and to present a comprehensive review of prevalent condition monitoring technologies, i.e. Vibration signal analysis, Acoustic emission testing, Ultrasound condition monitoring, Infrared thermography and lubrication oil analysis. A detailed review of condition monitoring techniques which can be used to detect a particular type of fault is presented with an aim to identify the most suitable technique for fault diagnosis.