A Neural Network Autoassociator for Induction Motor Failure Prediction

We present results on the use of neural network based autoassociators which act as novelty or anomaly detectors to detect imminent motor failures. The autoassociator is trained to reconstruct spectra obtained from the healthy motor. In laboratory tests, we have demonstrated that the trained autoassociator has a small reconstruction error on measurements recorded from healthy motors but a larger error on those recorded from a motor with a fault. We have designed and built a motor monitoringsystem using an autoassociator for anomaly detection and are in the process of testing the system at three industrial and commercial sites.