PLACE FOR TITLE

ASYNCHRONOUSAUTHORS
MOTOR - FAILURE
OF ROTOR LAMINATION TEETH
Xavier COUDRAY, Guillaume DELHAYE, Nicolas
VELLY, Bernard QUOIX, Alain GELIN, Antoine
LUCAS
The authors
Guillaume DELHAYE: Antoine LUCAS
• Senior mechanical engineer in GE Power Conversion in Nancy • Rotating Equipment leader for CLOV Project, TEPA, Angola
• 10 years of experience in rotating e-motor design • 10 years working at TOTAL on Yemen LNG project and CLOV project,
• Mechanical degree in 2004 from the ENI ( Ecole Nationale • Graduated as radiant transfer physics and combustion engineer from the Ecole
d’ingénieur) in Metz,France. Centrale de Paris (ECP).

Xavier COUDRAY: Dr. Alain GELIN:

•Engineering Manager of GE Power Conversion in Nancy •Ph.D. and Master’s Degree at INSA Lyon.
•Previous engineering manager in GE O&G (ex-Thermodyn), France • Senior Rotating Equipment at TOTAL E&P Head Quarter in Pau, France.
•Mechanical degree in 1986 from the Ecole Nationale Superieure • TOTAL since 2005 and previously with GE O&G (ex-Thermodyn) for 20 years,
d’Electronique, d’Electrotechnique, d’Informatique et • Developpment schemes for compression, pumping and power generation
d’Hydraulique de Toulouse (ENSEEIHT). systems and trouble shooting,
•Master degree in propulsion system in 1988 from the Ecole • Authored 10+ technical papers in dynamics and member of the IFToMM
Nationale Superieure de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace (ENSAE). committee.

Dr Nicolas VELLY: Bernard Quoix:

- R&D electromagnetic expert: GE Power Conversion Nancy • Head of TOTAL E&P Rotating Machinery Department and holds this position
- 5 years of experience in GE PC since November 2003.
- High speed motor design expert, developed Permanent magnet • Started at TOTAL Operations in the North Sea in 1979,
generator for Haliade Project •Head of Turbomeca ID Engineering from 1986 to 1989,
- Master & Engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Supérieure •Assistant Manager of the engine testing facilities at Renault,
d’électricité et de mécanique (ENSEM, Nancy (54)) • Joined ELF Aquitaine in 1990 and then TOTAL, Involved in all aspects of
- PhD in collaboration with Messier Bugatti Safran Group and turbomachines,
INPL on fault tolerant actuators and green taxiing •Graduated from ENSEM (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Electricité et de
Mécanique) in Nancy (France) in 1978 and ENSPM (Ecole Nationale du Pétrole
et des Moteurs) in Paris, specialized in Internal Combustion Engines.
• He is a member of the Turbomachinery Advisory Committee since
2005.
• He is also the President of ETN (European Turbine Network),
organization based in Brussels, since 2010.
 Abstract
• During full load testing of moto-compressor, abnormal vibration
were detected.
• Failure was observed on electrical motor rotor lamination teeth.
• Deep experimental analysis and metallurgical investigations revealed
a high cycle fatigue to be the root cause of the failure.
• Theoretical and experimental analyses involving modal analysis,
electro-magnetic simulation, static and dynamic response and
fatigue evaluation were performed.
• Issue resolution is based on the rotor lamination teeth geometrical
modification and rotor/stator teeth ratio optimization.
• This case study describes the root cause analysis from theoretical
to experimental perspectives.
 Project background
CLOV FPSO production started on June, 17th 2014.
168 kboepd
 Project background

Compression:
4 identical motors for HP comp.
4 poles - 1800 rpm - 9,6 MW
 Incident
CLOV HP1/A Compressor
Motor stator flashed after 400 hours
Deep RCA was
performed to investigate
and correlate magnetic
excitation vs mechanical
possible resonance.
Lost rotor tooth
found on motor
casing
 Incident
Consequences of rotor
lamination teeth failure and
satellisation.
 Mechanical Investigations
FEA is performed to isolate possible
cause: Torque transmission, lamination
shrink fit on spider shaft, material non
linearity, modal analysis.
 REX on mechanical investigations

• Torque transmission
– Not a root cause of failure mechanism.
• Shrink Fit
– Contributive factor for static stress, shrink fit value within standard.
• Material non linearity
– No impact discovered.
• Mechanical resonnance
– Focus on teeth frequency first bending mode in tangential direction.
 Laboratories samples

Visual Material characteristics

Inspection
(microstructure,
chemical, mechanical
strength) of the
lamination are clear from
defects.
Identification of about
100,000 cracks out of
200,000 teeth
 First results – laboratories samples

Visual
Inspection

Striation and High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) is clearly

identified
 Failure mechanism explanation
Teeth have broken
by HCF cracking
Visual
in the tangential direction
Inspection

Initiation at root
small radius No plastic deformation

Propagation from both sides

Confirmation of HCF at high frequency
 Rotor teeth modal Analysis
FEA prediction : 1953 Hz

Bump test measurment : 1940 Hz

AF measured around 200

Stator slot passing frequency is a

possible magnetic excitation to be
evaluated
 Electromagnetic FEA calculation
• Flux2D 11.0
• Analysis with Eddy formulation for computation initialization,
• ¼ motor model (odd periodicity 1 pole modelled),
• Performances in agreement with prediction : focus on forces,
• Transient calculation with 14.5µs time step, fine mesh on bar viscinity,
• Supply Frequency is set @ 57.9Hz/ 1716rpm (rated speed),
• Sinus supply waveform then PWM waveforms (from test bench
measurements),
• PWM Harmonic content focused on 30th to 38th
time harmonic.
Electromagnetic FEA calculation

Clearance between bar and

teeth to be in validity model
of Maxwell stress tensor.

 Maxwell stress tensor

integration on each tooth
path.
 FEA Electromagnetic Calculation / Spectral Analysis

• Force waveforms are synchronous with rotationnal speed,

• Use of rectangular and Hamming windows (only for comparison
state of point),
tangential Forces on rotor teeth
5000

4000

3000
tangential forces (N)

2000

1000

-1000

-2000
0.24 0.245 0.25 0.255 0.26
time (s)
 FEA Electromagnetic Calculation / Spectral Analysis
• Maximum force of 1550 N acts on each tooth wall, occurring at slot
passing frequency,
• This represents a maximum tangential force on each animation of each
tooth of 0,75 N,
• FEA show no impact of PWM on magnetic excitation.
 CLOV Motor Testing – No load
U/2 - PMW 900 Hz U/2 – 5 Pulse Full Voltage - 5 Pulse

VSD 53 Hz
1590 rpm

VSD is not
VSD 54 Hz
1620 rpm
~120 mg responsible
~40 mg ~40 mg

VSD 55 Hz Coast down

1650 rpm

PWM 900 Hz vs 5 Pulse same signature, but also with pure

sine wave !
 CLOV Motor Testing – Full load test results

~1000 mg

Across the critical : from 1587 to 1660 rpm

1620 rpm, excitation of the rotor teeth first natural frequency

(1940 Hz measured – 1953 Hz predicted) excited by the
stator slot passing frequency H72 = 1944Hz
 From the dynamic analysis comes the truth…
Mechanical modal FEA
• Natural frequency : 1940Hz
• Bump test corroborate results
• Determine magnetic possible excitation Failure will occur with
Electromagnetic time stepping FEA high stress level
• Rated conditions
• Slot passing force 0.75 N/per
lam

Mechanical harmonic FEA response

• High stress observed at resonnance
• Goodman highlight failure possibility
 Lesson learnt
• Stator Slot passing frequency harmonic can be a cause of high pulsating forces
on rotor lamination that would damage lamination to its failure in case of
resonance.
• Due to design practice only several slot/bar arrangement can be chosen for a
polarity
– Performances, Losses
– Noise
– Extra : coincidence of excitation and tooth natural frequency
• Find out best combination and rotor slots geometry to avoid any coincidence
within the speed range of the moto- compressor.
 Mitigation plan
Original design Modified design
Excitation frequency 72 stator slots 72 stator slots

Rotor modification 92 rotor teeth 86 rotor teeth

Increase natural frequency 1953 Hz 2930 Hz

• Teeth thickness increased

• Rotor slot isthmus reduced
• Radius at root
• Same bar dimensions
… and new design dynamic analysis
Campbell diagram

Coincidence

Speed range

No coincidence
 … and new design dynamic analysis (2)

Goodman diagram

MCS

Speed range

Infinite life
 Motors replaced and restarted

6,7 MMSCMD flaring… To (almost) nothing

 THE END

Thanks for your attention

Questions ?
Backup Slides
 Root Cause Analysis - Investigative leads - PWM
CLOV MV7607 PWM Strategy Moho North MV7618 Strategy
MLI 950 Hz 5 Pulses
Visual
Inspection

Can the Pulse

Width Modulation
be the root cause?

Not likely…