PhD Position in Electrical power engineering and mechatronics, Early stage researcher

Tallinn University of Technology, School of Engineering, Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics offers a 4-year PhD position in the field of electrical power engineering and mechatronics.

Proposed doctoral thesis topic: "The parameters estimation-based condition monitoring of electrical machines".

Supervisors: Senior Researcher Toomas Vaimann and Bilal Asad

Abstract

Electrical machines are the workhorses of modern industry. Yet, they are prone to different faults, meaning the condition monitoring and diagnostics of the electrical machines is a highly important task in order to ensure prolonged lifetime of the systems, continuous undisturbed work and minimizing economical losses. The electrical systems are becoming ever more complex, leading to the necessity of novel and more advanced approaches of diagnostics and condition monitoring. The overall goal of the project is to examine the opportunities and pitfalls involved predicting the faults in machines, leading to dealing with the roots of faults at early stages rather than eliminating the results of failures. The project focuses on selection of suitable diagnostic methods, modelling and simulation of faults, diagnostic and prognostic algorithms, extensive laboratory testing of fault case scenarios and validating the methodology through analysis of all the mentioned steps.

Description

Within the thesis, the PhD candidate will learn the diagnostics methods and signal processing techniques used for the predictive maintenance of electrical machines. The main emphasis will be on the development of diagnostic algorithms that can estimate various design parameters of electrical machines using machine models and the measured global signals. By comparing the estimated parameters with the originally designed ones, the possible cause of the fault will be predicted. We will provide the necessary hardware and software for the simulation and testing of the diagnostics tools. The candidate is responsible for developing and implementing the diagnostics procedures. A working demonstrator will be built and tested at the end of the thesis. The candidate will present his/her work at international conferences and publish journal papers required to complete the thesis within the PhD studies.

Responsibilities and tasks

• The mathematical models for simulations and parameters estimation
  • Different methods suitable for fault simulations of electrical machines will be studied and implemented. The most suitable model for the fault simulations will be selected during the study. Moreover, state observers based on the selected simulation model will be created.
• Different diagnostic and prognostic methods
  • Different signal processing techniques in addition to adoptive or matching filters will be studied. The most suitable technique for parameter estimation shall be implemented.
• Combining simulation models and diagnostics methods
  • The simulation models and diagnostic methods will be merged to build the electrical machine's diagnostic and prognostic algorithm. MATLAB environment will be selected for this purpose.
• Building the system
  • An experimental setup with adequate sensors will be built in the lab based on the selected methods.
• Testing and validation
  • Finally, the system will be tested and validated through exhaustive measurement and analyses.