This doctoral thesis deals with the diagnostics of combustion engines, which have clearly suffered a mechanical damage. The text describes a basic principle of a diagnostics based on an observation of a noise of a running engine. There are mentioned the basic methods of a noise recording with direct conection to the specifics of measurement a running combustion engine noise. The introduction describes the spread of a vibration in solid structures. For the combustion engine vibration and source of noise is dedicated an independent chapter, which focuses on all noise generators, not only mechanical and thermodynamic but also noise caused by fluid and gas flowing. An integral part of the thesis is also a list and examples of signal processing, serving for efficient localization of the noise root cause. The noise statistics are compared with event diagram of engine investigation. Considering the information of the crank shaft position, we are then able to localize a possible root cause of the mechanical problem. For this purpose unique computer software for MS Windows operation system was developed. This system is able to generate event timelines of the piston engines. The inputs are basic engine data, such as the number of cylinders, ignition sequence, valve timing diagrams and information regarding two stroke or four stroke engine types. The program also allows us to detect a potential damage by direct comparison of the engine timeline and noise signal input. The thesis is also supplemented by measurements serving for key-parameter-diagnostics, i.e. the selection of the most suitable running engine operation. Comparison of different technical diagnostic approaches shows the suitability of mentioned diagnostic process.

This thesis aims to identify methods for detection of damper winding faults in synchronous machines (SMs) powered by variable frequency drives (VFDs). The problem of failing damper windings has received attention after reports of serious damage which have been discovered during maintenance checks. Since SMs often are used for critical applications, failures can be devastating if they cause total breakdowns. Also, VFDs are believed to cause additional stress in the damper windings of SMs and since the utilisation of VFDs is increasing, the problem is expected to become more common in the future. Currently, there is no method for detection of failures during normal operation of SMs, thus research in the area is required. Simulations based on the finite element method as well as laboratory experiments have been performed in order to examine the impact of VFDs and to find a way of detecting damper winding failures. The results confirm that utilization of VFDs produce higher currents in the damper winding compared to direct-online operation. The results also show that in case of a damper bar failure, the current distribution among the damper winding segments is affected. However, monitoring of all damper winding segments is unrealistic due to the number of sensors required. Another approach, which has been investigated, involves monitoring of the current through the pole interconnectors of one of the endrings. Potential fault indicators have been found by analysing the currents in the frequency domain. However, further studies are required in order to evaluate the method. Also the temperature of the damper winding was investigated as an indicator.

The development of an online method for the early detection of a stator turn insulation deterioration is the objective of the research at hand. A high percentage of motor breakdowns is related to the failure of the stator insulation system. Since most of the stator insulation failures originate in the breakdown of the turn-to-turn insulation, the research in this realm is of great significance. Despite the progress that has been made in the field of stator turn fault detection methods, the most popular and the best known ones are still limited to the detection of solid turn faults. The time span between a solid turn fault and the breakdown of the primary insulation system can be as short as a few seconds. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a method capable of detecting the deterioration of the turn insulation as early as possible and prior to the development of a solid turn fault. The different stresses that cause the aging of the insulation and eventually lead to failure are described as well as the various patterns of an insulation failure. A comprehensive literature survey shows the methods presently used for the monitoring of the turn insulation. Up to now no well-tested and reliable online method that can find the deterioration of the turn insulation is available. The most commonly used turn insulation test is the surge test, which, however, is performed only when the motor is out of service and disconnected from the supply. So far no research at all has been conducted on the application of an online surge test. The research at hand examines the applicability of the surge test to an operating machine. Various topologies of online surge testing are examined with regard to their practicability and their limitations. The most practical configuration is chosen for further analysis, implementation and development. Moreover, practical challenges are presented by the non-idealities of the induction machine like the eccentricity of the rotor and the rotor slotting, and have to be taken into account. Two solutions to eliminate the influence of the rotor position on the surge waveform are presented. Even though the basic concepts of online surge testing can be validated experimentally by a machine with a solid turn fault, it is preferable to use a machine with a deteriorated turn insulation. Therefore, a method, which does not require complex and expensive hardware, to experimentally emulate the turn insulation breakdown is implemented. The concepts at any stage of the work are supported by simulations and experimental results. In addition, the theory of surge testing is further developed by giving new definitions of the test's sensitivity, i.e., the frequency sensitivity and the error area ratio (EAR) sensitivity.

This thesis deals with problematics of air/fuel mixture diagnosis od older carburetor motors. Especially for motors with more than one cylinder. In this thesis are informations about commercial product for diagnosis, brief informations about function of CV caburetor and best setup of fuel mixture. The next step in this thesis will be design, construction and testing of device for the diagnosis air/fuel mixture in practical use. Device will be able to measure mixture and other values witch can be used for best carburetor setup.

Stator current spectral analysis techniques are usually used to detect rotor faults in induction machines. Magnetic field anomalies in the airgap due to the rotor faults result in characteristic side-band harmonic components in the stator current spectrum, which can be measured as rotor fault signatures. A position-varying load torque oscillation at multiples of the rotational speed, however, has exactly the same effect. Stator current harmonics due to a load torque oscillation often obscure and even overwhelm rotor eccentricity fault detection since the magnitude of load oscillation induced harmonics is usually much larger. Although previous research has suggested some methods to differentiate between these two effects, most of them rely heavily on the accurate estimation of motor parameters. The objective of this research is to develop a far more practical and computationally efficient method to detect rotor faults effectively in the presence of a load torque oscillation. A significant advantage of the proposed scheme is that it does not need any knowledge of motor parameters. The normalized negative sequence information induced by a mixed rotor eccentricity in the stator current or terminal voltage space vector spectra, serves as a reliable rotor fault indicator to eliminate load oscillation effects. Detailed airgap magnetic field analysis for an eccentric motor is performed and all machine inductance matrices as well as their derivatives are reformulated accordingly. Careful observation of these inductance matrices provides a fundamental understanding of motor operation characteristics under a fault condition. Simulation results based on both induction motor dynamic model and Maxwell 2D Finite Element Model demonstrate clearly the existence of the predicted rotor fault indicator. Extensive experimental results also validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed detection scheme.

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