When the shaft current passes through the bearing under lubrication condition, the arc often occurs and the pitting can be observed on the surface of bearing. Consequently, the life of bearing is shortened. The pitting resulting from discharge is dependent upon the shaft voltage, the oil film thickness, and the insulation of lubricant. To simulate the pitting, the dynamic pitting tester is developed to investigate the effects of the kinematics parameters on the electrical pitting formation mechanism for the common material of bearing by changing the supply voltage current and the oil film thickness. Result show that in the static condition, since the arc action causes the surface melting of two specimens, and the actions of coulomb force and electrostatic force cause the specimens to attract each other, the plateau can be observed on the surfaces of specimens. The plateau is like a bridge to connect two specimens. In this moment the plateau accumulates continuously and causes two specimens to produce the repulsive force. In the dynamic condition, the formation of pitting at the initial stage is quite similar to that in the static condition. Since the effect of sliding speed, the bridge is sheared and the friction force increases. Under the actions of joule heat and friction force, the surfaces of two specimens melt and scratch continuously. When the dynamic pitting occurs, the pitting width of square specimen, the normal force and the friction force increases with increasing supply voltage, supply current, and oil film thickness. When the interface power is larger, the melting phenomenon is more obvious, and the pitting width becomes larger. Because the surface melting and the actions of Coulomb force and electrostatic force cause the material accumulates continuously, the normal force and the friction force increase with increasing the interface power. To investigate all effects of experimental parameters on the pitting width, the empirical formula for the pitting width is established in terms of supply voltage, supply current, and oil film thickness. This formula can be used to predict oil film thickness or the size of pitting width on the bearing surface for diagnosing the lubricant condition of bearing.

Abstract The electrical pitting often occurs at the bearing of the ro-tating machinery due to the actions of the shaft voltage and the shaft current resulting in the arcing effect on the lubricated surface and causing the bearing failure. Since the mechanism of the electrical pitting cannot be microscopically observed in process, it is difficult to prevent the bearing damage. Hence, this study uses a static electrical pitting tester with sub -micrometer accuracy to experimentally investigate the effects of supply voltage, supply current, oil film thickness, and ad-ditive on the threshold condition of electrical pitting under the conventional bearing material pairs. Moreover, according to the SEM micrograph and EDS analysis, the mechanism of the pitted surfaces is investigated. According to the experimental results and the surface ob-servations of steel/steel pair using a paraffin base oil, three electrical pitting regimes are found under the influences of shaft voltage and oil film thickness, namely, pitting, transition, and no-pitting regimes. In the electrical pitting regime, the interface voltage, interface impedance, and interface power increases slightly with increasing oil film thickness at a certain supply current. However, the interface voltage and interface power increases with increasing supply current, and the inter-face impedance decreases with increasing supply current at a certain film thickness. Furthermore, the pitting area versus the interface power relationship is a cubic function. According to the experimental results and the surface ob-servations of babbitt alloy/steel pair using a paraffin base oil, two electrical pitting regimes are found under the influences of shaft voltage, oil film thickness, and melting point of material, namely, pitting and no-pitting regimes. The mechanism of electrical pitting on the babbitt alloy surface is significantly influenced by the interface power and the oil film thickness. At the smaller oil film thickness, the eroded surface of babbitt alloy exhibits a concave crater with a few micro-porosity in the vicinity of center region with a plateau on its surrounding, especially at high supply current. The polished track can be observed at the plateau. A large amount of tin element trans-fers to the steel ball surface because the molten tin contacts the ball. At the higher oil film thickness, only a little amount of metal element transfers to each other. The major pitting area of the babbitt alloy is caused at the initial stage of the arc dis-charge. With increasing arc discharge time, the pitting area increases slightly, and finally reaches a saturated value. According to the experimental results and the surface ob-servations of babbitt alloy/steel pair using an additive of MoS2 in a paraffin base oil, two electrical pitting regimes are found under the influences of shaft voltage, oil film thickness, and particle concentration of additive, namely, pitting and no-pitting regimes. The area of pitting regime increases with increasing additive concentration and supply current. Fur-thermore, the ratio of pitting area to the interface power in-creases with increasing additive concentration and supply current at the oil film thickness smaller than 6 mm. However, this ratio increases rapidly to about 10 times with increasing additive concentration and supply current as the oil film thickness increases from 6 mm to 10 mm. This results from the molten plateau that directly connects two specimens, and the interface power is mainly consumed at the heating of the pla-teau and the interfacial materials. According to the above re-sults, the growth model of the plateau on the pitting surface is proposed at the lubricated condition using an additive of MoS2 in paraffin base oil.

Shaft current protection in hydro and turbo generators is an important generatorprotection issue. Currents owing in the generator shaft might damagegenerator bearings which, in turn, could reduce operating time and cause largenancial losses. Therefore, it is important to prevent operation of the generatorunder conditions of high shaft currents.In this project, task was to develop measurement and protection system thatis able to operate under certain conditions. Measurement device has to be ableto accurately measure currents lower than 1 A in a generator shaft that canvary in diameter from 16 cm up to 3 m. Also, those currents might appear infrequencies equal to multiples of line frequency. Device is to be located in alimited space and in a proximity of the generator. Thus, stray ux is expectedwhich might inuence measurements. Furthermore, since currents that haveto be measured are low, output of a measurement device is usually a low levelsignal. Such signal had to be catered for and adapted in a way that it can beused with numerical relay. After literature review and overview of possible solutions, Rogowski coil waschosen as the measurement device which will be further analysed. Two othercurrent transformers were considered which served as a good comparison withRogowski coil. Several dierent tests and measurements were made on mentionedmeasurement devices. Also, it was investigated how IEC61850-9-2 andMerging Unit (MU) could be used in this application. Upon this investigation,complete protection systems were assembled in the laboratory and they weretested. To asses the behaviour of dierent systems in the real environment, test installationwas built in the hydro power plant, Hallstahammar. This installationincluded traditional systems, with measurement signals connected to the relaya,and the one which utilized concepts of Process Bus and Merging Unit. Measurementsand tests that were made there served as a nal proof of successfulnessof protection systems. Results showed that Rogowski coil was a suitable choice for a measurementdevice due to its benecial mechanical and electrical properties. Also, tests madewith actual shaft current showed advantages of using Rogowski coil in pair withMerging Unit and process bus over traditional protection systems. Nevertheless,it was conrmed that both types of systems satisfy project requirements. / Skydd mot axelstrommar i vattenkraft- och turbo-generatorer ar mycket viktiga. Strommar kan uppkomma i generatoraxeln beroende pamagnetisk osymmetri istatorkarnan. Denna osymmetri ger upphov till en inducerad spanning i axelnsom sedan kan ge en axel-strom vid kortslutning av isolationen som rotornslager vilar pa. Om axel-strommen gar genom generatorns lager, kan lagretskadas allvarligt. Detta kommer i sin tur minska drifttiden och orsaka storaekonomiska forluster vid produktionsbortfall. Darfor ar det viktigt att detekteraom det gar axelstrommar genom generatorns lager. Examensarbetets mal var att utveckla ett mat- och skyddssystem for att detekteraaxel-strommar. Den matande enheten maste kunna detektera strommarmindre an 1 A i generatoraxeln vilken kan variera i diameter fran 16 cm upp till3 m. Dessutom kan dessa strommar ha frekvenser lika med eller multiplar avkraftnatets frekvens (50 eller 60Hz). Den matande enheten skall vidare kunnamonteras i ett trangt utrymme och i narhet av generatorns stator. Lackodefran statorn kan forvantas vara stort, och detta kan antas ha stor paverkanpamatningarna. Eftersom axelstrommen som mats ar lag, ar utsignalen franden matande enheten vanligtvis en lagnivasignal. Denna laga signalnivamasteanpassas saatt den kan anvandas i ett numeriskt rela, vilka vanligtvis kraverhogre energinivaer paingangsignalerna.Efter genomford litteraturstudie och oversikt over mojliga losningar, konkluderadesdet att en losning med Rogowski spole som matanordning borde varaintressant, och denna analyserades ytterligare. Tvastromtransformatorer medkonventionell konstruktion med karna av elektroplat valdes som jamforelse medlosningen baserad paRogowski spole. Flera olika tester och matningar gjordes. Dessutom undersoktes hur en process-bus losning enligt IEC61850-9-2LE meden Merging Unit (MU) skulle kunna anvandas i denna tillampning. Vid alladessa undersokningar har kompletta system for matning och skydd monteratsoch testats i laboratoriemiljo.For att registrera funktionen for de olika systemlosningarna i en verkligmiljo, monterades det kompletta systemet fran laboratorietesterna in i ett vattenkraftverki Hallstahammar. I detta vattenkraftverk ingar traditionella skydd-, styrnings- och kontroll-system och aven en aldre losning for att skydda generatornmot axelstrommar. Darmed kunde man jamfora prestanda mellan deolika losningarna baserade pastromtransformatorer av konventionell konstruktionmed karna av elektroplat och losningen med Rogowski spole. Signalerfran bada givarna anslots till ett numeriskt rela, och anslutning av Rogowskispolen gjordes aven via en MU till det numeriska relat. Matningar och testersom gjordes i kraftstationen kunde tas som ett slutligt bevis paatt de olikalosningarna baserade pa Rogowski spole ar en framtida losning for ett valfungerande axel-stroms skydd for generatorer. Resultaten visar att Rogowskispolen ar ett lampligt val aven med avseendepadess fordelaktiga mekaniska och elektriska egenskaper. Testerna som gjordesmed en verklig axel-strom visade tydligt fordelarna med att anvanda Rogowskispolen i kombination med MU och process bus jamfort med traditionella skyddssystem. Det ska dock understrykas att bade systemet med och det utan MUuppfyllde projektets krav.