Online monitoring system and method to identify shorted turns in a field winding of a rotor

1. A method for analyzing electrical shorts in field windings of a synchronous machine having a rotor using a magnetic flux probe, said method comprising:

monitoring flux signals generated by the flux probe wherein the flux signals are indicative of magnetic flux emanating from the field windings;

electronically storing flux data obtained from the monitored flux signals and indicative of electrical shorts in the field windings;

automatically counting the shorts in each identified field winding, wherein the counting of the shorts includes determining a degree of reduction in the flux data from one pole of the generator as compared to the flux data obtained from another pole of the generator and calculating the count of shorts based on the degree of the reduction, and the counting of the shorts further includes identifying a range which includes the degree of reduction wherein the range is one of a predefined group of ranges of reductions, and the count is determined based on the identified range, and

automatically displaying information identifying the field windings with shorts and automatically displaying the count of the shorts in each field winding.

2. The method as in claim 1 further comprising automatically assigning a level of severity of the shorts based on a relative position of the field winding having the short with respect to a magnetic pole of the rotor.

3. The method as in claim 2 wherein the automatic assignment of the level of severity is based on the number of shorts in each coil.

4. The method as in claim 2 wherein the automatic assignment of the level of severity includes a level for each coil having an identified short.

5. The method as in claim 1 wherein the one pole of the generator is opposite to the another pole such that the poles are aligned along a radial line extending through a rotational axis of the generator.

6. The method as in claim 1 wherein the comparison of the flux data includes a comparison of amplitudes of flux probe signals corresponding to each field winding for a plurality of poles.

7. The method as in claim 1 further comprising correlating rotor position with the flux data to determine the flux data corresponding to each of the field windings.

8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising correlating a zero crossing region of the stored flux data with a peak amplitude of the stored flux data to approximate a load on the generator.

9. The method as in claim 1 wherein the flux signals are monitored over a full range of operational loads of the synchronous machine and the analyzed flux data includes flux data is captured over the full range of operational loads.

10. A system for analyzing electrical shorts in rotor field windings of a synchronous machine having a rotor using a magnetic flux probe, said system comprising:

a flux probe monitoring magnetic flux in a gap between the rotor and a stator of the synchronous machine;

a display device presenting information regarding electrical shorts in the rotor;

a computer system receiving a flux signal from the flux probe and including a non-transitory electronic storage device having a program which when executed causes the computer system to:

electronically store flux data obtained from the flux signals, wherein the flux data is indicative of electrical shorts in the field windings;

automatically count the shorts in each identified field winding, wherein the counting of the shorts includes determining a degree of reduction in the flux data from one pole of the generator as compared to the flux data obtained from another pole of the generator and calculating the count of shorts based on the degree of the reduction, and the automatically counting includes identifying a range which includes the degree of reduction wherein the range is one of a predefined group of ranges of reduction, and the count is determined based on the identified range, and

automatically display on the display device information identifying the coils with shorts and the count of the shorts in each field winding.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the program further causes the computer system to assign a level of severity of the shorts based on a relative position of the field winding having the short with respect to a magnetic pole of the rotor.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the automatic assignment of the level of severity is based on the number of shorts in each coil.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the automatic assignment of the level of severity includes a level for each coil having an identified short.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the one pole of the generator is opposite to the another pole such that the poles are aligned along a radial line extending through a rotational axis of the generator.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the comparison of flux data includes a comparison of amplitudes of flux probe signals corresponding to each coil having a short.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the program further causes the computer system to correlate the rotor position with the flux data to determine the flux data corresponding to each of the field windings.

17. The system as in claim 10 further comprising correlating a zero crossing region of the stored flux data with a peak amplitude of the stored flux data to approximate a load on the generator.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the flux signals are monitored over a full range of operational loads of the synchronous machine and the analyzed flux data includes flux data captured over the full range of operational loads.