Resumen
The main objective of the proposal is to detect which is the element that contaminates the inner cooling
water, which finally causes the degradation of the thrust bearing, and develop a strategy to determine
when this inner cooling water starts being contaminated, in order to stop the motor and avoid the wear
of the thrust bearing, together with possible damages in the stator winding. If the motor operation stops
in the very first moment when the water contamination starts, the bearing will be extracted in perfect
conditions, and it will be reused, and the secondary damage related to the stator winding will be avoided.
The project is challenging, since it proposes to discover which is the failure mechanism that takes place
to degrade the axial bearing in a sealed motor, placed at 50 to 500 m beneath the surface. Moreover, a
methodology must be developed, using only electrical quantities measured at the beginning of the
electric line, to detect the start of this contaminating process to prevent the wear of the bearing.
