AI-Based Health Monitoring for Class I Induction Motors in Data-Scarce Environments: From Synthetic Baseline Generation to Industrial Implementation

Condition-based maintenance strategies using AI-driven health monitoring have emerged as valuable tools for industrial reliability, yet their implementation remains challenging in industries with limited operational data. Class I induction motors (≤15 kW), which power critical equipment in industries such as grain handling facilities, represent a significant portion of industrial assets but lack established healthy vibration baselines for effective monitoring. A fundamental challenge exists in deploying AI-based health monitoring systems when no historical performance data is available, creating a ’cold-start’ problem that prevents industries from adopting predictive maintenance strategies without costly pilot programs or prolonged data collection periods. This study developed a data-driven health monitoring framework for Class I induction motors that eliminates the dependency on long-term historical trends. Through extensive experimental testing of 98 configurations on new motors, a correlation between vibration amplitude at rotational frequency and motor power rating was established, enabling the creation of a synthetic signal generation algorithm. A robust Health Index (HI) model with integrated diagnostic capabilities was developed using the JPCCED-HI framework, trained on both experimental and synthetically generated healthy vibration data to detect degradation and diagnose common failure modes. The regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between motor power rating and healthy vibration signatures, enabling synthetic generation of baseline data for any Class I motor within the rated range. When implemented at an operational grain silo facility, the HI model successfully detected faulty behavior and accurately diagnosed probable failure modes in equipment with no prior monitoring history, demonstrating that maintenance decisions could be made based on condition data rather than reactive responses to failures. This framework enables immediate deployment of AI-based condition monitoring in industries lacking historical data, eliminating a major barrier to adopting predictive maintenance strategies. The synthetic data generation approach provides a cost-effective solution to the data scarcity problem identified as a critical challenge in industrial AI applications, while the successful industrial implementation validates the feasibility of this approach for small-to-medium industrial facilities.