A comparative study between methods of detection and localisation of open-circuit faults in a three phase voltage inverter fed induction motor

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the techniques of detection and localisation of opencircuit faults in a three phase voltage source inverter fed induction motor. First, the paper starts by presenting the impact of an inverter IGBT open-circuit fault on the induction machine performance. A comparative study is then carried out between three different detection techniques: the mean value of the currents method, the measurement of the current drop method and the Park's vectors method. The comparison is to assess each technique in terms of its performance, that is the time detection rapidity and localisation ability, as well as in terms of hardware, that is the number of current sensors required for IGBT open-circuit fault detection. To validate these methods, a test-rig is developed in our diagnostic group laboratory which consists of the realisation of a two-level voltage source inverter controlled by a DSPACE-1104 card to generate the PWM vector control for the induction motor. The obtained simulation and experimental results illustrate well the detection effectiveness of each technique as well as the comparison study merits.