An Improved Open-Phase Fault-Tolerant DTC Technique for Five-Phase Induction Motor Drive Based on Virtual Vectors Assessment

Abstract

The multiphase machine (MM) drives are best suitable for safety-critical applications due to its inherent fault-tolerant capability. The fault-tolerant operation of MM drives is challenging and necessary for applications such as off-shore ship propulsion, highway electric vehicles, and more electric aircraft. A two-level voltage source inverter fed five-phase induction motor (FPIM) drive has been considered for the postfault performance assessment. In this article, an improved fault-tolerant direct torque control (DTC) technique is proposed for the FPIM drive based on virtual vector (VV)s assessment under the open-phase fault condition. The theoretical analysis is carried out to investigate the impact of VVs on the change in torque as well as flux response at different speeds and loading conditions. Based on this analysis, a modified lookup table, flux, and torque hysteresis bands are designed to improve the functioning of the fault-tolerant DTC of FPIM drive. The FPIM drive performance is analyzed and tested experimentally with an open-phase fault. Studies have confirmed the reliability and superiority of the proposed DTC controller over existing postfault solutions. In addition, the robustness of the FPIM drive at steady-state and dynamic operating conditions is evaluated from the given results, including the transition from pre-to-post fault operation.