Multiphase electric drives for "More Electric Aircraft" applications

Abstract

Advances in power electronic and machine control techniques are making the inverter-fed drives an always more attractive solution. Because of the number of inverter legs is arbitrary, also the number of phases results as a further degree of freedom for the machine design. Therefore, the multiphase winding is often a possible solution. Due to the increasing demand for high performance and high power variable speed drives, the research on multiphase machines has experienced a significant growth in the last two decades. Indeed, one of the main advantages of the multiphase technology is the possibility of splitting the power of the system across a higher number of power electronic devices with a reduced rating. A similar result can be obtained by using multi-level converters. However, the redundancy of the phases leads to an increased reliability of the machine and to the introduction of additional degrees of freedom in the current control and the machine design. This work aims to study and analyze the highly reliable and fault tolerant machines. It proposes innovative solutions for multiphase machine design and control to meet the safety-critical requirements in “More-Electric Aircraft” (MEA) and “More Electric Engine” (MEE) in which thermal, pneumatic or hydraulic drives in aerospace applications are replaced with electric ones. Open phase, high resistance and short circuit faults are investigated. Fault tolerant controls and fault detection algorithms are presented. Radial force control techniques and bearingless operation are verified and improved for various working scenarios. Fault tolerant designs of multiphase machines are also proposed.