Fault detection and management system for fault-tolerant switched reluctance motor drives

The superior fault tolerance characteristics of the switched reluctance motor (SRM) have been proved in a working laboratory drive system. The program started by defining the performance effects of various types of motor winding faults. Motor winding fault detection devices were developed, along with control circuitry, to isolate a faulted winding by blocking the gating signals to the semiconductor power switches of the affected phase. The developments were implemented on a laboratory demonstration drive to determine the efficacy of the various fault detectors. The laboratory drive demonstrates that winding faults can be applied to the running drive and can be immediately detected and isolated without causing damage to the inverter circuitry and without causing drive misoperation