Algorithm for prediction and control of induction motor stator interturn faults in electric vehicles

Abstract

In an electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) the control of motor drive under aberrant conditions plays a dominant role. One of it is the stator inter turn faults in the motor. It creates huge abnormality in the machine speed and torque pulsations which finally makes the operation of a drive to standstill. This paper mainly describes an algorithm to control the drive in fault-tolerant condition for a high-performance induction motor drive that propels an electrical vehicle (EV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in stable operation. The proposed algorithm is based on the predicting the severity levels of the faults and optimizing the switching pattern of field oriented control (FOC) of the drive. The main purpose of the algorithm is to avoid the complete shutdown of the vehicle during fault conditions. It mainly uses one of the motor current signature analysis (MCSA) methods in predicting the currents of the machine during the faults. The stator interturn fault is simulated in MATLAB under vehicle loaded conditions and uses the proposed algorithm to avoid standstill operations. The effects of the harmonic components in the machine during the unbalanced operation with the stator interturn fault is also presented.