Comparative Investigations of Inverter Short-Circuit Fault and Winding Terminal Short-Circuit Fault in Open-End Winding Five-Phase PM Machine System

The open-end winding multi-phase permanent-magnet (PM) machine driven by full-bridge inverter is a potential choice for safety-critical application fields. Based on the open-end winding multi-phase PM machine system, comparative investigations of the inverter short-circuit (ISC) fault and winding terminal short-circuit (WSC) fault are carried out to indicate the special characteristics of the ISC in aspects of short-circuit (SC) current characteristics and post-fault performances. The analytical prediction of the SC current under ISC fault is investigated based on the results of WSC conditions. The maximum SC current estimation, SC current rms value variation, and torque harmonic component distribution under the two fault conditions are further investigated. The results can be used for ISC fault diagnosis, PM demagnetization evaluation, and post-fault performance prediction of ISC fault. The post-fault hardware reconfiguration method is further provided to alleviate the effect of ISC fault and reduce the difficulty of compensation.