Classification and remediation of electrical faults in the switched reluctance drive

Abstract

The switched reluctance (SR) drive is known to be fault tolerant, but it is not fault free. The goals of this study are the systematic classification of all electrical faults, for short and open circuits, in the SR drive (excluding the controller itself) and the investigation of fault patterns and possible remediation. Each situation is analyzed via finite-element analysis and/or experiments. The transient effects during the faults are described. Possible remediation schemes other than disabling the faulted phase are explored. There is a particular focus on the switch short circuit for which new results are presented.