Although the concept of variable-speed drives, based on utilization of multiphase machines, dates back to the late 1960s, it was not until the mid- to late 1990s that multiphase drives became serious contenders for various applications. These include electric ship propulsion, locomotive traction, electric and hybrid electric vehicles, ldquomore-electricrdquo aircraft, and high-power industrial applications. As a consequence, there has been a substantial increase in the interest for such drive systems worldwide, resulting in a huge volume of work published during the last ten years. An attempt is made in this paper to provide a brief review of the current state of the art in the area. After addressing the reasons for potential use of multiphase rather than three-phase drives and the available approaches to multiphase machine designs, various control schemes are surveyed. This is followed by a discussion of the multiphase voltage source inverter control. Various possibilities for the use of additional degrees of freedom that exist in multiphase machines are further elaborated. Finally, multiphase machine applications in electric energy generation are addressed.

Multiphase Electric Machines for Variable-Speed Applications

The area of multiphase variable-speed motor drives in general and multiphase induction motor drives in particular has experienced a substantial growth since the beginning of this century. Research has been conducted worldwide and numerous interesting developments have been reported in the literature. An attempt is made to provide a detailed overview of the current state-of-the-art in this area. The elaborated aspects include advantages of multiphase induction machines, modelling of multiphase induction machines, basic vector control and direct torque control schemes and PWM control of multiphase voltage source inverters. The authors also provide a detailed survey of the control strategies for five-phase and asymmetrical six-phase induction motor drives, as well as an overview of the approaches to the design of fault tolerant strategies for post-fault drive operation, and a discussion of multiphase multi-motor drives with single inverter supply. Experimental results, collected from various multiphase induction motor drive laboratory rigs, are also included to facilitate the understanding of the drive operation.

/pdf/multiphase-induction-motor-drives-a-technology-status-review-1ir91893ja.pdf

Multiphase induction motor drives - : a technology status review

This paper addresses to some of the latest contributions on the application of Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control (FCS-MPC) in Power Electronics. In FCS-MPC , the switching states are directly applied to the power converter, without the need of an additional modulation stage. The paper shows how the use of FCS-MPC provides a simple and efficient computational realization for different control objectives in Power Electronics. Some applications of this technology in drives, active filters, power conditioning, distributed generation and renewable energy are covered. Finally, attention is paid to the discussion of new trends in this technology and to the identification of open questions and future research topics.

State of the Art of Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control in Power Electronics

This paper presents an overview of motor drive technologies used for safety-critical aerospace applications, with a particular focus placed on the choice of candidate machines and their drive topologies. Aircraft applications demand high reliability, high availability, and high power density while aiming to reduce weight, complexity, fuel consumption, operational costs, and environmental impact. New electric driven systems can meet these requirements and also provide significant technical and economic improvements over conventional mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic systems. Fault-tolerant motor drives can be achieved by partitioning and redundancy through the use of multichannel three-phase systems or multiple single-phase modules. Analytical methods are adopted to compare caged induction, reluctance, and PM motor technologies and their relative merits. The analysis suggests that the dual (or triple) three-phase PMAC motor drive may be a favored choice for general aerospace applications, striking a balance between necessary redundancy and undue complexity, while maintaining a balanced operation following a failure. The modular single-phase approach offers a good compromise between size and complexity but suffers from high total harmonic distortion of the supply and high torque ripple when faulted. For each specific aircraft application, a parametrical optimization of the suitable motor configuration is needed through a coupled electromagnetic and thermal analysis, and should be verified by finite-element analysis.

Overview of Electric Motor Technologies Used for More Electric Aircraft (MEA)

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the state-of-the-art and emerging wind energy technologies from the electrical engineering perspective. In an attempt to decrease cost of energy, increase the wind energy conversion efficiency, reliability, power density, and comply with the stringent grid codes, the electric generators and power electronic converters have emerged in a rigorous manner. From the market based survey, the most successful generator-converter configurations are addressed along with few promising topologies available in the literature. The back-to-back connected converters, passive generator-side converters, converters for multiphase generators, and converters without intermediate dc-link are investigated for high-power wind energy conversion systems (WECS), and presented in low and medium voltage category. The onshore and offshore wind farm configurations are analyzed with respect to the series/parallel connection of wind turbine ac/dc output terminals, and high voltage ac/dc transmission. The fault-ride through compliance methods used in the induction and synchronous generator based WECS are also discussed. The past, present and future trends in megawatt WECS are reviewed in terms of mechanical and electrical technologies, integration to power systems, and control theory. The important survey results, and technical merits and demerits of various WECS electrical systems are summarized by tables. The list of current and future wind turbines are also provided along with technical details.

High-Power Wind Energy Conversion Systems: State-of-the-Art and Emerging Technologies

Ithasbeenshownrecently that itispossible toconnectinseries thestator windings ofmulti-phase machines insuch a way that allthemachines inthegroupcanbecontrolled independently using field orientation principles, although thecomplete multi-motor drive systemissupplied froma single voltage sourceinverter (VSI). This paperdeals with oneparticular case,aseries-connected two-motor six-phase drive system. Twoconfigurations aretested experimentally. Bothinclude asymmetrical sixphaseinduction machine, while thesecond machine isatfirst a three-phase induction machine and then apermanent magnetsynchronous machine (PMSM).Additionally, experimental results obtained witha single six-phase motordrive areincluded aswell, thusenabling a thorough discussion ofthe dynamic performance oftheseries-connected two-motor drive systems. Theoperating principles ofthe drive systems areatfirst reviewed anda brief description oftheexperimental rigisthengiven. The emphasis isplaced on an extensive presentation ofexperimental results, collected fromtheriginthe already mentioned threedifferent configurations. An ultimate proofthattruly independent and decoupled vector control ofthetwomachines isachieved, although a single supply sourceisused, is thusprovided.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/11048/34861/01665392.pdf

Experimental Performance Evaluation ofSix-Phase Series-Connected Two- MotorDriveSystems

The dc-link voltage stability for a hybrid five-phase open-end winding (OeW) drive operating under carrier-based pulse-width modulation is studied. The drive consists of a five-phase induction machine, supplied using one three-level and one two-level voltage source inverter. This configuration is analysed for the case of isolated dc-link rails, while the dc-link voltage ratio is considered as an additional degree of freedom. It is demonstrated that different dc-link voltage ratios lead to the different overall number of voltage levels across stator windings. Modulation strategies are investigated and their performances are analysed from the dc-link voltages stability point of view. An analytical method for dc-link voltage stability analysis is presented. Results show that the four-level configuration always leads to stable dc-link voltages, regardless of the modulation strategy. On the other hand, if the six-level configuration is combined with modulation strategies that lead to optimal harmonic performance, not all dc-link capacitor voltages will be in the balance depending on the operating conditions.

/pdf/dc-link-voltage-stability-analysis-technique-for-hybrid-five-32r8xkmnzb.pdf

Martin Jones

Papers

Experimental Performance Evaluation ofSix-Phase Series-Connected Two- MotorDriveSystems

Dc-link voltage stability analysis technique for hybrid five-phase open-end winding drives