Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives under Stator Faults

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing methods can facilitate the development of control strategies in a safe and inexpensive environment particularly when extreme operating conditions such as faults are considered. HIL methods rely on accurate real-time emulation of the equipment under investigation. However, no validated tools for real-time emulation of electrical drives under fault conditions are available. This paper describes the implementation of a high-fidelity real-time emulator of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) drive in a platform suitable for HIL tests. The emulator is capable of representing the drive operation under both healthy conditions and during inter-turn stator winding faults. Nonlinearities due to saturation, higher order harmonics, slotting effects, etc. are accounted for using fourdimensional look-up tables obtained by finite element analysis (FEA). The proposed model is computationally efficient and capable of running in real-time in a FPGA platform and is validated against simulations and experimental results in a wide range of operating conditions. Potential applications of the proposed emulation environment to the development of drive control, fault detection and diagnostic algorithms are proposed.