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 drive in a platform suitable for HIL tests. The emulator is capable of representing the drive operation under both healthy conditions and during interturn stator winding faults. Nonlinearities due to saturation, higher order harmonics, slotting effects, etc., are accounted for using four-dimensional look-up tables (LUTs) obtained by finite element analysis. The proposed model is computationally efficient and capable of running in real time in a field programmable gate array 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.