Winding concepts for ultra reliable electrical machines

This paper investigates two winding concepts for Permanent Magnet (PM) machines used for more electric aircraft systems where reliability is a concern. Analysis is carried out using two different surface mounted PM machines designed for low and high speed applications: a 12 slot, 10 pole machine with concentrated windings for rotorcraft swashplate actuation and a 36-slot 6-pole machine with distributed winding arrangement for an aircraft starter-generator. The impact of the winding arrangement for the low speed machine is investigated with a focus on turn-turn Short-Circuit (SC) faults. Implications of the SC fault and methods to restrain the resulting SC current are discussed. A prognostics method for potential turn-turn SC faults for the high speed application is then investigated. It is shown that potential winding faults can be detected at an early stage of fault inception and thus measures can be taken to limit propagation.