Fault detection of a five-phase Permanent-Magnet machine

The paper focuses on the fault detection of a five-phase Permanent-Magnet (PM) machine. This machine has been designed for fault tolerant applications, and it is characterised by a mutual inductance equal to zero and a high self inductance, with the purpose to limit the short circuit current. The effects of a limited number of short-circuited turns were investigated by theoretical and Finite Element (FE) analysis, and then a procedure for fault detection has been proposed, focusing on the severity of the fault (i.e. the number of shortcircuited turns and the related current). © 2008 IEEE.