Reconfigurable Fault Tolerant Control System for Switched Reluctance Motors

In the paper, a reconfigurable fault tolerant control system for a segmental stator switched reluctance machine is proposed. It can detect diverse winding faults and mask these faults by means of imposing increased currents in the healthy remained coils of the machine. The reconfiguration strategy depends on the type of the winding fault. By applying the proposed reconfiguration of the control strategy the continuation of the machine's movement can be assured despite of winding faults of diverse severity. The main hardware and software components of the control system are detailed in length in the paper. The correct reconfiguration is proved by laboratory measurements performed on a test bench specially built up for this purpose. The developed control system can be applied in safety-critical electrical equipment.