• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.974-986
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• 2015

A novel inverter fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed to drive brushless DC motor. A fault-tolerant inverter and its three fault-tolerant schemes (i.e., phase A fault-tolerant, phase B fault-tolerant, and phase C fault-tolerant) are analyzed. Eight voltage vectors are summarized and a voltage vector selection table is used in the control scheme to improve the midpoint current of the split capacitors. A stator flux observer is proposed. The observer can improve flux estimation, which does not require any speed adaptation mechanism and is immune to speed estimation error. Global stability of the flux observer is guaranteed by the Lyapunov stability analysis. A novel stator resistance estimator is incorporated into the sensorless drive to compensate for the effects of stator resistance variation. DC offset effects are mitigated by introducing an integral component in the observer gains. Finally, a control system based on the control scheme is established. Simulation and experiment results show that the method is correct and feasible.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1256-1267
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• 2017

A fault tolerant structure and its corresponding control strategy for electromagnetic stirring power supplies are proposed in this paper. The topology structure of the electromagnetic stirring power supply contains two-stages. The fore-stage is the PWM rectifier. The back-stage is the fault tolerant inverter, which is a two-phase three-bridge orthogonal inverter circuit while operating normally. When the power switch devices in the inverter are faulty, the structure of the inverter is reconfigured. The two-phase half bridge inverter circuit is constructed with the remaining power switch devices and DC-link capacitors to keep the system operating after cutting the faulty power switch devices from the system. The corresponding control strategy is proposed to let the system work under both normal and fault conditions. The reliability of the system is improved and the requirement of the electromagnetic stirring process is met. Finally, simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed fault tolerant structure and corresponding control strategy.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1272-1280
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• 2014

This paper presents solutions for fault detection and diagnosis of two-level, three phase voltage-source inverter (VSI) topologies with IGBT devices. The proposed solutions combine redundant standby VSI structures and contactors (or relays) to improve the fault-tolerant capabilities of power electronics in applications with safety requirements. The suitable combination of these elements gives the inverter the ability to maintain energy processing in the occurrence of several failure modes, including short-circuit in IGBT devices, thus extending its reliability and availability. A survey of previously developed fault-tolerant VSI structures and several aspects of failure modes, detection and isolation mechanisms within VSI is first discussed. Hardware solutions for the protection of power semiconductors with fault detection and diagnosis mechanisms are then proposed to provide conditions to isolate and replace damaged power devices (or branches) in real time. Experimental results from a prototype are included to validate the proposed solutions.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2019

This study proposes a neutral voltage balance control scheme for stable fault-tolerant operation of an active neutral point clamped (ANPC) inverter using carrier-based pulse width modulation. The proposed scheme maintains the neutral voltage balance by reconfiguring the switching combination and modulating the reference output voltage in order to solve the degradation of the output characteristic in the fault tolerant operation due to the fault of the power semiconductor switch constituting the ANPC inverter. The feasibility of the proposed control scheme is confirmed by HIL experiment using RT-BOX.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.989-999
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• 2019

This paper proposes a fault-tolerant control strategy with finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) based on hierarchical optimization for five-level H-bridge neutral-point-clamped (5L-HNPC) inverter-fed induction motor drives. Fault-tolerant operation is analyzed, and the fault-tolerant control algorithm is improved. Adopting FCS-MPC based on hierarchical optimization, where the voltage is used as the controlled objective, called model predictive voltage control (MPVC), the postfault controller is simplified as a two layer control. The first layer is the voltage jump limit, and the second layer is the voltage following control, which adopts the optimal control strategy to ensure the current following performance and uniqueness of the optimal solution. Finally, simulation and experimental results verify that 5L-HNPC inverter-fed induction motor drives have strong fault tolerant capability and that the FCS-MPVC based on hierarchical optimization is feasible.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.718-725
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• 2015

This paper proposes a novel level-shifted PWM (LS-PWM) strategy for fault tolerant cascaded multilevel inverter. Most proposed fault-tolerant operation methods in many of studies are based on a phase-shifted PWM (PS-PWM) method. To apply these methods to multilevel inverter systems using LS-PWM, two additional steps will be implemented. During the occurrence of a single-inverter-cell fault, the carrier bands scheme is reconfigured and modulation levels of inverter cells are reassigned in this proposed fault-tolerant operation. The proposed strategy performs balanced three-phase line-to-line voltages and line currents when a switching device fault occurs in a cascaded multilevel inverter using LS-PWM. Simulation and experimental results are included in the paper to verify the proposed method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2006

In this paper, the fault tolerant system for BLDC motor has been proposed to maintain control performance under an open switch fault of inverter. The fault identification is proposed to two methods, which are using the difference between reference and actual current, and adding voltage sensors across lower legs of inverter. The reconfiguration scheme is achieved by the four-switch topology connecting a faulty leg to the middle point of DC-link using bidirectional switches. The proposed fault tolerant system quickly recovers control performance by short fault detecting time and reconfiguration of system topology. Therefore, continuous free operation of the BLDC motor drive system after faults is available. The superior performance of the proposed fault tolerant system is proved by simulation.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.56-69
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• 2018

In this paper, an improved Space Vector Modulation (SVM) based fault tolerant operation on a nine-level Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter with an additional backup circuit is proposed. Any type of fault in a power converter may result in a power interruption and productivity loss. Three different faults on H-bridge modules in all three phases based on the SVM approach are investigated with diagrams. Any fault in an inverter phase creates an unbalanced output voltage, which can lead to instability in the system. An additional auxiliary unit is connected in series to the three phase cascaded H-bridge circuit. With the help of this and the redundant switching states in SVM, the CHB inverter produces a balanced output with low harmonic distortion. This ensures high DC bus utilization under numerous fault conditions in three phases, which improves the system reliability. Simulation results are presented on three phase nine-level inverter with the automatic fault detection algorithm in the MATLAB/SIMULINK software tool, and experimental results are presented with DSP on five-level inverter to validate the practicality of the proposed SVM fault tolerance strategy on a CHB inverter with an auxiliary circuit.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.752-759
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• 2013

This paper proposes a method for fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control of DC-link voltage sensor for two-stage three-phase grid-connected PV inverters. Generally, the front-end DC-DC boost converter tracks the maximum power point (MPP) of PV array and the rear-end DC-AC inverter is used to generate a sinusoidal output current and keep the DC-link voltage constant. In this system, a sensor is essential for power conversion. A sensor fault is detected when there is an error between the sensed and estimated values, which are obtained from a DC-link voltage sensorless algorithm. Fault-tolerant control is achieved by using the estimated values. A deadbeat current controller is used to meet the dynamic characteristic of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm is validated by simulation and experiment results.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2013.07a
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• pp.283-284
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• 2013

This paper proposes a fault-tolerant strategy for indirect matrix converter (IMC) based on the concept of four-leg matrix converter in case of an open-circuit fault in the inverter stage. The proposed strategy can maintain the same output performance as the healthy condition during the faulty condition. Some simulated results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.