Characterization of Winding Faults in Axial Flux Reluctance

Nelson, Andrew Lincoln: Characterization of Winding Faults in Axial Flux Reluctance Motors in the Context of Electric Vehicle Propulsion Systems. (Under the direction of Dr. Mo-Yuen Chow.) Since the late 1980’s there has been a major resurgence in electric vehicle propulsion research and development. This trend has been stimulated by various factors, including rising fossil fuel costs, environmental concerns, and developments in technologies, such as improved permanent magnets, switching transistors and storage batteries. New technology has allowed motor types previously not suitable for use in electric vehicles, such as variable reluctance permanent magnet motors and brushless DC motors, to be adapted for use as electric vehicle propulsion systems. The process of motor fault detection and diagnosis is becoming an important part of electric motor applications, including electric vehicle propulsion. A key element in this process, when applied to a particular motor topology, is the characterization of motor faults in the context of that particular motor type. This research examines one class of motor faults, namely stator winding faults, in an axial flux variable reluctance permanent magnet motor. The research focuses on two types of winding faults. The first of these is an insulation failure induced turn-to-turn stator coil short in which a significant portion of the coil has been shorted out. This type of fault can be the result of a single insulation failure between two adjacent coil turns if the turns happen to be in adjacent winding ranks. The second fault considered is one in which a portion of the coil in actually destroyed or removed in a manner that allows the remainder of the coil to continue to carry current. To facilitate the study of stator winding faults in variable reluctance motors, a prototype axial flux variable reluctance permanent magnet motor was designed and built. The motor was equipped with experimental fault simulation stator windings capable of simulating several types of winding faults. A salient finding of this research is that two A. L. Nelson, “Characterization of Winding Faults in Axial Flux Reluctance Motors in the Context of Electric Vehicle Propulsion Systems,” MS Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2000. E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.nelsonrobotics.org common types of winding faults can be differentiated by their effects on rotor velocity in this type of motor. It is found that turn-to-turn stator winding faults cause a damping in rotor velocity due to permanent magnet rotor induced current in the shorted portion of the coil. In contrast, coil faults with a reduced number of turns, but without the presence of coil shorts, result in a slight increase in rotor velocity. A. L. Nelson, “Characterization of Winding Faults in Axial Flux Reluctance Motors in the Context of Electric Vehicle Propulsion Systems,” MS Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2000. E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.nelsonrobotics.org CHARACTERIZATION OF WINDING FAULTS IN AXIAL FLUX RELUCTANCE MOTORS IN THE CONTEXT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE PROPULSION SYSTEMS By ANDREW LINCOLN NELSON A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Science DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Raleigh 2000