Control of Shaft-Line-Embedded Multiphase Starter/Generator for Aero-Engine

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industrial electronics (1982) Vol. 63; no. 1; pp. 641 - 652
• Main Authors: Bojoi, R., Cavagnino, A., Tenconi, A., Vaschetto, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.01.2016
• Subjects: aerospace applications; Aerospace engines; Aerospace industry; Coders; direct flux vector control; Encoders; Fault tolerance; fault tolerant drives; Fault tolerant systems; Gas turbine engines; Induction machines; integrated starter/generator; more electric aircraft; multi-phase drives; Multi-phase induction machines; Multiphase; open rotors; Rotors; Stator windings; Torque; transportation electrification; Winding; open rotors; integrated starter/generator; fault-tolerant drives; transportation electrification; Aerospace applications; direct-flux vector control; multiphase drives; more electric aircraft (MEA); multiphase induction machines (IMs)
• ISSN: 0278-0046; 1557-9948
• DOI: 10.1109/TIE.2015.2472637

This paper deals with a shaft-line-embedded multiphase electrical machine to be connected to the high-pressure shaft of an open-rotor jet engine. An asymmetrical six-phase induction machine (IM) is proposed for this application. The main focus of this paper is on the control of the six-phase IM, to verify its overload capabilities and postfault operations. The implemented control uses a direct-flux vector control scheme based on a double-stator approach, where each three-phase winding set is independently controlled. This way, the fault-tolerant behavior of the drive system is enhanced. Complete details of the adopted flux observer are included; torque and speed control loops are implemented in a dedicated multiple three-phase drive, and a scaled prototype (10 kW, 6000 r/min) has been tested. The overload capability has been verified both in generation and motoring mode, for different speeds and torque up to 150% of the rated one. Finally, the transitions between healthy and faulty modes are reported for open phases and encoder faults. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed drive solutions.