Fault detection of voltage-source inverter using pattern recognition of the 3D current trajectory

Three-phase voltage-source inverter is one of the most widely used power converters. Therefore, the need to insure a continuous and safety operation for this power converter with fault detection technique is a need, more or less, depending on their application. For this power converter several faults can appear. This paper presents a method for the detection and identification of the transistor open circuit fault. The proposed method uses a 3D representation of the inverter three-phase currents. This allows obtaining a specific pattern. Then a pattern recognition approach is used to identify the faulty switch. This approach is based on two steps. First it is obtained the current trajectory mass center. Then it is analyzed the symmetry of the image projection around the mass center. Several simulation results are presented showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Experimental results are also presented in order to validate simulation results.