Current-based condition monitoring and fault tolerant operation for electric machines in automotive applications

The paper presents a complete summary of state-of- the-art techniques for current-based fault monitoring of low voltage permanent magnet synchronous machines commonly used in automotive applications for hybrid traction drives and auxiliary systems. This includes detection of stator winding faults, and bearing faults. In addition, a fault tolerant strategy is presented which can be used to operate the machine in a "limp-home" mode even in the presence of the stator turn fault. Experimental results show the efficacy of these methods which allow for use for PM machines even in automotive applications wherein the machine cannot be stopped.