In fault tollerant drives, the response time of the fault detection and identification procedure is an important aspect for ensuring the required service continuity and is crucial in sensorless motor drives for avoiding a loss of control due to an erroneous position estimation.
Faults affecting the power devices (IGBTs or MOSFETs) in a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) are among the most frequent ones. Problems in the gate driver circuitry or operation outside the safe operating area may lead to misfiring, open-circuit or short-circuit faults.
By using a control-centered approach based on innovative procedures and by introducing minor modifications to the converter, we are able to guarantee a fast fault identification, converter reconfiguration and continuity of operation even in case of faults which, normally, would cause catastrophic consequences.