An Overview of Fault-diagnosis and Fault Tolerance of Power Converters for Switched Reluctance Motor Drive Systems

Switched Reluctance Motors (SRMs) are renowned for their robustness, wide speed range, and high fault-tolerant capability, making them highly suitable for high-speed and safetycritical applications. Research has indicated that power converters are particularly susceptible to failure in switched reluctance motor drive systems (SRD). Open-circuit faults in the power converter or winding can result in phase-deficient operation, leading to decreased output torque and significant torque ripple in SRMs. On the other hand, a short-circuit fault in the power converter can cause a substantial increase in circuit current, potentially generating a large reverse braking torque that can destabilize the drive system and damage the entire system, thereby impacting the normal operation of the SRD. Consequently, it is imperative to conduct fault diagnosis and fault tolerance studies on power converters for SRD. In this article, the fault diagnosis of a switched reluctance motor power converter is summarised and described in four aspects, namely current detection methods, gate signals auxiliary,and mathematical analysis. Fault tolerance of switched reluctance motor is summarised and described in two aspects, namely improvement of power converter topology, fault tolerance, and control strategy. A new switched reluctance motor faulttolerant power converter structure is proposed.