Influence of Current Sensor Faults on the Performances of Surface Mounted Permanent Magnet Motor

The current sensor faults have a great impact on the performance of the electrical drives used for propulsion and traction applications. This work analyzes the effects of the faults on the motor losses using a mathematical model of the current faults in the case of a permanent magnet electrical drives controlled with Field Oriented Control. In particular, the current sensor faults increase the total harmonic distortion of the phase currents with an impact on torque ripple, Joule and iron losses. The analysis is entirely carried out using an analytical approach for the torque ripple and finite element analysis for the losses. The results of different case studies for two surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors are reported and analyzed.