Impact and Detection of Coil Asymmetries in a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator with Parallel Connected Stator Coils

Permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are suitable for offshore applications due to their high efficiency and power density. Inter-turn short circuits (ITSCs) stand as one of the most critical faults in these machines due to their rapid evolution in phase or ground short circuits. It is therefore necessary to detect ITSCs at an early stage. In the literature, ITSC detection is often based on current signal processing methods. One of the challenges that these methods face is the presence of imperfections in the stator coils, which also affects the three-phase symmetry. Moreover, when the stator coils are connected in parallel, this type of fault becomes important, as circulating currents will flow between the parallel windings. This, in turn, increases the thermal stress on the insulation and the permanent magnets, while also exacerbating the vibrations of the generator. In this study, a finite-element analysis (FEA) model has been developed to simulate a dual-rotor PMSG under conditions of coil asymmetry. To further investigate the impact of this asymmetry, mathematical modeling has been conducted. For fault detection, negative-sequence current (NSC) analysis and torque monitoring have been used to distinguish coil asymmetry from ITSCs. While both methods demonstrate potential for fault identification, NSC induced small amplitudes and the torque analysis was unable to detect ITSCs under low-severity conditions, thereby underscoring the importance of developing advanced strategies for early-stage ITSC detection. The innovative aspect of this work is that, despite these limitations, the combined use of NSC phase-angle tracking and torque harmonic analysis provides, for the first time in a core-less PMSG with parallel-connected coils, a practical way to distinguish ITSC from coil asymmetry, even though both faults produce almost identical signatures in conventional current-based indices.