Implementation of Current Harmonic Suppression for Imbalance in Six-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives

Current harmonics in six-phase permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) arise from inherent asymmetries caused by manufacturing tolerances and nonlinear characteristics in the inverter output. Additionally, magnetic saturation and slight imbalances in the windings introduce flux linkage asymmetries, resulting in both fundamental current imbalance and low-order harmonics. Although these imbalances are minor and do not indicate fault conditions, they can cause uneven copper loss and eventually reduce the overall service life of the motor. This paper proposes a harmonic suppression strategy for mitigating imbalance current harmonics in non-ideal six-phase PMSMs. The method integrates back-electromotive force harmonic feedforward compensation (BEMF-HFC) with harmonic synchronous reference frame current control (HSRF-CC). An imbalance flux linkage harmonic model is developed in simulations to replicate the measured imbalance phase currents and to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The experimental setup is built using a microcontroller from Texas Instruments (TI), which generates six-phase complementary PWM signals for the power stage and receives feedback signals including phase currents, DC bus voltage, and rotor position. Rotor position is acquired through a 12-pole resolver and a 12-bit resolver-to-digital converter (RDC). The six-phase PMSM used in the tests is specified with 12 poles, a rated DC bus voltage of 600 V, a rated current of 200 Arms, and a rated rotor speed of 1200 rpm. Compared with conventional harmonic suppression strategies that do not target imbalance current harmonics, the proposed method achieves a better current balance and lower total harmonic distortion (THD). At 1200 rpm, the magnitude deviation of the fundamental, third, and fifth current harmonics is reduced from 8.61%, 2.88%, and 2.94% to 1.19%, 1.02%, and 0.5%, respectively.