1

Fault-Tolerant Control of Five-Phase Current Source Inverter for

Medium-Voltage Drives
M. A. Elgenedy
*
, A. S. Abdel-Khalik
*
, A. Elserougi
*
, S. Ahmed

, and A. Massoud
*,**
*Alexandria University, Egypt,

Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar, **Qatar University, Qatar.

M.Atef.Elgenedy@gmail.com

Keywords: current source inverter (CSI), multiphase machine,
mapping circuit, space vector pulse width modulation
(SVPWM), sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM).
Abstract
Multiphase Machines offer a promising solution to many
practical challenges due to their advantages over the three
phase counterparts, as fault-tolerant capability and lower
torque ripple magnitude. Among different multiphase
machines, five-phase machines correspond to a relatively
practical selection in industrial applications. Multiphase
machines are conventionally fed from voltage source inverter
(VSI) as it facilities the operation under open-phase condition
but with a sophisticated controller. Among different power
converter topologies, current source inverter (CSI) features a
simple inverter structure, a lower switching dv/dt, and a
reliable short circuit protection. However, the control of
multiphase CSI under open phase has not been yet considered
in the literature. Additionally, the space vector PWM
(SVPWM) of multiphase CSI is still challenging.
Alternatively, the mapped sinusoidal PWM can offer simpler
control over SVPWM. In this paper, a fault-tolerant controller
for a five-phase CSI inverter is introduced and proposed for
medium voltage drive applications. The proposed gating signal
generator provides a controllable linear modulation index with
the availability of over modulation. To verify the proposed
fault-tolerant gating signal generator, a five-phase CSI feeds a
static R-L load is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK as a
case study exploring the healthy and the opened-phase cases.
1 Introduction

It is well known that the base of the electric drive was the DC
motor. After the development of the variable speed electric
drive systems the DC motors were replaced with three-phase
induction motors. These are a superior electric motors, simple
and robust in structure, easy to maintain and very reliable;
moreover, the supply device for this type of motors, the voltage
source inverter, have been already generalized [1]. However,
when the machine is connected to a modular power electronic
converter, such as a (voltage source inverter) VSI or a (current
source inverter) CSI, then the need for AC supply with a
specific number of phases disappears since simply adding one
leg increases the number of phases. The development of
modern power electronics makes it possible to consider the
number of phases as a degree of freedom, i.e., an additional
design variable in electrical machines [2]. Main advantages of
multiphase machines over their three-phase counterparts are:
(i) lower torque ripples hence they reduce the mechanical
stresses. (ii) lesser cogging torque which is a characteristic of
permenant magnet syncrounous motor, PMSM. (iii) greater
fault tolerance. (iv) better torque-speed characteristics at low
speed operation than the three-phase induction motors [2]. (v)
lesser acoustic noise. (vi) higher efficiency. In addition, owing
to their redundant structure, multiphase machine converters
improve system reliability [3]-[6].

As a consequence, the use of multi-phase inverters together
with multi-phase AC machines has been recognized as a viable
approach to obtain high power ratings with current limited
devices [7]. Among different multiphase machines, five-phase
machines correspond to a relatively practical selection in
industrial applications. The fault-tolerant property and the
lower torque ripples of a five-phase system makes it a strong
candidate for safety critical applications such as defense,
hospitals, ship propulsions, traction drive and aircraft
applications, etc. [4].

Multiphase machines are conventionally fed from voltage
source inverter (VSI) as it facilities the operation under open-
phase condition but with a sophisticated controller [8]-[13].
Among different power converter topologies, current source
inverter (CSI) features a simple inverter structure, a lower
switching dv/dt, and a reliable short circuit protection [14].
However, the control of multiphase CSI under open phase has
not been yet considered in the literature.

Accordingly, many PWM techniques such as selective
harmonic elimination PWM (SHE-PWM), carrier based
sinusoidal PWM (SPWM), and space vector PWM (SVPWM)
have been developed for controlling the gating signals of the
three phase converters [14,15]. SVPWM is a digital
modulation technique wherein a sampled reference vector is
synthesized by time-averaging of a number of appropriate
switching state vectors. The reference and the switching state
vectors are represented in a complex plane by a transformation
from abc to - coordinates. The SVPWM techniques have
advantages in terms of more control flexibility, low harmonic,
and better dynamic performance. However, in a multiphase
converter, each discrete state of conduction produces a vector
in an n-dimensional space, adding significant complexity to the
SVPWM of multiphase converters, where the n-dimensional
vector space can be decomposed into (h-1)2 mutually
2
orthogonal planes (where h is the number of phases) [16]. The
multiphase SVPWM for VSI was extensively addressed in the
literature [17]-[19], while SVPWM of multiphase CSI is still
challenging. Alternatively, the mapped sinusoidal PWM can
offer simpler control over SVPWM.

Generally, the CSI required gating signals must fulfill two
main constraints. First, the input DC-link current to the
converter must be continuous, as any sudden loss of the current
results in a large dv/dt due to the DC-link inductor. Second,
only two switches must conduct at the same time [20], [21].
These constrains represent the main challenge with carrier
based SPWM-CSI; mapping solutions are proposed to solve
the sophistication of modulation strategy compared to the VSI
while keeping the working conditions of the CSI valid. In
references [22, 23] on-line generation of carrier based gating
signal for three phase SPWM-CSI is introduced. With such
approach, however, the duality between VSI and CSI is
extended, the mapping technique is implemented by mixed
analog/digital circuitry and a decoupling circuit stage is needed
since reference line currents are generated from line-to-neutral
voltage signals. In [24], the concept applied in [22, 23] was
generalized to cover any number of phases, although the
introduced method is digitally implemented, the author did not
introduce a clear formulation between the modulation index
(m), the peak-output AC-current (Iac) and the DC-link current
(Idc).

In literature, mapping for SPWM-CSI is recognized for
balanced case only. In case of open phase, the system can be
considered as an unbalanced four-phase system. Hence, in this
paper the mapping for balanced four-phase SPWM-CSI is
firstly introduced, the unbalanced case is then deduced

In this paper, a fault-tolerant controller for a five-phase CSI
inverter is introduced and proposed for medium voltage drive
applications. A five-phase CSI feeds a static R-L load is
simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK as a case study at both
healthy and phase-open conditions.

The Mapping SPWM technique used for the CSI for healthy
condition will be detailed in section II and the open phase case
will be introduced in section III, while the proposed system
configuration and simulation results are given in section IV.
2 SPWM-CSI mapping for healthy condition
The core of proper mapping for a five-phase SPWM-CSI is the
gating signal generator, its inputs are basically the reference
modulating signals at fundamental frequency and the carrier
signal waveform, while the output are the ten gating signals.
Fig.1 shows the power topology of a five-phase CSI, the
switches shown in Fig.1 can be either IGBT with series diode
for increasing the reverse voltage blocking capability, IGCT,
or GTO types.

The gating signal generator mainly consists of four stages that
satisfy the required constraints of CSIs, namely:
1) Switching pulse generator (Spg), which represents the
regular carrier based SPWM by comparing 5
modulating signals with the carrier signal as in Fig.2,
2) Complementary pulse generator (Cpg), which ensures
the DC-link current continuity by generating a pulse
output to the upper and lower switches in the same leg
at the same time when the 5-upper or 5-lower
switches are all zero as shown in Fig.3.
3) Complementary pulse distributor (Cpd) is responsible
for ensuring equal distribution of the load current
between switches. It creates a pulse of (72/2 ) every
half cycle for each phase to ensure an equal
distribution. The input to this block is the five
modulating signals with the arrangement shown in
Fig.4. The output is 5 signals located in the center of
the conduction interval for a given switch.
4) Pulse combinator (Pc), In this part shown by Fig.5 the
created complementary pulse generator Cpg signal is
equally distributed between the 5-legs using the
complementary pulse distributor signals (Cpd1 to
Cpd5).
Ci
Five-phase
Load
Idc
10 9 8 7
5 4 3 2 1
6

Fig.1. Power circuit topology of five-phase CSI.
>
s1 to s5
s1c to s5c
s1
s2c
s2
s3c
s5
s1c
spg1
spg2
spg5
s1c
s2
s2c
s3
spg6
spg7
spg10
s5c
s1
Carrier Signal
Modulating Signals
(m1 to m5)
72

Fig.2. Switching pulse generator.

In order to define the relation between the modulation index
(m), the peak-output AC-current (Iac) and the DC-link current
(Idc), a PI-controller is used as in Fig.6, such that the
mathematical relationship can be defined as in (1). Equation
(1) defines the relation between the DC and the AC currents
3
clearly and linearly as in conventional SVPWM used for three-
phase CSIs.
m =
I
uc
I
dc
, (1)

spg1
spg5
spg6
spg10
cpg

Fig.3. Complementary pulse generator.
m1
m5
sd15
>
>
sd15c
sd52
sd52c
sd21
>
>
sd21c
sd13
sd13c
m5
m2
m2
m1
m3
m1
sd15
sd52
sd15c
sd52c
cpd1
sd32
>
>
sd32c
sd24
sd24c
sd43
>
>
sd43c
sd35
sd35c
m2
m5
m4
sd54
>
>
sd54c
sd41
sd41c
m5
m4
m4
m1
m2
m3
m4
m3
m3
sd21
sd13
sd21c
sd13c
cpd2
sd32
sd24
sd32c
sd24c
sd43
sd35
sd43c
sd35c
sd54
sd41
sd54c
sd41c
cpd5
cpd4
cpd3

Fig.4. Complementary pulse distributor.
g1
g6
spg1
spg6
cpd1
cpg
g5
g10
spg5
spg10
cpd5

Fig.5. Pulse combinator.
PI
controller
m
Idc
Iac
+
-


Modulaing Signals
With unity peak
Modulaing
Signals Gating
Signal
Generator

Fig.6. Modulation index controller for SPWM-CSI
mapping.

3 SPWM-CSI mapping under one phase open
3.1 Optimum phase currents for one phase open

When one or two phases are open, due to a device failure or a
fault in the phase windings, a forward rotating field can be still
obtained by setting the currents in the faulted phases to zero,
and keeping the MMF and torque unchanged. During the fault
conditions, a new set of currents for the healthy phases is
applied. The control current strategies are chosen so as to have
a zero-sequence current equal to zero (i=0) and a reasonable
average torque. In order to maintain the same torque as the
healthy-mode operation, the current in the healthy phases
should be modified to maintain equal current peak for each
healthy phase [25]. If phase-A is open, the current ia is zero and
the currents in the remaining phases should satisfy the
condition in (2);
i
b
= -i
d
onJ i
c
= -i
c
(2)
Whose current phasor diagram is show in Fig.7. To maintain
an undisturbed rotating MMF in a five-phase machine with one
phase open, the fundamental current peak of the healthy phases
should increase about 1.382 times the initial value when all five
phases are functional as in (3) and (4) [25].

i
b
= -i
d
= 1.S82 sin(0 -
n
S
,
) (3)
i
c
= -i
c
= 1.S82 sin(0 -
4n
S
, )
(4)

72
A
E
D
C
B
36
-
36
E_fault
D_fault
C_fault
B_fault

(a) (b)
Fig.7. Current phasor diagram: (a) healthy mode operation
and (b) one-phase open.
A_normal
E_fault
D_fault
C_fault
B_fault
D_normal
C_normal
B_normal
- - - - - normal four phase
_______ five phase when one phase opened
54
36
54
36

Fig.8 Delaying the conventional four phases to generate a
gating signals for one phase open five-phase system.

3.2 SPWM-CSI modified mapping for one phase open

Although the aforementioned SPWM-CSI was introduced for
healthy five-phase operation, it can be generalized to operate
for any number of healthy phases [24]. Whereas a healthy
operation of a four-phase SPWM-CSI requires, modulating
signal angles of [0, -90, -180 and -270], eight switching
pulse generator and four complementary pulse distributers in
order to generate the eight gating signals. Since the phase-
angles of the remaining four phases when one phase opened in
a five-phase system are [-36, -144, 144 and 36], unequal
phase-angle displacement between any two adjacent phases is
certain. Applying modulating signals of these angles to the
4
gating signal generator when one phase opened will lead to
improper operation of the mapping circuit. As a remedy to this
problem, a four-phase modulation signals of [0, -90, -180
and -270] are used in the gating signal generator, where the
required phase-angles can be acquired by applying a phase-
angle delay to the output gating signals using the manner
shown in Fig.8.

4 Simulation results

To verify the proposed fault-tolerant gating signal generator, a
five-phase CSI feeds a static R-L load is simulated using
MATLAB/SIMULINK as a case study. The DC-link current is
adjusted to 500 A ripples free. The capacitor filter is adjusted
to 250 F. The value of the load resistance and inductance
combined with the output filter are 10 and 50 mH
respectively. The modulating signal fundamental frequency
and the switching frequency are 50 Hz and 1.5 kHz
respectively. Fig. 9 shows the proposed system configuration.

To investigate the system dynamic response, the reference
modulation index (m) is changed such that the healthy and the
opened-phase cases are explored. The reference m is changed
during three intervals, the first two intervals are dedicated to
healthy case with two different values of m, while in the third
interval phase-A is opened. Under open-phase case, the AC-
peak current should be 1.382 times its initial value when all
five phases are functional. The modulation index of the three
intervals is summarized as follows:

Interval I: Five healthy phases, m = 0.8 , for 0 < t <
1s,
Interval II: Five healthy phases, m = 1 , for 1 < t < 2s,
Interval III: Four healthy phases and phase-A opened,
m = 1.382, for t > 2s.

The simulation results are shown in Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Fig. 10 shows that the modulation index controller forces the
AC-peak current (Iac) to follow the desired (mIdc) value. The
five-phase load currents at healthy operation are shown in
Figs .11 and 12 for m equals 0.8 and 1 respectively. The load
peak-current value is 400 A, for m = 0.8, while it increases to
500A for m = 1. When phase-A is opened, the proposed gating
signal generator method is applied such that phase-A current
drops to zero, the load peak-current of the remaining four
phases is 691 A (5001.382) with phase-angles of [-36, -144,
144 and 36] as in Fig.13. During interval III, the switching
current (current before the filter capacitor), , the output load
voltage and FFT analysis of output load current are all recorded
for phase-B and are shown in Figs.14, 15 and 16 respectively.

5 Conclusion

In this paper, a new fault tolerant five-phase mapping for
SPWM-CSI is recognized for balanced and open phase cases.
The proposed CSI provides a controllable linear modulation
index with the availability of over modulation. To verify the
proposed fault-tolerant gating signal generator, a five-phase
CSI feeds a static R-L load is simulated using
MATLAB/SIMULINK as a case study exploring the healthy
and the opened-phase cases. The simulation results prove that
CSI can be effectively used to provide a fault tolerant operation
for multiphase drive system without the sophisticated
controller used with conventional VSI front end converter.
Since the introduced system was mainly based on multiphase
Machines and CSIs, it has many advantages such as lowering
torque ripples leading to lessening the mechanical stresses on
the shaft; reducing the cogging torque in PMSM; lowering
maintenance rate; increasing system efficiency and tolerating
fault conditions. These advantages are promising for medium
voltage drives applications where multiphase generators can be
used as an alternative to multi-level converters. In multiphase
machines, by dividing the required power between multiple
phases, more than the conventional three, higher power levels
can be obtained and power electronic converters with limited
power range can be used to operate with these multiphase
machines.


R-L Load
5-legged CSI
Ici
Iinv IL
Lf, Rf
Ci
Five phase mapping logic
[normal operation]
Four phase mapping logic
[open phase operation]

Leg_A
g1
g6
Idc
Gating Signal
generator
Open phase detected

Fig.9. Proposed system configuration.
Fig.10. Modulation index controller response.

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Time (seconds)
C
u
r
r
e
n
t

(
A
)


M*Idc Iac
5
Fig.11. Steady state five-phase healthy load currents, m=0.8.
Fig.12. Steady state five-phase healthy load currents, m=1.
Fig.13. Steady state five-phase load currents when phase-A
opened.

Acknowledgment

This publication was made possible by NPRP grant # [4- 941 -
2 - 356] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of
Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the
responsibility of the authors.

Fig.14. Steady state phase-B load voltage when phase-A
opened.

Fig.15. Phase-B switching current when phase-A opened.

Fig.16. Phase-B FFT load current analysis when phase-A
opened.

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