Investigation of Five-Phase Induction Motor Drive

under Faulty Inverter Conditions

M. I. Masoud1 and Sherif M. Dabour2
1

2
Sultan Qaboos University, Oman,
Tanta University, Egypt
m.masoud@ieee.org, shdabour@yahoo.com

This paper concerns with the fault mode behavior of a

voltage source inverter fed a five-phase induction motor drive.
In this study, the machine internal faults are not considered. A
number of faults have been identified. From these, the
performance of the motor under a few selected fault modes
have been introduced and analyzed, and then the predicted
fault performance has been verified by simulation. The drive
system is controlled by an open-loop scalar control method.
The results can be applied for the other control methods. The
results are useful for designing the protection system,
calculation of post-fault operating conditions, and for fault
tolerant control design. On the other hand, two fault-tolerant
strategies for five-phase VSI are suggested.

AbstractThis paper introduces an investigation into a fivephase induction motor drive system in cases of fault occurrence
within the inverter. This analysis deals with the different types of
failure in inverter power electronic components, namely: one
gating signal failure, one switch open, one-leg open and two-legs
open. These faults can be applied to the system before or after
steady-state operations. The study shows the effect of these faults
on the motor performance in comparison with that of healthy
conditions for no-load operation. The results showed that, for the
faults under consideration, the motor is able to continue
operation with the presence of torque pulsations as well as speed
harmonic components without modifying the control scheme or
the inverter topology. These results can be used to improving the
performance of the system by using fault tolerant control or postfault control design. In order to overcome these effects, two faulttolerant strategies for five-phase voltage source inverter (VSI)
are suggested.

II.

Generally, there are two different types of five-phase

induction motors. One is called symmetrical five-phase motors;
it uses distributed windings that produce a sinusoidal air-gap
MMF. This type requires sinusoidal excitation voltages. The
other one uses concentrated stator windings that generate a
trapezoidal air-gap MMF. In this type torque production can be
enhanced using stator current low order harmonic injection [9].
In this paper a symmetrical five-phase induction motor is
utilized. Figure 1 shows the five-phase induction motor drive
system based on five-phase VSI.

Keywords five-phase; induction motor; fault-tolerant,

voltage source inverter

I.

INTRODUCTION

The fault tolerant capability is one of the most distinct

advantages of the multi-phase (more than three-phase)
machines [1]. The knowledge about the fault mode behavior of
voltage source inverter based multi-phase drives are very
important from the viewpoint of improving the drive system
design and the fault tolerant control strategies. The multi-phase
drive system has to continue its operation under faulty
operating conditions. Open-circuit faults in the motor windings
(phase) and VSI switches (line) are common faults [2]. In the
three-phase motor drive, if one phase is opened, the drive
system requires a neutral line connected between the mid-point
of the VSI and the motor to allow the current in the remaining
phases to be controlled to produce a rotating MMF.
Comprehensive research works have been reported on faulttolerant control of the three-phase motor drives under opencircuit fault conditions [3] [7].

In the following subsections the machine and inverter

models are introduced. It will be used in the simulation and
modeling process.
A. Machine Model
The symmetrical five-phase induction motor can be
modeled referred to stationary reference frame with the
following voltage and flux equations [8]:
The stator voltage equations are:

The five-phase induction motor is advantageous over the

three-phase induction motor for fault-tolerant operation [1].
The dynamic and steady-state behavior of a five-phase
induction motor under one and two-phase open-circuit are
presented in [2], [8]-[10]. However, these works, consider only
the faults after the motor operates in its steady-state region.
Different fault tolerant topologies were reviewed and presented
in [3], [6]-[7] for the three-phase drive system. These
topologies can be extended to control the five-phase VSIs.

978-1-4799-7800-7/15/$31.002015 IEEE

FIVE-PHASE INDUCTION DRIVE SYSTEM

(1)

where the subscript qs, ds, xs and ys are the qd, xy-axis's of the
stator respectively; Rs is the stator phase resistance and p is the
d/dt operator. The rotor voltage equations referred to stator
circuit are:

vdc

3
ia

a
6

ib

b
8

va

5
ic

10
vb

id

vc

five-phase induction machine phase-to-neutral voltages (van ,

vbn , , vec) and inverter leg voltages (vao , vbo , , veo) is
given with:

9
ie

e
4

(7)

ve

vd

][

C. Decoupling Transformation
To develop the complete model of the drive system a
transformations between the abcde to the dqxyo variables are
required. The transformation matrix for a five-phase system is
given by [12]:

m
Te

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of symmetrical five-phase Induction drive

[ ]

(8)

[
]
where = 2/5. Application of (8) in conjugation with the
inverter voltages yields the dqxyo-axes components of the
motor terminal voltages, i.e.,

(2)

where the subscript qr, dr, xr and yr are the qd, xy-axis's of the
rotor circuit respectively; Rr is the rotor phase resistance and r
is the motor speed in r/s. The stator flux linkages equations are:

[ ]

(9)

[ ]
[ ]
Owing to the absence of the neutral line, the zero sequence
voltage component of the inverter must equal to zero.

(3)

III.

CONVERTER FAULTS

The five-phase voltage source inverter shown in Fig. 1 can

develop various fault types that may be classified as follows:

where the Ls and Lls are the self and leakage inductances of the
stator circuit respectively; Lm is the magnetizing inductances.
The flux linkages of the rotor circuit equations are:

One-leg open-circuit fault,

Two-leg open-circuit fault,
Gating signals failure,
One switch open-circuit fault, and
One switch short-circuit fault,
Faults may also occur inside the induction motor. These faults
are not employed in this paper. Also the possibilities of
multiple faults occur at the same time are very rare, and
therefore are not considered.

(4)

where the Lr and Llr are the self and leakage inductances of the
rotor circuit respectively. The motor electromagnetic torque, Te
can be expressed in terms of phase variables as follows:

IV. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY UNDER FAULTS CONDITIONS

(5)

To investigate system performance during faulty inverter

conditions, an experimental evaluation has been developed.
The experimental results are given for both normal (healthy)
and an open-circuit condition while the short-circuit case
destroys many parts in the motor drives, mainly the five-phase
inverter switches and over current protection takes action in
this case.

Mechanical equation of the motor is:

(6)
where P determines the number of pole pairs, J is the moment
of inertia, B is the friction constant and TL is the load torque.
B. Inverter Model
The inputs to the five-phase induction motor are the fivephase voltage supply generated from the VSI. The power
circuit topology of this inverter is shown in Fig. 1. The inverter
is controlled by Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) technique to
obtain a constant V/f ratio [11]. The relationship between the

A. Experimental Setup
The inverter power circuit is realized by 10-power
MOSFET (IRFP460A). The system demands 6 isolated
supplies and 10 gate-driver circuits. The employed MOSFET
has the following characteristics; voltage blocking capability is

500V, current capacities is 20A, integral freewheel-diode, no

need for snubber circuit, lower switching losses, and a total
turn on and turn off times 77 and 168 ms respectively. The gate
driver circuit is based on a high speed optocoupler device
(6N137) with a typical 50 and 12 ns rise and fall time
respectively. The control system is based on the DS1104
controller and the motor was operated in open-loop scalar
control with space vector modulated five-phase VSI. The
inverter voltage transfer ratio is adjusted to 0.577 at a
frequency 20 Hz. Furthermore, it has been implemented using
Matlab/Simulink and then, compiled to real time system.
Measurements are obtained using a Tektronix MSO2024B
mixed signal oscilloscope and a current sensor LA25-P. The
voltage measured by TERCO-Differential Probe MV1971 and
scaled by X100. All experimental results have been obtained
with the experimental rig shown in Fig. 2 using a switching
frequency of 1.5 kHz and sampling time of 100sec. The fivephase IM is originally a 36 slots, 2-pole three-phase IM, whose
stator has been rewound to provide a five-phase IM.
B. Normal Operation
Fig. 3 shows the motor currents experimental waveforms at
steady-state conditions for normal/healthy operations. These
results will be taken as base results to be compared with the
faulty results.
C. Analysis of Fault Modes
In this part, the following faults types will be considered for
our paper.

Five-Phase VSI

Five-phase IM

Switch

Current transducers

Currents

Power Supply

DS1104

Speed

PC

Fig. 2. Test rig scheme for the case of a constant dc-voltage supply

ia
ib
ic
id

1) One-leg open-circuit fault

If the leg-a of the inverter is opened (S1 and S6 are opened)
after the starting process, the inverter terminals still connected
to the remaining four phases (b, c, d, and e). The motor speed
and fault-tolerant currents under these conditions are shown in
Fig. 4. The phase currents are initially identical to the healthy
condition currents, but when the fault condition is introduced,
the stator current in the faulty phase (phase-a) is zero. In
addition, the currents in remaining phases are increased by
about 48.5% from its steady-state value at healthy conditions.
Moreover, the motor speed is reduced by a slight dip of 0.5%
from its final value. When free-wheeling diodes in the faulty
leg-a switches are still operating the current in phase a equals
the free-wheeling diode conduction current as shown in Fig.5.
If the motor is accelerated with four-phase excitation (leg-a
of the inverter is opened before the starting process), the
voltage is applied to the remaining four phases (b, c, d, and e).
The motor starts with a long time (about 30% from starting
process time of healthy operation) to get the steady-state speed.
The fault-tolerant currents under these conditions are shown in
Fig. 6. The stator current in the faulty phase (phase-a) is zero.
While Fig. 7 shows the stator voltage waveform of the faulty
phase, this voltage is due to the induced e.m.f in the phase-a.
This voltage is proportional to the motor speed.

Fig. 3. Experimental motor currents under normal operation

Fault

ia
ib
ic

Fig. 4. Experimental results under leg-a is opened after the starting process

ia
ib
ic

2) Fault on Double-leg
For a five-phase motor, there are two different cases of
double-phase fault. In the first case, the double-phase opencircuited are the two adjacent phases (for example phases a and
b) and in the second case, the fault may occur in two nonadjacent phases (for example phases a and c).

id

Fig. 5. Motor current under faulty phase-a considering free-wheeling diodes

ia

Fault

ib
ic
id

Fig. 6. Experimental motor currents under leg-a is opened at starting

Fig. 9. Experimental motor currents under leg-a and c are opened after
steady state

If the motor is accelerated with three-phase excitation (for

example leg-a and leg-c of the inverter are opened before the
starting process), the voltage is applied to the remaining three
phases (b, d, and e). The motor starts with a long time (about
three-times from starting process time of healthy operation) to
get the steady-state speed. The fault-tolerant currents under
these conditions are shown in Fig. 10. The stator current in the
faulty phases (phase-a and phase-c) are zero.

van

3) Transistor Gating Signal failure

The inverter switches are normally controlled by isolated
gate driver circuits. If the gate signal is lost, the corresponding
transistor is opened. Suppose, transistor Q1 is now inefficient,
the phase-a of the motor is connected to the positive rail of the
dc-supply through the anti-parallel diode D1. The voltage of
phase-a is then determined by the polarity of current and the
switching pattern of transistor Q4. Figure 11 shows the
simulated motor currents under these conditions

Fig. 7. Experimental faulty phase voltage under leg-a is opened at starting

If leg-a and leg-b are opened (S1, S6, S3 and S8 are

opened) after the starting process, the voltage is applied to the
remaining three phases (c, d, and e). The phase currents are
initially identical to the healthy condition currents, but when
the fault condition is introduced, the stator current in the faulty
phases (phase-a and phase-b) are zero as shown in Fig. 8. In
addition, the currents in remaining phases are increased by
about 69% from its steady-state value at healthy conditions.
Moreover, the motor speed is reduced by a slight dip of 0.58%
from its final value.
If leg-a and leg-c are opened (S1, S6, S5 and S10 are
opened) after the starting process, the voltage is applied to the
remaining three phases (b, d, and e). The phase currents are
initially identical to the healthy condition currents, but when
the fault condition is introduced, the stator current in the faulty
phases (phase-a and phase-c) are zero as shown in Fig. 9. In
addition, the currents in remaining phases are increased by
about 36% from its steady-state value at healthy conditions.
Moreover, the motor speed is reduced by a slight dip of 0.5%
from its final value.

ia
ib
ic
id

Fig. 10. Experimental motor currents under leg-a and c are opened at starting
0.4

ia

0.3

Fault

ib

ic

id

ie

0.2

ia
(A)

0.1

ib

0
-0.1

ic

-0.2
-0.3

Fig. 8. Experimental motor currents under leg-a and b are opened after
steady state

0.01

0.02
Time (Sec.)

0.03

0.04

Fig. 11. Simulated motor currents under gate signal failure of transistor Q1.

From these results, it can be concluded that the five-phase

motor is able to operate with a four or three-phase excitation
without any modifications in the modulation technique with the
presence of torque pulsations as well as speed harmonic
components. In order to overcome these effects, two different
fault tolerant strategies are suggested in the following section.
V.

Redundant leg

vdc

FAULT-TOLERANT STRATEGIES FOR FIVE-PHASE

VOLTAGE SOURCE INVERTERS

Isolating
Thyristors

va

The first step of most fault-tolerant solutions is the physical

fault isolation, especially in the case of short-circuit fault. The
faultisolation unit (usually isolating thyristors) force damaged
converter switches or legs to be electrically isolated from the
system to eliminate its influence over the system behavior [13].
Then, the post-fault reconfiguration can be activated. Similar
principles of three-phase VSI fault-tolerant strategies [6] can be
applied in the five-phase case. This section suggests two faulttolerant control strategies for five-phase VSIs. These strategies
are:

vb
vc
vd
ve
Redundant
leg inserting
thyristors

m
Te

(a)

a) Redundant Leg topology

b) DC-Bus Mid-point Connection topologies

vdc

The circuit topologies of Fig. 12 give the proposed faulttolerant five-phase voltage source inverter. A conventional
five-phase inverter consists of only five legs. In the first
strategy, the fault-tolerant inverter has one leg as redundant.
The redundant leg has not been used when the conventional
five legs are working without any fault. The isolated back-toback thyristors are connected between the inverter output
terminals and the corresponding motor phases [14]. These
thyristors are used as isolating switches of faulted leg.
Additional five thyristors (redundant leg, inserting thyristors)
are connected between the mid-point of redundant leg and the
motor phases as shown in Fig. 12-a. These thyristors are used
for inserting the redundant leg in the place of faulted phase.
This strategy can be used for tolerance of all the
aforementioned faults except the phase-leg short-circuited.

ve
vd

Isolating
Thyristors

vc
vb
va
DC-Bus
Midpoint
inserting
thyristors

Similar to three-phase inverters, if one phase fails, the

remaining two phases can maintain continuous operations.
Two typical fault-tolerant topologies with additional switches
employed in motor applications are presented in [6]. These
topologies have been proposed for the five-phase inverters as a
strategies b and c as shown in Fig. 12 (b) and (c). The first
fault-tolerant topology shown in Fig. 12 (b) forces the faulty
phase to connect to the mid-point of the dc-link via the
additional dc-bus mid-point inserting thyristors. After faults,
the reconfigured system is similar to the structure where only
four switches are used to drive a three-phase machine [15]. The
maximum balanced line-to-line output voltage in post-fault
operations is reduced to half of its nominal value; this is the
main drawbacks of this strategy. Moreover, this approach is
only applied in situations where the mid-point of dc-link
capacitors can be accessed.

m
Te

(b)

vdc

Isolating
Thyristors

vb

vc

vd

va

ve

DC-Bus
Midpoint
inserting
thyristor

(c)

The last method connects the neutral point of the five-phase

motor to the dc-bus mid-point via a dc-bus inserting thyristor
as shown in Fig. 12(c). Note that only one thyristor is added for
the fault tolerance.

m
Te

Fig. 12. Fault tolerent strategies for five-phase voltage source inverter (a)
switch redundant topology, (b) and (c) dc-bus mid-point connections

VI.

[11] Iqbal, A; Moinuddin, S., "Comprehensive Relationship Between

Carrier-Based PWM and Space Vector PWM in a Five-Phase
VSI," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on , vol.24, no.10,
pp.2379,2390, Oct. 2009
[12] Parsa, L., "On advantages of multi-phase machines," Industrial
Electronics Society, 2005. IECON 2005. 31st Annual Conference of
IEEE , vol., no., pp.6 pp.,, 6-10 Nov. 2005
[13] Mirafzal, B., "Survey of Fault-Tolerance Techniques for Three-Phase
Voltage Source Inverters," Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions
on , vol.61, no.10, pp.5192,5202, Oct. 2014
[14] Errabelli, Rammohan Rao, and Peter Mutschler. "Fault-Tolerant Voltage
Source Inverter for Permanent Magnet Drives", IEEE Transactions on
Power Electronics, 2012.
[15] Zhang, W.; Xu, D.; Enjeti, P.N.; Li, H.; Hawke, J.T.; Krishnamoorthy,
H.S., "Survey on Fault-Tolerant Techniques for Power Electronic
Converters," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on , vol.29, no.12,
pp.6319,6331, Dec. 2014

CONCLUSION

This paper introduces the effect of different types of fault in

a five-phase VSI on an induction motor drive that uses an
open-loop scalar control (V/f=constant) method. The internal
faults in the machine are excluded from this paper. Some
important faults are indicated in the beginning, then it is
followed by a simulation study to the other faults. The aim of
fault performance of any drive system is very important to
determine the semiconductor devise stress, to optimize the
protection system design, and to predict the post-fault drive
operating capability. The results showed that, for the faults
under consideration, the motor is able to continue operation
with the presence of torque pulsations as well as speed
harmonic components without modifying the control scheme
or the inverter topology. These simulation and experimental
results can be used to improve the system performance by
using fault tolerant control or post-fault control design.
Moreover, two strategies of fault-tolerant control for five-phase
VSIs are suggested to overcome these effects.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # NPRP 4-2502-080 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of
Qatar foundation) The Statements made herein are solely the
responsibility of the authors.
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