Fault Signature of a Flux-Switching DC-Field Generator

Flux-switching dc-field (FSDC) machines have the merits of flexible flux control and low cost. Furthermore, this type of machine also possesses the advantage of fault-tolerant capability. However, few research work has been done on the analyses of fault signatures for this type of machines even though it has two sets of windings. This paper investigates the fault signature of a magnetless FSDC generator for its armature winding faults. It focuses on the short-circuit (SC) faults and open-circuit (OC) faults. For the SC fault cases, the prototyped machine is tested with one-phase half-turn SC fault and two-phase half-turn SC fault. For the OC fault cases, one-phase OC fault is investigated. The rectified output current is utilized as the fault indicator. Both simulation and experiment results are studied for verification.