Advanced Fault Identification for Safety Critical Electromechanical Actuators
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Div of Electrical Systems and Optics
Abstract
With the increasing move to more electric systems in aircraft, ships and automobiles, there is a need to ensure that electromechanical actuators are designed to satisfy the conflicting specifications of low cost, low volume/weight, high performance and requiring little maintenance. The conclusion of the more for less design philosophy is that power electronic motor drives will be work harder, in harsher environments, for longer periods of time. Scheduled maintenance periods will be longer, and therefore it is imperative that drives, especially those used for safety critical applications will employ prognosis and diagnosis algorithms as part of their basic control structure, to predict and prevent in-service failure. The work proposed here will investigate the production of new signatures for indicating the condition of a motor drive and its load, and also determine how these signatures can be used to determine the type and severity of a fault. The aim is to embed the condition monitoring into the normal operation of an electromechanical actuator, in order to detect and distinguish between faults in the electrical machine, the power converter and the mechanical system.
Organisations
- University of Nottingham (Lead Research Organisation)
- Control Techniques Drives Ltd (Collaboration)
- Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems - Southampton (Collaboration)
- TRW Automotive (Collaboration)
- TRW Automotive (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Cummins Generator Technologies (Project Partner)
- General Electric (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Arellano-Padilla J
(2011)
Winding condition monitoring scheme for a permanent magnet machine using high-frequency injection
in IET Electric Power Applications
Arellano-Padilla J
(2016)
Condition monitoring approach for permanent magnet synchronous motor drives based on the INFORM method
in IET Electric Power Applications
Jasim O
(2011)
Development of a new fault-tolerant induction motor control strategy using an enhanced equivalent circuit model
in IET Electric Power Applications
Mark Sumner (Author)
(2013)
Condition Monitoring for AC Motor Drives Using Saliency Tracking Methods
in The NEWSLETTER
Arellano-Padilla J
(2010)
Inductance characteristics of PMSMs and their impact on saliency-based sensorless control
Description | Electric motor drives are now being applied to automotive and aerospace applications where safe and correct operation is essential. Safety critical applications such as steering and flight control systems must be able to detect and diagnose faults so that corrective action can be taken before system control is lost. The work undertaken in this project has researched and developed new techniques which can be used to identify faults within a motor drive, particularly the motor itself. The technique uses the current response to switching actions of the power converter: by analysing this response, winding faults can be detected at an early stage. |
Exploitation Route | The main exploitation routes for this work are through commercial routes. The results of this research can be directly exploited by manufacturers of safety critical drives. This is a large and growing industry within Europe and the UK. These techniques can also be exploited by manufacturers of industrial motor drive systems. The application of the techniques could be expanded to monitoring of transformers within power distribution systems. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
Description | The techniques continue to be researched as part of on-going work with aurospace and transport industries. For example a KTP with Cummins has investigated the application to hydrid vehicle drives: research continues as part of on-going activities on electric actuators for aircraft (Actuation2015) |
First Year Of Impact | 2006 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
Description | Actuation 2015 |
Amount | £370,653 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 284915 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 11/2011 |
End | 11/2014 |
Description | KTP, Cummins (Group) |
Amount | £194,250 (GBP) |
Funding ID | KTP007737 |
Organisation | Cummins |
Sector | Private |
Country | United States |
Start | 02/2010 |
End | 03/2014 |
Description | Control Techniques Drives Ltd |
Organisation | Control Techniques Drives Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | New control and fault location algorithms |
Collaborator Contribution | Applications information, test motors |
Impact | Knowledge associated with control algorithms and motor design |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | Smiths Aerospace Electronics Systems Sou |
Organisation | Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems - Southampton |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Investigations into fault detection algorithms for electrical actuators |
Collaborator Contribution | Applications experience (Note collaboration is now with GE Aviation) |
Impact | Contribution to control and fault detection algorithms |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | TRW Automotive Technical Centre |
Organisation | TRW Automotive |
Department | TRW Automotive Technical Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Investigating new control and fault detection algorithms for power steering systems. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of test drive system and applications experience |
Impact | PhD thesis and report providing evaluation of control algorithms |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | PEMC Group Annual Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Conference provided by the research group to disseminate findings to wider industrial network Collaborations with Cummins, and Baldwin and Francis |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015 |