Control of Five-Phase Induction Motor Under

Open-Circuit Phase Fault fed by Fault Tolerant VSI

Mahmoud I. Masoud, Sherif M. Dabour, Abd El-Wahab Hassan, and Essam M. Rashad
Abstract- Five-phase induction motor drive systems have
gained much popularity due to the numerous advantages that
they offer when compared to their three-phase counterparts. In
principle, the supply to five-phase drive system is given from fivephase voltage source inverter (VSI). In this paper, a faulttolerant control strategy for five-phase VSIs has been suggested.
The conventional five-phase inverter consists of only five legs.
The proposed strategy forces the faulty phase to connect to the
midpoint of the DC-link via the additional dc-bus midpoint
inserting Thyristors. The proposed inverter provides tolerance to
both short-circuit and open-circuit faults of the switching devices.
The performances of the post-fault as well as the normal prefault operation are discussed. The fault tolerance of the inverter
is verified using vector control of a five-phase induction motor.
The complete control scheme is implemented in real-time using
digital signal processor (DS1104) for a prototype 1.5 hp motor.
Experimental results of the proposed drive verify the proposed
control scheme.
Index Terms Fault tolerant systems, Induction motors,
Machine vector control, Space vector pulse width modulation

I.

INTRODUCTION

ULTI-PHASE drive systems are propped than

three-phase drives for high power application,
especially for safety-critical application, due to
their advantages [1], [2]. These advantages are inherent to the
own structure of the machine, including higher machine torque
density, reducing the amplitude and increasing the frequency
of torque pulsations, reduced harmonic currents, better
transient and steady state performance, and lowering the dclink current harmonics [2], [3]. Another distinguished
advantage is improved reliability and continuous system
operation even in the fault condition [4], [5].
There are two different types of multi-phase induction
machines. One is called symmetrical multi-phase machines; 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 [6].
Symmetrical five-phase induction motor is utilized in this
work. In the literature, different control techniques are
This paper was supported in part by NPRP grant # NPRP 4-250-2-080
from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar foundation)
The Statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Mahmoud I. Masoud is with the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman and on
college of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.(email: m.masoud@squ.edu.om, m.masoud@ieee.org).
Sherif Dabour, Abd El-Wahab Hassan and Essam Rashad are with the
Department of Electrical Power and Machines Engineering, Tanta
University,
Tanta,
Egypt.
(e-mails:
shdabour@yahoo.com
abdelwahab_hassan2@hotmail.com, and emrashad@ieee.org).

extensively addressed to five-phase motor speed control

approach, including scalar control [7], vector control [8], direct
torque control [9], and model predictive control [10]. These
types of drive systems are usually based upon AC-DC-AC
power converters such as voltage source and current source
inverters. In case of voltage source inverter, the well-known
ten-switch five-phase inverter has been used. One of the salient
features of the five-phase induction motors is the ability to
operate under open-phase conditions with the presence of
torque pulsations as well as speed harmonic components
without modifying the control scheme or the inverter topology.
Fault tolerant techniques can be divided into two primary
groups: 1) control system based and 2) inverter configuration
based. For control system based techniques, some research
works have been addressed based on conventional vector
control technique to ensure fault-tolerant operation [3], [7]. In
inverter configuration based technique, two typical faulttolerant topologies with additional switches employed in motor
applications are presented in [11]. The first fault-tolerant
topology forces the faulty phase to connect to the midpoint of
the dc-link via the additional dc-bus midpoint inserting
Thyristors. After faults, the reconfigured system is similar to
the structure where only four switches are used to drive a threephase machine [12], [13]. 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
midpoint of dc-link capacitors can be accessed. The last
method connects the neutral point of the five-phase motor to
the dc-bus midpoint via a dc-bus inserting Thyristors. Note that
only one Thyristor is added to the fault tolerance.
In this paper a five-phase induction drive system based on
fault-tolerant inverter is proposed and successfully
implemented in real-time for a prototype 1.5 hp motor. The
control system is based on the conventional Indirect Field
Oriented Control (IRFOC) technique. The experimental results
of the motor performance measured for the healthy (normal)
condition and transient responses from the healthy operating
mode to the fault-tolerant mode after the fault occurrence at
one phase of the motor are opened.
II.

FAULT-TOLERANT SYSTEM DESCRIPTION FOR FIVEPHASE INDUCTION DRIVE SYSTEM BASED VSI

The considered fault-tolerant five-phase inverter is based

on a typical ten-switch five-phase voltage source inverter
topology, feeding five-phase induction motor. 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 [11]. Then,
the post-fault reconfiguration can be activated.

Similar principles of three-phase VSI fault-tolerant

strategies [13] can be applied in the five-phase case. This
paper suggests a fault-tolerant control strategy for five-phase
VSIs. The circuit topology of Fig. 1 gives the proposed faulttolerant five-phase voltage source inverter. A conventional
five-phase inverter consists of only five legs. The proposed
strategy forces the faulty phase to connect to the midpoint of
the dc-link. The system after reconfiguration is similar to the
structure where only four-switches voltage source inverter are
used in a three-phase machine drive system [11].
The complete drive system modeling involves the modeling
of the five-phase induction motor and the fault tolerant
inverter which are discussed in the following subsections:
A. Machine Model
The five-phase induction motor can be modeled referred to
the stationary reference frame with the following voltage and
flux equations [8]. The stator voltage equations are:

= +
= +

= +

(1)

= +
= +

=
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:
= +
= +

(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:
= ( )

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 the stator
circuit are as follows:
= +
= + +

(2)

= +
= +

C
c

= / + +

ve
vc

Isolating
Thyristors

vb
va
DC-Bus
Midpoint
inserting
thyristors

m
Te

Fig. 1. Fault tolerent strategy for five-phase voltage source inverter.

(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
Modeling of a five-phase VSI does not include the
inverters non-ideal behavior, so that the switching function,
{where p is a, b, and e } can be written as follows:
1,
0,

(7)

Therefore, the phase voltages can thus be written as

follows:

vd

(5)

Mechanical equation of the motor is:

=
a

(3)

= +

vdc

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:

= 1/5

4
1
1
1
1

1
4
1
1
1

1
1
4
1
1

1
1
1
4
1

1
1
1
1
4

(8)

During normal operation of a five-phase VSI, there are

thirty-two possible switching combinations.
If an inverter phase leg is disconnected, the faulty phase
terminal can be connected to the dc-link midpoint and the
inverter switching combinations are changed. For example, if
phase-e is disconnected, only four switching functions, Sa,Sb,
Sc, and Sd can be assigned to the inverter, because of the four
active legs of its power circuit.
The output voltages are defined by the gating signals of the
remaining four leg switches and by the two dc-link voltages,

0.5Vdc. The phase voltages equations of the motor can be

written as a function of the switching logic of the switches and
the dc-link voltage and given by:

= 1/5

8
2
2
2
2

2
8
2
2
2

2
2
8
2
2

2
2
2
8
2

1
1
1
1
4

(9)

During a fault tolerant operation of a five-phase VSI, the

possible switching combinations of the inverter are reduced to
sixteen switching combinations [14]. The phase voltage space
vector distributions for the standard and proposed fault
tolerant five-phase inverter are shown in Fig. 2
90

0.8

120

60

150

14

30
4

13

10
6

180

15

30

24

8
29
20
26

22

31

25

16

21

11

18

23

210

28

0.6

12

17
330

0.8

120

60

0.6
150

14
15

3
1

330

240

(13)

where k2 is called a slip gain constant, it can be calculated by:

0

13

11

210

12

10
5

where Is the slip speed in rad/sec. It can be determined in

a feed-forward manner, using the stator q-axis reference
current as follows [8]:

= 2
(14)

30

180

(12)

The rotor flux angular position, is obtained from the

integration of the summation of the measured rotor electrical
speed and the estimated slip speed as follows:

270

(a)

1 =

300

90

The proposed fault control strategy is based on the classical

Indirect Rotor Field Oriented Control (IRFOC) technique. The
block diagram for the system under study is shown in Fig. 3. It
consists of 6 main blocks: five-phase induction motor, vector
controlled five-phase SVM-VSI, synchronous current
controller, SVM modulator for inverter stage, three-phase
uncontrolled rectifier, and three-phase source.
The drive system operation can be explained as follows: for
a certain reference speed compared with the measured actual
motor speed, the PI speed controller with anti-windup method
receives the speed error between the reference speed , and
the actual speed and generates the reference torque Te .The
anti-windup feature restricts the saturation of the integral part
of the controller while working in the limiting region. The
block-diagram of the anti-wind up speed controller is shown in
Fig. 4.
The reference amplitude of the rotor flux dr and the
reference torque are used to generate the stator d-q axis

reference current
and
The d-axis reference current is obtained by dividing the
reference rotor flux by magnetizing inductance [8] as follows:

=
Lm
(10)

where

19

240

PROPOSED CONTROL SYSTEM

While, the speed controller handles the speed error to

generate the reference torque, Te . After appropriate scaling,
q-axis reference current can be obtained as follows [8]:

= 1
(11)

27

III.

300
270
(b)

Fig. 2. Voltage vector distribution of the five-phase VSI, (a) standard

topology, (b) proposed fault tolerant topology

2 =

(15)

The synchronous current control technique for a five phase

VSI was presented by [15]. It was aimed to control a fivephase IM. The same technique is applied here to control a
five-phase drive system based on a fault tolerant VSI. This
technique utilizes two pairs of current controllers in the
synchronous reference frame. The error between the reference
and measured d-q and x-y axes currents are processed in the PI
controllers to generate the reference output d-q and x-y axes
voltages. These voltages are then transformed into reference
five-phase voltages which are used in the modulation process
to generate the appropriate switching signals for the five-phase
VSI.

three-phase source
Vector controlled five-phase SVM-VSI

ds*

1/Lm
Te

three-phase
Uncontrolled
rectifier

vds*

+
vdqs*

iqs

iqs*

k1

+
-

- ids

ids*

va*

vqs*

Anti-wind up

- ixs

ixs = 0

vxs*
5

+
iys

iys*= 0

vys*

Synchronous current controller

vxys*

vb*
vc*
vd*

S1
SVM

ve*

..
.
S10

Inverter
Modulator

r
ids
iqs
ixs
iys

ia
ib
ic
id
ie

iqs*

k2

sl*

Five-phase IM

Fig. 3. Block diagram of the proposed control system

PI-Speed Controller

kp

+
-

+
-

ki

1/kp

+-

Te*

Anti-Wind Up

Fig. 4. Block diagram of PI speed controller with anti-wind up method

IV.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS

A. Experimental Set Up
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 snubber circuit required, low switching

losses, and total turn on and turn off times 77 and 168 ns
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
closed-loop vector control with space vector modulated
five-phase VSI. Furthermore, it has been implemented using
Matlab/Simulink and then, compiled into real time system.
Measurements are obtained using a Tektronix MSO2024B
mixed signal oscilloscope and a current sensor LA25-P. All
experimental results have been obtained with the
experimental rig shown in Fig. 5 using a switching
frequency of 1.5 kHz and sampling time of 100 sec. The
five-phase induction motor is originally a 18 slots, 2-pole
three-phase 1.5 hp induction motor, whose stator has been
rewound to provide a five-phase induction motor.
B. Experimental Results
In order to examine and verify the fault-tolerant inverter
reconfiguration strategy, some of the experimental results
are introduced in this section. The case-study motor is a 1.5
hp two-pole induction motor.

Five-Phase VSI

Five-phase IM

Speed

Currents
Current transducers

Currents

DS1104

Speed

PC

Fig. 5. Test rig scheme

Fig. 6 demonstrates the experimental results of the motor

speed and output currents measured from the five-phase
drive system working in the normal operating mode.
In normal operation, the speed responses are observed
under different operating conditions such as a starting to
1000 rpm and speed reversal sudden change in command
speed. It is seen that the motor phase currents under normal
operating mode are balanced with a sinusoidal.

Fig. 6. Measured waveforms for normal-mode operation. Motor speed

(1000rpm/div., 400ms/div.) and Output currents(1 A/div, 400ms/div.).

t2

t1

Speed

Currents

Fig. 7 illustrates transient responses from the normal

operating mode to the fault-tolerant mode after the fault
occurrence at leg-e of the inverter. The fault takes place at
the instant t = t1 and the faulty phase terminal is connected
to the dc-link midpoint at t = t2.
At the instant t1, the motor phase-e is disconnected from
the inverter. Therefore, after this moment the induction
motor is supplied by just the four remaining inverter phases.
In this case, and since the phase-e current is zero, the other
four phases will have unbalanced waveform. These
unbalanced supply conditions lead to the development of a
pulsating electromagnetic torque, which also decreases the
speed and force it to oscillate. It can be observed from Fig. 7
that, in pre-fault operating region, the motor currents are
balanced and have a peak value of 0.55 A. While it
increases when the motor phase-e is opened, and the motor
speed is reduced during the fault.
At the instant t2, the faulty phase terminal has been
connected to the DC-link midpoint. As a result, the motor
currents again become balanced with the sinusoidal
waveform as the normal operating-mode and the motor
speed increases until it reaches the pre-fault value, as shown
in Figs.7.
The presented experimental results allow successful
verification of the effectiveness of the proposed faulttolerant five-phase inverter fed a vector controlled fivephase induction motor drive without changing the vector
control algorithm. The work can be extended to other multiphase motors.

Fig. 7. Transient response from normal operating mode to fault-tolerant

operating mode with phase-e open-circuited. Motor speed (1000rpm/div.,
400ms/div.) and Output currents(1 A/div, 400ms/div.).

V.

CONCLUSION

In this paper, a fault-tolerant five-phase voltage source

inverter is presented. The inverter is used to feed a fivephase induction motor. The performance of the introduced
fault-tolerant strategy was examined and compared under
vector control technique. The study shows how to
reconfigure the inverter hardware architecture without any
modification on the vector control technique. It was shown
that the introduced fault-tolerant strategy is able to alleviate
the output torque pulsations and the line current while
running under four-phase excitation. The presented
experimental results allow successful verification of the
effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant five-phase
voltage source inverter feed a vector controlled five-phase
induction motor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # NPRP 4250-2-080 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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AUTHORS INFORMATION
Mahmoud Masoud (SM12) was born in Alexandria,
Egypt, in 1974. He received the B.Sc. (top of class
with honors) and M.Sc. degrees from the Faculty of
Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, in
1996 and 1999, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K., in
2003. From 2003 to 2007, he was a Lecturer with the
Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Alexandria University. From February
2007 to August 2009, he was a Research Fellow in the Power Electronics
and Energy Conversion Group, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Department, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, U.K. He was promoted to
Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Alexandria University, in June 2009. From 2009 to 2011, he
was with Beirut Arab University, Beirut, Lebanon. He is currently with the
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Sultan Qaboos
University, Muscat, Oman. His research interests include renewable energy
systems, power electronics applications, and electrical machine drives.

Sherif Dabour was born in Tanta, Egypt, in 1978. He

received the B.S. from Zagazig University, Egypt in
2002. He joined as a trainer at the Technical and
Vocational Training Corporation in Riyadh, KSA from
2003 to 2009. In 2009 he has joined Faculty of
Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt. He received the
M.Sc degree in Electrical Power and Machines
Engineering from Tanta University, Egypt in 2012 and
he is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree. He is currently an
assistant lecturer at the Department of Electrical Power and Machines
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt. His research
interests are in the area of power electronics and electric motor drives.

Abd El-Wahab Hassan was born in Aldlengat, ELBehera, Egypt in 1976. He has graduated from Tanta
University, Egypt in 2001. He joined as a demonstrator
at the Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt,
in2002, and then he obtained his M.Sc and PhD.
degrees in 2006 and 2012respectively from Faculty of
Engineering Tanta University. He is currently a
Lecturer at the Department of Electrical Power and
Machines Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt.
His research interests lie in the area of power electronics and electric motor
drives.
Prof. Essam M. Rashad (M94, SM02) was born in
Shebin El-Kom, Egypt in 1960. He received his BSc
degree from the department of Electric Power and
Machines Engineering., Faculty of Engineering, Shebin
El-Kom, Menoufiya University, Egypt in May 1983. In
1987 and 1992 he received MSc and PhD, respectively
both from faculty of Engineering Alexandria university,
Egypt. From 1985 to 1990, he was an offshore
electrical engineer in Belayim Petraulem Company, Egypt. In 1992 he has
joined Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt, where he is
currently a Professor and Head of Electrical Power and Machines
Engineering. From Feb. to Aug 2000, he was a visiting researcher in
Faculty of Engineering, Nagasaki University, Japan. In summer 2003, he
was a visiting researcher at Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science,
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, NL, Canada. From 2004
to 2009, he was Head of Electrical Technology Department, Buraydah
College of Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. From 2011 to 2014, he
was Vice Dean for Education and Student affairs of Faculty of Engineering,
Tanta University, Egypt.
Prof. Rashad research interests include electrical machine analysis and
design, electrical drives, power electronics and renewable energy systems.