Fault Detection and Control in Electric Drive Systems

Electric drive systems, encompassing induction motors and permanent-magnet synchronous machines, underpin a wide range of applications from electric vehicles to industrial automation. These systems rely on precise measurement of phase currents and rotor speed to implement vector control strategies that decouple torque and flux. However, sensor faults such as offset drift, gain errors or open-circuit conditions can induce torque ripple, loss of performance or mechanical damage. Fault detection and control research addresses these challenges by combining analytical models, state observers and data-driven algorithms to detect, isolate and compensate for sensor failures in real time. Model-based methods derive residuals from analytical steady-state solutions, while sliding-mode or Luenberger observers reconstruct missing signals through redundancy in electrical measurements. Neural networks and virtual sensors further enhance robustness by learning fault signatures and replacing faulty transducers. Fault-tolerant control architectures enable seamless reconfiguration, maintaining closed-loop stability and guaranteeing uninterrupted operation. The global effort focuses on low-computation techniques suitable for embedded platforms, integration with renewable energy and automotive standards, and the unification of detection and control frameworks across diverse motor types.

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Fault Detection and Control in Electric Drive Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in fault detection and control in electric drive systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Field Oriented Control (FOC): A vector control technique that aligns stator currents with rotor flux to independently regulate torque and flux in AC drives.

Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC): A control strategy that maintains safe and stable operation of a drive system despite occurring component or sensor faults.

Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM): An AC motor in which rotor excitation is provided by permanent magnets, offering high efficiency and precise speed control.

Phase Current Sensor: A device that measures the instantaneous current in each phase of an electric motor, critical for feedback in vector control.

Rotor Slip: The difference between the synchronous speed of the stator’s rotating magnetic field and the actual mechanical speed of the rotor, used in fault diagnosis for induction machines.

References

1. Artificial Neural Network Application for Current Sensors Fault Detection in the Vector Controlled Induction Motor Drive. Sensors (2019).
2. Virtual Current Sensor in the Fault-Tolerant Field-Oriented Control Structure of an Induction Motor Drive. Sensors (2019).
3. Model-Based Detection and Estimation of DC Offset of Phase Current Sensors for Field Oriented PMSM Drives. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (2022).
4. Current Sensor Fault Diagnosis Based on a Sliding Mode Observer for PMSM Driven Systems. Sensors (2015).
5. Modeling and Detection of Phase Current Sensor Gain Faults in PMSM Drives. IEEE Access (2022).
6. Sensor Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Rotor Slip Applied to Induction Motor Drive. Sensors (2022).
7. Self-Correcting Virtual Current Sensor Based on the Modified Luenberger Observer for Fault-Tolerant Induction Motor Drive. Energies (2021).