Control of two Five-Phase Parallel Connected Single Source Motor Drives under Balanced and Unbalanced Conditions

Multi-phase induction machines are becoming popular, mainly due to the many advantages over three phase machines. Five phase machines will be the first widely available commercial multiphase machines. Advantages such as reduced line voltage, higher efficiency, fault tolerance, stability, and lower current ripple make them very attractive for industrial applications. Due to the additional phases, higher power may be achieved at the same current magnitude, which results in smaller and lighter machines due to reduced wiring requirements. Form a control point of view, the additional degrees of freedom may be utilized for independent control of multi-motor drive systems under faulted and unbalance conditions. Control of a parallel-connected five-phase two-motor system is shown in this study, where two motors are independently controlled under different loading conditions. System performance under a single open-line condition is also studied and results are obtained by simulation in MatLab/Simulink.