Modular Vector Control of Multi-Three-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

Recent developments in power electronics are making the multiphase machines a competitive alternative to conventional three-phase counterparts. Due to their fault-tolerant features, multiphase drives represent a robust technology in high power/high current, safety-critical applications. Besides, their introduction into transportation electrification is gaining on importance. Among the multiphase solutions, the multi-three-phase machines are receiving a lot of the attention by the industry since they use the well-consolidated three-phase technology, thus reducing the design time and also the cost. Therefore, this paper proposes a modular vector control scheme for multi-three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motors. The proposed solution uses a modular modeling approach for the independent and decoupled torque control of each three-phase unit, allowing the implementation of torque-sharing strategies among the three-phase sets of the machine. The developed modular control has been validated on a nine-phase permanent magnet machine.