Doctoral School for Dependable Electronic-Based Systems

Post-fault operation of open-winding induction machines

PhD project

 

Supervisor: Prof. Annette Mütze (TU Graz)
Co-Supervisor: Prof. Christian Vogel (FH JOANNEUM)
Collaborator: Prof. Marco Liserre (Kiel University)

Doctoral School for Dependable Electronic-Based Systems.

Electronic-based systems (EBS) make our world “smart” by combining advanced electronics and software, often in networked systems that interact with the physical world through sensors and actuators. Most EBS applications in production or transportation are safety-critical: EBS failures may cost human lives. We thus aim to find fundamental concepts and methods, but also application-oriented tools to make EBS dependable, where dependability summarizes attributes of a system allowing humans to trust EBS.

The PhD project.

This project identifies post-fault operation strategies of dual-winding induction machines following inverter open-circuit faults (i.e., loss of one phase), by exploiting thermal reserves in the induction machines and cross-saturation. It develops the theoretical framework for the post-fault operation of open-winding induction machines that are about to come back in focus as rare-earth free options, and because of their robustness.

We will expand on previous results and answer the key questions on the thermal behavior of such open-winding induction machines, inverter- reconfiguration following loss of one switch and thus control strategies, and embed these findings into a common framework for assessing the performance of inverter-based drive systems in safety-critical applications.

The findings will be evaluated experimentally in the electric drives and machines laboratory at TU Graz, using the readily available test rig for the validation of the thermal and mechanical performance of the open-winding induction machine under different operating scenarios.

This project is strongly supported by Prof. Marco Liserre of Kiel University, Germany, who has been cited by Thomson Reuters as “one of the world’s most influential scientific minds” in 2014.

Your skills.

As outlined in the main part of this call for applications, where experience with experimental work and prior experience with electric machines and drives are highly welcomed.

Our research group.

The Electric Drives and Machines Institute at Graz University of Technology has a long-standing tradition of research into electric and electromechanical energy converters, power electronics, and the integration of these components into systems. A significant part of the research activities is carried out in cooperation with national and international industrial partners, covering the areas of electromechanical as well as solid-state power converters, design of power-electronics based systems including control and interactions between system components, and the development of prototypes and experimental verification in the institute’s own laboratories.

Hard facts.

This position is funded for 4 years and is paid with a gross salary of 41,601 €/year for a full-time employment (40 h/week).