Redundant winding connections for multiphase electric machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9318990-B2
Application number	US-201313785163-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2013
Priority date	Oct 15, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

Redundant winding connections for multiphase electric machines are disclosed. According to one aspect, a multiphase machine having redundant winding connections includes: a first set of N coils operating as a first winding group, wherein each coil in the first winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the first winding group and wherein N is an integer greater than three; a second set of N coils separate from the first set and operating as a second winding group, wherein each coil in the second winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the second winding group and wherein the failure of one of the coils in the first winding group does not affect the function of the second winding group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multiphase machine having redundant winding connections, the machine comprising:
a first set of N coils operating as a first winding group, wherein each coil in the first winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the first winding group and wherein N is an integer greater than three;
a second set of N coils separate from the first set and operating as a second winding group, wherein each coil in the second winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the second winding group and wherein a failure of one of the coils in the first winding group does not affect the function of the second winding group; and
at least one multiphase power supply for providing N phases of power to the respective coils in at least one of the first and second winding groups, wherein the at least one multiphase power supply comprises a first N-phase power supply for providing power to the first winding group and a second N-phase power supply for providing power to the second winding group, and wherein the first and second N-phase power supplies provide N-phases of power that are substantially in phase with each other, and
wherein, upon the failure of at least one phase of the first N-phase power supply, power is supplied by the second N-phase power supply both to the second winding group and to at least one of the coils of the first winding group,
wherein the machine operates in at least one of a generator mode and a motor mode.

2. The multiphase machine of claim 1 wherein the coils in the first set are connected in a star, polygon, or N-angle configuration.

3. The multiphase machine of claim 1 wherein the coils in the first set are connected in one of a star configuration, a polygon configuration, and an N-angle configuration, and wherein the coils in the second set are connected in a same configuration as the coils in the first set or in a different configuration from the coils of the first set.

4. The multiphase machine of claim 1 wherein the failure of the at least one phase of the first N-phase power supply is a wiring failure.

5. The multiphase machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one multiphase power supply comprises at least one converter for providing N-phases of power to at least one of the first and second winding groups.

6. The multiphase machine of claim 1 comprising M sets of N coils, wherein M is greater than or equal to 3, wherein each set of N coils operates as a winding group separate from the other sets of N coils, and wherein the failure of one of the coils in one of the winding groups does not affect the function of the other winding groups.

7. The multiphase machine of claim 1 wherein power is supplied by the second N-phase power supply both to the second winding group and to at least one of the coils of the first winding group by a set of switches between a first converter for the first N-phase power supply and a second converter for the second N-phase power supply.

8. A method for operating a multiphase machine having redundant winding connections, the method comprising:
at a machine having a first set of N coils operating as a first winding group, wherein each coil in the first winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the first winding group and wherein N is an integer greater than three, a second set of N coils separate from the first set and operating as a second winding group, wherein each coil in the second winding group operates at a different phase from the other coils in the second winding group and wherein a failure of one of the coils in the first winding group does not affect the function of the second winding group, and wherein the machine comprises at least one multiphase power supply for providing N phases of power to the respective coils in at least one of the first and second winding groups, wherein the at least one multiphase power supply comprises a first N-phase power supply for providing power to the first winding group and a second N-phase power supply for providing power to the second winding group, and wherein the first and second N-phase power supplies provide N-phases of power that are substantially in phase with each other:
providing N phases of power to the respective coils in the first set of coils to operate the machine in at least one of a generator mode and a motor mode; and
upon the failure of at least one phase of the first N-phase power supply, supplying power by the second N-phase power supply both to the second winding group and to at least one of the coils of the first winding group.

9. The method of claim 8 comprising detecting the failure of the at least one phase of the first N-phase power supply.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein detecting the failure comprises detecting the failure by one of the first and second N-phase power supplies.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the coils in the first set are connected in one of a star configuration, a polygon configuration, and an N-angle configuration, and wherein the coils in the second set are connected in a same configuration as the coils in the first set or a different configuration from the coils in the first set.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein providing N phases of power comprises providing N-phases of power from at least one converter.

13. The method of claim 8 comprising:
providing, at the machine, M sets of N coils, each set operating as a winding group, wherein M is greater than or equal to 3, wherein for each winding group, each coil operates at a different phase from the other coils in the winding group, and wherein a failure of a coil in one of the winding groups does not affect the function of the other winding groups; and
providing N phases of power to the respective coils in at least one of the sets operating as a winding group.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein supplying power by the second N-phase power supply both to the second winding group and to at least one of the coils of the first winding group comprises supplying power by a set of switches between a first converter for the first N-phase power supply and a second converter for the second N-phase power supply.

Assignees

• Abb Research Ltd

Inventors

• Frank Nicolas W

Classifications

• H02K11/0073

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02K2213/06

  Machines characterised by the presence of fail safe, back up, redundant or other similar emergency arrangements · CPC title

• H02K3/28

  Layout of windings or of connections between windings (windings for pole-changing H02K17/06, H02K17/14, H02K19/12, H02K19/32) · CPC title

• H02P25/22 Primary

  Multiple windings; Windings for more than three phases · CPC title

• H02K11/33

  Drive circuits, e.g. power electronics (H02K11/38 takes precedence) · CPC title