Simple diagnostic technique of switch failure modes of VSI power converter

This paper presents a diagnostic method to detect switch failure of PWM power converters. The proposed method uses space phasor model (SPM) of three voltages measured at terminal of the power converter, then it applies principal component analysis to detect and localize the failure mode. The SPM results in one unique rotated ellipse or semi ellipse for every failure mode of every faulty leg. The quadrants occupied by the ellipse or semi ellipse also determine the faulty switch location in the leg. The proposed method is validated through comprehensive simulations.