Condition monitoring of PWM voltage source inverters

The reliability of power electronic devices is of paramount importance in industrial, commercial, aerospace and military applications. A good knowledge and information of the fault mode behaviour of the PWM voltage source inverter is necessary to improve system design, protection and fault tolerant control. This paper presents detailed simulation results on condition monitoring and fault behaviour of a pulse width modulation (PWM) voltage source inverter (VSI) for the closed-loop, fuzzy logic v/f speed control strategy of an induction motor drive. The effects on stator current are described in order to identify the inverter faults. The results are equally useful for better monitoring system design and easy fault diagnosis.