Characterization and Classification of Hall Sensor Faults using S-Transform Analysis on BLDC Motor Drive

Brushless DC (BLDC) Motors are widely used in electric vehicles because of its excellent controllability. Controllability is obtained with the help of hall sensors. So dynamic analysis considering both normal and fault cases in hall sensor is very important in determining the performance of BLDC motor. This paper proposes a fault diagnostic procedure for hall sensor failures in BLDC motor drive. The faulty hall sensors results in improper switching sequence which in turn results in torque pulsations and deteriorates the motor performance. The stator current behaviour depends on the hall signals, so in this paper we have taken stator current as the parameter for diagnosing the fault. Stockwell Transform(S-Transform) is used for diagnosing the faults from the stator current. The features obtained from S-Transform analysis are used for detecting and classifying the faults associated with the hall sensors. The simulation and Hardware studies were carried out to validate the proposed fault diagnosis procedure.