High-Frequency Voltage Injection-Based Fault Detection of a Rotating Rectifier for a Wound-Rotor Synchronous Starter/Generator in the Stationary State

Fault detection of a rotating rectifier for a wound-rotor synchronous starter/generator (WRSSG) without a rotor position sensor in the stationary state is necessary for a successful engine start. Based on high-frequency (HF) voltage injection, a novel fault detection method of the rotating rectifier for the WRSSG in the stationary state is proposed. The rotating HF voltage is imposed on the stator windings of the main machine, and the HF feature current signal extracted on the stator windings of the main exciter is used for fault detection. In this article, the HF current signal in the main exciter with the rotating rectifier under different working conditions is analyzed first. To obtain the HF response current on the stator windings of the main exciter, the HF model of the WRSSG is analyzed. Through the Fourier series, the HF feature current signal together with fault detection is achieved. Compared with the existing fault detection methods, the proposed method shows no dependency on the rotor position information. Experimental results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of this method.