Diagnosis of an inverter IGBT open-circuit fault by Hilbert-Huang transform application

Abstract

The open-circuit fault of an inverter IGBT switch leads to total or partial loss of control of the phase currents resulting in the dysfunction of the system. Moreover, if the fault is not detected and compensated quickly, it can cause complete shutdown of the system. To ensure the system service continuity, efficient and fast techniques for detecting and locating the open-circuit fault of the IGBT must be implemented. This paper proposes a Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) based on the detection of the IGBT open-circuit fault. The proposed technique is based on the complete empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN). This mode is applied to the motor stator current signals to obtain a function called the intrinsic mode function (IMF). The IMF contains the frequency (and its multiples) related to the frequency of the harmonic characterizing the IGBT switch open-circuit fault of the inverter. In order to test the effectiveness of the proposed technique and validate the results, several experimental tests are performed using a test bench.