The simulation of brushless DC drive failures

Abstract
A highly flexible computer simulation model is used to predict the effects of the failure of several subsystems and components on the performance of a brushless DC drive. Test observations confirm the validity of the steady-state and transient predictions. It is postulated that the prediction technique allows the identification of failure symptoms that can be used by an intelligent drive control to adopt several possibly unbalanced but acceptable remedial strategies. The implementation of such schemes would result in fault-tolerant systems and thus increase the range of potential applications of brushless DC drives.