A determination device includes: an acquiring unit configured to acquire an electric current value detected in a state where electric current is flown in a plurality of directions in an electric motor so that torques produced in the electric motor are balanced; and a determining unit configured to perform disconnection determination of determining whether or not there is a disconnection based on the electric current value acquired by the acquiring unit.

A motor control device includes a power converter that supplies a three-phase voltage to two motors being connected in parallel, a three-phase power line that connects between one of the two motors and the power converter, a branch three-phase power line that connects between the other of the two motors and the power converter, a switching device having two switches that are provided on the branch three-phase power line, a current detection device that detects three-phase currents flowing in the two motors, and a controller. The controller performs a failure determination of the switching device by identifying a phase of a power line in which no current flows in the three-phase power line and the branch three-phase power line, and, when a failure is detected in one of the two switches in the failure determination, controls to change a state of the other switch, which operates normally, to coincide with a state of the failed switch.

A method of detecting a connection fault of an electric motor, applies to a driving mechanism of an inverter, and includes: measuring a three-phase stator current of the electric motor; transforming the three-phase stator current to acquire dual-axis current components in a stationary coordinate; calculating an angle of rotation of the electric motor according to the dual-axis current components; calculating an angular velocity according to the angle of rotation; comparing a frequency of the angular velocity with a frequency of an output voltage of the inverter; and determining that the electric motor occurs a connection fault if a difference between the frequency of the angular velocity and the frequency of the output voltage is greater than a predetermined frequency difference value.

A voltage divider circuit is configured by a resistor having one end connected to a positive electrode of a battery configuring a power source and another end connected to a first terminal that is a motor terminal on one side of a wiper motor, and a FET having one end connected to the first terminal and another end grounded. The voltage divider circuit lowers a voltage of the battery to a test voltage that does not cause the wiper motor to rotate. A microcomputer detects a detected voltage that is a voltage output from the voltage divider circuit to a second terminal that is a motor terminal on the other side of the wiper motor via the first terminal of the wiper motor and the wiper motor, and computes a motor terminal voltage, this being a potential difference between the first terminal and the second terminal, from the detected voltage.

An apparatus for detecting a motor failure may include: a first motor failure detector configured to apply a reference voltage for failure detection to a motor, and then detect a changed voltage; a first motor power switch and a second motor power switch configured to switch both terminal voltages applied to drive the motor; a gate amplifier configured to apply a gate signal for controlling the turn on/off of the first and second motor power switches; and a controller configured to diagnose a failure of the motor controlled in one way, on the basis of voltages detected by the first and second motor power switches and the first motor failure detector, respectively.

A method of controlling a multi-phase electric machine includes implementing a first control method to control the operation of a six-phase machine that is configured as a combination of two three-phase machines. The method also includes determining whether a fault exists in the six-phase machine. In response to determining that the fault exists in the six-phase machine, the method includes implementing a second and different control method to control the operation of the six-phase machine.

Systems and methods for extracting motor operational state parameters from an electric motor for improved motor control and motor fault or failure detection are discussed. An exemplary system includes an excitation circuit to apply a drive voltage to an electric motor, and a processor circuit to measure a resulting winding current, extract a current waveform by oversampling the winding current in an entire PWM frame at a sampling rate higher than the PWM frequency, and fit the current waveform in the PWM period to a parametric model. The processor circuit can determine a motor operational state parameter using one or more of the applied drive voltage or the parametric model of the winding current.

An electric power steering device and method are disclosed. An electric power steering device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a steering motor comprising a first winding and a second winding, each of Which receives applied three-phase power; a first control unit for controlling power supplied to the first winding; and a second control unit for controlling power supplied to the second winding, wherein, when one of a phase of the first winding and a phase of the second winding has failed to be opened, the control unit controlling the winding including the phase that has failed to be opened, among the first control unit and the second control unit, performs torque compensation control for additional output of compensation torque.

In accordance with at least one aspect of this disclosure, a method can include measuring a voltage across a DC link of a generator system when a generator exciter is inactive and a generator permanent magnet is active, and detecting a short or open permanent magnet generator (SOPMG) fault condition in the generator system with a DC link monitor operatively connected to measure the voltage across the DC link.

A motor drive device of an embodiment includes a first drive circuit, a second drive circuit, a first detection circuit, a second detection circuit, a third detection circuit, a fourth detection circuit, and an output circuit. The first drive circuit drives a first phase of a motor. The second drive circuit drives a second phase of the motor. The first detection circuit detects a first anomaly of the first phase. The second detection circuit detects the first anomaly of the second phase. The third detection circuit detects a second anomaly of the first phase. The fourth detection circuit detects the second anomaly of the second phase. The output circuit outputs an occurred anomaly as a flag signal based on results of detection by the first to fourth detection circuits.