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Ciclo: XXXVIII
Curriculum: Aerospace Engineering
Title of the PhD Project: Fault-tolerant control and condition-monitoring of electric propulsion systems for long-endurance lightweight UAVs
Supervisor(s): Prof. Gianpietro Di Rito
Abstract of the PhD project:
Hybrid-electric and Full-Electric Propulsion Systems (FEPSs) concepts are gaining wide investments in order to progressively replace Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs). However, flight endurance and reliability still remain an open issues. Indeed, failure rate of three-phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) with conventional three-leg converters typically ranges around 200 per million flight hours, which is far from the required levels for airworthiness certification. Specifically, a relevant amount (from 50% to 70%) of PMSMs fault modes originates from motor phases and power converters. A common approach to enhance reliability involves the implementation of hardware redundancies (e.g., redundant motors or drives), but this solution is often unfeasible in UAV applications, due to stringent weight and envelope requirements. As a consequence, the application of hardware redundancy is typically limited to motor phases (using multiple stator modules or multiple phases) and/or to converter legs (using unconventional converters). A relevant example of an unconventional converter is given by the four-leg topology, in which, a stand-by leg with two switches is integrated alongside the three-leg bridge, so that, in the case of a fault in one out of the six main switches, the redundant leg can be connected to a phase terminal, permitting the fault accommodation. The development of accurate and rapid Fault-Detection and Isolation (FDI) algorithms is clearly crucial to leverage any fault-tolerant capability, especially for PMSMs operating at high speeds, in which the FDI algorithms must work at very high sampling rates.
Teaching experience:
Publications
Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57223981787
Orcid ID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8072-9229
Articles
- Suti, A.; Di Rito, G. Diagnosis of Power Switch Faults in Three-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors via Current-Signature Technique. In Actuators 2024, 13, (Special Issue “Electro-Mechanical Actuator, Diagnostic and Fault-Tolerant Control Systems”), ISSN 2076-0825, CiteScopre 2022: 3.2 (Q2 Engineering 53%). https://doi.org/10.3390/act13010025
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Mattei, G. Condition Monitoring of the Torque Imbalance in a Dual-Stator Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for the Propulsion of a Lightweight Fixed-Wing UAV. In Drones 2023, 7,(Special Issue “Reliable and Green Long-Endurance Drones”), ISSN 2504-446X, CiteScore 2022: 6.1 (Q1-Aerospace Engineering 79%). https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7100618
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Mattei, G. Development and Experimental Validation of Novel Thevenin-Based Hysteretic Models for Li-Po Battery Packs Employed in Fixed-Wing UAVs. In Energies, 2022, Vol.15, (Special Issue ‘’ Lithium Batteries for Vehicular Applications”), ISSN 1996-1073, CiteScore 2021:5 Perc. (Engineering (miscellaneous)) 83% (Q1). https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239249[*: contact author]
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Novel Approach to Fault-Tolerant Control of Inter-Turn Short Circuits in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for UAV Propellers. In Aerospace, 2022, Vol. 9, Issue 8, pp. 401/1-25 (Special Issue “Electro-Mechanical Actuators for Safety-Critical Aerospace Applications”), ISSN 2226-4310, CiteScore 2021: 3.4; Perc. (Aerospace Engineering): 67% (Q2), https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9080401 [*: contact author]
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Fault-Tolerant Control of a Dual-Stator PMSM for the Full-Electric Propulsion of a Lightweight Fixed-Wing UAV. In Aerospace, 2022, Vol. 9, Issue 7, pp. 337/1-22 (Special Issue “Electro-Mechanical Actuators for Safety-Critical Aerospace Applications”), ISSN 2226-4310, CiteScore 2021: 3.4; Perc. (Aerospace Engineering): 67% (Q2), https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9070337 [*: contact author]
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Fault-tolerant control of a three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor for lightweight UAV propellers via central point drive. In Actuators, 2021, Vol. 10, Issue 10, pp. 253/1-22 (Special Issue “Robust, Fault-Tolerant Control Design”), ISSN 2076-0825, CiteScore 2020: 3; Perc. (Control and Systems Engineering): 58% (Q2), https://doi.org/10.3390/act10100253 [*: contact author]
Conferences
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Sani, L.; Mattei, G. Experiments and simulations for the development of a dual-stator PMSM for lightweight fixed-wing UAV propulsion. In Proceedings of the 27th AIDAA International Congress. Padova, Italy, 4 - 7 September 2023 (https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644902813-20) [*: speaker].
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Mattei, G. Heuristic Estimation of Li-Po battery packs’ parameters in hybrid propulsion systems for lightweight UAVs. In Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE 10th International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace, Milano, Italy, 19-21 June 2023, 1109/MetroAeroSpace57412.2023.10190045 [*:speaker]
- Di Rito, G.; Suti, A.*; Ricci, A.; Galatolo, R.; Mattei, G. Experimental characterisation of Li-Po battery packs and BLDC machines for hybrid propulsion systems of lightweight UAVs. In Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE 9th International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace, Pisa, Italy, 27-29 June 2022, 1109/MetroAeroSpace54187.2022.9856056 [*:speaker].
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Fault-tolerant control via four-leg inverter of a full-electric propulsion system for lightweight fixed-wing UAV In Proceedings of the 11th EASN International Conference, Salerno, Italy, 1-3 September 2021. Virtual/online conference, Vol. 1226. ISSN:1757-8981, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012108 [*:speaker].
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Climbing performance enhancement of small fixed-wing UAVs via hybrid electric propulsion. In Proceedings of the 5th IEEE Workshop on Electrical Machine Design, Control and Diagnosis (WEMDCD), Modena, Italy, 8-9 April 2021. Virtual/online conference, pp. 305-310, ISBN (Printed) 978-1-7281-7615-4; ISBN (Online): 978-1-7281-7615-4, https://doi.org/10.1109/WEMDCD51469.2021.9425638 [*:speaker].
- Suti, A.*; Di Rito, G.; Galatolo, R. Hybrid thermo-electric propulsion system for climbing performance enhancement of lightweight fixed-wing UAVs, In Proceedings of the 26th AIDAA International Congress. Pisa, Italy, 31 August - 3 September 2021. Virtual/online conference, pp. 641-645, ISBN: 979-1-259-56042-1 [*: speaker ].