Constant-Parameter Voltage-Behind-Reactance Model of Six-Phase Synchronous Machines

Six-phase electrical machines have received significant attention in the literature due to their use in special purpose applications (e.g., aircraft, naval, and vehicular systems). Recently, such machines have also been considered for renewable energy systems including wind generators. Modeling of such machines in commonly available transient simulation programs is not straightforward, especially when the machine model is interfaced with external inductive network and/or power electronic converters. The available modeling approaches include the classical qd0 model, the coupled-circuit-phase-domain and the voltage-behind-reactance (VBR) models (each having its interfacing challenges). This paper extends the prior research in this area and proposes a constant-parameter VBR model that has a very convenient constant RL-branch interfacing circuit (even for salient pole machines), which makes it simple to implement in most state-variable-based simulations programs. The presented computer studies demonstrate significant numerical advantages of the new model over the existing alternative models.