Weighted control of traction drives with parallel-connected AC machines

AC machines supplied in parallel by a common voltage source inverter are sometimes used in industrial drives and railway traction applications. This reduction of power and control electronics leads to a reduction of cost, weight, and dimensions that is very useful for on-board systems. But this common supply imposes common voltages to all machines and the possibilities of independent behavior are reduced. In this paper, a graphical modeling is suggested to model such parallel drives for a railway application. A weighted control is then systematically deduced from this modeling and different possibilities of control are highlighted. Experimental results are provided to compare two of the deduced controls.