Patent ID: 8410739

Claim:
A power circuit configured to monitor an operating condition of rotating diodes within a rotating rectifier for a rotating field circuit inductively coupled to a stationary armature circuit of a generator providing power for a drive motor of an electric drive system in a machine, the electric drive system including a prime mover disposed to provide an output coupled with the generator, the power circuit comprising: a rectifier circuit having an input interface coupled to a multiphase output of the stationary armature circuit of the generator; a DC link, coupled to an output interface of the rectifier circuit, the DC link having a DC link voltage defined between a first DC rail and a second DC rail; and a controller configured to perform the steps of: receiving a set of inputs including: a set of generator inputs, a set of machine parameters associated with the machine, and a set of diagnostic values associated with the generator, determining, based on the set of inputs, for the DC link coupled to the output of the rectifier circuit, an expected operating value and an actual operating value, comparing the expected operating value with the actual operating value to provide a difference, and setting a flag indicating a malfunction condition for one or more of the rotating diodes within the rotating rectifier for the rotating field circuit of the generator when a magnitude of the difference exceeds a threshold.