Search Results

Power modules play a key role in traction inverters for vehicle electrification applications. The harsh automotive operating environment is a big challenge for power modules. The paper highlights the challenges for power modules usage in electrified vehicles (xEVs), and proposes a design verification procedure for such application in order to ensure the reliable operation under all conditions. First, power modules operate in all climate zones and are exposed to a wide ambient temperature range underhood from -40°C to 105°C. A typical automotive power module should therefore withstand a junction temperature from -40°C to up to 175°C without exceeding its safe operating area (SOA), e.g. avalanche breakdown voltage, maximum current, and thermal limit. Second, an inductive induced high voltage spike could be generated during the power semiconductor fast switching at high voltage and high current conditions.

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) can utilize the electromechanical path to optimize the ICE operation and implement the regenerative brake, the fuel economy of a vehicle therefore gets improved significantly. Bi-directional Boost converter is usually used in an electric drive system to boost the high voltage (HV) battery voltage to a higher dc-link voltage. The main advantages for a system with Boost converter is that the traction inverter is de-coupled from battery voltage variations causing it to be over-sized. When designing this Boost converter, the switching frequency is a key parameter for the converter design. Higher switching frequency will lead to higher switching loss of power device (IGBT +diode), moreover, it has significant impact on inductor ripple current, HV battery ripple current and input capacitor current. Therefore, the switching frequency is one of the most important parameters for the design and selection of both active and passive components.

Electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) require high torque/acceleration ability and wide speed range. To meet both of them, the traction machines usually have to be oversized, which results in high volume and weight, high cost, and low efficiency. In practical application, high speed motors combining with gear box provide the expected torque and speed capability. If pole-changing machines are employed to achieve wide torque and speed ranges, gear box and motor size can be reduced in EVs/HEVs. This paper presents a pole-phase modulation motor drive which changes both of poles and phases simultaneously, as a result that the motor extends its torque/speed capability in a flexible way. Simulation results verify the principle and control method for this kind of motor drives.