Stabilization of Inverter Losses in a Traction Drive of Electric Vehicle

Thermal deviations bring the main impact on the lifetime of the traction drive inverters. Some of them caused by low-frequency currents at low speeds, but the heaviest thermal cycles occur because of the deviations of the traction force command. Using open-end winding motor this paper will present an active thermal control strategy, which varies modulation frequency in order to stabilize losses in the traction inverter and temperature of the power semiconductors helping to increase their lifetime. The proposed method of the loss stabilization helps to reduce temperature swings. The simulation results show that the active thermal control stabilizes the power losses in the traction inverter regardless of the mission profile.