Traction inverters are crucial components of modern electrified automotive powertrains. Advances in power electronics have enabled lower cost inverters with high reliability, efficiency, and power density, suitable for mass market consumer automotive applications. This paper presents an independent review of the state-of-the-art traction inverter designs from several production vehicles across multiple manufacturers. Future trends in inverter design are identified based on industry examples and academic research. Wide bandgap devices and trends in device packaging are discussed along with active gate driver implementations, current and future trends in system integration, and advanced manufacturing techniques.

Automotive Traction Inverters: Current Status and Future Trends

With the growing fleet of a new generation electric vehicles (EVs), it is essential to develop an adequate high power charging infrastructure that can mimic conventional gasoline fuel stations. Therefore, much research attention must be focused on the development of off-board DC fast chargers which can quickly replenish the charge in an EV battery. However, use of the service transformer in the existing fast charging architecture adds to the system cost, size and complicates the installation process while directly connected to medium-voltage (MV) line. With continual improvements in power electronics and magnetics, solid state transformer (SST) technology can be adopted to enhance power density and efficiency of the system. This paper aims to review the current state of the art architectures and challenges of fast charging infrastructure using SST technology while directly connected to the MV line. Finally, this paper discusses technical considerations, challenges and introduces future research possibilities.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3721/pdf

Extreme Fast Charging Technology—Prospects to Enhance Sustainable Electric Transportation

Permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) have been widely used as the driving core in electric vehicles due to the high power/torque density and high efficiency. Recent years have witnessed a great effort on the vibration and noise of PMSMs in order to ensure the driving comfort. In this paper, the state of the art and recent progress of the electromagnetic vibration and noise of PMSMs for electric vehicles are presented, with emphasis on the induced mechanism, prediction method, suppression method, and sound quality. The future trends faced are also described.

Electromagnetic Vibration and Noise of the Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors for Electric Vehicles: An Overview

This article presents a novel method for the sensorless control of interior permanent-magnet synchronous motors. An iterative search strategy based on dichotomy is proposed to provide a finite number of rotor position angles with good accuracy. These position angles are used to calculate the back electromotive force (EMF) in d -axis. The optimal rotor position angle is the one that yields a back EMF minimizing the defined cost function. With the increase of the iterations, the accuracy of rotor position angle increases geometrically. To effectively extract the back EMF signal under the low-speed condition, the high-frequency signal injection method is used to realize the low-speed operation of the motor. A hybrid control strategy is adopted to achieve the smooth switching from the low-speed to high-speed. The performance of the proposed method has been validated experimentally and compared with that of the conventional phase locked loop under different conditions.

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Speed Sensorless Control for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors Based on Finite Position Set

A large number of factors such as the increasingly stringent pollutant emission policies, fossil fuel scarcity and their price volatility have increased the interest towards the partial or total electrification of current vehicular technologies. These transition of the vehicle fleet into electric is being carried out progressively. In the last decades, several technological milestones have been achieved, which range from the development of basic components to the current integrated electric drives made of silicon (Si) based power modules. In this context, the automotive industry and political and social agents are forcing the current technology of electric drives to its limits. For example, the U.S Department of Energy’s goals for 2020 include the development of power converter technologies with power densities higher than 14.1 kW/kg and efficiencies greater than 98%. Additionally, target price of power converters has been set below $3.3/kW. Thus, these goals could be only achieved by using advanced semiconductor technologies. Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, and, most notably, silicon carbide (SiC) based power electronic devices, have been proposed as the most promising alternative to Si devices due to their superior material properties. As the power module is one of the most significant component of the traction power converter, this work focuses on an in-deep review of the state of the art concerning such element, identifying the electrical requirements for the modules and the power conversion topologies that will best suit future drives. Additionally, current WBG technology is reviewed and, after a market analysis, the most suitable power semiconductor devices are highlighted. Finally, this work focuses on practical design aspects of the module, such as the layout of the module and optimum WBG based die parallelization, placement and Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) routing.

Power module electronics in HEV/EV applications: New trends in wide-bandgap semiconductor technologies and design aspects

Aircraft electrification is currently the best alternative to address the rising demand for more air transportation and deal with anticipated economic and environmental impacts. Although the all-electric-aircraft (AEA) concept is not yet a feasible solution, the more-electric aircraft (MEA) is gaining significant attention. Electrical systems either partially or entirely replace the large and inefficient hydraulic, pneumatic, and mechanical conventional aircraft actuating systems. The upgrade could also encompass the propulsion system, as in hybrid- and turbo-electric aircraft. This upgrade reduces the aircraft weight, reduces the usage of pollutant fluids, increases fuel efficiency, reduces carbon emissions, and increases aircraft controllability and reliability. This article reviews various application areas of electric machines in electrified aircraft, such as actuation, taxiing, propulsion, and generation. Moreover, it reviews the main types of currently/to be utilized electric machines and the critically required specifications. Finally, a comparison between the different considered machines and potential future research is discussed.

Review of Electric Machines in More-/Hybrid-/Turbo-Electric Aircraft

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis about bus bar design procedure. Some applications in terms of rated power and shape are investigated regarding their particular requirements and challenges. The dc-link capacitor selection is one of the first and most important steps. It not only dictates the bus bar complexity but also is the key to accomplish a high-power density prototype. Current density and distribution is discussed in this paper based on simulation results. Moreover, the effects of stray inductance and capacitance are explained along with the dc-link capacitors and power semiconductor devices. Simulated results are compared with measurements by a high precision impedance analyzer, which shows the reliability of 3-D modeling-based designs.

Bus Bar Design for High-Power Inverters

This paper makes the case that Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is an exceptionally attractive technology to respond to the increasing demand in propulsion applications for high-efficiency, high-performance, and low-cost motors with a more secure supply chain. The paper also presents methods to effectively reduce torque ripple and acoustic noise, which have been the major issues impeding the widespread use of SRMs. Finally, SRM designs for two propulsion motors, one for an e-bike and the other for a hybrid electric vehicle application, are presented which have been proposed to replace permanent magnet machines.

Making the Case for Switched Reluctance Motors for Propulsion Applications

The fast development of electric vehicles (EVs) provides significant opportunities to further utilize clean energies in the automotive. On-board chargers (OBCs) are widely used in EVs because of their simple installation and low cost. Limited space in the vehicle and short charging time require an OBC to be power-dense and highly efficient. Moreover, the possibility for EVs to deliver power back to the grid has increased the interest in bidirectional power flow solutions in the automotive market. This paper presents a comprehensive overview and investigation on the state-of-the-art solutions of bidirectional OBCs. It reviews the current status, including architectures and configurations, smart operation modes, industry standards, major components, and commercially available products. A detailed overview of the promising topologies for bidirectional OBCs, including two-stage and single-stage structures, is provided. Future trends and challenges for topologies, wide bandgap technologies, thermal management, system integration, and wireless charging systems are also discussed in this paper.

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A Review of Bidirectional On-Board Chargers for Electric Vehicles

Robustness, simple construction, and low cost are some of the advantages of switched reluctance machines (SRMs). These are all desirable characteristics of an electric motor, especially in the automotive sector, where high-temperature and high-speed operation, and low cost are always in demand. However, the acoustic noise generation by conventionally controlled SRMs can prevent its use in applications where acoustic comfort is required. Acoustic noise is radiated by the stator frame when a vibration mode is excited by the respective spatial order at a forcing frequency that is close to the stator's modal natural frequency. The excitation surface wave is the radial force density waveform, which is a function of time and spatial position. In this paper, a phase radial force shaping method is proposed by using harmonic content analysis. A generic function for the radial force shape is identified, whose parameters are calculated by an optimization algorithm to minimize the torque ripple for a given average torque. From the phase radial force profile, a current reference is obtained. The proposed methodology is experimentally validated with a four-phase 8/6 SRM through acoustic noise measurements at different speed and load conditions.

Alan Dorneles Callegaro

Papers

Review of Electric Machines in More-/Hybrid-/Turbo-Electric Aircraft

Bus Bar Design for High-Power Inverters

Making the Case for Switched Reluctance Motors for Propulsion Applications

A Review of Bidirectional On-Board Chargers for Electric Vehicles

Radial Force Shaping for Acoustic Noise Reduction in Switched Reluctance Machines