Determination and Application of Optimized Pulse Patterns for an 800V eDrive System with a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine

Improving the efficiency of today´s eDrive systems requires individual measures tailored to the specific system. One is the concept of Optimized Pulse Patterns (OPP). It is an attractive alternative to classical voltage generation techniques like pulse-width modulation (PWM) since the OPPs can be calculated offline for a particular eDrive system. By reducing the harmonic distortion of the currents or the switching losses of the inverter, they allow to achieve better system efficiency as well as lower motor and junction temperatures within the power modules. In the present contribution, the OPP concept is applied to a three-phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) with an 800V Silicon Carbide (SiC) voltage source inverter. In contrast to the general OPP methods from the literature that mainly focus on the inverter, the proposed approach also considers the full nonlinearity of the PMSM explicitly in the optimization. The advantages over the classical PWM and OPP approaches are demonstrated by simulation and measurement results. Moreover, it is shown by measurement results that - contrary to the general opinion in the literature - the presented OPP strategy is also capable of performing highly dynamic torque and speed changes, both essential for an eDrive application.