A study on performance parameters of three-level T-type inverter based PMSM drives for electric vehicles applications

In this paper, a comparative analysis is obtained to analyse the performances of two-level conventional and three-level diode clamped voltage source inverter-based drives. Carrier-based space vector modulation technique is employed in both three-level & two-level voltage source inverter (2L-VSI)-based drives. Comparative study for 2L-VSI, three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) and three-level T-type neutral-point-clamped (3L-TNPC) inverters are performed in view of conduction & switching losses and harmonic profile. Also presented in this work, the dynamic response of field-oriented controlled (FOC) permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive under varying load conditions towards EV applications. Rapid changes in speed and loading in Electric Vehicle (EV) traction drives lead to sharp fluctuations in modulation depth and power factor (PF). With variation of modulation index and power factor, power losses of all the three inverters are analysed. Also, in the present work, control logics are simulated in MATLAB to observe various speed-torque combinations of 5.4 kW PMSM drive. Additionally, power losses of inverters are developed in PLECS environment. By using a scaled-down prototype of 5 hp PMSM drive, the results are carried out for hardware validation.