Real-Time Monitoring of Harmonic Losses of PMSMs in Electric Drives Using a Fourier Decomposition Method

Inhalt:
The electrical machine is a crucial component within the electric drive of electric vehicles. Because it has great impact on the continuous performance of the powertrain system, good knowledge on power losses during driving operation is required. In fact, the electrical and thermal stress of the electrical machine is affected by the modulation of the inverter and therefore by the harmonics occurring in the system currents and voltages. To guarantee high efficiency and performance as well as to prevent overheating and destruction of individual machine components, a thermal monitoring and protection function on the inverter control unit is essential. This paper presents a generic approach for the harmonic loss calculation of the electrical machine based on a Fourier decomposition using the switching pattern of periodic modulation strategies which is appropriate for real-time application within the inverter’s software. The methodology is applied on both simulation and measurement data.