Module II
Electric Drive Trains
Dr. Anna Thomas
Assistant Professor
Division of Electrical Engineering
SOE,CUSAT
Module 2:Electric Drive-trains: Basic concept of electric traction, introduction to
various electric drive-train topologies, power flow control in electric drive-train
topologies, fuel efficiency analysis.
Electric propulsion unit: Introduction to electric components used in electric and hybrid
vehicles, Configuration and control of DC motor drives, Configuration and control of
Induction motor drives, configuration and control of Permanent Magnet Motor drives,
Configuration and control of Switch Reluctance Motor drives, drive system efficiency.
• In modern EV’s configuration:
• Three phase motors are generally used to provide the traction force
• The power converter is a three-phase PWM inverter
• Mechanical transmission is based on fixed gearing and a differential
• Li-ion battery is typically selected as the energy source
Switched Reluctance Motor
Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) Drives
A conventional SRM drive system consists of the switched reluctance motor, power
inverter, sensors such as voltage, current, and position sensors, and control circuitry such as
the DSP controller and its peripherals, as shown in Figure .Through proper control, high
performance can be achieved in the SRM drive system.
The SRM drive inverter is connected to a DC power supply, which can be derived from the
utility lines through a front-end diode rectifier or from batteries. The phase windings of the
SRM are connected to the power inverter. The control circuit provides a gating signal to the
switches of the inverter according to particular control strategies and the signals from
various sensors.
SRM drive system
Torque Production
Torque in SRM is produced by the tendency of the rotor to get into alignment with the excited
stator poles.
SRM Drive Converter
The torque developed by the motor can be controlled by varying the amplitude and the timing
of the current pulses in synchronism with the rotor position. In order to control the amplitude
and pulse width of the phase current, a certain type of inverter should be used.
The input to the SRM drive is DC voltage, which is usually derived from the utility through a
front-end diode rectifier or from batteries. Unlike other AC machines, the currents in SR
motors can be unidirectional. Hence, conventional bridge inverters used in AC motor drives
are not used in SRM drives.
Several configurations have been proposed for an SRM inverters which are discussed below
Asymmetrical power converter
There are three windings: A (AA’), B (BB’), and C (CC’), each configured as monofilar
windings which means the terminals A and A’, B and B’, and C and C’ are internally
connected.
To energize the A-phase, switches T1 and T2 are turned on simultaneously. This causes the
rotor to align to the A-phase winding. When it's time to de-energize the A-phase, T1 and T2
are switched off. Due to the inductive nature of the winding, the inductor resists the sudden
change in current, reversing its polarity. As a result, diodes D1 and D2 conduct, allowing the
stored energy in the inductor to flow back to the source.
Following this, the B-phase is energized in the same manner, followed by the C-phase.
Each winding (A, B, and C) is controlled using individual MOSFETs along with a shared
common MOSFET. This arrangement reduces the total number of switches required.
Monofilar windings are used for all phases.
To energize winding A, T and T1 are turned on. To de-energize it, both T and T1 are
turned off. The energy stored in the inductor is then returned to the source via diodes D
and [Link]:
For winding B, T and T2 are turned on to energize it. When T and T2 are turned off,
diodes D and D2 conduct to return energy to the source.
For winding C, T and T3 are turned on to energize it. When T and T3 are turned off,
diodes D and D3 conduct.
Split link circuit
In this configuration, two capacitors are used to split the DC supply. According to the
voltage division rule, each capacitor provides V/2, supplying equal voltage to the windings.
Both capacitors effectively act as power sources. Monofilar windings are used here as well.
When T1 is turned on, the A winding is energized, attracting the rotor toward phase A.
To de-energize the A winding, T1 is turned off. The inductor’s polarity reverses, and diode
D2 conducts, allowing the stored energy to return to the source.
To energize the B winding, T2 is switched on, attracting the rotor toward phase B.
To de-energize it, T2 is turned off, and diode D1 conducts, returning energy from the
[Link] same sequence follows for C and D windings, with their respective switches
and diodes.
Converter circuit for SRM with bifilar winding
In this configuration, bifilar windings are used, which are not electrically connected but
are magnetically coupled.
To energize the A winding, switch T1 is turned on. To de-energize it, T1 is turned off,
allowing diode D1 to conduct and return the stored energy in the winding back to the
source.
This setup reduces the number of switches required. However, because the windings are
magnetically coupled, losses are higher. Increased hysteresis and eddy current losses
occur due to the magnetic coupling between the windings.
Figure shows the torque–slip characteristics of an induction motor, which has fixed
voltage and frequency. In the region of 0< s < sm, where s m is the rated slip of the
motor, the torque increases approximately linearly with the increase of slip until
reaching its maximum at s=sm; then it decreases as the slip further increases. At s=1,
the rotor speed is zero and the corresponding torque is the starting torque, which is
less than its torque at s=sm. The region of 0 < s < 1 is the forward motoring region.
In the region of s > 1,the rotor torque further decreases with the increase of slip, and
rotor speed is negative. Thus, in this region, the operation of the motor is reverse
braking. In the region of s < 0, that is, when the rotor speed is greater than the
synchronous speed, the motor produces a negative torque.
Figure-Torque–slip characteristics of an induction motor
with fixed stator frequency and voltage
It is clear that the speed–torque characteristics of a fixed voltage and frequency induction
motor are not appropriate to vehicle traction applications.
This is due to the low starting torque, limited speed range, and unstable operation in the
range of s>sm, in which any additional disturbing torque in the load will lead the machine
to stop as the torque decreases with the speed decreasing characteristics. High slip also
results in high current, which may cause damage to the stator windings. Actually, the
operation of the fixed voltage and frequency induction motor are usually operated in the
narrow slip range of 0<s< sm.
Constant Volt/Hertz Control
For traction application, the torque–speed characteristic of an induction motor can be
varied by simultaneously controlling the voltage and frequency, which is known as
constant volt/hertz control. By emulating motor at low speed, the flux may be kept
constant.
The field current Im should be kept constant and equal to its rated value.
𝐸 𝐸𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝐼𝑚𝑟 = =
𝑋𝑚 ω𝑟 𝐿𝑚
where Imr is the rated field current, and E rated and ωr are the rated mmf and frequency of
the stator, respectively. To maintain the flux at constant, E/ω should be kept constant and
equal to Erated/ ωr .Ignoring the voltage drop in the stator impedance Zs results in a
constant V/ω until the frequency and voltage reach their rated values. This approach is
known as constant volt/hertz control.
PWM Inverter
For constant volt/hertz control of an induction motor, sinusoidal pulse width modulation (PWM) is used
exclusively. The commonly used topology of a DC/AC inverter is shown in Figure below which has
three legs (S1 and S4, S3 and S6, and S5 and S2), feeding phase a, phase b, and phase c of the induction
motor.
DC/AC inverter with sinusoidal PWM: inverter topology
When switches S1, S3, and S5 are closed, S4, S6, and S2 are opened, and phases a, b, and c
are supplied with a positive voltage (Vd/2).Similarly, when S1, S3, and S5 are opened and
S4, S6, and S2 are closed, phases a, b, and c are supplied with a negative voltage. All the
diodes provide a path for the reverse current of each phase.
Three-phase reference voltages V a, V b, and V c of variable amplitudes Aa, Ab, and Ac
are compared with a common isosceles triangular carrier wave Vtr of a fixed amplitude
Am as shown in Figure (c). The outputs of comparators 1, 2, and 3 form the control signals
for the three legs of the inverter. When the sinusoidal reference voltage V a, V b, and V c at a
time t is greater than the triangular waved voltage, turn-on signals are sent to the switches
S1, S3, and S5 and turn-off signals are sent to S4, S6, and S2. Thus, the three phases of the
induction motor have a positive voltage. On the other hand, when the reference sinusoidal
voltage is smaller than the triangular wave voltage, turn-off signals are sent to the switches
S1, S3, and S5 and turn-on signals are sent to S4, S6, and S2. The three phases of the
induction motor then have a negative voltage. The voltages of the three phases are shown in
figure below
(c) three phase reference voltage and a common isosceles triangular carrier wave; (d)
voltage of phase a; (e) voltage of phase b; and (f) voltage of phase c
EFFICIENCY COMPARISON
To evaluate the efficiencies of EV and ICEV on level ground, the complete process in
both systems starting from crude oil to power available at the wheels must be
considered. The EV process starts not at the vehicles, but at the source of raw power
whose conversion efficiency must be considered to calculate the overall efficiency of
electric vehicles. The power input P IN to the EV comes from two sources—the stored
power source and the applied power source. Stored power is available during the
process from an energy storage device. The power delivered by a battery through
electrochemical reaction on demand or the power extracted from a piece of coal by
burning it are examples of stored power.
Applied power is obtained indirectly from raw materials. Electricity generated from
crude oil and delivered to an electric car for battery charging is an example of applied
power. Applied power is labeled as P IN AW while stored power is designated as P IN
PROCESS in Figure a below. Therefore, we have the following:
Figure a: The complete EV process broken into stages.
The efficiency of each stage must be calculated from input-output power considerations,
although the efficiency may vary widely, depending on the technology being used. Finally,
overall efficiency can be calculated by multiplying the efficiencies of the individual
stages. The overall efficiency of the EV system shown in Figure a is
The overall ICEV process is shown in Figure b, while the process details are illustrated in
Figure c. Starting from the conversion of crude oil to fuel oil in the refinery, the ICEV
process includes the transmission of fuel oil from refinery to gas stations, power conversion
in the internal combustion engine of the vehicle, and power transfer from the engine to the
wheels through the transmission before it is available at the wheels. The efficiency of the
ICEV process is the product of the efficiencies of the individual stages indicated in Figure c
and is given by