Power losses balancing in a three-level NPC converter driving a PMSM in an electric vehicle

3-Level neutral point clamped (NPC) converters are being considered for application in the propulsion system of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The issue of voltage balancing in the DC capacitors has been extensively investigated, unlike the unbalance in the power losses across the switches, which can not only reduce the maximum power that can be delivered by the drive but also its lifetime. This paper discusses the impact of certain Space Vector Modulation (SVM) schemes on the balancing of the conduction power losses of an NPC converter driving a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) based EV. The effectiveness of the modified SVM techniques on the shifting of conduction power losses are verified by means of simulations with MATLAB-Simulink.