Evaluation of a multiphase drive system in EV and HEV applications

Multiphase machine drive systems have been applied in many electric propulsion fields such as aerospace and electric vehicle applications. With the development of SiC semiconductors, its superior characteristic makes compact multiphase converters possible. Moreover, by using a single chip in each switch, problems caused by an uneven current split between paralleled devices can be avoided. This paper presents a performance evaluation for a 50 kW multiphase EV/HEV drive system with 12 kV SiC MOSFETs. Power loss calculation, cost comparison and system simulation are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed concept.