Integrated three-phase AC charger for vehicle applications with dual-inverter drive

A method for integrated three-phase AC charging on an electric vehicle or a hybrid-electric vehicle coupled to an AC grid, the method comprising:

• providing a dual inverter drive system including an upper charging stage including a first energy storage and a first voltage source converter (VSC1), a lower charging stage including a second energy storage and a second voltage source converter (VSC2), coupled to an motor coupled between the first voltage source converter and the second voltage source converter, the motor having three or more motor windings each coupled to a corresponding AC terminal of each of the VSC1 and the VSC2;
• providing a current source converter (CSC) having a set of CSC AC connections for coupling to the AC grid, a set of CSC DC connections, and a plurality of controllable CSC switches which are operable to control an energy flow between the AC grid and the dual inverter drive system through the CSC;
• and
• controlling, through gate control signals, energy flow between the AC grid and the electric vehicle or the hybrid-electric vehicle by operating the CSC and the dual inverter drive system;
• wherein a leakage inductance of the motor is used to provide an inductance for operating the CSC, and
• wherein a back-emf (Vd) is provided by differentially connecting connections of the dual inverter drive system to the set of CSC DC connections to allow for operation of the circuit in a plurality of operation modes during charging through adjustment of the back-emf Vd by controlling the switches of the VSC1 and VSC2.

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing machine-interpretable instruction sets, which when executed, cause a processor to perform a method for integrated three-phase AC charging on an electric vehicle or a hybrid-electric vehicle coupled to an AC grid, the method comprising:

• providing a dual inverter drive system including an upper charging stage including a first energy storage and a first voltage source converter (VSC1), a lower charging stage including a second energy storage and a second voltage source converter (VSC2), coupled to an motor coupled between the first voltage source converter and the second voltage source converter, the motor having three or more motor windings each coupled to a corresponding AC terminal of each of the VSC1 and the VSC2;
• providing a current source converter (CSC) having a set of CSC AC connections for coupling to the AC grid, a set of CSC DC connections, and a plurality of controllable CSC switches which are operable to control an energy flow between the AC grid and the dual inverter drive system through the CSC;
• and
• controlling, through gate control signals, energy flow between the AC grid and the electric vehicle or the hybrid-electric vehicle by operating the CSC and the dual inverter drive system;
• wherein a leakage inductance of the motor is used to provide an inductance for operating the CSC, and
• wherein a back-emf (Vd) is provided by differentially connecting connections of the dual inverter drive system to the set of CSC DC connections to allow for operation of the circuit in a plurality of operation modes during charging through adjustment of the back-emf Vd by controlling the switches of the VSC1 and VSC2.