Systems and methods for active discharge for inverter for electric vehicle
AssigneeBorgWarner US Technologies LLC
InventorsHelena Cristobal Losada, Kevin M. Gertiser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system includes: an inverter configured to convert DC power from a battery to AC power to drive a motor, wherein the inverter includes: a bulk capacitor; one or more phase switches; and one or more controllers configured to control a gate voltage to the one or more phase switches to discharge the bulk capacitor, wherein the one or more controllers is configured to control the gate voltage based on one or more of a measured temperature of the one or more phase switches or an estimated temperature of the one or more phase switches.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- an inverter configured to convert DC power from a battery to AC power to drive a motor, wherein the inverter includes:
- a bulk capacitor to connect to a positive connection of the battery and a negative connection of the battery;
- one or more phase switches;
- and
- one or more controllers configured to control a gate voltage to the one or more phase switches to discharge the bulk capacitor,
- wherein the one or more controllers is configured to reduce the gate voltage while maintaining a drain current of the one or more phase switches above a threshold level to discharge the bulk capacitor based on one or more of a measured temperature of the one or more phase switches or an estimated temperature of the one or more phase switches.
A system comprising:
- a power module for an inverter configured to convert DC power to AC power, the power module including a drain terminal and a source terminal;
- one or more phase switches configured to control a current flow between the drain terminal and the source terminal;
- and
- a point-of-use controller configured to control a gate voltage to the one or more phase switches to discharge a bulk capacitor of the inverter,
- wherein the point-of-use controller is configured to reduce the gate voltage while maintaining a drain current of the one or more phase switches above a threshold level to discharge the bulk capacitor based on one or more of a measured temperature of the one or more phase switches or an estimated temperature of the one or more phase switches, and the bulk capacitor is configured to connect to a positive connection of a battery and a negative connection of the battery.
A system including one or more controllers configured to:
- determine one or more of a measured temperature of a phase switch or an estimated temperature of the phase switch;
- and
- control a gate voltage to the phase switch to discharge a bulk capacitor of an inverter, wherein the one or more controllers is configured to reduce the gate voltage while maintaining a drain current of the phase switch above a threshold level to discharge the bulk capacitor based on the determined one or more of the measured temperature of the phase switch or the estimated temperature of the phase switch and the bulk capacitor is configured to connect to a positive connection of a battery and a negative connection of the battery.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.