Control strategy for electric motor based alternating current charging

An electric drive system comprising:

• a battery, wherein the battery is charged in response to a direct current charge current;
• an input for receiving an alternating current from an external power source;
• an electric motor having a plurality of stator windings wherein the alternating current is coupled to a first of the plurality of stator windings and is first conducted through the first of the plurality of stator windings to a neutral point, the alternating current is next conducted from the neutral point through the remaining plurality of stator windings in parallel to the inverter;
• an inverter for converting the alternating current received from the remaining plurality of stator windings to a direct current in response to an inverter control signal;
• a direct current to direct current converter for converting the direct current to the direct current charge current;
• a first switch for coupling an output of the battery to the inverter when the electric drive system is in a propulsion mode and decoupling the battery from the inverter when the electric drive system is in a charging mode;
• and
• a second switch for coupling an output of the direct current to direct current converter to the battery when the electric drive system is in the charging mode and for decoupling the output of the direct current to direct current converter from the battery when the electric drive system is in the propulsion mode.

A battery charger in an electric drive system for an electric vehicle comprising:

• a charge port for receiving an alternating current from an external power source;
• an electric motor having a plurality of stator windings wherein the alternating current is coupled to a first of the plurality of stator windings and is first conducted through the first of the plurality of stator windings to a neutral point, the alternating current is next conducted from the neutral point through the remaining plurality of stator windings in parallel to the inverter;
• an inverter for converting the alternating current received from the remaining plurality of stator windings to a direct current in response to an inverter control signal;
• an inverter controller for controlling the inverter in response to a pulse width modulated interleaving algorithm such that the direct current is converted from the alternating current each of the remaining plurality of stator windings at a plurality of consecutive time intervals and wherein the inverter is further operative to generate a blanking interval in the direct current in response to a magnitude of the alternating current being below a predetermined threshold;
• a transformer for transforming the direct current to a direct current charging current;
• and
• a battery, wherein the battery is charged in response to the direct current charging current.