Active temperature control of inverters for applications in electric drives: Action on modulation strategies

Abstract

Improving thermal stresses in variable-speed drives is crucial to minimize losses and optimize operational efficiency. This study focuses on investigating a three-phase inverter with active temperature control to reduce semiconductor operating temperatures, a critical aspect for mitigating failures and extending component lifespan. The active control explores variations between the traditional space-vector pulse-width modulation (SVPWM) and discontinuous modulation (DPWM2), aiming to reduce the number of switching events, thus decreasing losses and junction temperatures. This enables achieving higher overload capacity and consequently increasing the workload of both the three-phase inverter and the three-phase induction motor (MIT) to be driven. This study shows a 20% reduction in IGBT losses was achieved. Additionally, the maximum overload was extended from 43% to 73% without exceeding the thermal limit of the semiconductors.