Traction Drive System for Electric Vehicles, Using Multilevel Converters

Juan W. Dixon, Micah Ortúzar and Felipe Ríos

Abstract
The application of multilevel converters for traction drive systems is being investigated. The main
advantage of this kind of topology is that it can generate almost perfect current or voltage waveforms,
because it is modulated by amplitude instead of pulse-width. That means that the pulsating torque
generated by harmonics can be eliminated, and power losses into the machine due to harmonic
currents can also be eliminated. Another advantage of this kind of drive is that the switching frequency
and power rating of the semiconductors is reduced considerably. The amplitude modulation is based
on a cascade of N converters scaled in a “trinary” form (three-state “H” converters). In the chain of N
converters of each phase (N-Stage Converter), there is a “Master converter” that manages more than
80% of the total power, and N-1 “Slave converters” that take the rest of the power (less than 20%).
One important drawback of this kind of arrangement is that it needs isolated power sources for each
one of the N converters, and also for each phase. This paper shows that this problem can be overcome
by using isolated motor windings for each phase of the traction motor (which is easy to get in normal
machines), and by using low-power high-frequency, bidirectional switching power supplies for the
“slave converters”. Simulations using PSIM (Power Electronics Simulator) have demonstrated the
feasibility to build drive converters for electric vehicles using multilevel inverters. They are being
compared with inverters using the conventional PWM technique. The multilevel converter used in the
simulations, works with only four inverters (N=4): one Master and three Slaves. In both the cases
(PWM and multilevel), the traction motors have a rating of 80 kW, and the battery pack supply is 240
Vdc. The battery pack is connected to the master converters of each phase in parallel, and to the slaves
through isolated bi-directional switching power supplies. Copyright 2002 EVS19

Keywords: Inverter, Drive, Converter, Control System, Electric Drive.

1. Introduction
Power Electronics technologies contribute with important part in the development of electric vehicles.
On the other hand, the PWM techniques used today to control modern static converters for electric
traction, do not give perfect waveforms, which strongly depend on switching frequency of the power
semiconductors. Normally, voltage (or current in dual devices) moves to discrete values, forcing the
design of machines with good isolation, and sometimes loads with inductances in excess of the
required value. In other words, neither voltage nor current are as expected. This also means harmonic
contamination, additional power losses, torque ripple, and high frequency noise that can affect the
controllers. All these reasons have generated many research works on the topic of PWM modulation
[1-4].

Multi-stage converters [5-7] work more like amplitude modulation rather than pulse modulation, and
this fact makes the outputs of the converter very much cleaner. This way of operation allows having
almost perfect currents, and very good voltage waveforms, eliminating most of the undesirable
harmonics. And even better, the bridges of each converter work at a very low switching frequency,
which gives the possibility to work with low speed semiconductors, and to generate low switching
frequency losses. The objective of this paper is to show the advantages of multi-stage converters for
all kind of applications. The drawbacks of requiring isolated power supplies is solved using different
techniques, which depend on the type of application, and based on the fact that the first converter,
called Master, takes more than 80% of the total power delivered to the load. A four-stage converter
using three-state power modules, which gives 81 different levels of voltage amplitude, is studied. The
results are compared with conventional PWM modulators working at a switching frequency of 10
kHz. All the load parameters of both types of converters are set at the same values.

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2. Basics of Multi-Stage Converters
2.1. Basic Principle
The circuit of fig.1 shows the basic topology of one converter used for the implementation of multi-
stage converters. It is based on the simple, four switches converter, used for single-phase inverters or
for dual converters. These converters are able to produce three levels of voltage in the load: +Vdc, -
Vdc, and Zero.

+
Driver Vdc LOAD
_

Figure 1: Three-level module for building multi-stage converters

2.2. Multi-Stage Connection

The multi-stage connection can be implemented with two, three, or any number of three-level
modules. The figure 2 displays the main components of a four-stage converter, which is being
analysed in this work. The figure only shows one of the three phases of the complete system. As can
be seen, the dc power supplies of the four modules are isolated, and the dc supplies are scaled with
levels of voltage in power of three. The scaling of voltages in power of three allows having, with only
four converters, 81 (34) different levels of voltage: 40 levels of positive values, 40 levels of negative
values, and zero. The converter located at the bottom of the figure has the bigger voltage, and will be
called Master. The rest of the modules will be the Slaves. The Master works at the lower switching
frequency, which is an additional advantage of this topology.

With 81 levels of voltage, a four-stage converter can follow a sinusoidal waveform in a very precise
way, as shown in figure 3. It can control the load voltage as an AM device (Amplitude Modulation).
The figure 3 shows different levels of amplitude, which are obtained through the control of the gates
of the power transistors in each one of the four converters.

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 +
Driver Vdc 3rd Slave
_

+
Driver 2nd Slave
_ 3xVdc

LOAD

+
Driver 9xVdc 1st Slave
_

+
Driver 27xVdc Master
_

Figure 2: Main components of the four-stage multiconverter.

Figure 3: Voltage AM using a four-stage converter

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The Figure 4 shows the voltage modulation of each one of the four converters of the chain of figure 2.

Figure 4: Voltage modulation in each converter

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2.3. Power Distribution
One of the good advantages of the strategy described here for multiconverters is that most of the
power delivered comes from the Master. The example of figure 5 shows the power distribution in one
phase of the four-stage converter, feeding a pure resistive load with sinusoidal voltage. A little more
than 80% of the real power is delivered by the Master converter, and only 20% for the Slaves. Even
more, the second and third slave only deliver 5% of the total power. That means, the dc power sources
needed by the Slaves are small.

Figure 5: Active power distribution in a four-stage converter.

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This characteristic makes possible to feed the Slaves with low power, isolated power sources, fed by a
common power supply from the Master. These power sources need to be bi-directional, because the
power factor of the load can produce negative active power in some of the Slaves. The figure 6 shows
a bi-directional dc-dc power supply, which can be used for this purpose [8].

Figure 6: Bidirectional DC-DC Power Supply

Another attribute of the multi-stage configuration, which is possible to see in the oscillograms of
figures 4 and 5, is the very low switching frequency of each converter. But even better, the Master,
which carries most of the power, operates at the lower switching frequency. Then, the larger the power
of the unit, the lower the switching frequency. In large traction applications, like buses, electric
locomotives or ships, the Master can be implemented with GTOs, and the Slaves with IGBTs.

To avoid the three Masters having to be isolated one from each other, the three windings of the
machine have to be fed independently (no electrical connection between them). The complete
configuration, using Bidirectional DC-DC Converters, and isolated windings for the traction motor is
shown in figure 7.

DC-DC Conv. 3rd Slave

+
DC-DC Conv. 2nd Slave
VDC
_ DC-DC Conv. 1st Slave

Master

DC-DC Conv. 3rd Slave

DC-DC Conv. 2nd Slave

M
DC-DC Conv. 1st Slave

Master

DC-DC Conv. 3rd Slave

DC-DC Conv. 2nd Slave

DC-DC Conv. 1st Slave

Master

Figure 7: Traction system configuration using a four-stage multilevel converter.

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3. Simulation Results
The following results show a comparison between PWM strategy and a four-stage multilevel
converter. These results have been obtained using the software called PSIM [10], which has
demonstrated its reliability for almost 10 years of simulations, which have been corroborated with real
experimental results. Shunt active power filters, static var compensators, sinusoidal voltage power
supplies, high power rectifiers, and machine drives have previously been simulated with PSIM.
3.1. Machine drives with sinusoidal supply.
With PWM techniques, it is not possible to implement a sinusoidal voltage power supply. The
multiconverter topology, scaled in power of three, with a few quantity of inverters, can generate a very
good sinusoidal voltage waveform. A four-stage converter can generate 81 steps of voltage levels, as
was shown in figure 3. Forty positive levels, forty negative levels, and zero. The figure 8 shows the
current of the load when is fed with a PWM power supply, and with a four-stage power supply. The
switching frequency of the PWM inverter is 15 kHz, and the supply frequency is 50 Hz. It is clear the
difference: the current in the four-stage converter is almost harmonic-free. This system can operate at
all output frequencies.

Figure 8: Armature currents from a PWM voltage source, and a four-stage voltage source.

Despite the system looks complicated, it can be adequately integrated. It is important to remember that
the DC-DC converters are small power devices. For example, for 60 kW traction system for an electric
vehicle, the DC-DC converters for the first Slave are only 3 kW each. For the second Slave are 0.8
kW, and for the third Slave only 200 W each. These converters can be small today with a switching
frequency link of hundreds of kHz.

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As the quality of sinusoidal current waveforms was already showed in figure 12, the figure 13 shows a
comparison of current for a brushless dc motor, using PWM converter, and four level converter.
Again, the quality of the current obtained with the last technology is superior.
3.2. Machine drives with non-sinusoidal supply.
Multilevel converters can also be used as choppers for controlling dc motors. In this case, only one
phase is needed, and is used for armature control. With the four-stage converter, the dc voltage of the
armature can also be controlled with 81 levels: 40 for motoring, 40 for regenerative braking, and zero.

Another important application is with brushless dc motors, because they need a special voltage
modulation to get the typical trapezoidal waveform of the armature current. In figure 9, a comparison
between PWM and a four-stage multilevel converter is displayed.

Figure 9: Current comparison for brushless-dc motor

4. Conclusions
A four-stage multilevel inverter, using three-state converters for electric traction applications, has been
analyzed. The advantages and drawbacks of this kind of converter have been displayed. The problem
related with galvanic isolation, have been overcome by using isolated, bidirectional dc power supplies,
which can be fed from a common power source from the Master. This solution becomes practical
because the Master takes more than 80% of the total active power required by the system. The rest of
the converters, called “Slaves”, need to convert very low power, and then those dc supplies are small.
Different simulations were shown and compared with similar results obtained with conventional PWM

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converters. The topology looks applicable not only for electric vehicles, but also for large traction
equipment such as electric buses, electric locomotives and ships.

5. References
[1] H. Akagi, “The State-of-the-art PowerElectronics in Japan”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics,
Vol.13, Nº 2, February 1998, pp. 345-356.
[2] B. Bose, “Power Electronics and Motion Control- Technology status and recent trends”, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 29 Nº 5, 1993, pp. 902-909.
[3] D. Chung, J. Kim, and S. Sul, “Unified Voltage Modulation Technique for Real Time Three-Phase
Power Conversion”, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 34, Nº 2, 1998, 374-380.
[4] J. Holtz and B. Beyer, “Fast Current Trajectory Tracking Control Based on Synchronous Optimal Pulse
Width Modulation”, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 31, Nº 5, 1995, pp. 1110-1120.
[5] A. Draou, M. Benghanen, and A. Tahri, “Multilevel Converters and VAR Compensation”, Chapter 25,
Power Electronics Handbook, Muhamad H. Rashid, Editor-in Chief, Academic Press, 2001, pp. 615-
622.
[6] F. Zheng Peng, “A Generalized Multilevel InverterTopology with Self Voltage Balancing”, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 37, Nº 2, March-April 2001, pp. 611-618.
[7] K. Matsui, Y Kawata, and F. Ueda, “Application of Parallel Connected NPC-PWM Inverters with
Multilevel Modulation for AC Motor Drive”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 15, Nº 5,
September 2000, pp. 901-907.
[8] M. Jain, M. Danielle and P. K. Jain, “A Bidirectional DC-DC Converter Topology for Low Power
Application”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 15, Nº 4, July 2000, pp. 595-606.
[9] O. Gaupp, P. Zanini, P. Daehler, E. Baerlocher, R. Boeck, J. Werninger, “Bremen’s 100 MW Static
Frequency Link”, Issue Nº 9, 10/96, 1996, pp.4-17, M420
[10] Powersim Technologies. PSIM Version 4.1, for Power Electronics Simulations. User Manual.
Powersim Technologies, Vancouver, Canada, Web page: http://www.powersimtech.com.

6. Ackowledgements
The authors want to thank Conicyt through Project Fondecyt 1020982, for the support given to this
work.

7. Affiliation
Juan W. Dixon, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla
306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile; Phone 56-2-686-4281, Fax 56-2-552-2563, E-mail:
jdixon@ing.puc.cl

J. Dixon got the Ph.D. degree from McGill University, Montreal, Canada; From 1977 to
1979 he was with the National Railways Company (Ferrocarriles del Estado). Since 1979
he is Associate Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Micah D. Ortúzar
Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla
306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile; Phone 56-2-686-4223, Fax 56-2-552-2563, E-mail:
mortuzar@puc.cl

M. Ortúzar is working towards the Ph.D. degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile, Santiago, Chile;

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Felipe E. Ríos
Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla
306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile; Phone 56-2-686-4223, Fax 56-2-552-2563, E-mail:
ferios@puc.cl

F. Ríos is working towards the Engineering degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile, Santiago, Chile

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