Reducing Tonal Noise in IPMSM Vehicle Drives Through Harmonic Injection

PMSM drives are widely used in powertrains for hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Tonal noise radiation of the drive results from magnetic force excitations in the air gap of the machine. As previous work has shown it is possible to reduce magnetic noise by the injection of current harmonics in specific orders. Therefore, feed-forward voltage harmonics can be used. The determination of amplitudes and phases on a drive test bench or vehicle test however is a complex and time-consuming task. The article contributes by giving a framework to identify the necessary orders, amplitudes, and phases with the help of detailed machine models. Simulation and measurement results are presented to prove the injection method’s feasibility and to show that multiple orders can be reduced. As result, an improved drive control can actively reduce noise without any additional hardware or cost.