Coordinated Power Sharing for Enhanced Utilization of Mixed Energy Storage Media in Dual-Inverter Electric Vehicles

The dual inverter topology driving an open-winding motor is well-known in high voltage motor drive applications. This structure allows two energy sources to be directly connected to an open-winding motor, which enables the integration of supercapacitors into a battery electric vehicle without the need for additional dc/dc power electronics or associated magnetic components. Unlike existing solutions, this paper introduces an innovative power management scheme that offers optimal usage of the supercapacitor to provide mixed active and reactive power assist under fluctuating vehicle dynamics. Power regulation is achieved by controlling the direct and quadrature axis voltages of twin inverters. In addition to classical peak power assist, the proposed controller extends the functional capability of the dual inverter drive by re-purposing a depleted supercapacitor to supply reactive armature voltage for speed range extension. A 10kW laboratory prototype is presented to verify the proposed power management controller.