Variable Switching Frequency Control-Based Six-Step Operation Method of a Traction Inverter for Driving an Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for a Railroad Car

Most railroad cars employ a natural ventilation cooling method. For this reason, severe problems occur in the control devices for the railroad cars due to the heat generated by the high-power switching loss. Therefore, the traction inverter for the railroad car requires a control method that can reduce the switching loss. In this paper, we propose a control method for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor in consideration of the driving conditions of the railroad cars. The proposed method combines a variable switching frequency-based synchronous pulse width modulation control method, a flux-weakening control method that considers the maximum voltage modulation index, and an optimized over-modulation method. Through the proposed method, the utilization rate of the DC-link voltage can be maximized while lowering the switching frequency of the traction inverter as much as possible, and the high-performance current control can be performed in the entire speed region of the railroad car. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by the simulation results and the experimental results.