MC-PWM Harmonic Losses Determination in IPMSM drive fed by Cascaded H-Bridges Multilevel Inverter

The use of Multilevel Inverters (MIs) in PMSM drives is a possible solution for motor harmonic power losses reduction. In this regard, their experimental determination is a challenging task. This paper addresses an experimental analysis of harmonic losses introduced in an IPMSM drive fed by a Cascaded H-Bridges Multilevel Inverter (CHBMI) controlled with different MultiCarrier PWM strategies (MC-PWM). For this purpose, a frequency domain power analysis approach has been adopted to separate the active power value generated at the fundamental harmonic frequency and the power losses at the higher harmonics. In this analysis, several working conditions, defined in the frequency-torque plane, have been considered and the detected IPMSM total power losses, fundamental power losses and harmonic power losses have been discussed.