Active Thermal Control for Power Converters in Modular Winding Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

To increase the reliability and reduce the torque ripple, modular winding structure has been employed in the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs). However, the reliability of the motor system depends on the lifetime of the power semiconductor devices. In this paper, an Active Thermal Control (ATC) for modular power converters in PMSM drive is proposed. The power routing method is employed to balance the power in a triple modular winding PMSM system. The Rainflow Counting Algorithm is used to calculate the lifetime of the power converters. To verify the proposed method, a simulation model is established and the simulation results are presented.