Design of an Improved Q-ZSI with Fault Tolerance for EV Applications

In this paper, a Fault Tolerant Quasi Z-source Inverter (Q-ZSI) topology has been proposed for three phase induction motor drive systems. The proposed topology incorporates the ability to detect an open circuit or a short circuit fault in any of the switching arms. Once a fault is detected the firing signal is transferred to another switching arm to ensure uninterrupted flow of power. The main goal of this paper is to design a rugged inverter topology that can give better performance than the standard Z-Source Inverters (ZSI) in harsh environments where the switches are more prone to faults.