Patent ID: 11863098
Assignee: BORGWARNER ENGINEERING SERVICES SWITZERLAND AG
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 5:
6. A drive for an electrical motor comprising a power electronics module and a gate drive unit connected to a controller and to the power electronics module to control the motor, the power electronics module comprising a multi-level inverter having at least one output connected to at least one phase of the motor, the multi-level inverter capable of generating a PWM voltage signal having three or more modulation levels, the inverter powered by a voltage supply and comprising at least one neutral point, wherein the controller is configured to control the gate drive unit to:
operate the multi-level inverter in a standard modulation pattern having three or more modulation levels when one or more parameters representative of neutral point stability each have a value within a first range indicative of a high neutral point stability, and to
operate the multi-level inverter with a two-level modulation pattern when said one or more parameters representative of neutral point stability each have a value within a second range indicative of a low neutral point stability,
the first range separated from the second range by a threshold value, wherein the threshold values are stored in, or computed from values stored in a non-transient memory of the drive and wherein an executable control algorithm is stored in a non-transient memory of the drive, the control algorithm executable by the controller to control the gate drive unit.