Patent ID: 8754603

Claim:
A method for reducing power loss in an electric motor drive system comprising a controller, an electric machine and an inverter module, the method comprising the steps of: determining, at the controller, whether a torque command (T cmd ) is less than a minimum torque threshold (T min ); incrementing a counter when the controller determines that the torque command (T cmd ) is less than the minimum torque threshold (T min ); determining, at the controller, whether the torque command (T cmd ) remains less than the minimum torque threshold (T min ); determining, at the controller when the torque command (T cmd ) remains less than the minimum torque threshold (T min ), whether a current count maintained at the counter is greater than or equal to a count threshold (n th ); and generating a disable signal at the controller to disable switching within the inverter module when the controller determines that the current count maintained at the counter is greater than or equal to a count threshold (n th ).