Patent ID: 7701154

Claim:
An electric drive system, comprising: a multi-phase electric machine; multiple electrical power output stages; at least two control units operatively coupled to the electric power output stages, the control units providing at least one of control and regulation of the electric machine, wherein each control unit is assigned to at least one power output stage group, and the at least two control units are operatively configured in a master-slave relationship; at least one capacitive storage device operatively coupled between the power output stage groups to which the control units are assigned; and a higher-order control unit for controlling the at least two control units assigned to the power output stage groups, wherein the higher-order control unit and the at least two control units are operatively configured such that in an event of at least one power output stage breakdown or one power output stage group breakdown, an assigned current to the broke down power output stage or power output stage group is at least partially buffered in an intermediate circuit capacitor and fed, as necessary, into a remaining partial system.