48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles:

How to Combine Low Cost,

Large Driving Range and High Power

Dieter Gerling

Universitt der Bundeswehr Mnchen

 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
requirements to electrical traction drives / traction systems

low costs

large driving range (i.e. high efficiency, especially at partial load)

high power (example Tesla Model S: 600Nm @ 5300min-1, i.e. 330kW)

low voltage (UDC 60V, UAC,rms 25V)

modularity / principle of building blocks

high reliability, high availability

ease of integration of electrical machine and power electronics

good resources efficiency, good recyclability

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
standard system up to now

=
3 M

ca. 375V ca. 150V

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
stator winding evolution

Quelle:
derkonstrukteur.de

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
possible system architecture with low voltage DC circuit

battery
24V 48V electrical machine

DC electrical system power electronics

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
electrical machine: concept
The m-phase stator winding supplied with multiphase inverter
Conv. distributed winding

MMF Characteristics (18-slots per pole pair)

Stator cage winding 1.5
Conv. Winding Conv. Winding
New Winding
1 New Winding
1

0.5
0.8
MMF [ p.u. ]

MMF [ p.u. ]
0
0.6

-0.5
0.4

-1
0.2

-1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0
theta [rad. degree] 0 5 10 15 20
Space Harmonics
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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
electrical machine: cooling

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
electrical machine: benchmark with Tesla Model S

ISCAD ASM Tesla ASM

375 V
Comparison of results

* Aluminum material for the ISCAD-ASM and Copper material for the Tesla-ASM
** Total Joule losses for the stator cage winding including skin and proximity effect

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
electrical machine: temperature distribution for T=600Nm, n=5300 rpm
conventional stator frame cooling with hc = 2000W/(Km)
Tesla ASM ISCAD ASM
stator slot
700
600

T [ C ]
500
400
ISCAD-asm
300
tesla-asm
200
100
0
0 40 80 120 160 200 240
time [s]

600
rotor slot

500 ISCAD-asm
tesla-asm

T [ C ]
PLosses ,Tesla 400
Losses: 2
PLosses , ISCAD 300

200
*
Loss pLosses
density: *
,Tesla
4 100
p Losses , ISCAD 0
0 40 80 120 160 200 240
time [s]
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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: concept
requirements from the ISCAD motor with 60 slots:
DC supply: 24V
AC phase voltage (rms): 8.5V
AC phase current (rms): 620A

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: exemplary power switches

Example MOSFET StrongIRFETTM IRFS7430-7PPbF

= 40 V
= 0.75 m (max. )
= 522 A

Estimation of inverter losses via conduction and switches losses: = +

Design: equal losses at maximum power

Tesla: 3 phases * 2 switches * 16 IGBTs in parallel = 96 IGBTs
ISCAD: 60 phases * 2 switches * 3 MOSFETs in parallel = 360 MOSFETs

Comparison of cost for power switches

Higher number of devices for ISCAD inverter
Higher cost per devices for Tesla inverter
40 % decreased cost for extra-low voltage solution

Pricing on basis of medium quantity @ electronics distributors

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: losses at partial load
advantages of MOSFETs in relevant driving cycles
lower forward voltage at partial load (,() 1 instead )

further optimization potential for MOSFET inverter

optimization of cost
optimization of efficiency

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: gate drivers
assumptions
3 MOSFETs IRFS7430-7PPbF in parallel for every switch
total gate charge 3 = 1380 nC
switching frequency = 20 kHz
gate voltage = 10 V
required channel power 0,3 W

very basic solution: IR21844

half-bridge driver (high- and low-side)
two input signals: PWM, Enable
low amount of external components
programmable dead time
very cheap

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
first functional prototype

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: concept
Aluminum plate
MOSFETs
Driver board
Capacitor pack

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
power electronics: cooling concept

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
battery and DC electrical system: concept

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
losses and voltage drop of DC-bus

ca. 2W

ca. 0.04V

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
battery and DC electrical system: benchmark with Tesla Model S (battery set-up)
design constraint:

TESLA: 7104 cells (type 18650) organized in 16 modules

each module: 6 cells in series, 74 cells in parallel
in total: 96 cells in series (voltage span: 278V to 403V)

ISCAD: using the same voltage span per cell of 2.9V to 4.2V and
realizing a DC-link voltage of 24V gives 8 cells in series: s 24V 2.9V 8
the same battery capacity leads to 888 cells in parallel p 7104 s 888
the battery losses are independent from the configuration
(the current per cell is identical)

battery management system (BMS):

much more simple in low-voltage version due to insulation, voltage monitoring, balancing

current interrupt device (CID): much more simple at low voltage

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
EMC: magnetic field
field produced by pure DC currents for sandwich structure (well below limit 500mT)

field exposure due to passing automobile (200km/h, 20cm distance well below limits)

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
EMC: magnetic field
field due to AC currents on the DC bus: is to be investigated;
main differences to HV-system:
no coaxial cable in HV-system
higher switching frequency
higher number of phases
different leakage capacitances
different voltage transients (MOSFET)

EMC: electric field

steeper voltage slope (MOSFET) than in HV-system, but even much lower voltage level
less electric field interference is estimated

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
changing the number of pole pairs during operation (schematic)

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
efficiency (for optimized design higher potential likely)

component Tesla ISCAD remarks

at maximum power
electrical machine 90% 95% at partial load (cycle) greater difference
at maximum power identical (design)
power electronics 96% 96% at partial load (cycle) greater difference
identical (at same electrical power)
battery >90% >90% advantages for same operating point of car
worst case for maximum power
smaller difference for larger cross section
DC electrical system 99% 97% for smaller maximum power or partial load
(i.e. driving cycle) hardly different
entire sytem in
ca. 60% ca. 80% partial load is decisive for the driving range
typical driving cycles

changing the AC/DC-converter (this efficiency

on-board charger 95% 94% is not decisive for the driving range)

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
cost estimation (for optimized design higher potential likely)

component Tesla ISCAD remarks

stator and rotor die-casted
electrical machine
100% 50% no copper, but aluminum
(incl. housing) smaller cooling effort
power electronics
large number of identical modules
(switches, driver, 100% 85% low voltage
capacitors)
smaller energy for same driving range
battery 100% 80% (efficiency in cycle-relevant operating
points)
Board net for very high current
DC electrical
100% 95% chassis as one DC conductor
system voltages less than 60VDC

charging (standard) 100% 95% changing the AC/DC-converter

entire system 100% ca. 80% battery dominates the costs

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
additional advantages

12V-supply can be realized simply and very cost-efficiently (low voltage DC/DC-converter)
(improved efficiency, lower costs)

drop out of single battery cells does not result in large power reduction

drop out of single half-bridges (power electronics) does not result in large power reduction

power electronics and electrical machine are perfectly integratable

improved EMI characteristics

scalability of the system is very simple

effort for high-voltage training of employees, is drastically reduced

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 48V Traction Drive for Electric Vehicles
conclusion

low costs
large driving range (i.e. high efficiency, especially at partial load)
high power (example Tesla Model S: 600Nm @ 5300min-1, i.e. 330kW)
low voltage (UDC 60V, UAC,rms 25V)
modularity / principle of building blocks
high reliability, high availability
ease of integration of electrical machine and power electronics
good resources efficiency, good recyclability

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