Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Shahram Zarei

Lihua Chen

Baoming Ge

Shailesh Shrikant Kozarekar

Fan Xu

Vincent T Skalski

Behzad Vafakhah

Yan Zhou

Fan Wang

Hongjie Wu

Yuqing Tang

Sudhir Kumar

Brandon Dobbins

Michael W Degner

Chingchi Chen

Feng Liang

Shuitao Yang

Paul Theodore Momcilovich

Mohammed Khorshed Alam

Garold Paul Myers

Fazal Urrahman Syed

Edward Chan-Jiun Jih

Myung Ki Sung

Brian Richard Light

Boris Curuvija

Sheran Anthony Alles

Md Abul Masrur

Timothy Patrick Diez

Jeremy Richard Ikerd

Petros G Taskas

Dong Cao

Daryl Steven Sitar

A vehicle powertrain includes a direct-current (DC)-DC power converter and a controller. The DC-DC power converter includes first, second, and third legs in parallel, wherein the first leg is configured to carry a first DC current substantially equal to a sum of DC currents of the second and third legs. The controller may be configured to modulate switches of the first leg at a frequency greater than at least twice that of the second and third legs.

Interleaved variable voltage converter

A vehicular system includes a pump, configured to circulate coolant for a traction inverter, and a controller. The controller may be configured to, responsive to each of a temperature of the traction inverter falling outside a first range or a requested flow rate of the pump falling outside a second range, operate the pump at a predefined speed, otherwise, operate the pump at a speed based on a difference between the temperature and a temperature associated with the coolant.

Vehicular traction inverter temperature control system

A traction inverter system includes a capacitor module, a power module, a cold plate between and in contact with the modules, and an end plate defining an inlet and outlet. The modules and plates define a bore spanning the modules and plates, and a passageway in fluid communication with the inlet and outlet. The traction inverter system also includes a mechanical fastener occupying the bore, spanning the modules and plates, and clamping the modules and plates together.

Integrated mechanical and thermal design for power storage of a traction inverter

A vehicle may include an electric machine including windings having a nonzero phase offset. The vehicle may further include first and second inverters configured to drive the electric machine as a result of toggling of switches. The switches may be toggled according to respective pulse width modulation (PWM) signals. One or more gate drivers may be configured to generate the PWM signals. The PWM signals may be based on fundamental waveforms having a phase shift that is based on the nonzero phase offset of the electric machine.

Multiple inverter system for an electric machine

A hybrid electric vehicle includes a traction battery, traction motor and power inverter therebetween. The power inverter converts the DC power of the traction battery to AC power to drive each phase of the traction motor. The power inverter includes Insulated Gate Bipolar junction Transistors (IGBTs) to modulate the power to the traction motor. The speed at which the IGBTs are modulated impacts the system performance including power loss, voltage overshoot and current overshoot. Using a dual emitter IGBT to provide a current mirror of the drive current, circuitry may be used with the gate drive circuitry such that the gate drive speed may be dynamically adjusted based on characteristics including temperature and traction motor rotational speed.

Dynamic IGBT gate drive for vehicle traction inverters

A vehicle is provided with a transmission and an inductor assembly that is mounted within a chamber of the transmission. The inductor assembly includes a coil, a core and an insulator having first and second portions that are oriented toward each other. Each portion includes a base, a support extending from the base, and a spool extending transversely from the support to engage the other portion. Each spool includes an external surface for supporting the coil and a cavity extending therethrough for receiving the core.

Inductor assembly support structure

A power module includes a plurality of switching devices. The switching devices are electrically coupled in parallel and triggered by a common gate signal. The switching devices are further attached to a substrate that includes a first coil and a second coil formed around a common axis to define a common mode choke in a gate path and a Kelvin source/emitter path of each of the switching devices.

Common-mode choke for paralleled power semiconductor

A vehicle is provided with a transmission having a chamber with fluid therein. The vehicle includes a core and a conductor that are mounted within the chamber. The core includes a pair of elements that are oriented toward each other along a longitudinal axis. Each element includes a base with a post and at least two projections extending longitudinally from the base. The conductor is disposed over the posts and is configured to receive the fluid through an opening formed between adjacent projections.

Inductor assembly

A power device supply includes an inverter, a converter, and a cooling system. The inverter is configured to convert direct electrical current into alternating electrical current. The converter has an inductor and is configured to amplify voltage. The cooling system has top, bottom, and intermediate cooling plates. The cooling system is arranged such that the inverter and inductor are interleaved with the plates and such that the inverter and inductor are disposed on opposing sides of the intermediate cooling plate.

Power supply device

A DC link capacitor coupled to positive and negative DC busses between a high voltage DC source and an electric vehicle inverter is quickly discharged during a shutdown. An active discharge circuit connected across the link capacitor has a discharge resistor in series with a discharge switch. The discharge switch has a control terminal for selectably turning the discharge switch on and off. A disable circuit is coupled to the control terminal and is responsive to a disable command signal to turn off the discharge switch. The disable circuit turns on the discharge switch upon cessation of the disable command signal. A timing circuit powered by a voltage from the link capacitor initiates a predetermined time interval upon cessation of the disable command signal, and continuously turns off the discharge switch after the predetermined time interval while the voltage from the link capacitor remains above a threshold.

Self-limiting active discharge circuit for electric vehicle inverter

A voltage converter includes a switch having a switching loss that decreases as a switching frequency of the switch decreases. The voltage converter further includes a controller programmed to vary the switching frequency based on a duty cycle of the switch and a current input to the switch to reduce switching losses or reduce a ripple current magnitude.

Variable carrier switching frequency control of variable voltage converter

A vehicle includes a transmission, a motor, and at least one controller. The motor is configured to be selectively coupled to the transmission. The at least one controller is programmed to output a fault for a coil temperature sensor of the motor based on an oil temperature of the transmission, a phase current of the motor, and a temperature change in a coil of the motor.

Methods and systems for temperature sensor fault detection

A vehicle electrical power system includes a variable voltage converter. The variable voltage converter includes an inductor assembly having a housing that defines a chamber containing dielectric fluid. An inductor is disposed within the chamber and is in contact with the fluid. The power system also includes a pump configured to circulate the dielectric fluid to cool the inductor.

Liquid cooled power inductor

An improved capacitor packaging solution is presented that incorporates both thermal and electrical considerations. A package can include capacitor elements electrically coupled to a bus bar, and a thermally enhanced isolation layer between the bus bar and a case. The isolation layer can be provided adjacent a case base and sidewall portions. The bus bar can be disposed adjacent the isolation layer and be configured to extend along the package side and along the package length below the capacitor elements to provide an extended path for heat dissipation from the bus bar prior to its contact with capacitor elements. The enhanced isolation layer is configured to conduct heat away from the bus bar to the case to avoid the hotspot temperature of the capacitor. Reduced capacitor temperature allows use of smaller, cheaper capacitors, reducing inverter costs without compromising performance.

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Farmington Hills, MI, United States of America

Shahram Zarei