A power converter module includes a baseplate, a substrate on the baseplate, one or more silicon carbide switching components on the substrate, and a housing over the baseplate, the substrate, and the one or more silicon carbide switching components. The housing has a footprint less than 25 cm.sup.2. Including a baseplate in a power converter module with a footprint less than 25 cm.sup.2 runs counter to accepted design principles for silicon and silicon carbide-based power converter modules, but may improve performance of the power converter module and/or decrease the cost of the power converter module.

A system can include a bi-directional converter circuit comprising a plurality of switches and a flying capacitor configured to experience a low voltage or a high voltage, and a control module operatively connected to the plurality of switches to control a state of the plurality of switches. The control module can be configured to receive a sense signal indicative of a flying capacitor voltage and to control the one or more switches of the plurality of switches to charge or discharge the flying capacitor to maintain a target voltage or target voltage range.

A vehicle system controller is configured to determine a current buffer ratio for a first energy buffer based on a current buffer energy level for the first energy buffer and a predetermined buffer range for the first energy buffer, and determine if the current buffer ratio for the first energy buffer should be increased using energy provided by a power converter, the determination being based on the current buffer ratio for the first energy buffer and a cost for generating energy from energy stored in a second energy buffer using the power converter.

In a hybrid vehicle including: a step-up converter for stepping-up the voltage from a battery and supplying power to the front motor for driving front wheels; as well as a paddle switch for setting regenerative braking torque stepwisely, and a hybrid control unit for calculating a regenerative braking force based on a selection stage set by the paddle switch, the hybrid control unit decreases the regenerative braking force to be less than the regenerative braking force while the maximum input/output power of the step-up converter is not limited, when a selection stage in which regenerative braking force is more than that in a D range is selected while the maximum input/output power of the step-up converter is limited.

A powertrain for a vehicle includes and electric machine and a plurality of inverters. The electric machine may include a stator defining a plurality of stator teeth separated by slots that are configured to accept windings. The plurality of inverters may each be configured to exclusively drive a current in some but not all of the windings within slots such that some of the plurality of stator teeth within a sector of the stator are configured to be energized by only one of the inverters.

A voltage estimating device for a power supply line according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a voltage detector, a current detector, a voltage calculator. The voltage calculator calculates a magnitude of alternating primary voltage that a primary winding in a transformer receives from a power supply line based on a magnitude of tertiary voltage in the transformer detected by the voltage detector, a magnitude of output current in the transformer detected by the current detector, and correlation information. The correlation information indicates a correlation between a voltage ratio and the magnitude of the output current, and the voltage ratio represents a ratio of the magnitude -of the primary voltage to the magnitude of the tertiary voltage.

A powertrain for a vehicle includes and electric machine and a plurality of inverters. The electric machine may include a stator defining a plurality of stator teeth separated by slots that are configured to accept windings. The plurality of inverters may each be configured to exclusively drive a current in some but not all of the windings within slots such that some of the plurality of stator teeth within a sector of the stator are configured to be energized by only one of the inverters.

A power converter module includes an active metal braze (AMB) substrate, power converter circuitry, and a housing. The AMB substrate includes an aluminum nitride base layer, a first conductive layer on a first surface of the aluminum nitride base layer, and a second conductive layer on a second surface of the aluminum nitride base layer opposite the first surface. The power converter circuitry includes a number of silicon carbide switching components coupled to one another via the first conductive layer. The housing is over the power converter circuitry and the AMB substrate. By using an AMB substrate with an aluminum nitride base layer, the thermal dissipation characteristics of the power converter module may be substantially improved while maintaining the structural integrity of the power converter module.

A rail vehicle (1), a method of producing and method of driving the rail vehicle (1) which comprises at least one car body (2). The car body (2) comprises two car body ends (3, 4) the end region of which is supported on a respective wheel unit (5, 6). At least one wheel unit (5, 6) is designed to be driven. The rail vehicle comprises a drive arrangement comprising a transformer unit (7), a traction motor unit (9) and a power converter unit (8). The primary transformer unit (7) and primary power converter unit (8) are arranged adjacent the first wheel unit (5). The primary transformer unit (7) and the primary power converter unit (8) are connected to the second wheel unit (6) such that a traction motor unit (9), of the second wheel unit (6), can be driven by the primary transformer unit and the primary power converter unit.

An active rectifier module includes a matrix converter having a plurality of phase inputs and a plurality of phase outputs, a rectifier including a plurality of inputs, each connected to a corresponding phase output in the plurality of phase outputs, a filter capacitor connected across a DC output of the rectifier, and a DC output configured to provide DC power to a load.