A power cutoff device includes a relay unit including a switch having a connecting state to be electrically conductive and a cutoff state to be electrically non-conductive, a cutoff unit connected in series to the switch, a current detector configured to detect an object current flowing through the cutoff unit, and a controller configured to control the relay unit and the cutoff unit. The cutoff unit has a connecting state to be electrically conductive and an irreversible cutoff state to be electrically conductive. The controller is configured to obtain a changing rate of the object current with respect to time. The controller is configured to cause the switch to be in the connecting state and cause the cutoff unit to be in the connecting state if determining that the changing rate is not greater than a changing-rate threshold. The controller is configured to cause the relay unit to be in the cutoff state and cause the cutoff unit to be in the irreversible cutoff state if determining that the changing rate is greater than the changing-rate threshold. This power cutoff device has a small size.

The invention relates to the actuation of an electric machine with a change between time-synchronous PWM clocking and angle-synchronous block clocking It is proposed to provide an angle-synchronous clocking with adjustable voltage indicator length for the transition. In this way, jumps in the operating behavior of the electric machine can be minimized or optionally prevented completely during a change between time-synchronous clocking and angle-synchronous clocking.

An electric powertrain includes a sensor-controller interface, an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack, and an electric machine connected to the inverter-controller and having a rotor with an angular position. The rotor powers a driven load at a torque and/or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to position signals indicative of the angular position. A rotary position sensor is operatively connected to the rotor to generate and output the position signals. The sensor derives the position signals from unmodulated sine and cosine signals, and communicates the position signals and a binary sensor state of health (SOH) to the inverter-controller over the interface. The inverter-controller also decodes the position signals and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and controls the torque and/or speed level using the decoded control data.

An electric powertrain includes a sensor-controller interface, an inverter-controller electrically connected to the battery pack, and an electric machine connected to the inverter-controller and having a rotor with an angular position. The rotor powers a driven load at a torque and/or speed level controlled by the inverter-controller in response to position signals indicative of the angular position. A rotary position sensor is operatively connected to the rotor to generate and output the position signals. The sensor derives the position signals from unmodulated sine and cosine signals, and communicates the position signals and a binary sensor state of health (SOH) to the inverter-controller over the interface. The inverter-controller also decodes the position signals and the binary sensor SOH to generate decoded control data, and controls the torque and/or speed level using the decoded control data.

An inverter assembly for an electric vehicle. The inverter assembly includes three inverters driving at least one wheel of the vehicle. Each inverter has a different phases angle relative to the other inverters in order to minimize current ripple and reduce the capacitor size to allow a smaller package for the inverter assembly.

A vehicle battery system has a battery including a plurality of series connected cells, a bus bar electrically connected between an adjacent pair of the series connected cells, and circuitry. The circuitry injects a sinusoidal current waveform through the bus bar, obtains a magnitude of a sinusoidal voltage waveform contained by an overall voltage of the bus bar that is caused by the sinusoidal current waveform from a sampled and filtered version of the overall voltage and digital data defining the sinusoidal current waveform, obtains a resistance of the bus bar from the magnitude of the sinusoidal voltage waveform and a measured magnitude of the sinusoidal current waveform, and obtains a magnitude of current through the battery from a DC portion of a spectrum of the overall voltage and the resistance of the bus bar.

The invention relates to the controlling of a rectifier with multiple electrical phases. In at least one electrical phase, the duty cycles are merged with one another in two consecutive cycles of the pulse-width modulated controlling, i.e. in a first PWM-pulse, the duty cycle is shifted to the end of the PWM-pulse, and in a subsequent PWM-pulse, the duty cycle is shifted to the start of the PWM-pulse. As a result, there must be no switching process between two consecutive PWM-pulses. In this way, the switching losses and consequently the rise in temperature of the rectifier can be minimised.

A controller for a switched reluctance motor is provided. The switched reluctance motor includes a rotor, a stator, and a coil wound on the stator. The switched reluctance motor is mounted on a vehicle as a drive source for propelling the vehicle. The controller includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to execute first control for exciting the coil at a first current value in a first exciting range. The electronic control unit is configured to, when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle is not able to start moving even when the electronic control unit executes the first control, execute second control for exciting the coil at a second current value larger than the first current value in a second exciting range narrower than the first exciting range.

A controller for a switched reluctance motor is provided. The switched reluctance motor includes a rotor, a stator, and a coil wound on the stator. The switched reluctance motor is mounted on a vehicle as a drive source for propelling the vehicle. The controller includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to execute first control for exciting the coil at a first current value in a first exciting range. The electronic control unit is configured to, when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle is not able to start moving even when the electronic control unit executes the first control, execute second control for exciting the coil at a second current value larger than the first current value in a second exciting range narrower than the first exciting range.

A power conversion device control system includes a power conversion device configured to supply electric power to a rotary electric machine, and a control device configured to control the power conversion device, wherein the control device controls the power conversion device through synchronous control in which a carrier frequency of the power conversion device is proportional to a rotational speed of the rotary electric machine when a temperature of a permanent magnet provided in the rotary electric machine is higher than a predetermined threshold value, and controls the power conversion device through non-synchronous control in which a carrier frequency of the power conversion device is not proportional to a rotational speed of the rotary electric machine when a temperature of the permanent magnet is the predetermined threshold value or less.