An integrated traction and compressor drive system for EV/HEV applications

This paper presents an integrated traction and compressor drive to reduce the HVAC compressor drive cost in electric and hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV) applications. The drive system employs a five-leg inverter to drive a three-phase traction motor and a two-phase compressor motor. The common terminal of the two-phase motor is tied to the neutral point of the three-phase traction motor to eliminate the requirement of a third phase leg. The cost of the compressor drive can be significantly lowered due to the elimination of one phase leg and additional part count reduction made possible by sharing the switching devices, DC bus filter capacitors, gate drive power supplies, and control circuit. Simulation and experimental results are included to verify that speed control of the two motors is independent from each other.