Novel and ruggedized power electronics for off-highway vehicles

This paper covers the challenges in implementing power electronics and drive systems in emerging vehicle applications. Application of power electronics becomes important for greater energy density, decreased fuel consumption, performance and productivity enhancements, and desired protection, diagnostic, and safety features. A sustained effort is needed on power electronics and electric drive system design to achieve the desired level of performance. There can be numerous machines/drives of various types and power levels in a system. In numerous applications, driving torque varies considerably over a given work cycle including occurrence of the stall condition. Therefore, the drive system should have a reliable ride-through capability. To achieve desired torque/speed profile and dynamic response, a systematic design, development, and deployment of the power electronics-based electric drive system is needed. Application conditions make it difficult to match/exceed mechanical system reliability and costs. Therefore, this paper covers the unique challenges of developing and implementing power electronics and drives in harsh vehicle applications.