Performance investigation of constant boost controlled Z source inverter fed locomotive drives

The present day three phase locomotives consist of converter inverter technology for controlling the traction motors. The traction motors are squirrel cage induction motors fed by voltage source inverter. This paper proposes the z source inverter in place of voltage source inverter and investigates the performance of locomotive drives. The control strategy used for inverter is the constant boost control with third harmonic injection. Variable voltage variable frequency method is adopted for controlling the traction motors. The inverter input voltage can be reduced by using Z source inverter instead of voltage source inverter.