A Review on Multiphase Drives for Automotive Traction Applications

This article attempts to cover the most recent advancements in multiphase drives (MPDs), which are candidates for replacing three-phase drives in electric vehicle (EV) applications. Multiphase machines have distinctive features that arouse many research directions. This article reviews the recent advancements in several aspects such as topology, control, and performance to evaluate the possibility of exploiting them more in EV applications in future. The six-phase drives are extensively covered here because of their inherent structure as a dual three-phase system, which eases the production process. This article presents different topologies used in dual three-phase drives and the modulation techniques used to operate them as well as the status of using MPDs in traction applications industrially and the upcoming trends toward promoting this technology more.