Patent attributes
An electric drive system includes a battery pack, a power inverter module (“PIM”), an electric machine, a switching circuit, and a controller. The electric machine has three or more phase legs. The PIM has a DC-side connected to the battery pack, and an alternating current (“AC”)-side connected to the electric machine. The switching circuit includes AC switches. For each phase leg the circuit also includes three or more winding sections each electrically connectable to or disconnectable from the PIM via the AC switches. The controller commands a binary switching state of each respective AC switch based on the rotary speed to implement one of four different speed-based operating modes of the electric machine, and to thereby vary a conductive path from the PIM to the electric machine through one or more of the connected winding sections.
