US Patent 7755313 Power inverter module thermal management

According to an example embodiment, a method is provided for limiting an operational temperature of a motor. The method includes generating a maximum allowable current I*S(max) for a motor based on a temperature difference between a temperature reference T* of a power inverter module and a semiconductor device temperature T of the power inverter module. The method further includes generating a maximum allowable torque T*e(max) based on the maximum allowable current I*S(max) and a maximum allowable flux Ψ*S(max), and using the maximum allowable torque T*e(max) to limit the torque command T*e in order to suppress the semiconductor device temperature T to below the temperature reference T*.