Researchers in the US have developed a new heavy-duty electric motor drive design for aircraft, ships and trucks, writes Nick Flaherty.

The design, developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), uses two inversely synchronised inverters to cancel unwanted effects at the system level while retaining the original hardware, thereby offering higher-performance propulsion without added complexity or cost.

The inverse segmented motor drive uses dual active neutral-point clamped (ANPC) inverters, where the neutral-point current and the common-mode (CM) voltage are topologically cancelled using modifications to the winding in a standard motor.

This achieves zero total neutral-point current and CM voltage under ideal conditions. The zero total neutral-point current minimises the neutral-point voltage imbalance in ANPC inverters and reduces overheating, electrical noise and component wear. The result is lower overall electrical stress in demanding transportation environments.

Simulations show a 90% reduction in neutral-point voltage fluctuations and a 43% drop in current stress on capacitors, helping systems operate more reliably where durability and uptime are critical.

“This design change requires no additional hardware,” said ORNL researcher Gui-Jia Su. “As systems move toward higher power levels, we need solutions that are scalable and reliable.”

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