Ground Fault Location System for Powertrain of Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Nowadays the scientists' attention has been focused on the electric vehicle field carrying out numerous researches and studies. The ground fault in electric vehicle is quite common due to the severe operation conditions, such as vibrations, twists or even shocks. The electric systems in electric vehicles are ungrounding, so the first ground fault is not dangerous. Nevertheless, a second ground fault could produce malfunction of some systems, power loss or even damages. It takes time to locate where the grounded fault comes from (DC or AC part). This research is focused on developing a ground-fault detection method for electric vehicles. The method is based on the analysis of the voltage in a grounding resistor. According to the polarity and harmonics, it is possible to locate the ground fault. This method has been tested by computer simulations with promising results.