The invention relates to a method for operating a drive unit (1000) comprising an
electric machine (1) and a power converter arrangement (100) for supplying the
electric machine with electrical power. The power converter arrangement comprises a first
DC voltage terminal (101) and a second
DC voltage terminal (102) and at least two half-bridges (110, 120, 130). In each half-bridge, a first and a second
semiconductor switch (111, 121, 131, 112, 122, 132) are arranged between the first or second
DC voltage terminal (101) and a center terminal (113, 123, 133) of the half-bridge (110, 120, 130). Furthermore, at least two half-bridges comprise a
current sensor (114, 124) configured to measure the current flowing through the center terminal.In this method, a symmetrical three-phase
system is produced, and the current intensity profile of the flowing current is recorded by each
current sensor for a first time interval. Subsequently, a correction factor for the current intensity is determined for at least one of the at least two half-bridges as a function of a characteristic parameter of the recorded current intensity profiles, and the drive unit is operated using the determined correction factor. The invention further relates to a drive unit.