Three-phase switch architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10707779-B2
Application number	US-201715855251-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2017
Priority date	Dec 29, 2016
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

A three-phase switching unit including three identical switching cells, each including at least one first electrically-controlled switch in series with at least one second spontaneous conduction switch, wherein the cells are arranged, around a conductive central area of a substrate, with a symmetry of revolution of order 3.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A three-phase current inverter, comprising:
a first three phase switching unit and a second three-phase switching unit, each of the first and second three-phase switching units comprising:
a conductive central area of a substrate; and
three identical switching cells arranged around and radially spaced from the conductive central area with a symmetry of revolution of order 3, each of the three identical switching cells comprising at least one first electrically-controlled switch in series with at least one second spontaneous conduction switch,
wherein the conductive central area defines an input terminal of the three-phase current inverter to which the three identical switching cells are electrically interconnected; and
wherein the three identical switching cells of the first three-phase switching unit and the three identical switching cells of the second three-phase switching unit are electrically connected two by two, interconnection nodes connecting the first and second three-phase switching units defining three phase terminals.

2. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one second spontaneous conduction switch of each of the three identical switching cells is assembled in the conductive central area of the substrate with a second symmetry of revolution of order 3.

3. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive central area of the substrate supports no component.

4. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive central area of the substrate has a third symmetry of revolution of order 3.

5. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first electrically-controlled switch and the at least one second spontaneous conduction switch of the three identical switching cells are arranged on conductive peripheral areas of the substrate having a fourth symmetry of revolution of order 3.

6. The three-phase current inverter of claim 5 , wherein the conductive central area and the peripheral areas of the substrate approximately form a Y shape.

7. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive central area of the substrate has a substantially hexagonal shape.

8. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein said at least one first electrically-controlled switch comprises a plurality of transistors.

9. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein said at least one second spontaneous conduction switch comprises a diode, or a MOS transistor.

10. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one first electrically-controlled switch is welded to a conductive area by a back-side metallization of a chip made of semiconductor materials, defining an electrode of the at least one first electrically-controlled switch.

11. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is an insulated metal substrate.

12. A system comprising:
an assembly of photovoltaic panels; and
the three-phase current inverter of claim 11 .

13. The three-phase current inverter of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second three-phase switching units comprises three phase terminal electrodes.

14. A multi-phase current inverter, comprising:
two switching units, each coupling a respective one of two direct current (DC) ports to a plurality of alternating current (AC) terminals;
first and second pluralities of switching cells respectively forming the two switching units, each of the first and second pluralities of switching cells comprising an electrically-controlled switch coupled in series with a spontaneous conduction switch,
wherein each of the first and second pluralities of switching cells is configured for unidirectional conduction of current;
wherein the first plurality of switching cells are identical and are arranged around and radially spaced from a first conductive central area of at least one substrate with a symmetry of revolution of order 3; and
wherein the second plurality of switching cells are identical and are arranged around and radially spaced from a second conductive central area of the at least one substrate with a symmetry of revolution of order 3.

15. The multi-phase current inverter of claim 14 , wherein the spontaneous conduction switch of each of the first plurality of switching cells is assembled in the first conductive central area of the at least one substrate.

16. The multi-phase current inverter of claim 14 , wherein the first conductive central area of the at least one substrate does not support the spontaneous conduction switches of the first plurality of switching cells.

17. The multi-phase current inverter of claim 14 , wherein the electrically-controlled switch of each of the first and second pluralities of switching cells comprises a transistor, and the spontaneous conduction switch of each of the first and second pluralities of switching cells comprises a diode or a MOS transistor.

18. The multi-phase current inverter of claim 14 , wherein the multi-phase current inverter is a three-phase inverter, and the first plurality of switching cells and the second plurality of switching cells each include three switching cells.

19. The multi-phase current inverter of claim 14 , wherein each of the two switching units comprises a plurality of phase terminal electrodes, each of the plurality of AC terminals comprising one of the plurality of phase terminal electrodes of each of the two switching units.

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique
• Commissariat A Ienergie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives

Inventors

• Lefevre Guillaume
• Alves Rodrigues Luis-Gabriel
• Ferrieux Jean-Paul

Classifications

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title

• H10W70/65

  Shapes or dispositions of interconnections · CPC title

• H05K7/14329

  specially adapted for the configuration of power bus bars · CPC title

• H10D84/811

  Combinations of field-effect devices and one or more diodes, capacitors or resistors · CPC title

• H10F77/935

  for photovoltaic devices or modules · CPC title