Power conversion system and an associated method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10811985-B2
Application number	US-201716327493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2017
Priority date	Aug 26, 2016
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

A system including a converter is disclosed. The converter includes a first switch having one or more first controllable switches coupled in parallel across at least one diode. A first controlling unit is operatively coupled to the converter. The first controlling unit is configured to determine a temperature of the one or more first controllable switches. The first controlling unit is further configured to compare the determined temperature of the one or more first controllable switches with a transition temperature at which a first power loss of the one or more first controllable switches is equal to a second power loss of the at least one diode and control a switching state of the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the determined temperature with the transition temperature.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a converter comprising a first switch comprising one or more first controllable switches coupled in parallel across at least one diode;
a first controlling unit operatively coupled to the converter, configured to:
determine a temperature of the one or more first controllable switches;
compare the determined temperature of the one or more first controllable switches with a transition temperature at which a first power loss of the one or more first controllable switches is equal to a second power loss of the at least one diode; and
control a switching state of the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the determined temperature with the transition temperature;
a sensing unit operatively coupled to the converter comprising:
a temperature sensor operatively coupled to the one or more first controllable switches, and
a comparator operatively coupled to the temperature sensor;
a second controlling unit operatively coupled to the sensing unit,
wherein the sensing unit is configured to:
determine, using the temperature sensor, a first voltage representative of the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches;
compare, using the comparator, the determined first voltage with a second voltage representative of the transition temperature;
generate a first control signal for controlling the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the determined first voltage with the second voltage,
transmit the first control signal to the second controlling unit; and
wherein the second controlling unit is configured to:
determine, using the temperature sensor, the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches, and
generate a second control signal based on the determined temperature.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first controllable switches comprise at least one of a silicon based switch and a wide-band gap device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the converter further comprises a second switch.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first switch comprises a freewheeling body diode coupled in parallel to each of the one or more first controllable switches.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein a forward voltage drop of the at least one diode is substantially less than a forward voltage drop of the freewheeling body diode.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second controlling unit is further configured to:
determine a value of variation of one or more parameters of one or more components of the sensing unit;
compare the second control signal with the first control signal based on the value of variation of the one or more parameters; and
control the switching state of the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the second control signal with the first control signal.

7. A method comprising:
determining a temperature of one or more first controllable switches of a converter, wherein the one or more first controllable switches is coupled in parallel across at least one diode of the converter;
comparing the determined temperature of the one or more first controllable switches with a transition temperature at which a first power loss of the one or more first controllable switches is equal to a second power loss of the at least one diode; and
controlling a switching state of the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the determined temperature with the transition temperature;
determining a first voltage representative of the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches, using a temperature sensor of a sensing unit;
comparing the determined first voltage with a second voltage representative of the transition temperature, using a comparator of the sensing unit; and
generating a first control signal for controlling the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the determined first voltage with the second voltage;
determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches, using a second controlling unit operatively coupled to the sensing unit; and
generating a second control signal based on the determined temperature, using the second controlling unit.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches is representative of a junction temperature of the one or more first controllable switches.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, using the second controlling unit, a value of variation of one or more parameters of one or more components of the sensing unit;
comparing, using the second controlling unit, the second control signal with the first control signal based on the value of variation of the one or more parameters; and
controlling the switching state of the one or more first controllable switches based on the comparison of the second control signal with the first control signal.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches comprises determining a load current.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches further comprises:
determining a current transmitted through the one or more first controllable switches based on the determined load current; and
determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches based on the current transmitted through the one or more first controllable switches.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches further comprises:
determining a duty cycle of a second switch of the converter based on the determined load current; and
determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches based on the duty cycle of the second switch.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches comprises:
determining a filter current of a filtering circuit coupled to the converter;
determining a magnitude of a switching harmonic component based on the determined filter current; and
determining the temperature of the one or more first controllable switches based on the determined magnitude of the switching harmonic component.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein controlling the switching state of the one or more first controllable switches comprises operating the converter with the one or more first controllable switches in a de-activated state if the determined temperature is greater than the transition temperature.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein controlling the switching state of the one or more first controllable switches comprises operating the converter with the one or more first
controllable switches in an activated state if the determined temperature is less than the transition temperature.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determined temperature of the one or more first controllable switches comprises at least one of a maximum temperature and an average temperature of the one or more first controllable switches.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Chennamsetty Prashanth Manikumar
• O'Steen Rien William
• Vijayan Pradeep
• Tiwari Arvind Kumar

Classifications

• H02M1/0009

  Devices or circuits for detecting current in a converter · CPC title

• H02M1/0048

  Circuits or arrangements for reducing losses (using snubbers H02M1/34) · CPC title

• H02M1/327

  against abnormal temperatures · CPC title

• Y02B70/10

  Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes · CPC title

• H02M3/33592 Primary

  having a synchronous rectifier circuit or a synchronous freewheeling circuit at the secondary side of an isolation transformer · CPC title