Integrated power unit for a power supply device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10833596-B1
Application number	US-201916435752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 10, 2019
Priority date	Jun 10, 2019
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

A DC to AC inverter includes a plurality of power units. Each power unit has a pair of switches, a DC linking capacitor, AC and DC bus bars, and a monolithic insulating material that encapsulates the switches, capacitor and bus bars. Each switch is sandwiched between one of the AC bars and one of the DC bus bars. The monolithic insulating material exposes external surfaces of at least one the bus bars sandwiching each switch.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
an electric machine configured to propel the vehicle;
a battery configured to provide electrical power to the electric machine; and
an inverter configured to convert DC electrical power from the battery into AC electrical power and to deliver the AC electrical power to the electric machine, the inverter comprising an array of power units,
each power unit having,
a pair of switching circuits,
a DC linking capacitor,
AC and DC buses, each of the AC and DC buses comprising a series of interconnected plates and terminals, and
a monolithic insulating material that encapsulates the switching circuits, capacitor, and buses, wherein each switching circuit is sandwiched between one of the plates that comprises a portion of the AC bus and one of the plates that comprises a portion of the DC bus such that one of the plates completely overlays an upper surface area of each switching circuit and one of the plates completely overlays a lower surface area of each switching circuit, wherein each switching circuit is electrically connected to the DC linking capacitor via the DC bus, and wherein the monolithic insulating material exposes external surfaces of at least one the plate sandwiching each switching circuit, wherein each of the exposed external surfaces faces away from and is disposed on an opposing side of the respective plate relative to one of the switching circuits.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exposed external surfaces of the plates within each power unit are substantially aligned along the same plane.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exposed external surfaces of the plates of each power unit of the array of power units are substantially aligned along the same plane.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 further comprising a cooling manifold disposed on each of the external surfaces of the exposed plates of each power unit.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising first and second cooling manifolds, and wherein each switching circuit, and the respective plates that each switching circuit is sandwiched between, are sandwiched between the first and second cooling manifolds.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the first and second cooling manifolds extends beyond and edge of the plates and overlaps the DC linking capacitors.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the inverter is a three-phase inverter, the array of power units includes three power units, and the pairs of switching circuits of each power unit are a half-bridge of the three-phase inverter.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a heat spreader disposed between each switching circuit and the exposed external surface of the respective plate that each switching circuit is sandwiched between.

9. A DC to AC inverter comprising:
a plurality of power units each having a pair of switches, a DC linking capacitor, AC and DC buses, each of the AC and DC buses comprising a series of interconnected plates and terminals, and a monolithic insulating material that encapsulates the switches, capacitor, and buses, wherein each switch is sandwiched between one of the plates that comprises a portion of the AC bus and one of the plates that comprises a portion of the DC bus, such that one of the plates completely overlays an upper surface area of each switch and one of the plates completely overlays a lower surface area of each switch, and wherein the monolithic insulating material exposes external surfaces of at least one the plates sandwiching each switch, wherein each of the exposed external surfaces faces away from and is disposed on an opposing side of the respective plate relative to one of the switches.

10. The inverter of claim 9 , wherein the exposed external surfaces of the plates are substantially aligned along the same plane.

11. The inverter of claim 9 , wherein the expose external surfaces of the plates of each power unit of the plurality of power units are substantially aligned along the same plane.

12. The inverter of claim 11 further comprising a cooling manifold disposed on each of the exposed external surfaces of the plates of each power unit.

13. The inverter of claim 9 further comprising first and second cooling manifolds, and wherein each switch, and the respective plates that each switch is sandwiched between, are sandwiched between the first and second cooling manifolds.

14. The inverter of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the first and second cooling manifolds extends beyond and edge of the plates and overlaps the DC linking capacitors.

15. The inverter of claim 9 , wherein the inverter is a three-phase inverter, the plurality of power units includes three power units, and the pairs of switches of each power unit are a half-bridge of the three-phase inverter.

16. The inverter of claim 9 further comprising a heat spreader disposed between each switch and the exposed external surface of the respective plate that each switch is sandwiched between.

17. A power unit for a DC to AC inverter comprising:
AC and DC buses, each of the AC and DC buses comprising a series of interconnected plates and terminals;
a pair of switches electrically connected to a DC linking capacitor via the DC bus, each switch being sandwiched between one of the plates that comprises a portion of the AC bus and one of the plates that comprises a portion of the DC bus, such that one of the plates completely overlays an upper surface area of each switch and one of the plates completely overlays a lower surface area of each switch, and
a monolithic insulating material encapsulating the switches, capacitor, and buses, wherein the monolithic insulating material exposing external surfaces of at least one the plates sandwiching each switch, wherein each of the exposed external surfaces faces away from and is disposed on an opposing side of the respective plate relative to one of the switches.

18. The power unit of claim 17 , wherein the exposed external surfaces of the plates are substantially aligned along the same plane.

19. The power unit of claim 17 , wherein the pair of switches are a half-bridge of an inverting circuit.

20. The power unit of claim 17 further comprising a heat spreader disposed between each switch and the exposed external surface of the respective plate that each switch is sandwiched between.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Chen Lihua
• Wang Fan
• Xu Fan
• Ge Baoming

Classifications

• B60L15/007 Primary

  Physical arrangements or structures of drive train converters specially adapted for the propulsion motors of electric vehicles · CPC title

• H05K7/14329

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

• H02M7/5387

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title

• H02M7/003 Primary

  Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections · CPC title

• H05K7/2089

  for power electronics, e.g. for inverters for controlling motor · CPC title