Power converter with switching elements, control circuit having speed adjustment resistor, and feedback route

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10848078-B2
Application number	US-201916526762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2019
Priority date	Jul 30, 2018
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

In a power converter, a control circuit has a speed adjustment resistor that limits a control current to adjust a switching speed of each of first and second switching elements. The speed adjustment resistor has a resistance that varies depending on a voltage at the control electrode of each of the first and second switching elements. A feedback route connects between the control electrode of the first switching element and the control electrode of the second switching element. The feedback route has a resistance that is set to be lower than a value of the resistance of the speed adjustment resistor during a predetermined Miller period of each of the first and second switching elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power converter comprising:
a first switching element;
a second switching element connected in parallel to the first switching element; and
a control circuit configured to perform on-off switching operations of each of the first and second switching elements to thereby convert input power to output power,
wherein:
each of the first and second switching elements has:
a control electrode connected to the control circuit, and
a reference electrode serving as a reference potential for a potential of the control electrode;

the control circuit comprises at least one drive unit configured to apply a control current to the control electrode of each of the first and second switching elements based on a control voltage to thereby turn on a corresponding one of the first and second switching elements, so that an on current flows through the reference electrode of the corresponding one of the first and second switching elements;
the control circuit has a speed adjustment resistor configured to limit the control current to adjust a switching speed of each of the first and second switching elements;
the speed adjustment resistor has a resistance that varies depending on a voltage at the control electrode of each of the first and second switching elements;
the power converter further comprises:
a feedback route connecting between the control electrode of the first switching element and the control electrode of the second switching; and

the feedback route has a resistance that is set to be lower than a value of the resistance of the speed adjustment resistor during a predetermined Miller period of each of the first and second switching elements.

2. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein:
the feedback route is configured to cause a feedback current to flow from the control electrode of one of the first and second switching elements to the control electrode of the other of the first and second switching elements when the voltage at the control electrode of the one of the first and second switching elements is higher than the voltage at the control electrode of the other of the first and second switching elements.

3. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein:
the feedback route comprises a feedback resistor having the resistance that is set to be lower than the value of the resistance of the speed adjustment resistor during a predetermined Miller period of each of the first and second switching elements.

4. The power converter according to claim 3 , wherein:
the feedback route comprises a capacitor connected in parallel to the feedback resistor.

5. The power converter according to claim 3 , wherein:
the feedback route comprises a coil connected in series to the feedback resistor.

6. The power converter according to claim 3 , wherein:
the control circuit incorporates therein the feedback resistor.

7. The power converter according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a switch module configured to incorporate therein the first and second switching elements and the feedback resistor.

8. The power converter according to claim 3 , wherein the feedback route comprises
at least one switch located between the feedback resistor and the control electrode of one of the first and second switching elements.

9. The power converter according to claim 8 , wherein:
the at least one switch comprises a pair of a first switch and a second switch, each of the first and second switches having a predetermined conduction direction, the predetermined conduction directions of the first and second switches being opposite to each other,
the first and second switches being connected to be in parallel to each other, and
the first and second switches being located between the feedback resistor and the control electrode of one of the first and second switching elements.

10. The power converter according to claim 8 , wherein:
the reference electrodes of the first and second switching elements are respectively connected to first and second grounds that are electrically isolated from each other.

11. The power converter according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a reference coil connecting between the reference electrode of the first switching element and the reference electrode of the second switching element.

12. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one drive unit comprises a single drive unit configured to apply the control current to the control electrode of each of the first and second switching elements to thereby turn on the corresponding one of the first and second switching elements.

13. The power converter according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one drive unit comprises at least first and second drive units provided for the first and second switching elements, respectively, each of the first and second drive units being configured to apply the control current to the control electrode of the corresponding one of the first and second switching elements to thereby turn on the corresponding one of the first and second switching elements.

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Yamahira Yuu
• Matsuoka Tetsuya
• FUKUSHIMA Kazuma
• Araragi Akifumi
• Kakimoto Noriyuki
• Sumitomo Masakiyo

Classifications

• H03K17/168

  in composite switches · CPC title

• H02M1/088 Primary

  for the simultaneous control of series or parallel connected semiconductor devices · CPC title

• H03K17/127

  in composite switches · CPC title

• H02M7/537 Primary

  using semiconductor devices only, e.g. single switched pulse inverters · CPC title

• H02M7/5387

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title