Regenerative undeland snubber circuit for half-arm of an inverter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11444530-B2
Application number	US-201615777790-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2016
Priority date	Nov 23, 2015
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

The present invention is a power module for a system for converting a direct electrical power into a three-phase electrical power. The power module according to the invention comprises two inputs (E 1 , E 2 ), an output (S), two switches ( 1 ), two diodes (D), and two capacitors (Cs, Cov) and to a conversion system comprising such a power module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for converting direct current into multiple phase alternating current comprising:
at least one power module with each power module being associated with a different alternating phase current;
each power module being configured for connection to a DC source for providing electrical energy to be converted from the DC source into the multiple phase alternating current, the DC source providing a non-reference voltage and a reference voltage, each power module including two switches connected in series and having an input and an output which are respectively connected to the voltages and a common connection between the switches which provides an output phase of the multiple phase alternating current, and the switches are switched to produce the output phase of the multiple phase alternating current;
two diodes connected in series between the voltages, having an output providing energy recovery of switching losses from the switches and are coupled together at a common point;
a first capacitor coupled between the reference voltage and the output of the two diodes which stores energy recovered from the switching losses of the switches;
a second capacitor coupled between the common point of the switches and the common point of the diodes for producing voltage modulation of soft switching losses of the switches; and wherein
each power module does not include a resistor coupled between the non-reference voltage and the output phase of alternating current.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the switches are either MOSFETs or IGBTs.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the second capacitor has a capacitance of between 4 and 15 nF.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the second capacitor has a capacitance of between 4 and 15 nF.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

6. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

7. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

8. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the power conversion module is a block configured for mounting on a board of the system.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the block comprises means for fixing the block to the power conversion module.

11. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the power conversion module is a block configured for mounting on a board of the system.

12. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the power conversion module is a block configured for mounting on a board of the system.

13. The system according to claim 4 wherein the power conversion module is a block configured for mounting on a board of the system.

14. The system for converting a direct electrical power in accordance with claim 1 , comprising three switching arms with each switching arm comprising a power module.

15. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil for voltage modulation of the soft switching losses.

16. The system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the reference voltage is ground and the non-reference voltage is positive.

17. A system for converting direct current into alternating current comprising:
at least one power module with each power module being associated with the alternating current;
each power module being configured for connection to a DC source for providing electrical energy to be converted from the DC source into the alternating current, the DC source providing a non-reference voltage and a reference voltage, each power module including two switches connected in series and having an input and an output which are respectively connected to the voltages and a common connection between the switches which provides an output of the alternating current, and the switches are switched to produce the alternating current; and
two diodes connected in series between the voltages, having an output of the two diodes providing energy recovery of switching losses from the two switches, and being coupled together at a common point;
a first capacitor coupled between the reference voltage and the output of the two diodes which is storage of energy recovered from the switching losses of the two modules;
a second capacitor coupled between the common point of the switches and the common point of the diodes for producing voltage modulation of soft switching losses of the switches; and wherein
each power module does not include a resistor coupled between the non-reference voltage and the output of the alternating current.

18. The system according to claim 17 , in which the switches are either MOSFETs or IGBTs.

19. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the second capacitor has a capacitance of between 4 and 15 nF.

20. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the second capacitor has a capacitance of between 4 and 15 nF.

21. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

22. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

23. The system according to claim 19 wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

24. The system according to claim 20 , wherein the first capacitor has a capacitance of between 500 and 5000 nF.

25. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the power conversion module is a block configured for mounting on a board of the system.

26. The system according to claim 25 , wherein the block comprises means for fixing to the power conversion module.

27. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

28. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

29. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

30. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

31. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

32. The system according to claim 19 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

33. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the system comprises at least one current modulation coil.

34. The system in accordance with claim 17 , wherein the reference voltage is ground and the non-reference voltage is positive.

Assignees

• Ifp Energies Now
• Mavel Srl
• Mavel Edt S P A

Inventors

• Dib Wissam
• Chiono Denny
• Bettoni Davide

Classifications

• H02M1/0058

  by employing soft switching techniques, i.e. commutation of transistors when applied voltage is zero or when current flow is zero (using an auxiliary actively switched resonant commutation circuit connected to an intermediate DC voltage or between two push-pull branches of an inverter bridge H02M7/4811; in resonant inverters H02M7/4815; in inverters operating from a resonant DC source H02M7/4826) · CPC title

• H02M7/5387 Primary

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title

• H02P27/08

  with pulse width modulation · CPC title

• H02M1/346

  Passive non-dissipative snubbers · CPC title

• H02M1/34 Primary

  Snubber circuits · CPC title