Refrigeration apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9276516-B2
Application number	US-201113643134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2011
Priority date	May 6, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A refrigeration apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit with a compressor, a power module, a refrigerant cooler in contact with the power module, and an IPM motor which drives the compressor. A refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit flows through the refrigerant cooler, and cooling of the power module is performed by dissipating heat to the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant cooler. A controller in the refrigeration apparatus outputs a driving signal to a drive circuit to reduce the number of switching operations of switching elements by performing overmodulation control such that there exists a carrier cycle in which no switching is performed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A refrigeration apparatus, comprising:
a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a heat source-side heat exchanger, an expansion mechanism, and a utilization-side heat exchanger are connected to perform a refrigeration cycle, wherein
the refrigeration apparatus includes
a power module including a plurality of switching elements each of which converts an input voltage to an AC voltage having a predetermined frequency and a predetermined voltage value,
an IPM motor which drives the compressor,
a rectifier circuit which supplies a DC link voltage to the power module,
a refrigerant cooler in which a refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit flows and which cools the power module, the refrigerant cooler being grounded thereby forming an inductance component and a stray capacitance, wherein a current flows out of the refrigeration apparatus through the stray capacitance, and
a control section which controls an operation of each of the switching elements by performing overmodulation control when a rotational frequency of the compressor exceeds a predetermined level such that there exists a carrier cycle in which no switching is performed, wherein the IPM motor has sufficient inductance to reduce a ripple in an output current of the power module resulting from the overmodulation control.

2. The refrigeration apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the control section controls a voltage phase or a current phase to be applied to the IPM motor, thereby adjusting a motor terminal voltage in a same operation state.

3. The refrigeration apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the control section does not perform the switching when a target value of a motor terminal voltage exceeds the DC link voltage.

Assignees

• Harada Yoshiyuki
• Maeda Toshiyuki
• Daikin Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Harada Yoshiyuki
• Maeda Toshiyuki

Classifications

• H02M1/44

  Circuits or arrangements for compensating for electromagnetic interference in converters or inverters · CPC title

• H02P29/68

  based on the temperature of a drive component or a semiconductor component · CPC title

• H02P27/08 Primary

  with pulse width modulation · CPC title

• F25B49/025

  Motor control arrangements · CPC title

• F25B2313/004

  Outdoor unit with water as a heat sink or heat source · CPC title