Power converter control system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9409482-B2
Application number	US-201213598679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2012
Priority date	Apr 17, 2012
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A power converter control system includes a first power converter, at least one additional power converter, a first control module, and an additional control module. The first power converter receives direct current and outputs alternating current as a first power output. The additional power converter receives direct current and outputs alternating current as an additional power output. The first control module controls timing of events of the first power converter. The additional control module is associated with the additional power converter and controls timing of events of the additional power converter. The first control module communicates first information regarding the timing of the first power converter to the additional control module. The additional control module is configured to adjust the timing of the additional power converter to correspond with the timing of the first power converter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power converter control system, the system comprising:
a first power converter configured to receive direct current and output alternating current as a first power output;
plural additional power converters configured to receive direct current and output alternating current as plural additional power outputs;
a first control module configured to control timing of the first power converter; and
plural additional control modules respectively associated with the plural additional power converters and configured to control timing of the plural additional power converters;
wherein the first control module is configured to communicate first information regarding the timing of the first power converter to the plural additional control modules in parallel; and
wherein the plural additional control modules are configured to adjust the timing of the plural additional power converters in parallel to correspond with the timing of the first power converter to substantially synchronize the first power converter and the plural additional power converters.

2. The power converter control system of claim 1 , wherein the plural additional control modules are configured to communicate second information regarding the timing of the plural additional power converters to the first control module, and the first control module is configured to adjust the timing of the first power converter to correspond with the timing of the plural additional power converters.

3. A power converter control system, the system comprising:
a first power converter configured to receive direct current and output alternating current as a first power output;
at least one additional power converter configured to receive direct current and output alternating current as at least one additional power output;
a first control module configured to control timing of the first power converter; and
at least one additional control module associated with the at least one additional power converter and configured to control timing of the at least one additional power converter;
wherein the first control module is configured to communicate first information regarding the timing of the first power converter to the at least one additional control module;
wherein the at least one additional control module is configured to adjust the timing of the at least one additional power converter to correspond with the timing of the first power converter; and
wherein the at least one additional control module is configured to adjust the timing of the at least one additional power converter to provide a combined power output to an electric load, and wherein an electric power of the combined power output is greater than a combination of the first power output and the at least one additional power output prior to adjusting the timing of the at least one additional power output.

4. The power converter control system of claim 3 , wherein the power converter system is associated with a vehicle head end power (HEP) system, the first power converter and the at least one additional power converter are configured to receive the direct current from a powered vehicle, and the combined power output is provided to a non-powered unit of a vehicle system that includes the powered vehicle.

5. The power converter control system of claim 1 , wherein the first power output of the first power converter and the plural additional power outputs of the plural additional power converters are provided to separate receiving units.

6. The power converter control system of claim 5 , wherein the first power converter and the plural additional power converters are configured to receive the direct current from a powered vehicle, the first power output is provided to a first tractive motor associated with a first axle of the powered vehicle, and the plural additional power outputs are provided to one or more second tractive motors associated with one or more other axles of the powered vehicle.

7. The power converter control system of claim 1 , wherein the first information from the first control module includes at least one of times or time periods at which one or more events occur in a waveform of the first power converter, and the plural additional control modules are configured to change the timing of the plural additional power converters such that the one or more events in the waveform of the first power converter are temporally substantially synchronized with one or more corresponding events in one or more waveforms of the plural additional power converters.

8. The power converter control system of claim 1 , wherein the first control module is configured to communicate the first information to the plural additional control modules over a single wire.

9. The power converter control system of claim 8 , wherein the first control module and the plural additional control modules are configured to communicate the first information without overhead delays.

10. A power converter control system comprising:
a first module configured to control a first power converter that provides a first power output; and
a plurality of second modules configured to control a plurality of second power converters that provide at least one second power output;
wherein the first module is configured to communicate first timing information corresponding to timing of events in the first power converter to the second modules in parallel via a communication link; and
wherein the second modules are configured to adjust timing of events in the second power converters in parallel to substantially synchronize with the events in the first power converter.

11. The power converter control system of claim 10 , wherein the second modules are configured to communicate second timing information corresponding to the timing of the events in the second power converters to the first module, and at least one of the first module or the second modules is configured to determine when at least one of the second modules is unable to adjust the timing of the events in one or more of the second power converters that correspond to the at least one of the second modules to coincide with the events in the first power converter.

12. The power converter control system of claim 11 , wherein the first module is configured to adjust the timing of the events in the first power converter to coincide with the events in the second power converters when the second modules are unable to adjust the timing of the events in the second power converters to coincide with the events in the first power converter.

13. The power converter control system of claim 10 , wherein the first module and the second modules are configured to communicate the first timing information over a single wire.

14. The power converter control system of claim 10 , wherein the first power converter and the second power converters are configured to be operably connected to a power source of a powered vehicle unit, and wherein the first power converter and the second power converters are operably electrically coupled for the first power output and the at least one second power output to be combined to form a combined power output that is provided to a non-powered vehicle unit interconnected with the powered vehicle unit.

15. The power converter control system of claim 10 , wherein the first module and the second modules are configured to be operably connected to a vehicle power source of a vehicle, and wherein the first power converter and the second power converters are respectively coupled for the first power output and the at least one second power output to be provided to separate receivin

Assignees

• Bachmaier Paul
• Kumar Ajith Kuttannair
• Jones Kevin Michael
• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Bachmaier Paul
• Kumar Ajith Kuttannair
• Jones Kevin Michael

Classifications

• B60L3/0061

  relating to electrical machines · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• B60L15/2009

  for braking · CPC title

• B60L2200/32

  Waterborne vessels · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title