Power converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9680385-B2
Application number	US-201414532928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2014
Priority date	Nov 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

A power converter includes a circuit board having an elongated anode receiving an input voltage and an input current and an elongated cathode providing an output voltage and an output current, and a plurality of diodes electrically arranged in parallel between the anode and cathode. The parallel diodes convert the input voltage to an output voltage, convert the input current to an output current.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power converter, comprising:
a circuit board having an elongated anode receiving an input voltage and an input current and an elongated cathode providing an output voltage and an output current; and
a plurality of silicon carbide diodes electrically arranged in parallel and provided in a gap between the anode and cathode, and spaced relative to each other on the circuit board;
wherein the parallel diodes convert the input voltage to an output voltage, convert the input current to an output current, and the number of diodes and the spacing of the diodes on the circuit board prevents thermal failure of the power converter.

2. The power converter of claim 1 wherein the circuit board further comprises a thermally conductive substrate configured to remove at least a portion of heat generated by the diodes.

3. The power converter of claim 2 wherein the thermally conductive substrate is electrically isolated from the anode and cathode.

4. The power converter of claim 1 wherein each silicon carbide diode is configured to operate under at least 40 Ampere loads.

5. The power converter of claim 4 wherein the power converter provides at least a 10 KW output at 500 Ampere loads.

6. The power converter of claim 5 wherein the power converter is contained in a volume of at most 4.05 inches by 1.60 inches by 0.61 inches.

7. The power converter of claim 5 wherein the diodes are spaced apart to prevents thermal failure when the diodes collectively generate at least 440 thermal Watts of heat.

8. The power converter of claim 7 wherein the diodes are spaced at least 3 millimeters apart.

9. The power converter of claim 1 wherein the input voltage is DC and the output voltage is DC.

10. The power converter of claim 1 wherein the input voltage is AC, the output voltage is DC, and the power converter operates as a half-wave rectifier.

11. The power converter of claim 1 further comprising a second anode receiving a different input voltage and different input current, a second plurality of silicon carbide diodes electrically arranged in parallel between the second anode and the cathode, and spaced on the circuit board, such that the power converter operates as a full-wave rectifier.

12. The power converter of claim 1 wherein the spacing of the diodes on the circuit board prevents thermal failure when the diodes collectively generate at least 440 Watts of heat.

13. The power converter of claim 1 further comprising a dielectric layer overlying each of the diodes and circuit board.

14. The power converter of claim 1 wherein the diodes are surface mounted on the circuit board in an open chip configuration.

Assignees

• Ge Aviation Systems Llc

Inventors

• Pietrantonio Michael
• Ludwig Michael Carl
• Elsayed Mohamed Aly

Classifications

• Y02B70/1491

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H02M2001/0058

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M1/14

  Arrangements for reducing ripples from DC input or output · CPC title

• H02M3/33546 Primary

  with automatic control of the output voltage or current (H02M3/33561 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/20927

  Liquid coolant without phase change · CPC title