Electric power conversion device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9966877-B2
Application number	US-201715426553-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2017
Priority date	Feb 9, 2016
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

An electric power conversion device includes: a first switching element; a second switching element; a control device; a first temperature sensor; a second temperature sensor; a first transmission circuit; and a second transmission circuit, wherein the control device has a storage device, and the control device is configured to: calculate a calculated temperature using a first signal and a correction amount; control the operations of the first switching element and the second switching element based on the calculated temperature; and add the difference between a first comparison temperature and the calculated temperature to the correction amount when the control device determines that a first comparison result changes from lower than the first comparison temperature to equal to or higher than the first comparison temperature, and that the calculated temperature is lower than the first comparison temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electric power conversion device comprising:
a first switching element;
a second switching element connected in parallel with the first switching element;
a control device having a central processing unit, the control device being configured to perform calculation and control by the central processing unit;
a first temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the first switching element;
a second temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the second switching element;
a first transmission circuit configured to transmit a first signal indicating the temperature of the first switching element detected by the first temperature sensor to the control device; and
a second transmission circuit configured to transmit, to the control device, a first comparison result indicating that the temperature of the second switching element detected by the second temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined first comparison temperature,
wherein the control device has a storage device configured to store the first comparison temperature and a correction amount, and
the control device is configured to:
calculate a calculated temperature using the first signal and the correction amount;
control the operations of the first switching element and the second switching element based on the calculated temperature; and
add the difference between the first comparison temperature and the calculated temperature to the correction amount when the control device determines that the first comparison result changes from lower than the first comparison temperature to equal to or higher than the first comparison temperature, and that the calculated temperature is lower than the first comparison temperature.

2. The electric power conversion device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control device is configured to make electric power output from the electric power conversion device lower than a current output when it is determined that the calculated temperature is equal to or higher than a limit temperature set to a higher temperature than the first comparison temperature.

3. The electric power conversion device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first transmission circuit includes a first insulating coupler configured to transmit the first signal to the control device in a state where the first temperature sensor and the control device are electrically insulated from each other, and
the second transmission circuit includes a second insulating coupler configured to transmit the first comparison result to the control device in a state where the second temperature sensor and the control device are electrically insulated from each other.

4. The electric power conversion device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third switching element connected in parallel with the first switching element and the second switching element;
a third temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the third switching element; and
a third transmission circuit configured to transmit, to the control device, a second comparison result indicating whether or not the temperature of the third switching element detected by the third temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined second comparison temperature,
wherein the storage device is configured to store the second comparison temperature, and
the control device is configured to:
control the operations of the first switching element, the second switching element, and the third switching element based on the calculated temperature, and
add the difference between the second comparison temperature and the calculated temperature to the correction amount when the control device determines that the second comparison result changes from lower than the second comparison temperature to equal to or higher than the second comparison temperature, and that the calculated temperature is lower than the second comparison temperature.

5. The electric power conversion device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control device is configured to reset the correction of the calculated temperature when the calculated temperature is lower than a predetermined reset temperature.

6. An electric power conversion device comprising:
a first switching element;
a second switching element connected in parallel with the first switching element;
a third switching element connected in parallel with the first switching element and the second switching element;
a control device having a central processing unit, the control device being configured to perform calculation and control by the central processing unit;
a first temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the first switching element;
a second temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the second switching element;
a third temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the third switching element;
a first transmission circuit configured to transmit a first signal indicating the temperature of the first switching element detected by the first temperature sensor to the to the control device;
a second transmission circuit configured to transmit a first comparison result indicating whether or not the temperature of the second switching element detected by the second temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined first comparison temperature;
a third transmission circuit configured to transmit a second comparison result indicating whether or not the temperature of the third switching element detected by the third temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined second comparison temperature; and
a fourth transmission circuit configured to transmit the first comparison result and the second comparison result to the control device through an OR circuit,
wherein the control device has a storage device configured to store the first comparison temperature, the second comparison temperature, and a correction amount, and
the control device is configured to:
calculate a calculated temperature using the first signal and the correction amount;
control the operations of the first switching element, the second switching element, and the third switching element based on the calculated temperature; and
add the difference between a high-temperature comparison temperature and the calculated temperature to the correction amount when the control device determines that the first comparison result changes from lower than the first comparison temperature to equal to or higher than the first comparison temperature or that the second comparison result changes from lower than the second comparison temperature to equal to or higher than the second comparison temperature, and that the calculated temperature is lower than a temperature of the high-temperature comparison temperature which is the higher temperature out of the first comparison temperature and the second comparison temperature.

7. The electric power conversion device according to claim 6 ,
wherein the control device is configured to make electric power output from the electric power conversion device lower than a current output when it is determined that the calculated temperature is equal to or higher than a limit temperature set to a higher temperature than the high-temperature comparison temperature.

8. The electric power conversion device according to claim 6 ,
wherein the first transmission circuit includes a first insulating coupler configured to transmit the first signal to the control device in a state where the first temperature sensor and the control device are electrically insulated from each other, and
the fourth transmission circuit includes a fourth insulating coupler configured

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamamoto Kazunari

Classifications

• H02M2001/0003

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M3/158 Primary

  including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load · CPC title

• H02M2001/327

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M1/088

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

• H02P27/08

  with pulse width modulation · CPC title