Patent Application
20240021492
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a converter for controlling a motor, in particular an inverter, and an arrangement for cooling semiconductor components comprising a cooling body base with a component side and a structural element side opposite the component side, where the semiconductor components can be arranged in succession in the flow direction of a cooling medium, and where the structural element side is configured to enlarge its surface with structural elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known and typical from practice to use cooling bodies to cool semiconductor components.
EP 0 340 520 B1 discloses an arrangement for convectively cooling components, which has a cooling body composed of two parts arranged one above the other.
For manufacturing reasons and on account of a simpler structural design and/or a space-saving arrangement of semiconductor components, such as in motor modules, the semiconductor components, which are required to control a motor, are often arranged on a shared cooling body for heat dissipation purposes. These semiconductor components are placed one after the other with respect to a direction of a cooling medium flow, thereby producing a thermal series circuit. This thermal series circuit results in a reducing cooling effect, the further the respective semiconductor component to be cooled is distanced from an inlet of the cooling medium.
It is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement for cooling semiconductor components, in which a cooling medium still has an adequate temperature, even in the case of components to be cooled disposed at a further distance from an inlet, in order thus to deliver a cooling power for the component distanced further from the inlet.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved in accordance with the invention by an arrangement in which the structural element side is formed such that a density of structural elements involved in the cooling increases in the flow direction with regard to cooling zones.
The structural elements are provided to improve the heat transmission to the environment and thus to improve the cooling effect. The structural elements are generally in contact with a cooling medium. The density of the structural elements actively involved in the cooling increases in the direction of a longitudinal extent of the arrangement. As a result, components disposed at a further distance from an inlet can still be sufficiently cooled, because with a first component that is closer to an inlet the cooling medium is not saturated with respect to a cooling power and can thus no longer yield cooling power.
Within the meaning of the invention, density is understood to mean the number of active structural elements per surface unit, in particular in the cooling zones, where active is considered with regard to a cooling effect.
In an embodiment of the arrangement, the structural element side has a uniform distribution of structural elements, where the molded parts arranged on the structural element side are provided to thermally insulate at least one part of the structural elements.
In one possible embodiment, the molded parts can be inserted as sleeves by way of pin fins. With a conventional cooling body with pin fins, a uniform distribution of the structural elements accordingly exists, where a pin is considered to be a structural element.
An insulating sleeve of this type can be closed at its one end and open at its other end. The sleeves are advantageously attached in the region of the cooling body, in which the output of heat to the cooling medium is largely to be prevented, i.e., within a first cooling zone that lies in the vicinity of an inlet of the cooling medium. The pin fins provided with a sleeve are therefore thermally almost “switched off”. Therefore, more cooling medium with a lower temperature reaches the region disposed at a further distance from the inlet and increases the cooling power there.
As already mentioned, a molded part can be formed as a sleeve and slid over a structural element. This achieves an arrangement in which at least one molded part is configured as a sleeve and is arranged over a structural element.
With another embodiment of a molded part, the arrangement is configured so that at least one molded part is formed as a first type of flow barrier and is slid over a structural element, where a first limb of the first type of flow barrier rests against a further directly adjacent structural element and a second limb of the first type of flow barrier rests against another directly adjacent structural element.
In another embodiment of a molded part with the arrangement, at least one molded part is formed via a second type of flow barrier and is slid over a structural element, where a first limb of the second type of flow barrier rests against a further adjacent structural element and a second limb of the second type of flow barrier rests against another adjacent structural element, where the limbs have a longitudinal extent which only permit an arrangement of the second type of flow barrier obliquely to the flow direction.
With a further special embodiment of a molded part, the arrangement has at least one molded part, which is formed as a medium guide band to achieve a targeted guidance of the cooling medium.
The object and advantages in accordance with the invention are likewise achieved by a converter the previously described arrangement for cooling in accordance with disclosed embodiments.
It is now advantageous inter alia that it is possible to dispense with a complex processing of a cooling body, because standard cooling bodies or cooling bodies with a uniform distribution of structural elements can now be used, for instance, and adjusted by targeted incorporation of molded parts, in particular into the cooling zones, to the corresponding cooling conditions. The desired heat distribution is achieved by the additional molded parts, which are subsequently introduced, e.g., in particular only during manufacture of the end product, e.g., a traction inverter. Depending on the application, different molded parts with identical cooling bodies are also conceivable. Advantageously, in terms of manufacturing costs, a variance formation can then only be defined very late in a production process, where storage and also spares inventory is simplified.
In particular, when modular cooling bodies or arrangements are used for cooling semiconductor components, these individual parts can be formed almost identically, as a result of which a variance in the production process and in the storage is advantageously minimized.
The converter is advantageously provided for vertical installation in a control cabinet, where a longitudinal axis of the arrangement is arranged vertically and the flow direction through the converter is thus produced parallel to the longitudinal axis and an inlet for a cooling medium is arranged below and an outlet for the cooling medium is arranged above.
A motor module can advantageously be established for a number of power semiconductors, where a first arrangement and a further arrangement which is essentially identical are arranged in succession in a flow direction.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
The drawing shows an exemplary embodiment of the inventionin which:
With reference to
The structural element side SES has a uniform distribution of structural elements SE, where via the arrangement of thermally insulating molded parts between and/or above one part of the structural elements SE, this part of structural elements SE is inactive with respect to a cooling effect. The first cooling zone K1 is in the vicinity of an inlet for the cooling medium 11. As a result, a number of molded parts can be inserted here in the form of sleeves H so that the through-flowing cooling medium 11 does not heat up so quickly and can still bring sufficient cooling power for the second cooling zone K2 and third cooling zone K3 arranged in succession.
Accordingly, nine sleeves H are inserted into the first cooling zone K1, in the second cooling zone K2 only seven sleeves H are still inserted and in the third cooling zone K3 no sleeve H is inserted. The density of structural elements SE involved in the cooling therefore increases with respect to the cooling zones K1, K2, K3.
In a first embodiment of a molded part,
With
Contrary to
A further special type of molded part is shown in
In the first group G1, the corresponding semiconductor components T1, T2, T3 find space in the corresponding cooling zones K1, K2, K3. In the second group G2, the further semiconductor components T4, T5, T6 find space in a fourth cooling zone K4, a fifth cooling zone K5 and a sixth cooling zone K6 accordingly.
With reference to
Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the methods described and the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20202967 | Oct 2020 | EP | regional |
This is a U.S. national stage of application No. PCT/EP2021/073019 filed 19 Aug. 2021. Priority is claimed on European Application No. 20202967.4 filed 21 Oct. 2020, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/073019 | 8/19/2021 | WO |
