This application claims priority to China application no. 201410171035.1, filed, Apr. 25, 2014, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a magnetic element. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a magnetic element which can enhance thermal dissipation performance thereof.
Description of Related Art
With the power electronics systems, e.g., wind power inverters, solar energy inverters, medium/high voltage inverters, uninterruptible power systems (UPS), power quality management equipments and etc., are widely used, the thermal dissipation performance of the power electronic systems are increasingly emphasized.
Magnetic elements, the critical components of the power electronic systems, have main functions including isolation and limitation of short circuit current thereof, reactive power compensation and flat wave. Since the magnetic elements consume power and convert the power into heat when the magnetic elements are working, the magnetic elements may overheat and malfunction in surrounding of high temperature. Therefore, in order to keep the magnetic elements working properly, the magnetic elements are generally cooled down to decrease the external temperatures of the magnetic elements through, for example, liquid-cooling radiators or air-cooling radiators.
To enhance thermal dissipation efficiency of the magnetic elements, those of skills in the related art all devote themselves in finding suitable solutions. However, no appropriate solution has ever been developed or completed. Therefore, how to effectively enhance thermal dissipation efficiency thereof shall be one of current significant research issues, and also be an objective that urgently needs to be improved.
One aspect of this disclosure is to provide a magnetic element for enhancing the thermal dissipation performance of the magnetic element, so as to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages existing in the prior art.
The magnetic element provided in the disclosure is applicable in products of all kinds of power electronics systems (e.g., reactors or transformers), or applicable widely in related technology chains. No matter whether the thermal conductivity of the magnetic element of the disclosure is high or not, the above-mentioned features of the disclosure is allowed to enhance the thermal dissipation performance of the magnetic element, thereby reducing the failure risk of the magnetic element when overheated, and increasing load capacity, service life and reliability of the magnetic element.
To achieve the above object, according to one embodiment of this disclosure, the magnetic element includes a magnetic core, at least one winding set and at least one heat conduction pipe. The magnetic core includes at least two magnetic columns arranged oppositely, and two magnetic plates arranged oppositely. Each of the magnetic columns includes a plurality of first magnetic blocks stacked together. The magnetic plates respectively cover two opposite end surfaces of each magnetic column to mutually form a closed magnetic flux path with the magnetic columns. Each of the magnetic plates includes at least one second magnetic block. The winding set binds at least one of the magnetic columns. The heat conduction pipe is disposed in an interior of one of the magnetic columns.
By the above-mentioned features of the magnetic element, since the heat conduction pipe is internally disposed in the magnetic columns, internal heat of the magnetic column can be rapidly conducted away from the magnetic element by the heat conduction pipe, and the internal heat then can be carried away by external cooling air or liquid. The internal heat of the magnetic column can be taken away by external cooling air or liquid before being conducted to outer surfaces of the magnetic columns. Thus, the temperature of the magnetic element can be quickly decreased so as to further significantly increase load capacity, service life and reliability of the magnetic element.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood with reference to the following description, accompanying drawings and appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed.
The present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
The following embodiments are disclosed with accompanying diagrams for detailed description. For illustration clarity, many details of practice are explained in the following descriptions. However, it should be understood that these details of practice do not intend to limit the present disclosure. That is, these details of practice are not necessary in parts of embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, for simplifying the drawings, some of the conventional structures and elements are shown with schematic illustrations.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
As used herein, “around”, “about” or “approximately” shall generally mean within 20 percent, preferably within 10 percent, and more preferably within 5 percent of a given value or range. Numerical quantities given herein are approximate, meaning that the term “around”, “about” or “approximately” can be inferred if not expressly stated.
Reference is now made to
Therefore, with the above-mentioned features, since each of the heat conduction pipes 300 is internally disposed in one of the magnetic columns 110, an internal heat generated inside the magnetic column 110 can be rapidly conducted away the magnetic column 110 from the interior of the magnetic column 110 by the heat conduction pipe 300, and the internal heat then is carried away by external cooling air or liquid. The internal heat of the magnetic column 110 can be taken away by external cooling air or liquid before being conducted to the outer surfaces of the magnetic columns 110.
Therefore, no matter whether the thermal conductivity of the magnetic core 100 itself is high or not, the above-mentioned features of the magnetic element 10 can enhance the thermal dissipation performance of the magnetic element 10, thereby reducing the failure risk of the magnetic element 10 when being over-heated, and increasing load capacity, service life and reliability of the magnetic element 10.
In the first embodiment, the first magnetic blocks 111 (e.g., four first magnetic blocks,
Among the second magnetic blocks 121 of each of the magnetic plates 120, every two of the adjacent second magnetic blocks 121 are usually bonded together by an adhesive part 112 (e.g., epoxy adhesives, thermal conductive adhesives or heat resistant adhesive). However, the disclosure is not limited to the described features above, the magnetic blocks can be bonded together by other conventional bonding ways instead.
As shown in
Therefore, when plural air gaps are respectively defined between the first magnetic blocks 111, and between the second magnetic blocks 121, the inductance of the magnetic element 10 can be adjusted by changing the size of the air gaps.
Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the first magnetic blocks and the second magnetic blocks can be made to be the same in sizes and appearances, so as to be convenient for production and storing, and thereby reducing production cost.
However, if the cost consideration is not necessary, the first magnetic blocks and the second magnetic blocks can be made to be different in sizes and appearances. Also, the appearances of the first magnetic blocks and the second magnetic blocks are not limited to the features described above, one person with ordinary skill in the art could flexibly modify the first magnetic blocks and the second magnetic blocks to be rectangular, cylindrical or semi-cylindrical in shape.
Refer to
Moreover, since the internal heat of the magnetic column is not easy to be conducted to the outer surfaces of the magnetic columns 110 by the first magnetic blocks 111 themselves, and only an external heat on the outer surfaces of the magnetic columns 110 can be rapidly taken away, thus, in order to further enhance thermal dissipation performance of the heat conduction pipe 300, more specifically, the heat conduction pipe 300 substantially penetrates through from the centroids of all of the first magnetic blocks 111 of the magnetic columns 110. Thus, the heat conduction pipe 300 is located in a center (i.e., the innermost location) of every first magnetic block 111 so as to totally take much more internal heats away from the first magnetic blocks 111.
Refer to
However, it is noted, the described quantity, location and the shape of the heat conduction pipe described above are only for illustration, not for limiting the disclosure. One person with ordinary skill in the art may flexibly modify the heat conduction pipe contained in the magnetic columns in quantity (e.g., plural), location (e.g., deviation from the centroid of the heat conduction pipe) or/and shape (e.g., arc shaped).
In practice, refer to
In this embodiment, refer to
Furthermore, each of the openings 115 of each of the first through holes 113 includes a chamfer 116 therein. More concretely, the cross section of each of the openings 115 is formed with a chamfer 116, thus, the maximum caliber 115D of each of the openings 115 is greater than the caliber 114D of the middle section 114.
Therefore, when the chamfer 116 is formed in the first through holes 113 of the magnetic block, it is advantageous to reduce the intensity of diffusion flux generated on an intersection between the heat conduction pipe 300 and the air gap (i.e., first gap 111G), so as to further lessen induction heating of the magnetic flux leakage to the heat conduction pipe 300 for decreasing the loss of the energy.
In the first embodiment, refer to
Thus, when the magnetic element 10 is in operation, heat generated by the first magnetic blocks 111 and the second magnetic blocks 121 can be directly conducted to the heat conduction pipe 300 so that the efficiency that heat being conducted outwardly by the heat conduction pipe 300 can be enhanced.
As shown in
More specifically, as shown in
Also, in order to enhance the cooling efficiency, a turn spacing 221G is defined between every two of the adjacent turns 211 so as to increase contacting areas of the winding sets 200 being contacted by external cooling air for enhancing thermal dissipation performance of the winding sets 200.
Therefore, the thermally conductive adhesive 800 is used to hold the heat conduction pipe 300 in the first through holes 113 on the one hand, and is used to conduct the internal heat of the first magnetic blocks 111 to the heat conduction pipe 300 on the other hand. The heat conduction pipe of the second embodiment is also bonded in the second through holes by the thermally conductive adhesive. Please refer to the described features, thus no further illustration is provided.
Reference is now made to
In the third embodiment, specifically, each of the magnetic columns 110 includes plural column parts 110R (e.g., two column parts,
Similarly, every two of the adjacent row parts 120L, or every two of the adjacent column parts 110R are usually bonded together by an adhesive part 112 (e.g., epoxy adhesives, thermal conductive adhesives or heat resistant adhesive). However, the disclosure is not limited to the described features above, the row parts or the column parts can be bonded together by other conventional bonding ways instead.
Furthermore, each of the column parts 110R and the outermost one of the second magnetic blocks 121 of the corresponding row parts 120L on the same side with the corresponding column part 110R are penetrated by the same heat conduction pipe 300, therefore, as shown in
Also, in the third embodiment, the heat conduction pipe 300 of the magnetic element 30 is not limited to use the described thermally conductive adhesive or the described mechanical expansion process for being fixed in both of the first magnetic blocks 111 and the second magnetic blocks 121.
Reference is now made to
Therefore, the two column parts 110R of the same magnetic column 110 are arranged abreast, and the two row parts 120L of the respective magnetic plate 120 covering the same magnetic column 110 are arranged abreast, the heat conduction pipe 300 can insert into all of the first passages 130 of the same magnetic column 110 and the second passages 140 which are in communication with all of the first passages 130, and the heat conduction pipe 300 is disposed in all of the first passages 130 and the second passages 140.
Further, in the fourth embodiment, the heat conduction pipe 300 of the magnetic element 40 is not limited to use the described thermally conductive adhesive 800 for being fixed between the two adjacent column parts 110R and between the two adjacent row parts 120L. For example, the heat conduction pipe 300 is bonded in the first passages 130 by the described thermally conductive adhesive 800. More specifically, the heat conduction pipe 300 is bonded in all of the first passages 130 respectively located between the two adjacent first magnetic blocks 111 arranged abreast. Likewise, the heat conduction pipe 300 of the fourth embodiment is bonded in the second passages 140 by the thermally conductive adhesive 800 being integral with the thermally conductive adhesive 800 in the first passages. Please refer to the described features, thus no further illustration is provided.
However, one person with ordinary skill in the art also could select to fix the heat conduction pipe 300 between the two adjacent column parts 110R arranged abreast, and between the two adjacent row parts 120L arranged abreast by the described mechanical expansion process base on the instructions of the first embodiment. For example, with the described mechanical expansion process, the heat conduction pipe 300 in the first passages 130 can directly contact with the inner walls of the recesses, and tightly couples to the two adjacent first magnetic blocks 111 arranged abreast in the recesses. The heat conduction pipe 300 of the fourth embodiment, also can be fixed in the second passages 140 with the described mechanical expansion process, so that the heat conduction pipe 300 in the second passages 140 can directly contact with the inner walls of the recesses, and tightly couples to the two adjacent second magnetic blocks 121 arranged abreast in the recesses. Please refer to the described features, thus no further illustration is provided.
Furthermore, the magnetic element 50 further includes at least one cooling fin set 700. Each of the heat conduction pipes 300 is arranged with one cooling fin set 700, and the heat conduction pipe 300 is in contact with the cooling fin set 700. Therefore, the heat conducted outwards from the heat conduction pipe 300 can be rapidly dissipated into to the atmosphere.
In the fifth embodiment, the assembly sequences of the magnetic element 50 are outlined as follows. Step 1: Refer to
In the above-mentioned embodiments, refer to
Also, the heat conduction pipe 300 includes a porous capillary structure 312. The porous capillary structure 312 is formed on an inner wall of the sealing chamber 311 of the pipe body 310. Furthermore, the porous capillary structure 312 is a capillary structure having metal powders sintered thereon, a capillary structure having metal meshes thereon, a grooved capillary structure or at least two of the above-mentioned capillary structures. The heat conduction pipe, for example, can be a heat tube, a liquid-cooled tube, a solid high-thermal conduction tube or a magnetic-fluid tube. However, the type of the heat conduction pipes is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments.
Separately speaking, when the above-mentioned heat conduction pipe is a heat tube, the heat tube includes a vacuum metal cavity in which two opposite ends of the vacuum metal cavity are sealed. The porous capillary structure is formed on the inner walls of the vacuum metal cavity. The porous capillary structure may be a capillary structure having metal powders sintered thereon, a capillary structure having metal meshes thereon, a grooved capillary structure or a combination of at least two of the above-mentioned capillary structures. Also, a little working fluid is filled into the internal of the vacuum metal cavity. When the magnetic element is in operation, heat generated by the magnetic core is conducted to the heat tube, the working fluid absorbed by the porous capillary structure of the inner walls of the vacuum metal cavity will be heated to transform into steam gas. The steam gas in the vacuum metal cavity flows to a cool section thereof to be condensed into liquids, and the liquids flow back to an endothermic section of the heat tube with the porous capillary structure. Thus, the heat tube dissipates heats for the magnetic core. An interior portion of the heat tube disposed in the magnetic core is defined as the endothermic section of the heat tube, and the remaining portion of the heat tube disposed outwards the magnetic core is defined as the cool section of the heat tube.
When the above-mentioned heat conduction pipe is a liquid-cooled tube, the liquid-cooled tube is a well-conductive metal tube communicated to a liquid cooling circulation system so that cooling liquids cyclically flow in the liquid-cooled tube. Thus, when the magnetic element is in operation, heat generated by the magnetic core is conducted to the liquid-cooled tube, then to the cooling liquids of the liquid-cooled tube via the well-conductive metal tube, and next, the heat is brought away by the cooling liquids. Thus, the liquid-cooled tube dissipates heats for the magnetic core.
When the above-mentioned heat conduction pipe is a magnetic-fluid tube, the magnetic-fluid tube is a sealed metal tube with well-conductive characteristics in which the sealed metal tube is internally filled with magnetic fluid. The magnetic fluid is driven to flow in the magnetic-fluid tube for conducting the heat out of the magnetic core by using the temperature characteristics of the magnetic fluid (i.e., the magnetism is getting weaker as the temperature of the magnetic fluid increases, and the magnetism is getting greater as the temperature of the magnetic fluid decreases).
In the aforementioned embodiments, other than the kind of the heat conduction pipe having the working fluid therein, another heat conduction pipe also can be a solid high-thermal conduction tube. The material of the solid high-thermal conduction tube is copper, aluminum, graphite or a combination of at least two of the above-mentioned materials. Thus, when the magnetic element is in operation, heat generated by the magnetic core is conducted to the high-thermal conduction tube, and next, the heat is brought out of the high-thermal conduction tube. Thus, the high-thermal conduction tube dissipates heats for the magnetic core.
It is noted that the magnetic elements of the above-mentioned embodiments can be a reactor or a transformer, which can be applicable in the related fields of the reactor and the transformer, such as, a power inverter, a medium/high variable-frequency drive, an uninterruptible power system (UPS) or a power quality management equipments as long as conforming the aforementioned structures of the disclosure.
In addition, although the magnetic core of each of the aforementioned embodiments is respectively embodied with a single-phase double column magnetic core made by two magnetic columns and two, i.e., upper and lower, magnetic plates. However, the disclosure is in not limited to the single-phase double column magnetic core, in other embodiments, a three-phase three-column magnetic core or a three-phase five-column magnetic core also can be belonged to the scope of the magnetic core of the magnetic element in the disclosure. The three-phase three-column magnetic core is made by two outer lateral magnetic columns, a middle magnetic column arranged between the outer lateral magnetic columns, and two, i.e., upper and lower, magnetic plates, and the three-phase five-column magnetic core is made by two outer lateral magnetic columns, three middle magnetic columns arranged between the outer lateral magnetic columns, and two, i.e., upper and lower, magnetic plates.
In addition, the express “stack” described in this specification of the disclosure is not only limited to mutually superimpose the magnetic blocks vertically (e.g., up and down directions), but also to mutually superimpose the magnetic blocks abreast (e.g., left and right directions), or to mutually superimpose the magnetic blocks according to the other direction.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
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