The present application is based on PCT filing PCT/JP2020/001089, filed Jan. 15, 2020, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a power conversion device for supplying power to a motor, and a motor system using the power conversion device.
Various types of inverter devices have been proposed for converting DC power into AC power and supplying the power to a motor. For example, there is a power conversion device that enables a power converter to be in three-level operation or two-level operation (for example, refer to Patent Document 1), in which, in order for an inverter device to reduce a loss in the inverter operation, at least two valve devices composed of semiconductor devices are connected in series to form one arm; at least three arms are connected in parallel; between a mutual connection point at the valve devices in each arm and a mutual connection point at the DC power sources, an AC switch in which at least two valve devices are connected in series each including a semiconductor device and a diode connected in antiparallel to the semiconductor device is connected; and each of the AC switches is turned on or off.
In the power conversion device as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the level of operation of the inverter is switched to the two/three-level in order to reduce only the loss of the inverter device, but reduction of the total loss including that of the load (for example, a motor) connected to the inverter device is not considered. Therefore, even in the case where the loss of the inverter device is reduced, there is a problem in that the reduction of the loss as a whole system including the load such as the motor cannot be achieved.
It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a power conversion device capable of reducing the total loss of the power conversion device and the motor, and a motor system using the power conversion device in order to solve the above-mentioned problem.
A power conversion device according to the present disclosure is provided with a capacitor series circuit including a plurality of capacitors connected in series, both ends of the capacitor series circuit being connected to both ends of a DC voltage source, an inverter circuit in which a plurality of legs each including a plurality of switching devices connected in series are connected in parallel, DC input terminals of the inverter circuit are connected to both ends of the capacitor series circuit, and AC output terminals of the inverter circuit are connected to a motor, a switch circuit including a plurality of switching devices, one end of the switch circuit being connected to a connection point of the plurality of capacitors, other ends of the switch circuit being connected to a plurality of connection points of the switching devices of the inverter circuit, and a control circuit to control the inverter circuit and the switch circuit, wherein the inverter circuit is capable of two-level operation by turning off the plurality of switching devices included in the switch circuit and is capable of three-level operation by turning on or off in the plurality of switching devices included in the switch circuit, and the control circuit switches between the two-level operation and the three-level operation based on a torque command and a rotational speed command for the motor.
Further, a motor system according to the present disclosure is provided with the power conversion device and the motor connected to the AC output terminals of the power conversion device, wherein the control circuit of the power conversion device switches between the two-level operation and the three-level operation based on the torque command and the rotational speed command for the motor.
According to the power conversion device and the motor system of the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the total loss in the power conversion device and the motor.
A power conversion device and a motor system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure will be described referring to the drawings.
The capacitors 2a, 2b are connected in series with each other to form a capacitor series circuit 2. Here, a connection point between the capacitor 2a and the capacitor 2b will be described as a first connection point. Both ends of the capacitor series circuit 2 are connected to both ends of the DC voltage source 1 and DC input terminals of the inverter circuit 3 to be described later. Note that, although the capacitor series circuit 2 is shown here in a case where two capacitors are connected in series, it is not limited to the case, and three or more capacitors may be connected.
The inverter circuit 3 has a configuration in which three legs each of which is composed of two switching devices connected in series are connected in parallel, and both ends of each leg are connected to both ends of the capacitor series circuit 2 and both ends of the DC voltage source 1. In the example shown in
The switch circuit 4 includes a plurality of switching devices, and switching between two-level operation and three-level operation described later can be performed by controlling these switching devices. The switch circuit 4 shown in
With this configuration, when the switching device 4a is turned on, a current can flow from the second connection point to the first connection point, and when the switching device 4b is turned on, a current can flow from the first connection point to the second connection point. Similarly, by turning on the switching devices 4c or 4e, a current can flow from the third or the fourth connection point to the first connection point, and by turning on the switching devices 4d or 4f, a current can flow from the first connection point to the third or the fourth connection point. Note that the switch circuit 4 is not limited to the configuration shown in
The motor 5 is connected to the AC output terminals of the inverter circuit 3 and operates by the AC power output from the inverter circuit 3. The motor 5 may be of any type, and a torque command and a rotational speed command are calculated by a control device not shown in
The control circuit 6 controls the inverter circuit 3 and the switch circuit 4. That is, the AC power output to the motor 5 is controlled on the basis of inverter operating state information, motor operating state information, and command value information. For example, a voltage of the DC voltage source 1, voltages and flowing current of the capacitors 2a, 2b, and temperatures of the inverter circuit 3 and the switch circuit 4 are taken in, information on phase currents and a rotational position from the motor and information on the torque command and the rotational speed command (NT characteristics) are taken in, and the control of the inverter circuit 3 and the switch circuit 4 is performed on the basis of the information described above. Further, the control circuit 6 holds an operation map in advance and determines and sets a driving method of the inverter circuit and the switch circuit so that the total loss of the power conversion device and the motor is minimized, the operation map including a carrier frequency of the inverter circuit and information on whether the two-level operation or the three-level operation which make the loss minimize in accordance with the operating states of the inverter and the motor are defined on the NT characteristics of the motor. Details will be described later.
The two-level operation and the three-level operation will now be described.
The three-level operation will be described. Here, the operation for one phase will be described, and the description for the other two phases will be omitted because the operation is similar thereto. First, a state in which a current flows from the inverter circuit 3 to the motor 5 will be described as an example. The description begins with a state in which the switching devices 3a and 3b and the switching devices 4a and 4b are in the off state, and the current flows through the diode connected to the switching device 3b in anti-parallel and returns to the motor 5. From this state, the switching device 4b is turned on and the switching devices 3a, 3b and the switching device 4a are kept turned off, so that a current flows into the motor 5 with the voltage of the capacitor 2b.
Next, when the switching device 3a is turned on while the switching device 4b is kept turned on (the switching device 3b and the switching device 4a are kept off), since the switching device 4b blocks the reverse current, no current flows through the switching device 4b, and the current flowing into the motor 5 increases due to the voltage of the capacitors 2a, 2b that are connected in series. On the other hand, when the current to the motor 5 is to be decreased, the operation is performed in the reverse order of the above. That is, the switching devices 3a, 3b and the switching device 4a are turned off while the switching device 4b is kept on, so that the current is supplied to the motor 5 due to the voltage of the capacitor 2b to reduce the current. Then finally operation in which all the switches are turned off is performed. When the inverter circuit 3 and the switch circuit 4 operate in this manner, the voltage change of each switching device becomes half of the voltage of the capacitors in series, that is, half of the power supply voltage, thereby reducing the switching loss and reducing the current distortion because the voltage for controlling the current is small.
A case where a current flows from the motor 5 to the inverter circuit 3 will be described. First, when the switching device 4a is turned on, the switching device 3b is turned on, and the switching device 4b is turned off, since the switching device 4a blocks the reverse current, no current flows from the capacitor 2b, and the current from the motor 5 flows into the switching device 3b and flows back to the motor 5. Next, when the switching device 3b is turned off (with the switching devices 3a and 4b remaining off), the current from the motor 5 flows through the switching device 4a to the capacitor 2b. Next, when the switching device 4a is turned off, the current from the motor 5 flows through the diode connected in anti-parallel with the switching device 3a to the capacitors 2a, 2b. Thereafter, the switching operation is performed in the reverse order to reduce the current from the motor 5. Although the operation of one phase has been described as an example, the operations in the other phases are the same as that of the one phase except for their phases.
Comparing current waveforms of motor phase currents in the two-level operation and the three-level operation shown in
On the basis of the calculated total loss from the losses of the inverter circuit and the motor during the two-level operation and the three-level operation, the control circuit 6 selects the one having a smaller total loss from among the two-level operation and the three-level operation and switches the operation condition.
In the above description, an example is shown in which the control circuit 6 switches between the two-level operation and the three-level operation so as to minimize the total loss of the power conversion device and the motor, but in addition to switching between the two-level operation and the three-level operation, the control may be performed to change the carrier frequency for controlling the operation of the inverter circuit. Since the current distortion is improved in the three-level operation as described above, the motor iron loss decreases. When the carrier frequency is lowered, the motor iron loss increases because the current distortion increases. However, the loss of the power conversion device decreases. Thus, the total loss can be lowered depending on the conditions. Therefore, when the rotational speed command is the same, the carrier frequency in the three-level operation is set to be equal to or lower than that in the two-level operation. That is, when the carrier frequency in the two-level operation is defined to be fx_2lv and the carrier frequency in the three-level operation is defined to be fx_3lv, the carrier frequency is set so as to satisfy fx_2lv≥fx_3lv.
In the operation map shown in
Note that, in addition to the torque command and the rotational speed command, other parameters may be used to calculate the losses of the inverter circuit and the motor during the two-level operation and the three-level operation. For example, the parameters can be a voltage of the DC voltage source and a temperature of the power conversion device in addition to the torque command and the rotational speed command. By holding an operation table in accordance with at least one parameter among the voltage of the DC voltage source and the temperature of the power conversion device may be held, the losses of the power conversion device and the motor may be calculated on the basis of this operation table.
In the power conversion device described above, the switch circuit 4 provided for performing the three-level operation is configured with the IGBTs of a reverse block type, but the inverter circuit 3 and the switch circuit 4 shown in
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/001089 | 1/15/2020 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2021/144885 | 7/22/2021 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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8223515 | Abolhassani | Jul 2012 | B2 |
8750005 | Fujii | Jun 2014 | B2 |
9270222 | Yoo | Feb 2016 | B2 |
10075094 | Sahhary | Sep 2018 | B2 |
20130163301 | Fujii et al. | Jun 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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10 2013 202 649 | Aug 2014 | DE |
10 2014 226 159 | Jun 2016 | DE |
2017-093039 | May 2017 | JP |
2012025978 | Mar 2012 | WO |
Entry |
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International Search Report and Written Opinion mailed on Apr. 21, 2020, received for PCT Application PCT/JP2020/001089, Filed on Jan. 15, 2020, 8 pages including English Translation. |
Office Action issued Jul. 30, 2024 in German Patent Application No. 11 2020 006 514.6, 11 pages. |
Tae-Hun Kim, et al., “Mode transition scheme for optimal efficient operation of a 3-level T-type inverter”, 2017 IEEE, 3rd International Future Energy Electronics Conference and ECCE Asia, Year: 2017, Downloaded on Jun. 20, 2024, 6 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230019205 A1 | Jan 2023 | US |