The present invention relates to a power conversion device.
A technique has been known, in which a power conversion device includes an inverter that receives power from a direct-current power supply system and drives a motor as a load, a fin as a cooling unit that cools down the inverter, a first core including a through hole that allows passage of a high voltage line that connects the direct-current power supply system and the inverter and a ground line that grounds the inverter, a first ground line that grounds the fin, a second ground line that grounds the motor, and a second core including a through hole. In this power conversion device, the first ground line is connected to a ground line on the side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the first core, and a resonance path that circulates the inverter, the fin, the first ground line, a common ground point of the first ground line and the second ground line, the motor, the second ground line, and the inverter is arranged to pass through the through hole of the second core, thereby increasing high frequency impedance of the resonance path and suppressing a noise source current in the power conversion device (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
According to the technique described in Patent Literature 1 mentioned above, the effects of suppressing a high frequency current, a resonance current, and the like, as well as the noise source current are obtained. However, in a state where a switching frequency is shifted to a high frequency side with respect to a switching element included in the power conversion device, the noise source current, the high frequency current, and the resonance current need to be further decreased.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a power conversion device that can further reduce a noise source current, a high frequency current, and a resonance current.
The present invention is directed to a power conversion device that achieves the object. The power conversion device includes an inverter that receives power from a direct-current power supply system and drives a motor as a load; a cooler that cools down the inverter; a first core including a through hole that allows passage of a positive side conductor that connects the direct-current power supply system and the inverter and a negative side conductor that grounds the inverter; a first ground conductor that is connected to the negative side conductor on a side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the first core and grounds the cooler; a second ground conductor that is connected to the negative side conductor on the side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the first core and grounds the motor in an alternate-current manner via a capacitive element; and a third ground conductor including one end that is connected to the negative side conductor on the side of the direct-current power supply system or the first ground conductor with respect to the first core and the other end that is grounded.
According to the present invention, a noise source current, a high frequency current, and a resonance current can further be reduced.
Exemplary embodiments of a power conversion device according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
A connection configuration of the power conversion unit 30 and external constituent elements and an internal connection configuration of the power conversion unit 30 are described below.
First, two lines including a positive side conductor 21 that connects the reactor 2 and the inverter 4 and a negative side conductor 22 that grounds the inverter 4 to a ground 7 are provided on an input side of the power conversion unit 30 (the side of the direct-current power supply system). The positive side conductor 21 and the negative side conductor 22 are arranged to pass through a through hole of the first core 8 and connected to the inverter 4.
Meanwhile, load conductors 23 (23a, 23b, and 23c), which connect the inverter 4 and the motor 6 as a load, are provided on an output side of the power conversion unit 30 (the side of the motor 6). These load conductors 23 are arranged to pass through a through hole of the second core 9 and connected to the motor 6. A ground 41 for grounding the motor 6 as a device is provided in a peripheral portion of the motor 6, and a motor yoke 6A, which is a part of a configuration that constitutes the motor 6, and the ground 41 are electrically connected to each other.
Regarding the inside of the power conversion unit 30, a ground conductor 50, which is a first ground conductor (a conductor such as a ground line or a bus bar), is connected to the fin 5 and a connection point 27 that is an arbitrary point on the negative side conductor 22 located on the side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the first core 8. That is, the fin 5 is grounded to the same potential (equipotential) as the ground 7 via the ground conductor 50 and the negative side conductor 22. A ground conductor 59, which is a second ground conductor, connects the motor yoke 6A, which is grounded to the ground 41, to a connection point 28 on the negative side conductor 22 located on the side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the first core 8 via the condenser 10. A ground conductor 61, which is a third ground conductor, is connected between a connection point 29, which is an arbitrary point on the ground conductor 50, and a ground 40 via a connection point 30B that is an arbitrary point on a casing 30A of the power conversion unit 30. The connection points 27 and 28 can be connected to any portion (even outside the casing 30A) so long as the points are on the side of the direct-current power supply system with respect to the core 8 in the power conversion unit 30.
Although an example in which the ground conductor 61 is connected to the connection point 29 that is an arbitrary point on the ground conductor 50 is shown in
The fin 5 can be directly connected to the casing 30A of the power conversion unit 30. This configuration eliminates the necessity of insulating the fin 5 from the casing of the power conversion unit 30, thereby enabling a simplification of the manufacturing process.
Although an example in which the ground conductor 61 is connected to the arbitrary connection point 30B on the casing 30A, and the connection point 30B is connected to the ground 40 is shown in
An effect of reducing the noise current, which is unique to the power conversion device according to the present embodiment configured as shown in
The equivalent circuit shown in
As described above, the equivalent circuit of the electric-vehicle driving system can be represented as the equivalent circuit shown in
As indicated by the thick dashed line in
As indicated by the thick dashed line in
As indicated by the thick dashed line in
The fourth noise path is a path generated by connecting the ground conductor 61 between the connection point 29 on the ground conductor 50 and the ground 40, which has a parallel relationship with the third noise path, and thus there is a concern that the impedance is decreased. However, as described above, in the third and fourth paths, the motor stray capacitance has a relatively large impedance in a low frequency band while both the first core 8 and the second core 9 are arranged on the path, and thus such a concern can be eliminated.
Furthermore, because the third noise path is relatively longer than the other noise paths, there is a concern that the amount of noise emitted in proportion to the area of a loop formed by the path is also relatively increased. However, the connection of the ground conductor 61 between the connection point 29 on the ground conductor 50 and the ground 40 enables the potential of the point C of the fin 5 to be more stabilized with respect to the point E of the motor yoke 6A, and thus the current flowing through the third noise path is reduced. Therefore, the noise amount emitted by the third noise path can be reduced accordingly, and as a result, the concern is eliminated. In addition, because it is not necessary to secure the insulation between the fin 5 and the casing 30A, unlike with the conventional case, simplification of the mechanical structure can also be achieved.
Impedances of the first core 8 and the second core 9 are described below.
It is known that the impedance of the ring-shaped ferrite core 90 satisfies relationships represented by the following Expressions (1) and (2).
|Z|∝(Ae/Le) (1)
Ae/Le=(H/2π)·LN(R1/R2) (2)
The meaning of the symbols included in Expressions (1) and (2) is as follows.
|Z|: absolute value of impedance, Ae: effective cross section area, Le: effective magnetic path length, H: thickness, R1: outer diameter, R2: inner diameter
As can be understood from Expressions (1) and (2), in order to increase the impedance of the ring-shaped ferrite core 90, it is effective to increase the ratio of the effective cross section area Ae and the effective magnetic path length Le (the ratio of the effective cross section area Ae to the effective magnetic path length Le). Specifically, it is sufficient to reduce the inner diameter R2, to increase the thickness H, and to increase the outer diameter R1.
As a switching element included in the inverter, a semiconductor transistor element of silicon (Si) (hereinafter, “Si element”) is generally used.
On the other hand, in recent years, as a substitute for the Si element, semiconductor switching elements of silicon carbide (SiC) (hereinafter, “SiC element”) have been drawing attention.
The reason why the SiC element can perform a high-speed switching operation is because it can be used at a high temperature, with its high heat resistance, so that the allowable operating temperature of a module including the SiC element can be raised higher, and thus, even when the switching speed is increased by increasing a carrier frequency, it is possible to suppress any increase in the size of the cooler.
However, the usage of the SiC element increases a high frequency component of an output voltage of the inverter, and thus a high frequency current generated by the high frequency voltage works as a noise source, resulting in a concern that malfunctioning of a signaler or the like may be caused. The reason why the usage of the SiC element increases the high frequency component of the output voltage includes the following two main points.
(1) Because the SiC is a wide-bandgap semiconductor, a structure of a unipolar device can be adopted, so that an accumulated carrier is substantially zero. Therefore, a loss at the time of switching can be reduced while dv/dt and di/dt are increased and noise is increased.
(2) Because the usage of the SiC element can reduce the loss per switching, a switching frequency can be increased for the purpose of improving controllability and reducing a motor loss. As a result, the frequency of the switching per second is increased, and thus the noise is increased accordingly.
As described above, when the SiC element is used as the switching element included in the inverter, the high frequency current generated by the high frequency component of the output voltage of the inverter works as a noise source, resulting in a concern that malfunctioning of an on-vehicle signaler, a ground signaler, or the like may be caused.
Impedance characteristics of the first core 8 and the second core 9, which can be suitably used even when the SiC element mentioned above is used, are described.
The roles of the first core 8 and the second core 9 are to increase the impedances of the first to fourth noise paths described above, thus reducing the noise currents on these paths. Regarding the impedance characteristics shown in
When the ferrite core as shown in
Considering operations of the first core 8 and the second core 9, only the third and fourth noise paths pass through the second core 9 while all the first to fourth noise paths described above pass through the first core 8. Therefore, from a viewpoint of reducing the overall noise current, it is more effective to increase the impedance of the first core 8 than the impedance of the second core 9. As in the above example, the impedance of the ferrite core is increased as the volume is increased. Therefore, when the same material is used, it is more effective to increase the weight or the volume of the first core 8 than the weight or the volume of the second core 9.
Although a configuration of using both the first core 8 and the second core 9 has been described in the present embodiment, because the currents flowing through the third and fourth noise paths described above are decreased depending on the magnitude of the stray capacitance of the motor, the second core 9 can be omitted in this case.
In the present embodiment, as the element for reducing the noise source current, the high frequency current, and the resonance current, for example, the ferrite core (a magnetic core) as shown in
As described above, the power conversion device according to the present invention is useful in further reducing a noise source current, a high frequency current, and a resonance current.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2011/072641 | 9/30/2011 | WO | 00 | 3/28/2014 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2013/046458 | 4/4/2013 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140240948 A1 | Aug 2014 | US |