The present disclosure relates to a power device drive apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same.
Higher functionality, higher accuracy and higher density are required for power devices. Even in an IPM in which a power device and a control substrate are integrated, further densification of the control substrate is required along with densification of the power device. Examples of means for densifying the control substrate include integration that incorporates discrete parts into an ASIC or a microcontroller. There is means for incorporating a dedicated power supply IC into the microcontroller, integrating them into a digital power supply to thereby achieve higher integration and higher functionality of the power supply apparatus (e.g., see PTL 1).
PTL 1: JP 2009-195095 A
Conventional insulating digital power supply apparatuses use a photocoupler or transformer auxiliary winding to feed back a secondary side output voltage. The requirement for such a peripheral circuit would result in a problem of a cost increase.
The present invention has been implemented to solve the above-described problem and it is an object of the present invention to provide a power device drive apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same capable of preventing a cost increase.
A power device drive apparatus according to the present disclosure includes: a control unit generating a control signal; a switching device performing switching according to the control signal and generating a primary side input voltage from a supply voltage; a transformer converting the primary side input voltage to a secondary side output voltage; and a drive circuit driving a power device according to the secondary side output voltage, wherein the control unit includes a table listing a correspondence relationship between supply voltages and set values of control signals for obtaining a desired secondary side output voltage, refers to the table and generates the control signal having a set value corresponding to the supply voltage.
In the present disclosure, the control unit refers to the table listing a correspondence relationship between supply voltages and set values of control signals for obtaining a desired secondary side output voltage, generates control signals having set values corresponding to the supply voltage and generates a primary side input voltage of the transformer from the supply voltage according to the control signals. This eliminates the necessity for a peripheral circuit that feeds back the secondary side output voltage of the transformer, and so it is possible to prevent a cost increase.
A power device drive apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same according to the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The same components will be denoted by the same symbols, and the repeated description thereof may be omitted.
A control unit 4 receives a supply voltage and generates a control signal. The control signal outputted from the control unit 4 is inputted to a gate of the switching device 2. The switching device 2 performs switching according to the control signal and generates a primary side input voltage of the transformer 1 from the supply voltage. The transformer 1 converts the primary side input voltage to a secondary side output voltage.
A capacitor 5 is connected in parallel to a secondary side coil of the transformer 1. The secondary side output voltage of the transformer 1 is inputted to a drive circuit 7 via a diode 6. The drive circuit 7 drives a power device 8 according to the secondary side output voltage. The power device 8 is an IGBT or a power MOS transistor or the like. In the event of an abnormality such as a secondary side output short circuit, an error signal is outputted from the drive circuit 7. This error signal is inputted to the control unit 4 on the primary side via an insulating device 9 such as a photocoupler.
The control unit 4 includes a table listing a correspondence relationship between supply voltages and set values of control signals for obtaining a desired secondary side output voltage. The control signals are pulse width modulation signals. The set values of the control signals are duty ratios of the pulse width modulation signals.
As described above, in the present embodiment, the control unit 4 refers to the table listing a correspondence relationship between supply voltages and set values of control signals for obtaining a desired secondary side output voltage, generates control signals having set values corresponding to the supply voltage and generates a primary side input voltage of the transformer 1 from the supply voltage according to the control signals. This eliminates the necessity for a peripheral circuit that feeds back the secondary side output voltage of the transformer 1, and so it is possible to prevent a cost increase. Furthermore, since no feedback processing time is generated, responsiveness is also improved.
In the power device drive apparatus, large fluctuation factors of the secondary side output voltage are a supply voltage and a drive load of the power device 8. Regarding a vehicle-mounted drive power supply in particular, fluctuation width of the supply voltage is on the order of 8 to 16 V and there is no drastic fluctuation of the supply voltage. Therefore, even the control using a table as in the case of the present embodiment can handle fluctuations of the supply voltage. By setting a relatively higher output voltage in advance in consideration of a decrease in the output voltage during driving of the power device, it is also possible to handle fluctuations in the drive load of the power device.
The tables in the first and second embodiments are set based on experiment results. However, in an inspection step during manufacturing of the power device apparatus, the secondary side output voltage may be monitored while changing the supply voltage inputted to the control unit 4, and the table may be set so that the secondary side output voltage becomes a desired voltage. In this way, it is possible to cancel fluctuations in characteristics in the components and realize a more accurate power supply apparatus.
The power device 8 is not limited to a device formed of silicon, but instead may be formed of a wide-bandgap semiconductor having a bandgap wider than that of silicon. The wide-bandgap semiconductor is, for example, a silicon carbide, a gallium-nitride-based material, or diamond. A power device 8 formed of such a wide-bandgap semiconductor has a high voltage resistance and a high allowable current density, and thus can be miniaturized. The use of such a miniaturized power device 8 enables the miniaturization and high integration of the semiconductor module in which the power device 8 is incorporated. Further, since the power device 8 has a high heat resistance, a radiation fin of a heatsink can be miniaturized and a water-cooled part can be air-cooled, which leads to further miniaturization of the semiconductor module. Further, since the power device 8 has a low power loss and a high efficiency, a highly efficient semiconductor module can be achieved.
1 transformer; 2 switching device; 4 control unit; 7 drive circuit; 8 power device
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2018/018787 | 5/15/2018 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2019/220544 | 11/21/2019 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5932938 | Shimamori | Aug 1999 | A |
8847568 | Barrenscheen | Sep 2014 | B2 |
10252626 | Tajima | Apr 2019 | B2 |
11394306 | Xu | Jul 2022 | B2 |
20080012502 | Lys | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20100038965 | Rohner | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20120153916 | Weinstein | Jun 2012 | A1 |
20130051084 | Hachiya | Feb 2013 | A1 |
20160280082 | Tajima et al. | Sep 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
H11113252 | Apr 1999 | JP |
H11136938 | May 1999 | JP |
2009195095 | Aug 2009 | JP |
2015181919 | Dec 2015 | WO |
Entry |
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An Office Action; “Notice of Reasons for Refusal,” mailed by the Japanese Patent Office dated Jun. 22, 2021, which corresponds to Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-518859 and is related to U.S. Appl. No. 16/959,343 with with English translation. |
International Search Report; Written Opinion; and Notification of Transmittal of the International Search Report and the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, or the Declaration issued in PCT/JP2018/018787; dated Jun. 26, 2018. |
An Office Action mailed by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office dated Feb. 28, 2022, which corresponds to German Patent Application No. 112018007618.0 and is related to U.S. Appl. No. 16/959,343; with English language translation. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200358362 A1 | Nov 2020 | US |