Control method and device for circuit with a bridge arm of a switch

• US 10,601,303 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2017
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vertiv Tech Co., Ltd. (Vertiv Holdings Co.)
• Original Assignee: Vertiv Tech Co., Ltd. (Vertiv Holdings Co.)
• Inventors: Xu, Fubin, Huang, Hai, Bing, Yang
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez, Bryan R
• Application Number:
  US15/666,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20180041109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 966 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0048 Circuits or arrangements for reducing losses using snubbers H02M1/34
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0058 by employing soft switching techniques, i.e. commutation of transistors when applied voltage is zero or when current flow is zero using an auxiliary actively switched resonant commutation circuit connected to an intermediate DC voltage or between two push-pull branches of an inverter bridge H02M7/4811; in resonant inverters H02M7/4815; in inverters operating from a resonant DC source H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/083 for the ignition at the zero crossing of the voltage or the current
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/088 for the simultaneous control of series or parallel connected semiconductor devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/342 Active non-dissipative snubbers
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/4815 Resonant converters H02M7/4811 and H02M7/4826 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/487 Neutral point clamped inverters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/53871 with automatic control of output voltage or current
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes

Abstract

The present invention discloses a control method and device for a circuit with a bridge arm of a switch. The soft switching converter includes at least two bridge arms of the switch, and an auxiliary switch assisting in switching of a main switch of the bridge arm of the switch. The control method includes the steps of:

S1. after controlling the auxiliary switch to be turned on for a first period of time, controlling main switches set at the same position of individual bridge arms of the switch to be simultaneously turned on; S2. after a second period of time following a time when the main switches set at the same position of individual bridge arms of the switch are simultaneously turned on, turning off the auxiliary switch. The present invention can reduce system loss and noise, so as to improve efficiency.

Claims

1. A control method for a circuit with bridge arm in which main switches are provided, wherein the circuit includes:

at least two bridge arms, an auxiliary switch assisting in switching of the main switches in the bridge arm, wherein the bridge arm is an NPC (Neutral Point Clamped) bridge arm and includes;

(i) a first main switch, a second main switch, a third main switch, and a fourth main switch connected in series between positive and negative terminals of a bus capacitance, (ii) a first diode connected between (a) a first connection point of the first main switch and the second main switch and (b) a neutral point of the bus capacitance, and (iii) a second diode connected between (a) a second connection point of the third main switch and the fourth main switch and (b) the neutral point of the bus capacitance; and

two inductors, wherein the two inductors are both connected at one side to the neutral point of the bus capacitance, and, at another side, a first inductor of the two inductors is connected to the first connection point between the first main switch and the second main switch of the bridge arm and a second inductor of the two inductors is connected to the second connection point between the third main switch and the fourth main switch of the bridge arm, and wherein the control method includes steps of

(S1.) after controlling the auxiliary switch to be turned on for a first period of time, controlling at least two main switches set at same positions of individual bridge arms to be simultaneously turned on; and

(S2.) after a second period of time following a time when the at least two main switches set at the same positions of individual bridge arms are simultaneously turned on, turning off the auxiliary switch.

2. The control method according to claim 1, wherein:

control signals of the main switches of the bridge arm and the auxiliary switch are formed by modulating a carrier signal; and

prior to the step S1, the control method further comprises a step of;

detecting whether or not an effective edge of the carrier signal appears, and if YES, starting to perform the step S1.

3. The control method according to claim 2, wherein:

the carrier signal is right-angled sawtooth wave, the effective edge is a rising edge of the right-angled sawtooth wave.

4. The control method according to claim 1, wherein:

the circuit is a soft switching converter.

5. The control method according to claim 1, wherein:

the circuit is an AC/DC circuit or a DC/AC circuit.

7. The control method according to claim 1, wherein:

in the step S1, at a time when current is completely transferred from a main switch circuit comprising the at least two bridge arms in the circuit to an auxiliary switch circuit comprising the auxiliary switch in the circuit, the at least two main switches set at the same positions of individual bridge arms are controlled to be simultaneously turned on; and

in the step S2, at a time when current is completely transferred from the auxiliary switch circuit to the main switch circuit, the auxiliary switch is turned off.

8. The control method according to claim 1 wherein:

in the step S1, the main switches at the same positions of individual bridge arms which are connected with the bus capacitance are controlled to be simultaneously turned on.

6. A control device for a circuit with bridge arm in which main switches are provided, wherein the circuit includes:

at least two bridge arms, an auxiliary switch assisting in switching of the main switches of the bridge arm, wherein the bridge arm is an NPC (Neutral Point Clamped) bridge arm and includes;

(i) a first main switch, a second main switch, a third main switch, and a fourth main switch connected in series between positive and negative terminals of a bus capacitance, (ii) a first diode connected between (a) a first connection point of the first main switch and the second main switch and (b) a neutral point of the bus capacitance, and (iii) a second diode connected between (a) a second connection point of the third main switch and the fourth main switch and (b) the neutral point of the bus capacitance; and

two inductors, wherein the two inductors are both connected at one side to the neutral point of the bus capacitance, and, at another side, a first inductor of the two inductors is connected to the first connection point between the first main switch and the second main switch of the bridge arm and a second inductor of the two inductors is connected to the second connection point between the third main switch and the fourth main switch of the bridge arm, and wherein the control device includes;

a first control unit for, after controlling the auxiliary switch to be turned on for a first period of time, controlling at least two main switches set at same positions of individual bridge arms to be simultaneously turned on; and

a second control unit for, after a second period of time following a time when the at least two main switches set at the same positions of individual bridge arms are simultaneously turned on, turning off the auxiliary switch.

9. The control device according to claim 6, wherein:

the first control unit is used for, at a time when current is completely transferred from a main switch circuit comprising the at least two bridge arms in the circuit to an auxiliary switch circuit comprising the auxiliary switch in the circuit, controlling the at least two main switches set at the same positions of individual bridge arms to be simultaneously turned on; and

the second control unit is used for, at a time when current is completely transferred from the auxiliary switch circuit to the main switch circuit, turning off the auxiliary switch.