Method and control device for controlling a commutation process of a load current between switching modules

• US 10,651,719 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2018
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Limited (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Limited (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Gloes, Hendrik, Geske, Martin, Szczupak, Piotr
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosario-Benitez, Gustavo A
• Application Number:
  US16/229,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20190199193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0054 Transistor switching losses periodically suspending operation of switching converter in low power mode H02M1/0035
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/08 Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/44 Circuits or arrangements for compensating for electromagnetic interference in converters or inverters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/538 in a push-pull configuration H02M7/5375 takes precedence ; with oscillating arrangements H02M7/53832, H02M7/53846
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/163 Soft switching
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/6871 the output circuit comprising more than one controlled field-effect transistor
• 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

A method and a device for controlling a commutation process of a load current between two switching modules are disclosed that each have a MOSFET that can be controlled by a gate-source voltage, and an intrinsic-body inverse diode. To reduce oscillations in the down-commutation of the inverse diodes caused by parasitic circuit parameters, after switching off one of the switching modules, the gate-source control voltage applied to this switching module is temporarily switched off until being increased again the vicinity of the threshold voltage for switching on the MOSFET, before and while the other switching module is switched on, in order to commutate the current from the inverse diode of the one switching module to the MOSFET of the other switching module.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a commutation process of a load current from a first switching module to a second switching module, wherein the first switching module comprises a first MOSFET and a first inverse diode, and the second switching module comprises a second MOSFET and a second inverse diode, the first MOSFET and the second MOSFET being controlled by a gate-source voltage, the method comprising:

connecting a first gate-driver unit directly to a gate and a source terminal of the first MOSFET and connecting a second gate-driver unit directly to a gate and source terminal of the second MOSFET;

applying a first control voltage to the first switching module to switch it off for a first time period, wherein the level of the first control voltage is below a predetermined threshold voltage, above which the first MOSFET becomes minimally conductive, and wherein the first time period is selected so that the first inverse diode carries the load current;

applying a second control voltage to the first switching module for a second time period to influence the switch-off behavior of the first inverse diode, wherein the second control voltage has an intermediate level between the level of the first control voltage and the level of the predetermined threshold voltage,

applying a third control voltage to the second switching module for switching it on, wherein the level of the third control voltage is above the predetermined threshold voltage, above which the second MOSFET is minimally conductive, in order to cause a commutation of the load current from the first inverse diode to the second MOSFET, wherein a period in which the third control voltage is applied to until the second MOSFET becomes fully conductive is within the second time period;

applying, after an expiration of the second time period, a fourth control voltage with a level below the intermediate level of the second control voltage to the first MOSFET to block it or hold it in the blocking status; and

operating, via a control device, the first switching module and the second switching module in a complementary manner such that when one of the first switching module or the second switching module is conductive, the other of the first switching module or the second switching module is blocked at a same time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a second control voltage with the second control voltage with the intermediate level which is between the level of the first control voltage for switching off a down-commutating switching module, the down-commutating switching module being one of the first switching module or the second switching module, and the level of the predetermined threshold voltage, for each commutation process from the first switching module to the second switching module and vice versa, is applied independent of the current flow direction of the load current through the down-commutating switching module before applying the third control voltage to completely switch on the other of the first switching module or the second switching module.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second control voltage with the intermediate level which is between the level of the first control voltage for switching off the down-commutating switching module and the level of the predetermined threshold voltage, for each commutation process from the first switching module to the second switching module and vice versa, before applying the third control voltage to completely switch on the other of the first switching module or the second switching module, is only then applied when the instantaneous load current flows in the reverse current flow direction through the down-commutating switching module.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the switch-on of the first switching module or the second switching module, to which the load current is commutated, takes place in at least two stages, with an intermediate stage of the second control voltage that is below the level of the third control voltage to completely switch on the first switching module or the second switching module and that is above the predetermined threshold voltage.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second switching modules are arranged in a common commutation circuit and are connected to each other in series via line elements.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first and second switching modules form a half-bridge circuit that is connectable or connected to a DC voltage supply, and the connection point between switching modules forms a bridge tap for the connection of a load.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second switching modules form a power module that forms at least one phase branch of a power converter.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the power converter can have a number of phase branches corresponding to the number of phases, each phase branch having one or more first switching modules in series or parallel to each other and one or more second switching modules connected in series or parallel to each other.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the power module or each phase branch of the power converter has two or more first switching modules connected in parallel to each other and two or more second switching modules connected in parallel to each other, wherein the first and second switching modules are respectively switched synchronously to each other.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second switching modules are switched at switching frequencies of Hz to kHz range or in the MHz range.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprises receiving a switching request signal from a higher-level control, wherein the first control voltage is applied in response to receiving the switching request signal.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the first time period can be set in advance such that the first inverse diode carries at least 90% of the load current from the first MOSFET under the assumed operating conditions, before the second control voltage is applied.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein applying the third control voltage to the second switching module takes place during the second time period.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein after applying the third control voltage to the second switching module within the second period, the second MOSFET then carries at least 90% of the load current from the first inverse diode, before the fourth control voltage is applied to the first switching module (SM).

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second MOSFETs are SiC MOSFETs.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the level of the control voltage for the first and second switching modules in the conductive status is approximately 15-25 V, the level of the first and fourth control voltage is approximately 0 to −

10 V, the intermediate level of the second control voltage is approximately −

10 to +4 V, and the threshold voltage is approximately 2 to 7 V.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the level of the second control voltage is higher than the level of the fourth control voltage and the level of the first control voltage.

18. A control device for controlling a commutation process of a load current from a first switching module to a second switching module, wherein the first switching module comprises a first MOSFET and a first inverse diode and the second switching module comprises a second MOSFET and a second inverse diode, the first MOSFET and the second MOSFET being controlled by a gate-source voltage, wherein the control device has a gate-control device that is communicatively connected to a higher-level control in order to receive binary switching request signals from the latter, and is configured to implement a method according to claim 1.

19. The control device according to claim 18, comprising at least one gate-driver unit that is capable of generating at least three different voltage levels, including the levels of the first, second and third control voltage in order to control the switching modules.

20. The control device according to claim 19, wherein the at least one gate-driver unit has a first controllable switch that is connected to a positive voltage potential and via a closing resistor to a gate of the first and second switching module, and a second controllable switch, that is connected to a negative voltage potential and via an opening resistor to the same gate of the first and second switching module, wherein the voltage potentials, the closing resistor and the opening resistor are dimensioned such that, when both the first controllable switch and the second controllable switch are switched on simultaneously, the intermediate level of the second control voltage is applied to the gate of the first and second switching module.