Electronic power device

• US 20010055714A1
• Filed: 05/11/2001
• Published: 12/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alstom SA
• Original Assignee: Alstom SA
• Inventors: Cettour-Rose, Jacques, Petitbon, Alain, Fellmann, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 6,442,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 429/122
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/003 Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/2089 for power electronics, e.g. for inverters for controlling motor

Abstract

An electronic power device comprising support plates each having one face receiving one or more power components and an opposite face in contact with a cooling fluid for cooling said power components by conduction, wherein at least one support plate is associated with another support plate disposed facing it and provided with similar power components, and wherein the power components of the two facing support plates are disposed facing one another and in the immediate vicinity of one another.

Claims

1. An electronic power device comprising support plates each having one face receiving one or more power components and an opposite face in contact with a cooling fluid for cooling said power components by conduction, wherein at least one support plate is associated with another support plate disposed facing it and provided with similar power components, and wherein the power components of the two facing support plates are disposed facing one another and in the immediate vicinity of one another.

2. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein each support plate is associated with another support plate disposed facing it and provided with similar power components, the power components of the facing support plates being disposed facing one another and in the immediate vicinity of one another.

3. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein said support plates are distributed over two frames made of electrically insulating material, each of the frames having openings whose outlines form seats for receiving said support plates, said two frames being of a form enabling the two frames to be associated one against the other with the support plates of the two facing frames, the free faces of the two adjacent frames supporting respective cooling boxes each having a cooling fluid circulation volume and means for supplying and for removing said fluid.

4. An electronic power device according to

claim 3

, wherein said two frames are identical.

5. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein each support plate is fed with electricity via at least one emitter and at least one collector projecting respectively from two opposite edges of said support plate so that the emitter feeding one support plate is disposed on the same side as and close to the collector feeding the facing support plate.

6. An electronic power device according to

claim 3

, wherein each support plate is fed with electricity via at least one emitter and at least one collector projecting respectively from two opposite edges of said support plate so that the emitter feeding one support plate is disposed on the same side as and close to the collector feeding the facing support plate, and wherein said frames support said emitters, said collectors, and a control circuit for controlling the power components.

7. An electronic power device according to

claim 5

, wherein each of said support plates receives two IGBT components presenting a common emitter disposed between the two IGBT components and projecting laterally from one side of the frame, each of said IGBT components having an independent collector projecting laterally from the other side of the frame.

8. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein a strip of heat conducting material such as copper or aluminum is brazed or soldered to those faces of the support plates which come into contact with the cooling fluid, said strip having folds constituting micro-channels encouraging heat exchange with said fluid.

9. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein said frames and boxes are molded out of a plastics material and are assembled to one another by adhesive or by means of a sealing gasket.

10. An electronic power device according to

claim 1

, wherein said support plates are made by assembling an electrically insulating material that conducts heat such as aluminum nitride with a composite material that conducts heat and has a coefficient of expansion matching that of the electrically insulating material such as a composite of aluminum and silicon carbide, said electrically insulating material supporting the power components and said composite being in contact with the cooling fluid.