Cutting electric power converter

• US 20040037101A1
• Filed: 08/11/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, C.I.R.T.E.M., Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse
• Original Assignee: Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, C.I.R.T.E.M., Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse
• Inventors: Meynard, Thierry, Lefeuvre, Elie
• Granted Patent: US 6,879,503 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 363/132
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 5/293 using semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/483 Converters with outputs that each can have more than two voltages levels
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/4837 Flying capacitor converters

Abstract

The invention concerns a cutting device for reversibly converting electric power between an alternating voltage source (2) and an alternative current source (4), comprising switching cells (6₁, , 6_2n) each comprising first (8₁, , 8_2n) and second (10₁, , 10_2n) switches unidirectional in voltage and bidirectional in current. A first group of switches consists of the first switches (8₁, , 8_2n) of the switching cells connected in series between a first terminal (14) of the voltage source (2) and a first terminal (12) of the current source (4), and a second group of switches consists of the second switches (10₁, , 10_2n) of the switching cells connected in series between a second terminal (16) of the voltage source (2) and the first terminal (12) of the current source (4), the unidirectional characteristics in voltage of the first and second switches belonging to a first half of the cells being respectively opposed to those of the first and second switches belonging to a second half of the cells.

Claims

1. Cutting device for reversibly converting electrical power between an alternating voltage source (2) and an alternating current source (4), comprising an even number of switching cells (6₁, . . . , 6_2n) each having a first (8₁, . . . , 8_2n) and a second (10₁, . . . , 10_2n) switch which are unidirectional in voltage and bidirectional in current, capacitors (24₁, . . . , 24_2n−

1) associated with the switching cells (6₁, . . . , 6_2n) and suitable for maintaining at the terminals of the cells a voltage having a charge which is zero or equal to a predetermined fraction of the voltage (V_e) of the voltage source (2), and control devices (26₁, . . . , 26_2n) each connected to a switching cell and suitable for controlling the switching of the first and second switches (8₁, . . . , 8_2n, 10₁, . . . 10_2n) of the cell, a first half (6₁, . . . , 6<sub>2i−

1</sub>, . . . , 6<sub>2n−

1</sub>) of the cells being suitable for processing the positive alternation of the voltage (V_e) of the voltage source (2) and the second half (6₂, . . . , 6_2i, . . . , 6_2n) of the cells being suitable for processing the negative alternation of the voltage (V_e) of the voltage source (2), characterised in that a first group of switches is formed by the first switches (8₁, . . . , 8_2n) of the switching cells, which first switches are connected in series between a first terminal (14) of the voltage source (2) and a first terminal (12) of the current source (4), in that a second group of switches is formed by the second switches (10₁, . . . , 10_2n) of the switching cells, which second switches are connected in series between a second terminal (16) of the voltage source (2) and the first terminal (12) of the current source (4), the unidirectional characteristics in voltage of the first and second switches (8₁, . . . , 8<sub>2i−

1</sub>, . . . , 8<sub>2n−

1</sub>, 10₁, . . . , 10<sub>2i−

1</sub>, . . . , 10<sub>2n−

1</sub>) belonging to the first half of the cells being respectively opposed to those of the first and second switches (8₂, . . . , 8_2i, . . . , 8_2n, 10₂, . . . , 10_2i, . . . , 10_2n) belonging to the second half of the cells.

2. Cutting device for reversibly converting electrical power according to claim 1, characterised in that a second terminal (18) of the current source (4) is connected to either of the first and second terminals (14, 16) of the voltage source (2), thus forming a neutral point of the device common to the voltage source and to the current source.

3. Cutting device for reversibly converting electrical power according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the switches (8₁, . . . , 8_2i−

1, . . . , 8<sub>2n−

1</sub>, 10₁, . . . , 10<sub>2i−

1</sub>, . . . , 10<sub>2n−

1</sub>) of each group belonging to the first half of the cells are connected in alternation with the switches (8₂, . . . , 8_2i, . . . , 8_2n, 10₂, . . . , 10_2i, . . . , 10_2n) of each respective group belonging to the second half of the cells.

4. Cutting device for reversibly converting electrical power according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the control devices (26₁, . . . , 26_2n) are suitable for controlling the switching of the two switches of each cell (6₁, . . . , 6_2i−

1, . . . , 6<sub>2n−

1</sub>) of the first half of the cells, ensuring that they are in opposite states, and for keeping conductive the two switches of each cell (6₂, . . . , 6_2i, . . . , 6_2n) of the second half of the cells when the voltage (V_e) of the voltage source is positive, and conversely, for controlling the switching of the two switches of each cell (6₂, . . . , 6_2i, . . . , 6_2n) of the second half of the cells, ensuring that they are in opposite states, and for keeping conductive the two switches of each cell (6₁, . . . , 6<sub>2i−

1</sub>, . . . , 6<sub>2n−

1</sub>) of the first half of the cells when the voltage (V_e) of the voltage source is negative.

5. Cutting device for reversibly converting electrical power according to claim 4, characterised in that all the cells (6₁, . . . , 6_2i−

1, . . . , 6<sub>2n−

1</sub>) of the first half of the cells, when the voltage of the voltage source is positive, and all the cells (6₂, . . . , 6_2i, . . . , 6_2n) of the second half of the cells, when the voltage of the voltage source is negative, are controlled with substantially equal cyclic ratios and substantially equal phase shifts between two successive cells of a same half of the cells.

6. Cutting device for reversibly converting polyphase electrical power between a multiplicity of voltage sources and a multiplicity of current sources, characterised in that it comprises a multiplicity of devices according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the voltage sources (2) and current sources (4) of which are respectively connected to one another.

7. Cutting device for reversibly converting polyphase electrical power according to claim 6, characterised in that the second terminals (18) of all the current sources (4) are connected to one another, thus forming a neutral point of the current sources, and in that one of the terminals (14, 16) of each voltage source (2) is connected to the same point, thus forming a neutral point of the voltage sources.

8. Cutting device for reversibly converting polyphase electrical power according to claim 6, characterised in that the neutral point of the current sources (4) and the neutral point of the voltage sources (2) are connected to one another, thus forming a neutral point of the device common to all of the voltage and current sources.