POWER CONVERSION DEVICE

• US 20100321889A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: KATO, Takeshi, YOSHINO, Tsutomu, HIGASHIDANI, Yoshihiko
• Granted Patent: US 8,169,780 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/702
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20927 Liquid coolant without phase change

Abstract

In a power conversion device including: a converter which steps up or down a voltage of a direct current power supply; and an inverter which converts the direct current voltage obtained by the converter into an alternating voltage to drive an electric motor, a plurality of magnetic parts are arranged above a switching element assembly unit with a water-cooled type second heat sink interposed between the switching element assembly unit and the plurality of magnetic parts, the switching element assembly unit configured by mounting all the switching element modules on upper and lower surfaces of a water-cooled type first heat sink. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a power conversion device capable of housing many switching element modules in a compact space and cooling them effectively, while preventing the influence of a noise due to the magnetic parts from acting on the switching element modules as much as possible.

Claims

1. A power conversion device comprising:

a converter which includes a plurality of switching element modules and a plurality of magnetic parts, and steps up or down a voltage of a direct current power supply; and

an inverter which includes a plurality of switching element modules other than the switching element modules of the converter and converts the direct current voltage obtained by the converter into an alternating voltage to drive an electric motor,

wherein the plurality of magnetic parts are arranged above a switching element assembly unit with a water-cooled type second heat sink interposed between the switching element assembly unit and the plurality of magnetic parts, the switching element assembly unit configured by mounting all the switching element modules on upper and lower surfaces of a water-cooled type first heat sink.

2. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of stud bolts each having threaded shank portions at opposite ends thereof are implanted in the first heat sink in such a manner that the threaded shank portions project from the upper and lower surfaces of the first heat sink, and

the switching element modules are mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the first heat sink in such a manner that the switching element modules are fastened to the threaded shank portions of selected stud bolts out of the stud bolts.

3. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein a cooling water supply source is connected in parallel to the first and second heat sinks in order to distribute and supply cooling water to the first and second heat sinks.

4. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein an even number of the switching element modules are mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the first heat sink in a substantially symmetrical arrangement with respect to the first heat sink.

5. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of switching element modules that constitute part of the converter and mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the first heat sink, and magnetic parts that are directly coupled to the switching element modules constituting part of the converter out of all the magnetic parts, are connected to each other by bus bars.

6. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of magnetic parts and a capacitor unit are disposed above the switching element assembly unit with the second heat sink interposed between the switching element assembly unit and the plurality of magnetic parts and between the switching element assembly unit and the capacitor unit, the capacitor unit formed by integrally including input capacitors respectively included in first and second converters which step up or down voltages of a pair of the direct current power supplies.

7. The power conversion device according to claim 6, wherein the capacitor unit includes a single grounding terminal common to the both input capacitors.

8. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein

a DC link capacitor unit having a smoothing capacitor is provided between the converter and the inverter,

positive side connection terminals of the plurality of switching element modules mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the first heat sink are connected to positive side connection terminals provided on the DC link capacitor unit and are also connected in common to a positive side external bus bar,

negative side connection terminals of the plurality of switching element modules mounted on the first heat sink are connected to negative side connection terminals provided on the DC link capacitor unit and are also connected in common to a negative side external bus bar, and

the positive side and negative side external bus bars arranged outside the DC link capacitor unit are stacked with an insulating member interposed between the positive side and negative side external bus bars to be integrated into an external bus bar unit.

9. The power conversion device according to claim 8, wherein the external bus bar unit is in direct contact with the first heat sink.