Low-loss power current inverter

• US 5,949,669 A
• Filed: 06/19/1998
• Issued: 09/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Mertens, Axel, Bruckmann, Manfred
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Peter S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Rajnikant B.
• Application Number:
  US09/043,497
• Time in Patent Office: 445 Days
• Field of Search: 363/136, 363/132, 363/98, 363/131, 363/43, 363/17, 363/95, 363/37
• US Class Current: 363/132
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 9/16 using ac induction motors
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/4811 having auxiliary actively switched resonant commutation circuits connected to intermediate DC voltage or between two push-pull branches
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/487 Neutral point clamped inverters

Abstract

A low-loss power inverter is provided. Each inverter phase includes an upper and a lower bridge half, each having two power semiconductor switches, with antiparallel-connected diodes, with one tie point of the power semiconductor switches being connected using an isolating diode to a tie point of a d.c. intermediate circuit, an auxiliary circuit consisting of an upper and a lower auxiliary switch and a resonant inductor is provided, and at least one resonant capacitor is provided for power semiconductor switches of the inverter phase. This yields a low-loss power inverter which combines the advantages of a three-point inverter with those of an ARCP inverter.

Claims

1. A low-loss power inverter, comprising:

a d.c. intermediate circuit having a first tie point and including an upper pair of series-connected capacitors having a second tie point, and a lower pair of series-connected capacitors having a third tie point, the upper pair of series-connected capacitors being connected in series to the lower pair of series connected capacitors, each of the upper pair of series-connected capacitors having substantially equal capacitances and each of the lower pair of series-connected capacitors having substantially equal capacitances;

at least one isolating diode;

an inverter phase connected in parallel to the d.c. intermediate circuit and having an output terminal, the inverter phase including an upper bridge half and a lower bridge half, each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half including two power semiconductor switches and two diodes, each of the two diodes of each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half being antiparallel-connected to one of the two power semiconductor switches, the two semiconductor switches of each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half having a fourth tie point, the fourth tie point being coupled to the first tie point via one of the at least one isolating diode;

an auxiliary circuit including an upper auxiliary switch, a lower auxiliary switch, and a resonant inductor, each of the upper auxiliary switch and the lower auxiliary switch being connected in series to the resonant inductor, the auxiliary circuit coupling the second tie point and the third tie point to the output terminal; and

at least one resonant capacitor coupled to the inverter phase.

2. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the first tie point is positioned between the upper pair of series-connected capacitors and the lower pair of series connected capacitors, the second tie point is positioned between the upper pair of series-connected capacitors, the third tie point is positioned between the lower pair of series-connected capacitor, and the and the fourth tie point is positioned between the two semiconductor switches of each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half.

3. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least two resonant capacitors, one of the at least two resonant capacitors being connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half, and another one of the at least two resonant capacitors being connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half.

4. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 3, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least two resonant capacitors, wherein a first one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half, the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half being connected to each other in series, and wherein a second one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half, the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half being connected in series to each other.

5. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 3, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least four resonant capacitors, and wherein the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half are connected to each other in series and a first one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half is connected in parallel to a first one of the at least four resonant capacitors, and a second one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half is connected in parallel to a second one of the at least four resonant capacitors, and wherein the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half are connected to each other in series and a first one of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half is connected in parallel to a third one of the at least four resonant capacitors, and a second one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half is connected in parallel to a fourth one of the at least four resonant capacitors.

6. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least two resonant capacitors, and wherein a first one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the upper bridge half and the first tie point, and a second one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the lower bridge half and the first tie point.

7. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein one of the at least one resonant capacitor is connected between the output terminal and the first tie point.

8. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least two resonant capacitors, and wherein a first one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to the upper bridge half and a second one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to the lower bridge half.

9. The low-loss power inverter of claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least four resonant capacitors, wherein a first one of the at least four resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half, a second one of the at least four resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half, a third one of the at least four resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the upper bridge half and the first tie point, and a fourth one of the at least four resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the lower bridge half and the first tie point.

10. The low-loss power inverter of claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least three resonant capacitors, and wherein a first one of the at least three resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half, a second one of the at least two resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half, and a third one of the at least three resonant capacitors is connected between the output terminal and the first tie point.

11. The low-loss power inverter of claim 1, wherein the at least one resonant capacitor includes at least five resonant capacitors, wherein a first one of the at least five resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half, a second one of the at least five resonant capacitors is connected in parallel to one of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half, a third one of the at least five resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the upper bridge half and the first tie point, a fourth one of the at least five resonant capacitors is connected between the fourth tie point of the lower bridge half and the first tie point, and a fifth one of the at least five resonant capacitors is connected between the output terminal and the first tie point.

12. The low-loss power inverter of claim 1, wherein each of the two power semiconductor switches of the upper bridge half and each of the two power semiconductor switches of the lower bridge half includes a switched power semiconductor switch.

13. The low-loss power inverter of claim 1, wherein each of the upper auxiliary switch and the lower auxiliary switch includes two series-connected auxiliary semiconductor switches and two auxiliary diodes, each of the two auxiliary diodes being antiparallel-connected to one of the two series-connected auxiliary semiconductor switches, each of the two series-connected auxiliary semiconductor switches having a cathode, the cathode of a first one of the two series-connected auxiliary switches being connected to the cathode of a second one of the two series-connected auxiliary switches.

14. The low-loss power inverter of claim 13, wherein each of the two series-connected auxiliary semiconductor switches of each of the upper auxiliary switch and the lower auxiliary switch includes a high-power converter.

15. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the resonant inductor is a saturable reactor.

16. The low-loss power inverter according to claim 1, wherein the least one resonant capacitor includes at least two resonant capacitors, and wherein the at least one isolating diode includes two series-connected diodes, and a first one of the at least two isolating diodes being connected in parallel to a first one of the at least two resonant capacitors, and a second one of the at least two isolating diodes being connected in parallel to a second one of the at least two resonant capacitors.

17. A low-loss power inverter, comprising:

a d.c. intermediate circuit having a first tie point and including an upper pair of series-connected capacitors having a second tie point, and a lower pair of series-connected capacitors having a third tie point, the upper pair of series-connected capacitors being connected in series to the lower pair of series connected capacitors, the upper pair of series-connected capacitors having substantially equal capacitances and the lower pair of series-connected capacitors having substantially equal capacitances;

at least one isolating diode;

an inverter phase connected in parallel to the d.c. intermediate circuit and having an output terminal, the inverter phase including an upper bridge half and a lower bridge half, each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half including two power semiconductor switches and two diodes, each of the two diodes of each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half being antiparallel-connected to one of the two power semiconductor switches, the two semiconductor switches of each of the upper bridge half and the lower bridge half having a fourth tie point, the fourth tie point being coupled to the first tie point via one of the at least one isolating diodes; and

an auxiliary circuit including an upper auxiliary switch, a lower auxiliary switch, and two resonant inductors, each of the upper auxiliary switch and the lower auxiliary switch being connected in series to one of the two resonant inductors, the auxiliary circuit coupling the second tie point and the third tie point to the output terminal; and

at least one resonant capacitor coupled to the inverter phase.