BUSBAR LOCATING COMPONENT

• US 20160156278A1
• Filed: 12/01/2014
• Published: 06/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tesla Motors Incorporated (Tesla Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramm, Robert James, Sasaridis, Dino, Campbell, Colin, Liu, Wenjun
• Granted Patent: US 10,199,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/00 Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/115 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 1/04 Mounting thereon of switches or of other devices in general, the switch or device having, or being without, casing
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 1/20 Bus-bar or other wiring layouts, e.g. in cubicles, in switchyards installations of bus-bars H02G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 1/48 Mounting of devices therein
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/003 Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections

Abstract

A busbar locating component includes: one or more first attachments configured for attaching a busbar layer to the busbar locating component; one or more bays each configured to contain and position an assembly of transistors essentially perpendicular to the busbar layer for connection; and a plurality of slots, each slot configured to contain and position a busbar relative to the busbar layer for connection.

Claims

1. A busbar locating component comprising:

one or more first attachments configured for attaching a busbar layer to the busbar locating component;

one or more bays each configured to contain and position an assembly of transistors essentially perpendicular to the busbar layer for connection; and

a plurality of slots, each slot configured to contain and position a busbar relative to the busbar layer for connection.

2. The busbar locating component of claim 1, wherein each of the slots has at least one releasable detent configured to hold the corresponding busbar within the slot.

3. The busbar locating component of claim 1, wherein the busbar locating component is implemented in an inverter configured to convert DC to AC, wherein DC busbars are positioned in adjacent slots on one side of the busbar locating component, and wherein each of the bays has an AC busbar in a respective AC busbar slot.

4. The busbar locating component of claim 3, wherein there are at least two AC busbar slots, each having an extension past an end of the respective bay, the busbar locating component further comprising a support structure that bridges respective ends of the extensions to each other.

5. The busbar locating component of claim 3, further comprising one or more second attachments configured for attaching at least one circuit board to the busbar locating component, the circuit board positioned on an opposite side of the busbar layer than the bays.

6. The busbar locating component of claim 3, wherein each of the bays further comprises a terminal pass-through located across the bay from the corresponding AC busbar slot, the terminal pass-through configured to have at least one capacitor terminal extend therethrough from below the busbar locating component to the busbar layer.

7. The busbar locating component of claim 1, wherein each of the bays is defined by a sidewall, a bottom wall and an outside of an adjacent slot.

8. The busbar locating component of claim 1, wherein the assembly of transistors in each of the bays comprises a heatsink extending essentially from end to end in the bay, each of the bays also configured to contain and position the corresponding heatsink, wherein the transistors of the assembly are positioned against the heatsink on at least one side thereof.

9. The busbar locating component of claim 8, wherein the first attachments are configured for positioning the busbar layer across a top of the busbar locating component, wherein the transistors extend essentially perpendicularly downward from the busbar layer.

10. A method of assembling an electronic device, the method comprising:

inserting a respective busbar in each of a plurality of slots in a busbar locating component, each slot configured to contain and position the corresponding busbar relative to a busbar layer for connection;

inserting an assembly of transistors in each of one or more bays in the busbar locating component, each bay configured to contain and position the transistors essentially perpendicular to the busbar layer for connection;

attaching the busbar layer to the busbar locating component by one or more first attachments on the busbar locating component; and

welding, after attachment of the busbar layer, the transistors and the busbars to the busbar layer after attachment of the circuit board.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising attaching, after the attachment of the busbar layer, at least one circuit board to the busbar locating component by one or more second attachments on the busbar locating component.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising soldering, after the attachment of the circuit board, a lead of each of the transistors to the circuit board.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising attaching the busbar locating component and a capacitor component to each other, each of the bays further comprising a terminal pass-through configured to have at least one terminal of the capacitor component extend therethrough from below the busbar locating component to the busbar layer.

14. An inverter comprising:

one or more busbar layers;

an assembly of transistors;

busbars; and

means for containing and positioning the assembly of transistors essentially perpendicular to the busbar layers for connection, for containing and positioning each of the busbars relative to the busbar layers for connection, and for attaching the one or more busbar layers.

15. The inverter of claim 14, wherein:

the means includes one or more bays for containing and positioning the assembly of transistors;

the busbars comprise;

first and second DC busbars that are positioned in adjacent slots on one side of the means, and an AC busbar in a respective AC busbar slot in each of the one or more bays; and

the busbar layers comprise;

a first DC busbar layer connected to the first DC busbar, a second DC busbar layer connected to the second DC busbar, and an AC busbar layer connected to the AC busbar.

16. The inverter of claim 15, wherein each of the bays further comprises a terminal pass-through located across the bay from the corresponding AC busbar slot, the terminal pass-through configured to have at least one capacitor terminal extend therethrough from below the busbar locating component to the busbar layer.

17. The inverter of claim 16, wherein each terminal pass-through extends essentially an entire length of the corresponding bay.

18. The inverter of claim 15, wherein the means includes (i) a first bay having adjacent thereto the AC busbar slot and the adjacent slots for the first and second DC busbars, and (ii) multiple second bays that are adjacent each other and parallel to the first bay, each of the second bays having a corresponding AC busbar in a corresponding AC busbar slot.

19. The inverter of claim 18, wherein the means is configured with a dimensionality of the adjacent slots for the first and second DC busbars driving a dimensionality of AC busbar slots for each of the second bays so that a dimensional tolerance is tighter at the adjacent slots than at each of the AC busbar slots.