JP2002112557A - Power converter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To install a power converter housing apparatus so as to carry out effective air-cooling to suppress the dimensional increase and waste energy consumption of a power converter, to prevent the leakage of a secondary battery electrolyte from giving damages to surroundings, even if the installation posture of the power converter is different from a normal posture, and to avoid defects produced in a narrow cross-section part of a push-botton cover made of synthetic resin, when the cover is molded integrally. SOLUTION: This power converter has an air-flow path, with which a printed board 13 on which semiconductor devices 14 are mounted and reactors 12 can be totally cooled by a cooling air-flow produced by a cooling fan 16. A lead battery 2 is housed between a lower electrolyte receiver 4 and a side electrolyte receiver 5, which are assembled into an L-shape to receive a leaking electrolyte, even if a power converter is installed sideways. A push-button cover 22 covering push-button switches attached to the surface of the power converter has pushing parts 24 positioned in windows 23, provided at positions corresponding to the push-button switches and the pushing parts 24 and the circumferences of the windows 23 are connected to each other with connection legs 25. Resin casting inlets used, when the pushing parts 24, the connection legs 25, and the push-button cover 22 are integrally molded are formed in the pushing unit 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of a power conversion device including a semiconductor device for power conversion and its accessories, a secondary battery or a push button switch.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computers and communication equipment may malfunction if there is a large fluctuation in the voltage or frequency of commercial power supplied thereto. In addition, even if the commercial power supply is extremely short, if a power failure occurs, important data may be destroyed and normal operation may not be performed. Therefore, in preparation for such an unexpected accident of the commercial power supply, an uninterruptible power supply as a power converter capable of backing up a power failure with a secondary battery and maintaining a constant voltage and frequency is often used. The capacity of uninterruptible power supplies has also been reduced with the downsizing of computers, etc., and the semiconductor elements for power conversion used for this have been replaced with a conventional stack structure, so that they can be mounted on a printed board together with control circuits. It has become to.

FIG. 6 is a structural view showing the internal structure of a conventional small-capacity uninterruptible power supply. FIG. 6 (a) is a front view thereof, and FIG. 6 (b) is a right side view thereof. For example, the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply is often placed on a shelf below a rack where a computer is installed, for example. The lower half of the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply shown in FIG. 6 is a battery room 1 in which a sealed lead-acid battery 2 is used as a secondary battery in case of a commercial power failure. 6 has three units.
The upper half of the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply is a power conversion equipment room 10 that houses various power conversion devices and circuits.
This power conversion equipment room 10 has an equipment mounting plate 11,
Reactors 12 (three in FIG. 6) constituting a filter circuit are mounted on one surface of the equipment mounting plate 11, and a printed circuit board 13 is mounted on the other surface. A semiconductor element 14 for power conversion is mounted on the printed board 13 together with a control circuit, and heat generated when the semiconductor element 14 operates is transmitted to the radiation fins 15. Cooling fan 1
The cooling air flowing in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6 (from left to right in FIG. 6A) by the operation of 6 deprives the heat from the radiating fins 15 and discharges out of the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply. Note that the cooling air flowing from the cooling fan 16 also flows into the reactor 12, and the heat generated therefrom is also released outside the device.

The lead storage battery 2 installed in the battery chamber 1 is generally of a sealed type, so that there is usually no risk of leakage of the electrolyte therein. However, if for some reason cracks occur in the case of the lead-acid battery 2 and the internal electrolyte leaks, this electrolyte is corrosive and corrodes surrounding equipment,
In some cases, inconveniences such as generation of dangerous gas due to chemical reaction with surrounding substances may occur. Therefore, in order to prevent the leakage of the electrolyte from adversely affecting the surroundings, the lead storage battery 2 is housed in the battery chamber 1 in a state of being placed on the electrolyte tray 3.

FIG. 7 is a structural view showing a conventional example of a push button cover for protecting a push button switch mounted on the surface of an uninterruptible power supply. A plurality of push-button switches (not shown) are provided in the uninterruptible power supply at locations where the device is easy to operate, for start / stop operations of the uninterruptible power supply, setting of operation values during operation, and the like. However, in order to facilitate the installation work and wiring work, and to reduce the installation space, a push button switch is used as a display LED.
It is often mounted on a printed board together with other components and the printed board is attached to the surface of the apparatus. However, as it is, the printed board and its mounting parts are exposed and unsightly, and these may be damaged. Therefore, in order to protect parts and improve appearance, the entire printed board is covered with the push button cover 22.In this case, in order to be able to operate the push button switch via the push button cover 22, The push button cover 22 has two windows 2 in FIG.
3 (the hatched portion) is opened, and the pressurizing unit 24 is positioned in the window 23. The pressing portion 24 is configured to be connected to the periphery of the window 23 through a thin connecting leg 25. The pressing portion 24 and the connecting leg 25 are made of a synthetic resin (for example, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin) together with the push button cover 22. , Abbreviations are ABS resin). Reference numeral 27 denotes an LED display window.

When the cross-sectional area of the connecting leg 25 is large, the operation of the push button switch becomes difficult because the amount of bending of the connecting leg 25 is small even when the pressing portion 24 is pressed with a strong force. Therefore, the push button switch can be operated simply by lightly pressing the pressing portion 24 with a fingertip, and the cross-sectional area of the connecting leg 25 is reduced to such an extent that the pressing portion 24 can return to its original position by its own elasticity when the fingertip is released. Must be reduced.

[0007]

As is apparent from the prior art shown in FIG. 6, the power conversion equipment room 10 is divided into two parts by the equipment mounting plate 11, so that the cooling caused by the operation of the cooling fan 16 is performed. The air for use is also divided into two and flows separately. Therefore, the semiconductor element 14 and the reactor 12 are cooled by separate air flows. Therefore, for example, if the flow rate of the cooling air flowing to the semiconductor element 14 is smaller than that flowing to the reactor 12 side even though the heat generation amount of the semiconductor element 14 is larger than that of the The element 14 is thermally destroyed and the uninterruptible power supply cannot operate. That is, extra equipment such as a damper is provided so that the cooling air generated by the cooling fan 16 can be appropriately distributed according to the heat generation amount of the semiconductor element 14 and the reactor 12 and the allowable temperature limit thereof, and the distribution of the flow rate is reduced. There is a disadvantage that the adjustment must be made with great effort so as not to be inappropriate. Therefore, the cooling fan 16 is provided so that a sufficient amount of cooling air can be obtained even if the flow rate distribution is inappropriate.
If the capacity of the cooling fan 16 is increased, the above-mentioned drawback can be avoided, but there is a drawback that the whole device becomes large due to the increase in the capacity of the cooling fan 16 and that energy is wasted.

In addition, when the conventional small-capacity uninterruptible power supply shown in FIG. 6 is placed on a shelf, if the height to the upper end of the shelf is lower than the height of the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply, another one is used. It is installed at a place, but this is inconvenient because it is far from the computer, and the wire laid between the computer and the computer becomes long. Therefore, even if the small-capacity uninterruptible power supply is tilted backward or forward, it is stored in a shelf and installed near a computer. At this time, the lead storage battery 2 assumes a posture different from the conventional posture. If the electrolyte of the lead storage battery 2 leaks in this posture, the electrolyte cannot be received by the electrolyte receiving tray 3, and therefore, there is a disadvantage that the corrosive electrolyte invades the surroundings.

The push button cover 22 is integrally formed by injecting ABS resin into a mold under pressure.
If the resin injection port at this time is provided at a location that is as inconspicuous as possible, for example, at point A, there is no guarantee that the ABS resin injected from here will reach the thin joint legs 25. Therefore, when there is a portion having an extremely small cross-sectional area such as the joint leg 25, a resin injection port is provided in this portion to prevent defects from occurring due to insufficient flow of the resin. That is, in the push button cover 22, a resin injection port for integral molding is provided in the joint leg 25, thereby avoiding occurrence of molding failure due to poor resin flow.

FIG. 8 is a partial structural view of a push button cover partially showing a conventional example in a case where a resin injection port is provided in a connection leg and after being integrally molded. Always surplus resin 26 remains. This is because it is necessary to inject more resin than necessary to completely spread the resin inside the mold, and this extra resin becomes the surplus resin 26. Therefore, when the push button cover 22 is removed from the mold, the excess resin 2
6 is manually removed with a file, but if not careful, there is a possibility that the connecting leg 25 may be damaged. As described above, since the cross-sectional area of the connecting leg 25 is small, if it is damaged, the waist may be weakened or broken, which may hinder the operation of the push button switch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to arrange a power conversion device storage device so as to effectively perform wind cooling, to suppress an increase in the size of the device and wasteful use of energy, and to mount the power conversion device differently than usual. It is an object of the present invention to prevent the leakage of the electrolyte of the secondary battery from damaging the surroundings even in the posture, and to prevent a defect from being generated in a narrow cross-sectional area when the synthetic resin push button cover is integrally formed.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a power converter according to the present invention cools at least a printed circuit board on which a semiconductor element for power conversion is mounted and a filter circuit including at least a reactor. An air flow passage for cooling all with a cooling air flow generated by a fan is provided.

[0013] When the secondary battery incorporated in the power conversion device has a specific posture or a posture different from the posture by 90 degrees, an electrolyte receiving tray for storing the electrolyte leaking from the secondary battery is provided. . A push button cover that covers the push button switch mounted on the surface of the printed board that constitutes the power conversion device has a pressurizing section positioned in an opening provided at a location corresponding to the push button switch. And the periphery of the opening are connected by elastic and flexible connecting legs, and the injection port of the synthetic resin when integrally molding the pressurizing portion and the connecting legs together with the push button cover with the synthetic resin. , Provided near the connecting leg.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a structural view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and shows a cross section of a right side surface of an uninterruptible power supply as a power converter. The battery room 1, the lead storage battery 2, the power conversion equipment room 10, the reactor 12, the printed circuit board 13, and the semiconductor element 1 shown in the first embodiment of FIG.
The names, uses, and functions of the fins 4 and the radiation fins 15 are shown in FIG.
(B) is the same as the conventional example described above, and the description of the same parts is omitted.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the arrangement of the equipment inside the power conversion equipment room 10 occupying the upper half of the uninterruptible power supply is different from that of the conventional example shown in FIG. The cooling air flow generated by the cooling fan 16 is not divided into two by the equipment mounting plate 11.

FIG. 2 is a structural view showing a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 (a) is a front view of an uninterruptible power supply as a power converter, and FIG. 2 (b) is a right side thereof. Figure, Figure 2
(C) shows the respective plan views. However, FIG.
The right side view of (b) is the same as that of the first embodiment described above with reference to FIG.

The reactor 12 is cooled by a cooling air flow generated by the cooling fan 16 in the direction of the arrow.
If a plurality of reactors 12 are arranged in a straight line along this cooling air flow (see FIG. 6A), the cooling effect of the reactor 12 on the leeward side is lower than that of the reactor 12 on the leeward side. Therefore, the plurality of reactors 12 are arranged so as not to be linear along the cooling air flow (FIG. 2A,
2 (c), sufficient cooling air is also supplied to the leeward side.

FIG. 3 is a structural view showing a third embodiment of the present invention, in which two electrolyte receiving trays are combined in an L-shape. That is, the lower electrolytic solution receiving tray 4 and the lateral electrolytic solution receiving plate 5 are combined in an L-shape, and the lead storage battery 2 is stored therein. When the electrolyte leaks in the state shown in the figure, the lower electrolyte receiving tray 4 below the lead-acid battery 2 receives the electrolyte.
Is below the lead-acid battery 2, which catches leakage of the electrolyte.

The use state of the electrolytic solution receiving tray according to the combination shown in FIG. 3 is illustrated in the first embodiment described above with reference to FIG. That is, in the battery chamber 1 in the lower half of the uninterruptible power supply, there are a lower electrolytic solution receiving tray 4 and a lateral electrolytic solution receiving tray 5 combined in an L-shape, and the lead storage battery 2 is accommodated therein. Therefore, when the uninterruptible power supply is in the upright state shown in the figure, the lower electrolytic solution receiving tray 4 receives leakage of the electrolytic solution. If the uninterruptible power supply is in an upright state and it is not convenient, tilt it down on the left side,
At this time, there is a horizontal electrolyte receiving tray 5 below the lead storage battery 2 to receive leakage of the electrolyte. In FIG. 1, the lead storage battery 2 is installed horizontally to reduce the overall height.

FIG. 4 is a structural view showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in which a window portion of a push button cover is enlarged and shown. In the fourth embodiment, a resin injection port for molding the push button cover 22 is provided around the window 23. There is no particular problem even if the peripheral portion of the window 23 is damaged when removing the surplus resin 26, and the resin injection port is close to the connecting leg 25,
The occurrence of defects when molding the push button cover 22 can be suppressed.

FIG. 5 is a structural view showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which a window portion of a push button cover is enlarged. In the fifth embodiment, since the resin injection port for molding the push button cover 22 is provided in the pressurizing section 24, the resin always passes through the connecting leg 25 when molding the push button cover 22. Therefore, the possibility that molding failure occurs can be avoided. Further, there is no particular problem even if the pressurizing portion 24 may be damaged when the surplus resin 26 is removed.

[0022]

According to the conventional power converter, various devices are mounted on both sides of a device mounting plate in the device. Therefore, since the inside of the apparatus is divided into two by the equipment mounting plate, the cooling air flow is also divided into two, but it has been difficult to appropriately distribute the flow. In order to cool the equipment by increasing the capacity of the cooling fan more than necessary, there is a disadvantage that the entire apparatus becomes large and wastes energy. On the other hand, in the present invention, by arranging the devices such that the cooling air passage is one, the capacity of the cooling fan does not increase, and the adjustment of the flow rate distribution is not required. The effect of suppressing waste and energy consumption can be obtained.

Also, if the electrolyte of the secondary battery housed in the power converter leaks, there is a risk of damaging the leading device. However, in the present invention, two electrolyte trays are combined in an L-shape to form Even if the power converter is installed in a posture different from the normal posture by 90 degrees for the sake of installation, the L-shaped electrolyte receiving tray receives the leakage of the electrolyte. The effect of preventing the electrolyte solution from being stained and corroded is obtained.

The push button switch mounted on the surface of the power converter is operated by pressing a pressurizing section provided on a push button cover made of synthetic resin which covers the switch. Although this pressurizing portion and the thin connecting leg are integrally formed together with the push button cover, since the resin injection port at the time of integrally forming is conventionally provided in the connecting leg, the excess resin remaining in this injection port is provided. There was a risk that the thin joint leg might be damaged when removing the. In the present invention, by providing the resin injection port in the pressurizing portion, the resin can be reliably spread even with the thin joint legs during integral molding, and the effect of avoiding the risk of damaging the thin joint legs when removing excess resin can be avoided. can get.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a structural view showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a structural diagram showing an internal structure of a conventional small-capacity uninterruptible power supply.

FIG. 7 is a structural diagram showing a conventional example of a push button cover for protecting a push button switch attached to the surface of an uninterruptible power supply.

FIG. 8 is a partial structural view of a push button cover partially showing a conventional example in a state after integral molding in a case where a resin injection port is provided in a coupling leg.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery room 2 Lead storage battery as a secondary battery 3 Electrolytic solution tray 4 Lower electrolytic solution tray 5 Lateral electrolytic solution tray 10 Power conversion equipment room 11 Equipment mounting plate 12 Reactor 13 Printed board 14 Semiconductor element 15 Radiation fin 16 Cooling fan Reference Signs List 22 push button cover 23 window 24 pressure unit 25 connecting leg 26 surplus resin 27 LED display window

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H05K 7/20 H05K 7/20 HG

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A power converter comprising a printed board on which a power semiconductor element is mounted, a filter circuit including a reactor, a cooling fan, a secondary battery, and a push button switch mounted on the printed board. In the above, an air flow passage for cooling the power semiconductor element and the reactor mounted on the printed board collectively with the cooling air flow generated by the cooling fan, and the secondary battery is installed, and the secondary battery is specified. In either case, the posture is different from that of the secondary battery by 90 degrees, and an electrolyte receiving tray capable of storing the electrolyte leaking from the secondary battery, and a cover corresponding to the push button switch, covering the push button switch. It has a pressing portion and a connecting leg for indicating the pressing portion with elasticity and flexibility, and a push button cover formed by injecting a synthetic resin from the vicinity of the connecting leg and integrally molding. Power converter, wherein the door. 2. A power converter comprising at least a printed board on which a power conversion semiconductor element is mounted, a filter circuit including at least a reactor, and a cooling fan for flowing cooling air. A power converter, comprising: an air flow passage for cooling the power conversion semiconductor element mounted on the printed board and the filter circuit reactor collectively by a cooling air flow generated by a fan. 3. The power converter according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of reactors constituting the filter circuit are arranged so as not to be aligned with each other along the direction of the cooling air flow. A power converter, wherein the power converter is installed inside. 4. An electric power converter incorporating a secondary battery, wherein the electrolyte leaks from the secondary battery regardless of whether the secondary battery has a specific posture or a posture different from the posture by 90 degrees. A power receiving device, comprising: an electrolyte receiving tray capable of storing the secondary battery; and the secondary battery being installed in the electrolyte receiving tray. 5. The power conversion device according to claim 1, wherein two of the electrolytic solution receiving trays have a bottom and a peripheral wall.
A power conversion device characterized by being configured in a letter shape. 6. An opening is provided at a position corresponding to the push-button switch of a push-button cover for covering the push-button switch mounted on the surface of a printed board constituting the power conversion device, and a pressurizing portion is located in the opening. Then, the pressing portion and the periphery of the opening are connected by connecting legs having elasticity and flexibility, and the pressing portion and the connecting leg are integrally molded with synthetic resin together with the push button cover. A power conversion device comprising: a push button cover according to claim 1, wherein an injection port of a synthetic resin for integrally molding said push button cover is provided near said coupling leg. 7. The power converter according to claim 1, wherein an inlet for the synthetic resin is provided in the pressurizing section.