JP2012119588A - Control unit with cooling function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control unit with a cooling function which reduces a heat sink and generates cooling air well.SOLUTION: In a control unit with a cooling function, at least power devices 21 and 22 generating heat during the operation and a control substrate 33 controlling the power devices are disposed in a sealed housing 11, and the power devices and the control substrate are cooled with the cooling function included in the control unit. The control unit with the cooling function includes: a heat sink 12 to which the power devices are attached and cooling the power devices; a cooling wind generation part 24 having a radiation fin 25 attached to a part of the heat sink and a first blower fan 26 provided near the radiation fin; and a cooling wind circulating passage circulating the cooling wind generated in the cooling wind generation part in the housing.

Description

  The present invention provides a control device with a cooling function in which at least a semiconductor module that generates heat during operation and a control board on which a control circuit for controlling the semiconductor module is mounted are disposed in a sealed housing, and the semiconductor module and the control board are cooled. About.

In the field of power electronics in which circuit components are arranged in a casing having a sealed structure such as an inverter device or a switching power supply, a cooling function is provided in order to eliminate generation loss due to heat generation of circuit components scattered in the casing.
The generated loss of circuit components is mainly a semiconductor module and a reactor. When the casing has a sealed structure, main heat-generating components such as a semiconductor module and a reactor may be brought into direct contact with the liquid-cooled heat sink, and heat may be radiated to the outside by the coolant circulating in the liquid-cooled sheet sink. At that time, circuit components scattered in the case of electrolytic capacitors, printed circuit boards, etc. that constitute the control device also have a loss of about several watts. These heats are quickly dissipated and the temperature of each circuit component is below the upper limit. Need to hold on.

When cooling of component heat generation scattered in the housing is performed by natural convection, the air in the housing performs heat exchange with the housing wall surface and the liquid-cooled heat sink surface. In this method, circuit components that are to be radiated are attached to the wall surface of the casing, a natural convection air passage is secured to prevent accumulation of heat between circuit components, and the wall thickness is used to efficiently exchange heat on the casing wall surface. However, all of these are restrictions on the design of the control device.
For this reason, conventionally, a cooling device for an electronic device has been proposed in which a fan is integrated with a liquid-cooled heat sink with fins in a hermetically sealed casing so that circulating air is blown in the casing by the fan (for example, Patent Document 1). reference).

JP-A-8-186388

However, in the conventional example described in Patent Document 1, since a fin-integrated liquid-cooled heat sink is used in a hermetically sealed casing, a circuit component that blocks air from the fan is mounted on the portion where the fin is formed. Therefore, there is an unsolved problem that the liquid-cooled heat sink inevitably becomes large and the control device becomes large.
Therefore, the present invention has been made paying attention to the unsolved problems of the conventional example described above, and provides a control device with a cooling function that can generate cooling air well while reducing the size of the heat sink. It is aimed.

  In order to achieve the above object, a control device with a cooling function according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a power device that generates heat during operation and a control board on which a control circuit for controlling the power device is mounted in a sealed housing. A control device with a cooling function to cool at least the power device and the control board, wherein the power device is mounted and cooled, a heat radiation fin attached to a part of the heat sink, and the heat radiation fin. A cooling air generation unit having a first blower fan provided in the vicinity and a cooling air circulation path for circulating the cooling air generated by the cooling air generation unit into the housing are provided.

  According to this configuration, the heat generating parts such as the power device and the reactor can be cooled by the heat sink, and the cooling air generating unit including the heat radiating fin and the first blower fan is attached to a part of the heat sink, By circulating the cooling air generated by this cooling air generator through the cooling air circulation path, the cooling temperature inside the housing can be made uniform and the mounting area for the parts to be cooled such as the power device of the heat sink can be secured. Thus, the control device can be miniaturized by reducing the size of the heat sink itself.

Moreover, the control apparatus with a cooling function according to another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the heat dissipating fins and the first blower fan are integrated in a wind tunnel.
According to this configuration, since the radiation fin and the blower fan are integrated in the wind tunnel, the entire amount of air blown by the blower fan can be passed through the radiation fin, the cooling performance can be improved, and the heat radiation A fin and a ventilation fan can be reduced in size.

Moreover, the control apparatus with a cooling function according to another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a blowing direction control unit that secures blowing in a desired direction is formed in the cooling air blowing port of the first blower fan. .
According to this configuration, the cooling air blown from the first blower fan can be blown out in a desired direction, and the cooling range can be designated.

Further, in the control device with a cooling function according to another embodiment of the present invention, circuit components are arranged in the descending order of the temperature upper limit value from the outlet of the cooling air cooled by the radiation fins in the cooling air circulation path. It is characterized by that.
According to this configuration, since the cooling air is supplied in order from the circuit component having the lowest temperature upper limit value, it is possible to prevent insufficient cooling.

In the control device with a cooling function according to another aspect of the present invention, the cooling air circulation path is provided with a second blower fan, and the second blower fan circulates the cooling air circulation path. It is characterized by assisting the circulation of the wind.
According to this configuration, by providing the second blower fan in the cooling air circulation path, it is difficult for the cooling air such as between the substrates having high flow resistance to flow, and the cooling air is efficiently supplied to the portion where the heat pool is generated. The cooling performance can be improved.

Moreover, the control apparatus with a cooling function according to another embodiment of the present invention suppresses a short circuit of the cooling air to the cooling air inlet to the cooling air outlet of the second blower fan, and blows out in a desired direction. It is characterized in that a blowing direction control unit for ensuring the above is formed.
According to this structure, while improving the ventilation function of the cooling air which circulates through the circulation path of a 2nd ventilation fan, supply of the cooling air to a desired cooling site | part is enabled, and cooling air is spread over every corner in a housing | casing. Can be made.

In the control device with a cooling function according to another aspect of the present invention, the cooling air circulation path is provided with a second blower fan, and the second blower fan circulates the cooling air circulation path. The circuit components are arranged in order of increasing temperature upper limit from the outlet of the cooling air cooled by the heat radiating fins in the cooling air circulation path to assist the circulation of the air.
According to this configuration, the second blower fan assists the circulation of the cooling air circulating through the cooling air circulation path to prevent the accumulation of heat, and the cooling air is supplied in order from the circuit component having the lower temperature upper limit value. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of insufficient cooling.

  According to the present invention, since the cooling air generation unit composed of the heat radiation fin and the blower fan is arranged in a part of the heat sink, it is possible to secure a wide area for mounting the component to be cooled of the heat sink. The heat sink can be reduced in size while ensuring, and the entire control device with a cooling function can be reduced in size.

It is a system block diagram containing the control apparatus with a cooling function which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view in the state where a case of a control device with a cooling function was removed. It is a front view of the state which removed the front plate of the control apparatus with a cooling function. It is a side view of the state which removed the left side plate of the control apparatus with a cooling function. It is a top view of the state which removed the upper surface board of the control apparatus with a cooling function. It is a bottom view of the state which removed the bottom plate of the control apparatus with a cooling function. It is a front view of the state which removed the front plate which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing on the AA line of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a cooling system configuration including a control device with a cooling function according to the present invention, in which 1 is a cooling function having a configuration of an inverter device for driving an electric motor mounted in an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or the like. It is an attached control device. This control device with a cooling function 1 is provided with a cooling water supply port 2 and a cooling water discharge port 3 exposed to the outside. The cooling water discharge port 3 is supplied to a heat exchanger 4 such as an air-cooled radiator mounted on the vehicle, is heat-exchanged with cooling air, is cooled to become cooling water, and is stored in the reservoir tank 5. The cooling water stored in the reservoir tank 5 is pressurized by the pump 6 and supplied to the cooling water supply port 2 of the control device 1 with a cooling function, so that a cooling water circulation system is configured.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the control device with a cooling function 1, a liquid cooling heat sink 12 to which cooling water is supplied is fixed at a position slightly lower in the vertical direction in the sealed casing 11. The liquid cooling heat sink 12 has the cooling water supply port 2 and the cooling water discharge port 3 described above, and the cooling water is passed through the inside thereof. The liquid-cooled heat sink 12 is formed in a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a relatively wide gap gas separated from the left and right side plates 11 </ b> Lt and 11 </ b> Rt of the housing 11 by a predetermined distance. The outer dimensions are set so that the passage P1 is formed, the gas passage P2 with a relatively small gap is formed with respect to the front plate 11Ft, and the gas passage P3 with a relatively large gap is formed with respect to the rear plate 11Rr. Yes.

  Then, on the upper surface of the liquid-cooled sheet sink 11, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, for example, an IGBT module 21 as a semiconductor module constituting a chopper circuit for stepping up and down the DC power of a DC power source constituted by a storage battery, For example, three IGBT modules 22 as semiconductor modules that constitute an inverter circuit that converts DC power output from the chopper circuit into, for example, three-phase AC power, are extended in the front-rear direction and arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction. Has been. Here, the IGBT modules 21 and 22 incorporate an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) as a switching element connected in series, a protection circuit, and the like.

  Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 2-4, the comparatively large cube-shaped reactor 23 which comprises the chopper circuit mentioned above is arrange | positioned on the lower surface of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 in the half part by the side of the cooling water discharge port 14. FIG. In addition, a cooling air generating unit 24 is disposed adjacent to the reactor 23 on the cooling water supply port 13 side. The cooling air generating unit 24 includes a radiating fin 25 that is long in the front-rear direction and whose upper surface is in contact with the liquid-cooled heat sink 12, a blower fan 26 disposed on the rear end surface side of the radiating fin 25, and the radiating fin 25 and the blast. A wind tunnel 27 surrounding the fan 26 is provided.

  In this way, by arranging the heat dissipating fins 25 and the blower fan 26 in the wind tunnel 27 in an integrated manner, all of the air volume blown by the blower fan 26 passes through the heat dissipating fins 25 and efficiently generates cooling air. Therefore, the cooling air generating unit 24 can be downsized. For this reason, the mounting area of the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 is also reduced, and the mounting area of the component to be cooled of the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 can be increased. As a result, the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 itself can be reduced in size.

Here, the blower fan 26 is provided with a louver 28 as a blowing direction control unit for controlling the blowing direction of the cooling air at the cooling air blowing port on the rear end side.
Further, the capacitor 31 constituting the chopper circuit described above and the three smoothing capacitors 32 interposed between the chopper circuit and the inverter are arranged on the terminal side of the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 as shown in FIGS. The gas passage P3 is fixed to the bottom plate 11Bm of the housing 11 so as to house the head. The louver 28 described above controls the direction of the cooling air so that the cooling air is evenly supplied to the capacitors 31 and 32.

On the other hand, above the IGBT modules 21 and 22 fixed to the liquid cooling heat sink 12, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a gate driving circuit for controlling the gates of the IGBTs built in the IGBT modules 21 and 22, etc. A control board 33 on which a control circuit is mounted and a power board 34 on which a power circuit, a relay, and the like are mounted are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction at a predetermined interval.
Each of the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 is fixedly supported on the front plate 11Ft, the back plate 11Rr, and the left side plate 11Lt of the housing 11 by a support member (not shown).

  A second blower fan 35 is disposed in the space between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 and the right side plate 11 </ b> Rt of the housing 11. The blower fan 35 is opened on the lower side so that the air suction port faces the gas passage P3 from above, and sucks the cooling air supplied from the gas passage P3 by the blower fan 26 and blows out on the front surface. Cooling air is distributed and blown by the louver 36 as a direction control unit so as to reach between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 and reach the gas passage P3.

  Therefore, the cooling air blown from the louver 28 of the first blower fan 26 of the cooling air generator 24 cools the capacitors 31 and 32 having the lowest upper limit temperature, and then passes through the gas passages P2 and P1. As shown in FIG. 3, the air is sucked from below by the second blower fan 35, and passes between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 having the next lowest upper limit temperature from the louver 36 on the front surface side and through the upper surface side of the power supply board 34. Then, a part of the cooling air blown upward from the gas passage P3 goes to the gas passage P2 through the lower surface of the control board 33, and the cooled cooling air merged in the gas passage P2 is sent to the wind tunnel 27. A cooling air circulation path is formed which is sucked in and cooled by heat exchange with the radiation fins.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
Now, by connecting the cooling water supply port 2 and the cooling water discharge port 3 of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 of the control device 1 with a cooling function to the pump 6 and the heat exchanger 4 of the cooling system, the cooling water is cooled from the cooling system. While being supplied to the supply port 2, the cooled cooling water discharged from the cooling water discharge port 3 is returned to the cooling system.
In this state, when the control device 1 with the cooling function is put into an operating state, the IGBT modules 21 and 22 and the reactor 23 which are circuit components generating a large amount of heat are directly mounted on the liquid cooling heat sink 12, and the cooling water flowing through the liquid cooling heat sink 12 The heat is exchanged in and cooled.

  In addition, a cooling air generating unit 24 is disposed on the lower surface of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 in the vicinity of the reactor 23 and on the cooling water supply port 2 side, and the cooling air generating unit 24 contacts the liquid cooling heat sink 12. Since the radiating fin 25 and the blower fan 26 are integrated and arranged in the wind tunnel 27, the entire amount of air blown by the blower fan 26 passes through the radiating fin 25, and efficiently generates cooling air. be able to. Therefore, the cooling air generating unit 24 can be reduced in size, and the mounting area of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 on which the cooling air generating unit 24 is mounted can be reduced. As a result, the mounting area of the IGBT modules 21 and 22 and the reactor 23 can be increased. As a result, the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 itself can also be reduced in size. For this reason, the housing | casing 11 which includes the liquid cooling heat sink 12 can also be reduced in size, and the control apparatus 1 with a cooling function can be reduced in size.

  Then, the cooling air blown from the blower fan 26 of the cooling air generating unit 24 is blown evenly toward the capacitors 31 and 32 by the louver 28 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the cooling gas blown from the front of the second blower fan 35 through the gas passages P2 and P1 and sucked from below into the second blower fan 35 provided in the cooling air circulation path is shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, the heat generating components mounted on the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 are cooled between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 and below the control board 33 and above the power supply board 34. In this way, the air is sucked in from the entrance of the wind tunnel 27 of the cooling air generating unit 24 and reaches the heat radiating fins 25, and is cooled again by the heat radiating fins 25 and is cooled by the first blower fan 26. It is blown to the difference between 31 and 32.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the cooling air generated by the cooling air generating unit 24 mounted on the lower surface side of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 is the capacitors 31 and 32 that are circuit components having the lowest upper limit temperature. After cooling, the air is sucked into the second blower fan 35, blown out from the front side, and then cooled from the gas passage P2 through the front and back surfaces of the control board 33 and the power supply board 34, which are circuit components having the next lower maximum temperature. A cooling air circulation path returning to the wind generating unit 24 is formed.
For this reason, the temperature in the housing 11 can be made uniform, and the capacitors 31, 32, the control board 33, and the power source distributed in the housing 11 are distributed without generating a space in which a heat pool is formed. The substrate 34 can be efficiently cooled.

In addition, since the second blower fan 35 is arranged in the middle of the cooling air circulation path, the blower fan 35 sucks the cooling air that has cooled the capacitors 31 and 32, and enters the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 side. The cooling air can be blown evenly, the speed of the circulating cooling air is increased, the cooling air can be reliably sent between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 even when the distance between the control board 33 and the power supply board 34 is narrow, and the flow path resistance is large. 33 and the power supply board 34 can be efficiently cooled.
Further, by providing louvers 28 and 36 at the outlets of the first and second blower fans 26 and 35, respectively, the direction in which the cooling air is blown out is accurately controlled, and the capacitors 31, 32, the control board 33, and the power supply board are controlled. The cooling air can be passed over the entire front and back surfaces of 34, and the cooling performance can be improved.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the second embodiment, the housing 11 is divided into a lower divided housing 11L and an upper divided housing 11H, and the liquid cooling heat sink 12 is divided into an upper surface of the lower divided housing 11L and a lower surface of the upper divided housing 11H. The size is set so that it can be closed, and the lower divided casing 11L and the upper divided casing 11H are divided by the liquid-cooled heat sink 12.
Therefore, the liquid cooling heat sink 12 is formed with a narrow gas passage 12a instead of the gas passages P2 and P3 and a wide gas passage 12b extending in the left-right direction at predetermined positions at the front and rear positions. Except for, the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and the same reference numerals are given to the corresponding parts to those in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the detailed description thereof is omitted.

Here, capacitors 31 and 32 are disposed in the wide gas passage 12b formed in the liquid-cooled heat sink 12 so that the connection terminal side is inserted.
Further, a lower divided casing 11L and an upper divided casing 11H are arranged on the outer peripheral surfaces of the upper and lower surfaces of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 via packings 41 and 42, and a lid 43 is packed on the upper surface of the upper divided casing 11H. A housing 11 having a hermetically sealed structure is formed through 44.

  According to the second embodiment, the cooling air blown from the first blower fan 25 of the cooling air generating unit 24 installed in the liquid cooling heat sink 12 is evenly supplied by the louver 28 toward the capacitors 31 and 32. The cooling air that has cooled the capacitors 31 and 32 is sucked from below by the second blower fan 35 disposed in the right rear part of the upper divided housing 11H through the housing passage 12b and controlled by the louver 36 from the front. A cooling air forward duct is formed that blows out toward the substrate 33 and the power supply substrate 34, cools the control substrate 33 and the power supply substrate 34, and then returns to the cooling air generation unit 24 through the gas passage 12a. For this reason, the same effect as the first embodiment described above can be obtained.

Further, in the second embodiment, the cooling water supply port 2 and the cooling water discharge port 3 of the liquid cooling heat sink 12 are exposed to the outside, and it is not necessary to seal them, and the flatness is high. Since the packings 41 and 42 are brought into contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the cooling heat sink 12 for sealing, a high sealing degree can be obtained.
In the first and second embodiments, the case where the gas passages 11 and 12 are formed with one gap or a long hole extending in the left-right direction has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to divide the passages P2 and P3 or 12a and 12b in the extending direction. Further, the gas passage P3 or 12b can be formed only below the second blower fan 35 when the capacitors 31 and 32 are not inserted. In addition, the number of gas passages is not limited to two, and three or more gas passages can be formed.

Furthermore, the number of substrates such as the control substrate 33 and the power supply substrate 34 disposed in the upper divided housing 11H is not limited to two and can be any number.
Similarly, the number of IGBT modules 21 and 22 and capacitors 31 and 32 can be arbitrarily set, and the number of AC phases for power conversion can be arbitrarily changed according to the number of phases of the electric motor to be used.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the cooling water is applied as the cooling medium has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and alternative fluorocarbons such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Cooling media such as other cooling gases and cooling liquids can be applied. In this case, when using an alternative chlorofluorocarbon, the alternative chlorofluorocarbon used in the air conditioner can be branched and used.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the liquid-cooled heat sink is applied has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any heat sink such as a heat pipe that can exchange heat between the outside and the sealed housing is applicable. be able to.
Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the IGBT module incorporating IGBT as a power device was applied, it is not limited to this, The semiconductor module or chip | tip which incorporated MOSFET and another power semiconductor element, etc. Can be applied.
Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the case where the control apparatus with a cooling function by this invention was applied to the inverter apparatus was demonstrated, this invention can be applied to a switching power supply device etc. without being limited to this, In short, the present invention can be applied to a control device in which a substrate such as a semiconductor module, a capacitor, or a control substrate that needs to be cooled is housed in a sealed housing.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control apparatus with a cooling function, 2 ... Cooling water supply port, 3 ... Cooling water discharge port, 4 ... Heat exchanger, 5 ... Reservoir tank, 6 ... Pump, 11 ... Housing, 12 ... Liquid cooling heat sink, P1- P3 ... Gas passage, 21, 22 ... IGBT module, 23 ... Reactor, 24 ... Cooling air generating part, 25 ... Radiating fin, 26 ... First blower fan, 27 ... Wind tunnel, 28 ... Louver, 31, 32 ... Condenser, 33 ... Control board, 34 ... Power supply board, 35 ... Second blower fan, 36 ... Louver, 12a, 12b ... Gas passage

Claims (7)

A control device with a cooling function for disposing at least a power device that generates heat during operation and a control board on which a control circuit for controlling the power device is mounted in a sealed housing, and cooling the power device and the control board,
A heat sink for mounting and cooling the power device;
A cooling air generating unit having a heat radiating fin attached to a part of the heat sink and a first blower fan provided in the vicinity of the heat radiating fin;
A control device with a cooling function, comprising: a cooling air circulation path that circulates the cooling air generated by the cooling air generator in the housing.   The control device with a cooling function according to claim 1, wherein the radiating fins and the first blower fan are integrated in a wind tunnel.   The control device with a cooling function according to claim 1, wherein a blowing direction control unit that secures blowing in a desired direction is formed at a cooling air blowing port of the first blower fan.   4. The circuit component according to claim 1, wherein circuit components are arranged in the cooling air circulation path in ascending order of temperature upper limit value from an outlet of cooling air cooled by the radiating fin. 5. Control device with cooling function.   The second cooling fan is disposed in the cooling air circulation path, and the second blowing fan assists the circulation of the cooling air circulating through the cooling air circulation path. 4. The control device with a cooling function according to any one of items 1 to 3.   The blow-off direction control unit that suppresses a short circuit of the cooling air to the cooling-air intake port and secures the blow-out in a desired direction is formed at the cooling-air outlet of the second blower fan. 5. A control device with a cooling function according to 5.   A second blower fan is disposed in the cooling air circulation path, assists the circulation of the cooling air that circulates through the cooling air circulation path by the second blower fan, and the heat dissipation in the cooling air circulation path. 4. The control device with a cooling function according to claim 1, wherein circuit components are arranged in descending order of a temperature upper limit value from an outlet of cooling air cooled by a fin. 5.

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