JP2015012639A - Electric power conversion system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric power conversion system which can efficiently cool a connection electronic component.SOLUTION: An electric power conversion system 1 includes: a semiconductor lamination unit 2 formed by laminating a semiconductor module 21 and a cooler 22 which cools the semiconductor module 21; a connection electronic component (a capacitor element 4) which is electrically connected with the semiconductor module 21 through a bus bar 3; and a component case 5 which houses the connection electronic component. The semiconductor lamination unit 2 is disposed in a state where the cooler 22 is placed in contact with an outer surface 50 of the component case 5. A part of the bus bar 3 is disposed in the component case 5 and between the connection electronic component and the cooler 22.

Description

  The present invention relates to a power conversion device including a semiconductor module, a cooler, and an electronic component.

  There is a power conversion device including a semiconductor multilayer unit in which a semiconductor module and a cooler are stacked and a capacitor, and the capacitor is cooled by a cooler in the semiconductor multilayer unit (Patent Document 1).

  In the power conversion device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the cooler is brought into contact with the surface (potting surface) of the potting resin of the capacitor or the capacitor terminal. Thus, the condenser can also be cooled by the cooler for cooling the semiconductor module.

JP 2010-252461 A

  However, in the power conversion device disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that cooling of the capacitor may be insufficient. That is, since the potting surface has low flatness, it is difficult to increase the contact area between the cooler and the capacitor in the configuration in which the cooler is in contact with the potting surface of the capacitor. In the configuration in which the cooler is in contact with the capacitor terminal, an insulating material is interposed between the cooler and the capacitor terminal in order to prevent electric leakage. However, when the flatness of the surface of the insulating material is low, the contact area between the cooler and the capacitor terminal may be reduced as described above. Note that if the cooler is brought into contact with the capacitor terminal without interposing an insulating material, the capacitor terminal and the cooler may be electrically energized to cause leakage.

  The above problems are not limited to capacitors and may occur in the same manner when an electronic component (connected electronic component) connected to a semiconductor module is to be cooled by the above cooler.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a power conversion device that can efficiently cool connected electronic components.

One aspect of the present invention is a semiconductor laminated unit formed by laminating a semiconductor module and a cooler that cools the semiconductor module;
A connection electronic component electrically connected to the semiconductor module via a bus bar;
A component case for storing the connection electronic component;
The semiconductor laminated unit is arranged in a state where the cooler is in contact with the outer surface of the component case,
A part of the bus bar is disposed in the component case and is disposed between the connection electronic component and the cooler.

  In the power converter, the semiconductor stacked unit is arranged in a state where the cooler is in contact with the outer surface of the component case. Here, unlike the potting surface, the outer surface of the component case tends to have high flatness. Therefore, it is easy to increase the contact area between the cooler and the component case. As a result, the connection electronic component can be efficiently cooled by the cooler via the component case.

  Further, a part of the bus bar is disposed in the component case and is disposed between the connection electronic component and the cooler. Accordingly, the bus bar is easily cooled by the cooler, and the connection electronic component is efficiently cooled via the bus bar. Moreover, since the bus bar and the cooler are not in direct contact, there is no fear of electric leakage.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a power conversion device that can efficiently cool connected electronic components.

Sectional drawing of the power converter device in Example 1. FIG. The top view of the power converter device in Example 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a film capacitor in Example 1. FIG. Sectional drawing of the power converter device in Example 2. FIG. Sectional drawing of the power converter device in Example 3. FIG. Sectional drawing of the power converter device in Example 4. FIG.

  The power conversion device is, for example, an inverter device that converts DC power into AC power, and is mounted on an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or the like, and converts power supply power to drive power necessary for driving a drive motor. Can be used.

Example 1
Examples of the power conversion device will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the power conversion device 1 of this example includes a semiconductor stacked unit 2 formed by stacking a semiconductor module 21 and a cooler 22 that cools the semiconductor module 21, And a capacitor case 4 as a connecting electronic component electrically connected to each other, and a component case 5 for storing the capacitor element 4. The semiconductor laminated unit 2 is arranged in a state where the cooler 22 is in contact with the outer side surface 50 of the component case 5. A part of the bus bar 3 is disposed in the component case 5 and is disposed between the capacitor element 4 and the cooler 22.

  The semiconductor stacked unit 2 is formed by bringing the cooler 22 into contact with the main surface of the semiconductor module 21. The surface of the cooler 22 opposite to the semiconductor module 21 is in contact with the component case 5. The semiconductor module 21 includes a switching element such as an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) or a MOSFET (MOS field effect transistor). In addition, the semiconductor module 21 includes a main electrode terminal 211 that protrudes in one direction (upward) in a direction orthogonal to the stacking direction X of the semiconductor module 21 and the cooler 22. This direction is appropriately referred to as a “height direction Z”. Further, a direction orthogonal to both the stacking direction X and the height direction Z is appropriately referred to as a “lateral direction Y”. Further, in this specification, the projecting direction of the main electrode terminal 211 is described as being upward, but the upper and lower are not particularly limited, and the upper and lower expressions are for convenience. The main electrode terminal 211 is electrically connected to the capacitor element 4 via the bus bar 3.

  As shown in the figure, the component case 5 includes a rectangular bottom 51 and four wall portions 52 erected upward from each side. The component case 5 has an opening 53 that opens upward in the height direction Z. A capacitor element 4 is disposed in the component case 5, and a potting resin 8 made of epoxy or the like is filled around the capacitor element 4.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the capacitor element 4 is a film capacitor element formed by winding a metallized film, and is arranged so that one end face 40 in the winding axis direction faces the cooler 22. The bus bars 3 are connected to the end faces 40 on both sides in the winding axis direction of the capacitor element 4.

  A part of the bus bar 3 disposed between the capacitor element 4 and the cooler 22 is disposed such that its main surface faces the cooler 22 as shown in FIGS. That is, in the component case 5, the bus bar 3 connected to the end face 40 on the cooler 22 side in the capacitor element 4 is arranged so that the normal direction of the main surface thereof faces the stacking direction X. A portion of the bus bar 3 arranged in the component case 5 is embedded in the potting resin 8 together with the capacitor element 4. The potting resin 8 is interposed between the portion of the bus bar 3 connected to the capacitor element 4 and the wall portion 52 in contact with the cooler 3. The bus bar 3 extends from the connection portion with the capacitor element 4 to the opening 53 side of the component case 5, and a part of the bus bar 3 is exposed from the potting resin 8. The bus bar 3 is bent toward the main electrode terminal 211, and is further bent upward from a portion in contact with the main electrode terminal 211. This portion overlaps with the main electrode terminal 211 and is connected by welding or the like.

  A part of the bus bar 3 connected to the end face 40 opposite to the cooler 22 in the winding axis direction of the capacitor element 4 is also exposed from the potting resin 8 and is connected to the other main electrode terminal 211 in the semiconductor module 21. It is connected.

  The semiconductor laminated unit 2 is arranged in a state where the cooler 22 is in contact with the outer side surface 50 of the component case 5. In addition, columnar support portions 6 are erected at the four corners of the outer surface 50 with which the cooler 22 abuts. The support portion 6 is formed integrally with the component case 5 so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the outer surface 50.

  In the stacking direction X of the semiconductor stacked unit 2, a fixing member 7 is provided at the end opposite to the component case 5. The fixing member 7 is fixed to the tip portions 61 of the four support portions 6 described above. That is, the screws 62 are respectively passed through the holes formed in the four corners of the fixing member 7, and these screws 62 are screwed into the screw holes provided in the tip portion 61 of the support portion 6, thereby fixing the fixing member 7. Are fixed to the four support portions 6. The fixing member 7 presses the semiconductor laminated unit 2 against the component case 5 by tightening the screws 62. As a result, the semiconductor module 21 and the cooler 22 are pressed against each other, and the cooler 22 is pressed against the outer surface 50. The semiconductor stacked unit 2 is held between the outer surface 50 and the fixing member 7.

  Although not shown, the power conversion device 1 is configured by housing a structure having a component case 5 containing the capacitor element 4 and the semiconductor multilayer unit 2 in the device case.

Next, the function and effect of this example will be described.
In the power conversion device 1 of this example, the semiconductor multilayer unit 2 is arranged in a state where the cooler 22 is in contact with the outer side surface 50 of the component case 5. Here, unlike the potting surface 81, the outer surface 50 of the component case 5 tends to have high flatness. Therefore, it is easy to increase the contact area between the cooler 22 and the component case 5. As a result, the condenser element 4 can be efficiently cooled via the component case 5 by the cooler 22.

  A part of the bus bar 3 is disposed in the component case 5 and is disposed between the capacitor element 4 and the cooler 22. Thereby, the bus bar 3 is easily cooled by the cooler 22, and the capacitor element 4 is efficiently cooled via the bus bar 3. Further, since the bus bar 3 and the cooler 22 are not in direct contact, there is no fear of leakage.

  Further, a part of the bus bar 3 disposed between the capacitor element 4 and the cooler 22 is disposed such that a main surface thereof faces the cooler 22. Thereby, the cooling of the bus bar 3 is performed efficiently. As a result, the capacitor element 4 can be cooled more efficiently via the bus bar 3.

  Further, the capacitor element 4 which is a film capacitor element is arranged so that one of the end faces 40 in the winding axis direction faces the cooler 22. Thereby, the heat transfer distance between the cooler 22 and the entire capacitor element 4 can be shortened, and the capacitor element 4 can be cooled more efficiently.

  As described above, according to this example, it is possible to provide a power conversion device that can efficiently cool a capacitor element.

(Example 2)
In this example, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of capacitor elements 4 are housed in a component case 5. In the bus bar 3, a portion connecting the plurality of capacitor elements 4 to each other is disposed between the capacitor element 4 and the cooler 2. In this example, the plurality of capacitor elements 4 are a smoothing capacitor element 41 and a filter capacitor element 42. The smoothing capacitor element 41 smoothes the DC voltage input to the inverter circuit unit, and the filter capacitor element 42 absorbs the ripple current and stabilizes the current of the DC power supply.

In FIG. 4, the two capacitor elements 4 are arranged side by side in the height direction Z, but they may be arranged side by side in the horizontal direction Y.
A bus bar (not shown) connected to the electrode on the surface opposite to the cooler 22 of the smoothing capacitor element 41 is connected to the main electrode terminal 211 of the semiconductor module 21.
Others are the same as in the first embodiment. Of the reference numerals used in this example or the drawings relating to this example, the same reference numerals as those used in the first embodiment denote the same components as in the first embodiment unless otherwise specified.

  In the case of this example, the plurality of capacitor elements 4 can be efficiently cooled via the bus bar 3. In addition, the same effects as those of the first embodiment are obtained.

Example 3
In this example, as shown in FIG. 5, the semiconductor lamination unit 2 is an example in which a plurality of semiconductor modules 21 and a plurality of coolers 22 are alternately laminated. A cooler 22 disposed at one end in the stacking direction X is in surface contact with the component case 5 and is pressed in the stacking direction X by a pressing member 23 disposed on the other end side in the stacking direction X and the component. It is pressed against the case 5.

  The coolers 22 adjacent in the stacking direction X are connected to each other by connecting pipes (not shown) in the vicinity of both ends in the lateral direction Y. The connecting pipe is configured to be deformable in the stacking direction X. Between the adjacent pair of coolers 22, the semiconductor module 21 is disposed in a sandwiched state.

  The pressurizing member 23 can be constituted by an elastic member, and can be formed from, for example, rubber, elastic resin, a leaf spring, a coil spring, or a combination of these. The pressure member 23 is interposed between the semiconductor laminated unit 2 and the fixing member 7. The thickness in the stacking direction X of the pressure member 23 in the free state is slightly larger than the width between the cooler 22 and the fixing member 7. The pressure member 23 is compressed by the fixing member 7 and the cooler 22 by tightening the screw 62. As a result, a reaction force is generated in the pressurizing member 23, the semiconductor stacked unit 2 is pressed in the stacking direction X, and the stacked semiconductor module 21 and the cooler 22, and the cooling pipe 22 and the component case 5 are in close contact with each other. Be made.

  Others are the same as in the first embodiment. Of the reference numerals used in this example or the drawings relating to this example, the same reference numerals as those used in the first embodiment denote the same components as in the first embodiment unless otherwise specified.

In the case of this example, the contact pressure between the cooler 22 and the semiconductor module 21 and the component case 5 can be secured, and the contact area between them can be secured. As a result, the semiconductor module 21 and the capacitor element 4 can be efficiently cooled.
In addition, the same effects as those of the first embodiment are obtained.

Example 4
In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the component case 5 is made of metal, and an insulator 82 is interposed between the component case 5 and the bus bar 3.
Specifically, the insulator 82 is applied to the inner surface of the wall 52 where the cooler 22 is in contact with the outer surface 50. The insulator 82 is made of a resin having excellent thermal conductivity such as heat radiation grease. Further, as the insulator 82, a ceramic plate or the like may be disposed instead of the resin.

The insulator 82 is disposed on the inner surface of the wall 52 in advance before the capacitor element 4, the bus bar 3, and the potting resin 8 are disposed in the component case 5.
The insulator 82 may be formed on the entire inner surface of the component case 5.
Others are the same as in the first embodiment. Of the reference numerals used in this example or the drawings relating to this example, the same reference numerals as those used in the first embodiment denote the same components as in the first embodiment unless otherwise specified.

In the case of this example, since the component case 5 is made of metal, the capacitor element 4 can be efficiently cooled via the component case 5. Moreover, since the insulator 82 is interposed between the metal component case 5 and the bus bar 3, it is possible to reliably prevent electric leakage.
In addition, the same effects as those of the first embodiment are obtained.

In the first to fourth embodiments, the cooler 22 is brought into contact with the outer surface 50 of the wall portion 52 of the component case 5, but may be brought into contact with the outer surface 50 of the bottom portion 51. In this case, the bus bar 3 is arranged between the capacitor element 4 and the bottom 51.
Moreover, in Examples 1-4, although the example which uses a capacitor | condenser element as a connection electronic component was shown, it can also be set as the structure using other components, such as a reactor, as a connection electronic component.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Power converter 2 Semiconductor laminated unit 21 Semiconductor module 22 Cooler 3 Bus bar 4 Capacitor element (connection electronic component)
5 Parts case 50 Outside

Claims (7)

A semiconductor laminated unit (2) formed by laminating a semiconductor module (21) and a cooler (22) for cooling the semiconductor module (21);
A connection electronic component (4) electrically connected to the semiconductor module (21) via the bus bar (3);
A component case (5) for housing the connecting electronic component (4);
The semiconductor laminated unit (2) is arranged in a state where the cooler (22) is in contact with the outer surface (50) of the component case (5),
A part of the bus bar (3) is disposed in the component case (5) and is disposed between the connection electronic component and the cooler (22). (1).   A part of the bus bar (3) disposed between the connection electronic component (4) and the cooler (22) is disposed such that a main surface thereof faces the cooler (22). The power converter (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that:   The power conversion device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connection electronic component (4) is a capacitor element.   The component case (5) contains a plurality of capacitor elements (4) as the connection electronic component (4), and the bus bar (3) connects the capacitor elements (4) to each other. The power conversion device (1) according to claim 3, wherein a portion to be arranged is disposed between the connection electronic component and the cooler (22).   The capacitor element (4) is a film capacitor element formed by winding a metallized film, and is arranged so that one of the end faces in the winding axis direction faces the cooler (22). The power conversion device (1) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized by the above.   The semiconductor stacked unit (2) is formed by alternately stacking a plurality of semiconductor modules (21) and a plurality of coolers (22), and the cooler (22) disposed at one end in the stacking direction includes the above-described cooler (22). It is in surface contact with the component case (5) and is pressed in the stacking direction and pressed against the component case (5) by the pressing member (8) disposed on the other end side in the stacking direction. The power converter device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by:   The component case (5) is made of metal, and an insulator (82) is interposed between the component case (5) and the bus bar (3). The power converter device (1) as described in any one of Claims 6.

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