JP4667476B2 - Electrical component connection method and connection structure, and power conversion device using the connection structure - Google Patents

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a connection method and a connection structure of an electrical component that connects an electrical component and a conductive bus bar, in particular, an electrical component that conducts a large current and a conductive bus bar by fusion bonding, and a power converter using the connection structure. Is.

  Conventionally, fastening with screws is performed as a connection means between conductors for conducting a large current from several hundreds of A. However, a large-diameter screw is required to connect the conductors used in the large current path, and a large fastening space is required. For this reason, with the progress of miniaturization of equipment, there are cases where fastening with screws becomes a restriction on miniaturization.

  For example, in the conventional power conversion device, the external connection conductor and the main terminal of the power semiconductor module are fastened with screws, so the terminal block of the main terminal and the terminal block and external connection conductor are fastened with bolts or nuts. Area is required, which is an obstacle to downsizing. In addition, since the fastening with screws is a contact connection method, in a power converter that controls a large current, it is necessary to reduce the contact resistance of the fastening portion, and for this reason, a large fastening area is required.

  Furthermore, in order to fasten the screw, it is necessary to work with a tightening tool such as a screwdriver or ratchet approaching from the axial direction of the screw, so that a large space is secured in the apparatus so as not to interfere with the direction in which the tool approaches. There is a need. For this reason, the problem that the connection by a screw becomes a restriction | limiting of size reduction has come out as the size reduction of an apparatus progresses.

  Therefore, paying attention to such a problem, fusion bonding such as arc welding has been increasingly applied as a method of changing to fastening with a screw between conductors.

  For example, as a connection structure of an electrical component that connects a lead leg of an electrical component and a conductive bus bar, a projection is provided at the tip of the conductive bus bar, and this projection and the lead foot of the electrical component are arc welded, thereby It has been proposed to electrically connect a conductive bus bar (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a method for increasing the power consumption of individual semiconductor modules has been considered for increasing the power consumption of in-vehicle power converters. However, since there is a limit to increasing the power consumption of semiconductor elements, a plurality of semiconductor modules are considered. The electric power is connected in parallel to increase the power.

  In order to connect semiconductor modules in parallel, it is necessary to connect the main terminals having the same polarity of the semiconductor modules connected in parallel, and the main terminals protruding from the semiconductor module are bent at a right angle in the vicinity of the semiconductor module. There has been proposed a method of connecting by metal bonding including welding at multiple points above the module (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-134956 (summary column, FIG. 1) JP 2007-110870 (paragraph 0019, FIG. 6)

The electrical component connection structure disclosed in Patent Document 1 employs an arc welding method for electrical connection between the electrical component and the conductive bus bar, and this arc welding method generally uses a space in the height direction. Therefore, there is an advantage that the floor area can be reduced as compared with the fastening by screws.

  However, what is disclosed here is a structure in which a single protrusion is provided at the tip of the conductive bus bar, a lead leg of an electrical component is joined to this single protrusion, and the joint is spot welded. In order to flow, it is not sufficient to provide only one point of protrusion, and it is necessary to provide several points and spot weld several points. In other words, the electric component connection structure disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not take into account the flow of a large current.

  Further, the electrodes having the same potential of the capacitors connected in parallel are connected through a conductive bus bar, and there is a problem that the number of welding points increases and the line tact becomes long.

  In addition, when the semiconductor modules are connected in parallel, the above Patent Document 2 is a method in which main terminals protruding from the semiconductor modules connected in parallel are bent at right angles in the vicinity of the semiconductor module and welded at multiple points above the semiconductor module. The proposed method does not disclose a connection method between the main terminal of the semiconductor module and the conductive bus bar.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to obtain a good welding result without extending the line tact, and to stably mass-produce electric component connection methods and connection structures, and electric power using the connection structures. The object is to provide a conversion device.

The present invention relates to a method for connecting an electrical component for connecting a distal end portion of a conductive bus bar to a distal end portion of a connection terminal of an electrical component, wherein a plurality of protruding portions are formed at the distal end of the joint portion, and the protruding portions are welded to the same In the method of connecting electrical components that are continuously melt-bonded under conditions, the protrusions are set to different heights according to the bonding order of the protrusions, and the amount of melting of the protrusions is controlled .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electrical component that can obtain a good welding result without increasing the line tact and can be stably mass-produced.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a method and a connection structure for electrical components according to the present invention and a power converter using the connection structure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection structure for electrical components according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment applied to a power converter. 1A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a melt-bonded portion between a semiconductor module and a conductive bus bar used in a power conversion device as viewed from the side, and FIG. 1B is a partial view of FIG. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electrical component connection structure according to the first embodiment shows a total of three terminals including two semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and one conductive bus bar 3 from above in FIG. Arc welding (TIG welding) is collectively performed using non-consumable electrodes. As a result, a total of three terminals including two semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and one conductive bus bar 3 are melt-bonded together by the nugget 4. That is, the terminals 1a and 2a of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2 are bent at right angles in the vicinity of the respective semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and joined, and the leading end portion 3a of the conductive bus bar 3 is connected to the terminals 1a and 2a of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2. Similarly, the end portions of the terminals 1 a and 2 a of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and the end portion 3 a of the conductive bus bar 3 are melt-bonded together by the nugget 4 by being bent at a right angle.

  As described above, according to the electrical component connection structure according to the first embodiment, a total of three terminals of the two semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and the one conductive bus bar 3 are collectively collected by the nugget 4. Since fusion bonding is performed, the number of welding points can be reduced and the line tact can be shortened.

  In addition, by using the electrical component connection structure according to the first embodiment for the power conversion device, parallelization of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2 required for increasing power can be achieved in a space-saving manner, and stable. Thus, it is possible to obtain a power conversion device capable of energizing large power.

  In the above description, the case of three terminals has been described. However, the number and shape of the protrusions are not limited thereto. Further, the terminals 1a and 2a of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2 are bent at right angles in the vicinity of the respective semiconductor modules 1 and 2, and the front end portion 3a of the conductive bus bar 3 is perpendicular to the terminals 1a and 2a of the semiconductor modules 1 and 2. Although the case of so-called prayer welding, which is bent and welded, is illustrated and explained, it is not limited to this form.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, an electrical component connection structure according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the embodiment in which a total of three terminals of the two semiconductor modules 1 and 2 and the one conductive bus bar 3 are fused and joined together by the nugget 4 has been described. According to this Embodiment 1, although the effect mentioned above can be acquired, the subject that the welding result in a welding part is not enough remains. In the second embodiment described below, the effects of the first embodiment are obtained, and the welding result in the welded portion is improved.

  In describing the second embodiment, for the sake of convenience, first, the thermal analysis result of the arc welded part based on the experiments of the inventors will be described. 2 (a) and 2 (b), there are three points to be welded, that is, protrusions at the ends (hereinafter referred to as end protrusions, end protrusions at both ends are referred to as both end protrusions) and protrusions at the center ( Hereinafter, it is a thermal analysis result obtained by analyzing the maximum temperature at a predetermined time when welding to the central protrusion under the same conditions. As is apparent from the solution analysis results, it can be understood that in the welding under the same conditions, the temperature difference between the central protrusion and the both end protrusions is large, and as a result, the amount of melting is smaller in the central protrusion than in the both end protrusions.

  The thermal analysis results shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B will be further described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the terminal of the semiconductor module and the tip connection portion of the conductive bus bar. FIG. 3 (a) is a front view of the melt-bonded portion between the terminal of the semiconductor module and the conductive bus bar, and FIG. It is a side view. Here, for the sake of simplification, a case where a total of two terminals, one each for the semiconductor module and one conductive bus bar, are welded is illustrated.

  Generally, the base material of the terminal 30a of the semiconductor module and the conductive bus bar 31 is copper, and nickel (Ni) or tin (Sn) may be plated if necessary to prevent corrosion. The non-consumable electrode 32 is disposed on the terminal 30a and the conductive bus bar 31 from the top as shown in the figure as in the first embodiment, and the terminal 30a of the semiconductor module and the conductive bus bar 31 are welded. At this time, the terminal 30a and the conductive bus bar 31 are sandwiched and fixed in a direction parallel to the paper surface by a chuck (not shown). This chuck is connected to the ground of the welding power source. By applying a high voltage to the tip of the non-consumable electrode 32, an arc discharge is generated between the terminal 30a and each tip of the conductive bus bar 31, The terminal 30a and the conductive bus bar 31 are welded.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the temperature distribution at the end of energization when the terminal 30a (not shown) and the right end protrusion 33 of the conductive bus bar 31 are welded with a profile of a predetermined current and a predetermined energization time. is there. By analogy with the analysis results shown in FIG. 2, the right end protrusion 33 of the conductive bus bar 31 has a high temperature portion of about 1500 ° C. to 1700 ° C., a middle temperature portion of about 1000 ° C. to 1500 ° C., and a low temperature portion shown in FIG. Indicates a temperature distribution of about 300 ° C to 1000 ° C. Compared with the central protrusion 34, the right end protrusion 33 is less likely to dissipate the amount of heat supplied from its shape, and heat tends to be trapped, so that the entire protrusion becomes considerably hot as shown in the figure. Therefore, the right end protrusion 33 is sufficiently melted.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the temperature distribution at the moment when the central projection 34 is welded under the same conditions as in FIG. When the central protrusion 34 is welded, the heat supplied from the shape is easily dissipated and is not easily trapped, so that the heat is dispersed throughout the terminal. For this reason, the temperature of the protrusion is generally lower than that of the welding of the right end protrusion 33, and the temperature of the central protrusion 34 is also lower than that of the right end protrusion 33. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the nugget 35 of the central protrusion 34 is smaller than the nugget 36 of both end protrusions, and the strength is weakened.

  In the above description, the case where the welding point is three points, that is, the case where the right end protrusion 33 and the central protrusion 34 are welded under the same conditions has been described. However, this phenomenon occurs when there are no two protrusions, that is, the central protrusion. In FIG. 4, in the end protrusion, for example, the right end protrusion 33 in FIG.

  As a result of the above results and analysis, if all the protrusions are welded under the same conditions, there is a problem that the melt strength is weakened in the central protrusion. Hereinafter, a connection structure of an electrical component that solves this problem will be described.

  7A and 7B show a semiconductor module terminal and a leading end connection portion of a conductive bus bar according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, wherein FIG. 7A is a front view and FIG. 7B is a side view. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a weld nugget when the protrusions of FIG. 7 are welded under appropriate conditions.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the electrical component connection structure according to the second embodiment has a heat radiation portion 75 at the base of the end projections 73 and 74 of the tip connection portion of the semiconductor module terminal 70 and the tip connection portion of the conduction bus bar 72. 76 is provided. Thereby, the heat dissipation of the end protrusions 73 and 74 and the central protrusion 77 becomes substantially equal, and a similar weld nugget 80 can be obtained even if welding is performed under the same conditions as shown in FIG. The welding conditions at this time can be set higher than the welding conditions described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, and a nugget 80 having a sufficient melting amount can be obtained. In this embodiment, the heat radiating portions 75 and 76 are provided in both the semiconductor module terminal 70 and the conductive bus bar 72, but the shape is not limited to this, and the heat radiating portions 75 and 76 are formed in the semiconductor module terminal 70 and the conductive bus bar 72. You may provide only in any one of these.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Next, an electrical component connection structure according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 shows the semiconductor module terminal and the leading end connection portion of the conductive bus bar according to the third embodiment, where (a) is a front view and (b) is a side view.

  The feature of this embodiment is that the height of the central protrusion 93 provided on the semiconductor module terminal 90 or the conductive bus bar 91 is higher than that of the end protrusions 94 and 95. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing a temperature distribution at the end of energization when the central protrusion 93 is welded under the welding conditions described in FIGS. 4 and 5 in the shape of FIG. Since the distance from the tip of the central protrusion 93 to the root where heat diffusion increases, the structure becomes difficult to dissipate heat and easily accumulate heat. Therefore, since the front end portion of the central protrusion 93 is in a considerably high temperature state, the central protrusion 93 is sufficiently melted, and a nugget 96 that is substantially homogeneous with the end protrusions 94 and 95 can be obtained as shown in FIG. Note that it is possible to apply the concept of the third embodiment to the electrical component connection structure described in the second embodiment, so that even better effects can be obtained.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
Next, an electrical component connection structure according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 12 is a schematic front view of the tip connection portion between the semiconductor module terminal and the conductive bus bar according to the fourth embodiment. In the manufacture of products, when a plurality of protrusions are continuously welded, the welding process often becomes a neck process, and the welding interval needs to be as short as possible. On the other hand, since a large amount of heat is supplied to small protrusions in a very short time in welding, the temperature rises in the peripheral portion, particularly adjacent protrusions, as shown in FIGS. Therefore, as the welding interval is shortened and adjacent protrusions are continuously welded, the next welding is performed with the heat supplied to the first welding portion remaining. In such a case, if welding is performed under conditions in which there is no initial heat at all, the total amount of heat input increases, and shape anomalies due to overmelting, melting of the melted portion, etc. are likely to occur.

  In Embodiment 4 shown in FIG. 12, the case where it welds on the same welding conditions from the left in the figure, ie, the same heat input, is shown. When there is a sufficient welding interval, it should be as shown in FIG. That is, the end projections 120 and 121 are nuggets 122 and 123 having the same shape, and the nugget 125 of the central projection 124 is easy to dissipate heat, and thus is smaller than the nuggets 122 and 123 of the end projections 120 and 121.

  On the other hand, if welding is continuously performed during actual manufacturing, the nugget 125 becomes smaller than the left nugget 122 at the second welding point because of the ease of heat dissipation described above, and the welded portion of the right end protrusion 121 is Since the amount of heat from the two weldings of the left end projection 120 and the central projection 126 remains, the total amount of heat input increases, and is overmelted compared to the left end projection 120. In the worst case, a defective shape or collapse of the melted part occurs.

Therefore, the projections are welded to the second and subsequent, by taking into account the residual amount of heat by welding so far varying the height of each projection, it is possible to avoid defects such as melt shortage, excessive melting, also A homogeneous weld can be obtained at each weld.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, the height of the protrusion is set to Hb> Ha> Hc. Here, Ha represents the height of the left end projection 120, Hb represents the height of the central projection 126, and Hc represents the height of the right end projection 120. As a result, the center protrusion 126 with a poor melting amount increases the amount of heat input and the melted portion becomes larger, and the right end protrusion 121 that becomes overmelted under the influence of the residual heat of the left end protrusion 120 and the central protrusion 126 dissipates heat. Therefore, the amount of melting can be reduced by suppressing heat accumulation, and the amount of melting of each weld can be made almost uniform.

Embodiment 5. FIG.
Next, an electrical component connection structure according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 14 is a schematic front view of the tip connection portion between the semiconductor module terminal and the conductive bus bar according to the fifth embodiment. The fifth embodiment is the same as the idea of the third embodiment described above, and shows an embodiment in which the heat radiation performance for each protrusion is controlled by the depth of the valley between the protrusions. First, the left end projection 140 of FIG. 14 is welded. Since the valley between the left end projection 140 and the central projection 141 is deep, the thermal effect due to the welding of the left end projection 140 is affected by the central projection 141 and the right projection. It is difficult to reach the end protrusion 142.

On the other hand, since the central protrusion 141 has a deeper valley between the left end protrusion 140 and the heat dissipation becomes worse, the melting point is reduced. Further, in the last welding of the right end end protrusion 142, the thermal influence of the left end protrusion 140 is small, and only the heat influence of the central protrusion 141 is received, so that overmelting is improved. As a result, a uniform nugget 143 is formed on the three projections of the left end projection 140, the central projection 141, and the right end projection 142, and the melting amount of each welded portion is improved because melting is insufficient and overmelting is improved. Can be made almost homogeneous.

  As mentioned above, although each embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is good also as embodiment which combined these embodiment suitably, and includes various design changes.

  Further, the fusion bonding of the present invention does not particularly limit the melting method, but in particular, in a method of supplying a large amount of heat to the protrusions in a very short time, such as TIG welding, MIG welding, laser welding, and electron beam welding. This is effective because the effects of the present invention appear more remarkably because the thermal influence due to the residual heat and the welding interval described so far becomes remarkable.

  The present invention can be applied to a power conversion device that increases power by electrically connecting a plurality of semiconductor modules in parallel, for example, a power conversion device used in a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection structure for electrical components according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the thermal-analysis result of the arc welding part by the test of the inventors for demonstrating the connection structure of the electrical component which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an electrical component connection structure according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an electrical component connection structure according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an electrical component connection structure according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an electrical component connection structure according to a second embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the semiconductor module terminal which shows Embodiment 2, and the front-end | tip connection part of a conduction bus bar. It is a schematic diagram which shows the welding nugget obtained by the semiconductor module terminal which shows Embodiment 2, and the front-end | tip connection part of a conduction bus bar. It is a schematic diagram which shows the semiconductor module terminal which shows Embodiment 3, and the front-end | tip connection part of a conduction bus bar. It is a figure explaining the connection structure of the electrical component which concerns on Embodiment 3, and is the figure which showed typically the temperature distribution at the time of completion | finish of electricity supply when a semiconductor module terminal and a conduction bus bar are welded. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining the effect of the electrical component connection structure according to Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a front schematic diagram of the front-end | tip connection part of the semiconductor module terminal and conduction | electrical_connection bus bar for demonstrating the connection structure of the electrical component which concerns on Embodiment 4. FIG. It is a front schematic diagram of the front-end | tip connection part of the semiconductor module terminal and conduction bus bar which shows Embodiment 4. It is a front schematic diagram of the front-end | tip connection part of the semiconductor module terminal and conduction | electrical_connection bus bar which shows Embodiment 5. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2 Semiconductor module 1a, 2a, 30a, 70, 90 Terminal 3, 31, 72, 91 Conductive bus bar 3a Conductive bus bar tip 4, 35, 36, 80, 96, 122, 123, 125, 143 Nugget 32 Non Consumable electrodes 33, 73, 74, 94, 95, 120, 121, 140, 142 End projections 34, 77, 93, 124, 141 Central projections 75, 76 Heat radiation portion

Claims (6)

An electrical component connection method for connecting the front end portion of the conductive bus bar to the tip portion of the connecting terminals of the electrical components, a plurality of projections formed on the connection tip, continuously the projections under the same welding conditions In the method of connecting electrical components to be melt bonded to
A method for connecting electrical parts, wherein the protrusions are set to different heights in accordance with the joining order of the protrusions, and the melting amount of the protrusions is controlled . An electrical component connection method for connecting a distal end portion of a conductive bus bar to a distal end portion of a connection terminal of an electrical component, wherein a plurality of protrusions are formed at the distal end of the connection portion, and the protrusions are continuously formed under the same welding conditions. In the method of connecting electrical components to be melt bonded to
A method for connecting electrical parts, wherein the valleys between the protrusions are set to different depths according to the joining order of the protrusions, and the melting amount of the protrusions is controlled . In the electrical component connection structure in which the distal end portion of the conductive bus bar is melt-bonded to the distal end portion of the connection terminal of the electrical component,
An electrical component characterized in that at least three projections are formed in parallel at the tip of the joint, and the height of the projection arranged at the center is higher than the height of the projection arranged at both ends. Connection structure. In the electrical component connection structure in which the distal end portion of the conductive bus bar is melt-bonded to the distal end portion of the connection terminal of the electrical component,
An electrical component characterized in that at least four projections are formed in parallel at the joint tip, and the valley between the projections arranged at the center is deeper than the valley between the projections arranged at both ends. Connection structure. 5. The electrical component connection structure according to claim 3, wherein a heat diffusion portion is formed on a side portion that is not adjacent to another projection portion disposed at the both end portions . A power converter comprising the electrical component connection structure according to any one of claims 3 to 5.

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