JP5516923B2 - Reactor and converter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a reactor used for a component of a converter such as a hybrid vehicle.

  A reactor including a pair of coils arranged in parallel and an annular core having a coil winding portion for arranging each coil is used as a component such as a converter of a hybrid vehicle, for example. There has been a demand for miniaturization of this reactor due to the arrangement space. As a reactor that meets such a demand, for example, a reactor described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed.

  FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a conventional reactor, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view of a core provided in the reactor. The reactor 100 includes a pair of coils 3 and 4 and an annular core 200 that are arranged in parallel. The core 200 is formed in an annular shape by connecting the coil winding portions 23 and 24 where the coils 3 and 4 are respectively disposed and the exposed portions 210 and 220 exposed without being covered by the coils 3 and 4.

  The exposed portion 210 (220) of the core 200 has protrusions 210A and 210C (220A and 220C) that protrude in the thickness direction of the core 200 from the extended surfaces of the outer peripheral surfaces of the coil winding portions 23 and 24. The projecting portions 210A and 210C (220A and 220C) secure a cross-sectional area in the exposed portion 210 (220) that is not magnetically saturated. Therefore, the exposed portions 210 (220 in the axial direction of the coil winding portions 23 and 24). ) Can be made shorter than a conventional exposed portion indicated by a two-dot chain line. In addition, the space from which the protruding portions 210A and 210C (220A and 220C) protrude is a portion that has conventionally been a dead space. Therefore, by forming the protrusions 210A and 210C (220A and 220C), the core 200 can be downsized, that is, the reactor 1 can be downsized.

JP 2004-327569 A

  In recent years, reactors whose demand is increasing for hybrid vehicles and the like are desired not only to be small, but also to be lightweight. However, although the technique of Patent Document 1 satisfies the request for miniaturization, it cannot be said that it meets the request for weight reduction.

  Specifically, since the core 200 is mainly composed of iron that is a magnetic material, the core 200 is very heavy. Moreover, although the exposed portion 210 (220) of the core 200 is shortened in the axial direction of the coil winding portions 23, 24, the volume is not different from the conventional one, so it cannot be said that the weight is reduced.

  This invention is made | formed in view of said situation, and one of the objectives of this invention is to provide the reactor which is lightweight while being small.

  The present invention relates to a reactor including a pair of coils arranged in parallel, a coil winding part covered by each coil, and an annular core having an exposed part exposed without being covered by the coil. The exposed portion of the core includes a base portion that is joined to the entire end surfaces of the pair of coil winding portions that are juxtaposed, and a protruding portion that protrudes in the thickness direction of the core from the extended surface of the outer peripheral surface of the coil winding portion. Have. And this protrusion part is a shape where the area | region including the middle in the parallel direction of a pair of coil is the shape with the largest protrusion amount.

  According to the reactor of the present invention, the protruding portion protruding from the base portion can ensure a cross-sectional area without magnetic saturation in the exposed portion. Therefore, even if the exposed portion is shortened in the axial direction of the coil winding portion, the area of the cross section perpendicular to the magnetic flux direction becomes too small, and the exposed portion is not magnetically saturated, and the reactor can be downsized. Can do.

  Further, the protruding portion has a shape in which the region including the middle in the parallel direction of the pair of coils protrudes most. In other words, when compared with the protruding portion having the same protruding amount over the parallel direction, the region on both end sides in the parallel direction is cut away. The inventor has confirmed through testing that the notched portion is a portion that does not allow much magnetic flux even if it exists. Therefore, according to the configuration of the reactor of the present invention, the volume of the exposed portion can be reduced without reducing the characteristics as compared with the reactor that is downsized by providing the protruding portion. That is, it is possible to reduce the weight of the reactor.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

  As one form of this invention reactor, it is preferable that the shape of the cross section orthogonal to the axis | shaft of the coil winding part in the protrusion part of a core is a substantially trapezoid shape where a width | variety becomes small as it leaves | separates from the said extended surface side.

  If it is such a shape, the ratio which reduces the volume of a core can be made high, and even if the ratio which makes it reduce is made high, the characteristic of a reactor does not fall easily.

  As one form of this invention reactor, it is preferable that the shape of the cross section orthogonal to the axis | shaft of the coil winding part in the protrusion part of a core is a shape without a corner | angular part.

  The core having the corner does not affect the reactor characteristics because the magnetic flux does not pass through the corner. If the protruding portion has a shape without a corner portion, the weight can be reduced without deteriorating the characteristics of the reactor.

  As one form of this invention reactor, it is preferable that the area of the cross section orthogonal to the magnetic flux direction in the exposed part of a core is more than the area of the cross section orthogonal to the magnetic flux direction of the said coil winding part.

  According to this configuration, since the magnetic flux density becomes too high in the exposed portion and magnetic saturation does not occur, it is possible to prevent the reactor characteristics from being deteriorated.

  As one form of this invention reactor, the protrusion part of a core protrudes in the attachment surface side to which a reactor is attached, and it is formed in the shape along the shape of the attachment surface so that it may contact the attachment surface in the whole protrusion part. Preferably it is.

  The heat generated in the reactor can be efficiently radiated through the core by contacting the mounting surface with the entire protruding portion protruding to the mounting surface side of the reactor. Moreover, since the protrusion part differs from the outer peripheral surface of a coil winding part in the parallel direction of a coil, it can be said that it is a three-dimensional shape. Therefore, when the reactor is arranged on the attachment surface, the protrusion and the attachment surface engage with each other, so that the reactor can be positioned with respect to the attachment surface. Note that “the protrusion is formed in a shape that follows the shape of the attachment surface” includes changing the shape of the attachment surface in accordance with the shape of the protrusion.

  According to the structure of this invention, it can be set as a small and lightweight reactor, without reducing a magnetic characteristic.

(A) is a perspective view of the reactor which concerns on Embodiment 1, (B) is a perspective view of the core with which the said reactor is equipped. (A) is a front view of the reactor which concerns on Embodiment 1, (B) is a left view of the said reactor. (A) is a perspective view of the reactor which concerns on Embodiment 2, (B) is a perspective view with which the said reactor is equipped. It is a left view of the reactor shown in a modification, Comprising: A protrusion part is a thing of a substantially triangular shape. (A) is a perspective view of the conventional reactor, (B) is a perspective view of the core with which the said reactor is equipped.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the reactor of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment 1>

  FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a reactor according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a core provided in the reactor. FIG. 2A is a front view of the reactor according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a left side view of the reactor.

<Overall structure of the reactor>
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the reactor 1 includes an annular core 2 and coils 3 and 4 arranged to cover the outer periphery of the core 2. Moreover, this reactor 1 is arrange | positioned between the core 2 and the coils 3 and 4, and is equipped with the insulator 5 which ensures insulation of both. The reactor 1 is placed and fixed on an attachment surface (surface on the lower side of the drawing) for attaching the reactor 1. When there is a case for storing the reactor, the attachment surface is the bottom surface of the case. Moreover, when attaching a reactor directly to a cooling base provided with the refrigerant | coolant flow path for cooling a reactor, the outer peripheral surface of a cooling base becomes an attachment surface.

<Coil>
The coils 3 and 4 are windings wound around coil winding portions 23 and 24 described later. The winding consists of a conductor and an insulating coating covering the periphery of the conductor. A metal material having excellent conductivity can be used for the conductor, and enamel can be used for the insulating coating. Further, windings having various shapes such as a circular shape, an elliptical shape, and a polygonal shape can be used. In particular, a rectangular wire with a rectangular cross section can easily increase the coil space factor compared to a rectangular wire with a circular cross section.

  One end 31 of the coil 3 and one end 41 of the coil 4 are connected by a joint portion J, and the coil 3 and the coil 4 are electrically connected. The other end 32 of the coil 3 and the other end 42 of the coil 4 are drawn away from the coil winding portions 23 and 24 and serve as terminals for energizing the reactor 1. Accordingly, when the coils 3 and 4 are energized, a magnetic path that circulates around the annular core 2 is formed.

<Core>
The core 2 includes coil winding portions 23 and 24 around which the coils 3 and 4 are wound, and exposed portions 21 and 22 that are exposed without being covered by the coils 3 and 4. The core 2 is formed in an annular shape by connecting the exposed portion 21 to one end of the coil winding portions 23 and 24 arranged in parallel and connecting the exposed portion 22 to the other end.

  The coil winding parts 23 and 24 have a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and are usually configured by joining a plurality of magnetic material parts via a gap part g. As the magnetic material portion, for example, a compacted body of soft magnetic powder or a laminate of electromagnetic steel sheets can be used. The gap part g is interposed between the magnetic members, is used to adjust the inductance of the core 2, and is made of a nonmagnetic material such as alumina.

  On the other hand, the exposed portions 21 and 22 are made of a magnetic member in the same manner as the coil winding portions 23 and 24, and usually do not have a gap portion. The exposed portions 21 and 22 are formed so that the cross-sectional area perpendicular to the magnetic flux direction is equal to or larger than the cross-sectional area perpendicular to the magnetic flux direction of the coil winding portions 23 and 24. Thereby, the magnetic flux density in the exposed parts 21 and 22 is not increased.

  The exposed portion 21 (22) includes a base portion 21B (22B) and projecting portions 21A and 21C (22A and 22C) projecting from the base portion 21B (22B). The base 21B (22B) and the projecting portions 21A and 21C (22A and 22C) will be described as being virtually separated as shown by the dotted lines in the drawings in the following description, but in reality they are integrally formed. ing. Since the structures of the exposed portions 21 and 22 are the same, only the exposed portion 21 will be described below as a representative.

  The base portion 21B is joined to the entire end surface of the pair of coil winding portions 23, 24 while maintaining a thickness equal to the thickness of the coil winding portions 23, 24 in the thickness direction of the core 2 (vertical direction on the paper surface). To do. If the base portion 21B is configured to join only a part of the end surfaces of the coil winding portions 23 and 24, the characteristics of the reactor are remarkably deteriorated.

  The protruding portion 21 </ b> A is a portion of the exposed portion 21 that protrudes from the base portion 21 </ b> B toward the side opposite to the attachment surface (upper side of the paper surface). As for protrusion part 21A, the area | region including the middle in the parallel direction of a pair of coil has the largest protrusion amount. The region where the protruding amount of the protruding portion 21A is large is a portion through which a relatively large amount of magnetic flux passes. When the exposed portion 21 is viewed from the front (see FIG. 2B, which is a left side view of the reactor), an extended surface of the outer peripheral surface of the coil winding portion (a dotted line that is a boundary portion between the base portion 21B and the protruding portion 21A) It is a substantially trapezoidal shape with a width that decreases with increasing distance from That is, any cross section perpendicular to the axis of the coil winding portion (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2B) in the protruding portion 21A has a trapezoidal shape with a uniform size that decreases in width as the distance from the extension surface increases. It is a cross section.

  The protruding portion 21A having the shape described above is configured such that both ends of the protruding portion 210A are cut away from the core 200 having the conventional protruding portion 210A shown in FIG. The core 2 of the present embodiment is reduced in weight by this cutout, and as a result, the reactor 1 is also reduced in weight. Here, the notched portion is a portion through which magnetic flux does not pass much even if it exists. Therefore, even if it is a shape like the protrusion part 21A of this embodiment, the characteristic of the reactor 1 does not deteriorate.

  In addition, the protruding portion 21A extends in the axial direction of the coil winding portions 23 and 24 (the left direction in FIG. 2A and the vertical direction in FIG. 2B) as the distance from the coil winding portions 23 and 24 increases. The protruding amount may be reduced. In this case, the substantially trapezoidal cross section orthogonal to the axis of the coil winding portions 23 and 24 in the protruding portion 21 </ b> A changes such that the height of the trapezoid decreases as the distance from the coil winding portions 23 and 24 increases. In addition, in order to further reduce the weight, it is possible to give a rounded portion to the trapezoidal corner so that the shape has substantially no corner.

  On the other hand, the protruding portion 21 </ b> C is a portion that protrudes from the base portion 21 </ b> B toward the attachment surface side (the lower side of the drawing) for attaching the reactor 1. The protruding portion 21C protrudes so as to be flush with the coils 3 and 4 that contact the mounting surface, and the end surface facing the mounting surface is a smooth surface. Therefore, the entire end surface of the protruding portion 21 </ b> C contacts the mounting surface, and heat generated in the core 2 can be efficiently radiated to the mounting surface.

  According to the configuration of the present embodiment described above, since the exposed portions 21 and 22 of the core 2 have the protruding portions 21A, 21C, 22A, and 22C, the exposed portions 21 and 22 are connected to the coil winding portions 23 and 24, respectively. It can be shortened in the axial direction. As a result, the core 2 can be reduced in size. Moreover, since the part which magnetic flux does not pass so much even if it exists is notched among protrusion part 21A, 22A of the core 2, weight reduction of a core, ie, the light weight of a reactor, is not reduced. Can be achieved.

<Embodiment 2>
A reactor according to Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the change from Embodiment 1 is only the shape of the protruding portion 21 </ b> C that protrudes toward the mounting surface to which the reactor is attached, this change will be mainly described.

  The region including the middle in the parallel direction of the coils 3 and 4 of the projecting portion 21C of the reactor 1 is the most extending from the extended surface of the outer peripheral surface of the coil winding portions 23 and 24 in the thickness direction of the core 2 (downward in the drawing). It protrudes and has a shape in which the protruding portion 21A is turned upside down. That is, the protruding portion 21C has a shape in which a corner portion of the protruding portion 21C in FIG. Even if the notched portion exists, the portion of the magnetic flux does not pass much even if it exists, and the characteristics of the reactor 1 do not deteriorate greatly.

  By adopting the configuration of the present embodiment, the core can be further reduced in weight compared to the first embodiment. Moreover, when attaching the reactor 1 to an attachment surface, the positioning of the reactor 1 with respect to an attachment surface can be easily performed by engagement with the protrusion part 21C and an attachment surface.

<Modification>
The shape of the protruding portion is not limited to a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape as described in the first and second embodiments, as long as the region including the middle is formed so as to have the largest protruding amount. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the cross section of the protruding portion 21A may be formed in a substantially triangular shape. In addition, you may form a protrusion part so that the cross section may become a dome shape.

  The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to those described above, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in FIG. 2B, the exposed portions 21 and 22 may have portions that protrude from the extended surfaces of the outer peripheral surfaces of the coil winding portions 23 and 24 in the left-right direction on the paper.

  The reactor of the present invention is excellent in magnetic characteristics and is small and light, and can be suitably used for, for example, a component of a converter of a hybrid vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Reactor 2 Core g Gap part 21,22 Exposed part 21B, 22B Base part 21A, 21C, 22A, 22C Protrusion part 23, 24 Coil winding part 3, 4 Coil 31, 41 One end of coil 32, 42 The other end of coil J Joint part 5 Insulator 100 Reactor 200 Core 210, 220 Exposed part 210B Base part 210A, 210C, 220A, 220C Protruding part

Claims (5)

A reactor including a pair of coils arranged in parallel and an annular core, and placed on a mounting surface,
The core has a coil winding portion around which each coil is wound and an exposed portion that is exposed without being covered by the coil,
The exposed portion is joined to the entire end surface of the coil winding portion, and the first projecting portion and the mounting surface side project from the extended surface of the outer peripheral surface of the coil winding portion to the opposite side of the mounting surface. A second projecting portion projecting into the
The first protruding portion has a shape having the largest protruding amount in a region including a central portion in the parallel direction of the pair of coils.
The reactor which is comprised by the plane along the shape of the said attachment surface so that the end surface which opposes the said attachment surface in a said 2nd protrusion part contact | abuts to the said attachment surface in the whole end surface .   The reactor according to claim 1, wherein an entire end surface of the second projecting portion facing the attachment surface is configured as a single plane. 3. The reactor according to claim 1 , wherein a shape of a cross section perpendicular to an axis of the coil winding portion in the first projecting portion is a shape whose width decreases as the distance from the extension surface side increases. The reactor according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein an area of a cross section orthogonal to the magnetic flux direction in the exposed portion is equal to or greater than an area of a cross section orthogonal to the magnetic flux direction of the coil winding portion. A converter provided with the reactor of any one of Claims 1-4 .

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