JP6541269B2 - Light gate circuit - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical gate circuit that outputs an optical gate signal.

  Generally, in a power converter using switching elements, it is known that the switching elements are fired by an optical gate signal configured in a dual system.

  For example, a gate pulse of a system which first fires a thyristor among double gate pulses is selected, a firing of a thyristor is detected, and a firing of the detected thyristor is a gate pulse of a system which first fires. The controller of the power converter device which judges that it is anomalous of the system when it is judged that it is not ignited by is disclosed (refer to patent documents 1).

JP, 2014-117116, A

  However, in the case of simultaneously outputting an optical gate signal in a dual system, even if one system fails, if the other system is normal, it is difficult to detect the failure.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical gate circuit capable of easily detecting a failure in one system even in the case of simultaneously outputting an optical gate signal in a dual system.

  The optical gate circuit according to the aspect of the present invention constitutes a double system, and two light emitting elements each generating an optical gate signal, and a light combining means for combining the optical gate signals respectively generated from the two light emitting elements And optical branching means for branching the optical gate signals combined by the optical combining means into a plurality of optical gate signals in order to output the optical gate signals to a plurality of switching elements; and the plurality of optical gate signals branched by the optical branching means And a failure detection means for detecting a failure in one of the dual systems based on the light quantity of one of the failure detection optical gate signals.

  According to the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical gate circuit capable of easily detecting a failure in one system even in the case of simultaneously outputting an optical gate signal in a dual system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The block diagram which shows the structure of the power converter device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The block diagram which shows the structure of the failure detector which concerns on this embodiment. The graph which shows the light quantity fall by the aging of the light emitting element which concerns on this embodiment.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1: is a block diagram which shows the structure of the power converter device 10 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The same parts in the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different parts will be mainly described.

  Here, although the power converter 10 is described as a thyristor valve, it is not limited to a thyristor valve, and any power converter may be used as long as it uses a switching element to be ignited by an optical signal.

  The power converter 10 includes a plurality of optical gate circuits 1, a plurality of failure detectors 2, and a plurality of thyristor valve modules 3. Although FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of one thyristor valve module 3, it is assumed that the optical gate circuit 1 and the failure detector 2 are respectively provided corresponding to the plurality of thyristor valve modules 3. The failure detector 2 may be provided in any manner. For example, the failure detector 2 may be part of the light gate circuit 1 or may be part of one device such as a control device together with the light gate circuit 1.

  The light gate circuit 1 is mounted on a control device or the like that controls the thyristor valve module 3. The optical gate circuit 1 outputs an optical gate signal for firing N (N is 2 or more) light trigger thyristors 31. The optical gate circuit 1 is connected to N optical trigger thyristors 31 by N transmission paths L1, L2,..., LN for transmitting optical signals. The transmission lines L1 to LN are, for example, optical fibers.

  The optical gate circuit 1 includes two light emitting elements 11 a and 11 b and an optical splitter 12. The two light emitting elements 11a and 11b and the light splitter 12 are connected by two transmission paths La and Lb. The transmission paths La and Lb are, for example, optical fibers.

  The light emitting elements 11a and 11b generate dual-system light gate signals in accordance with control signals from devices of the upper control system and the like. The A-system light emitting element 11 a outputs the A-system optical gate signal to the A-system transmission path La. The B-system light emitting element 11 b outputs the B-system optical gate signal to the B-system transmission path Lb. The light emitting elements 11a and 11b are laser diodes or light emitting diodes.

  The optical splitter 12 combines the input optical signals, and branches and outputs the combined optical signal into a plurality. The optical splitter 12 has at least two input ports and at least N + 1 output ports. The two transmission paths La and Lb connected to the light emitting elements 11 a and 11 b are connected to the input port of the light splitter 12. At the output port of the optical splitter 12, N transmission paths L1 to LN connected to the gate terminals of the N light trigger thyristors 31 and a monitoring transmission path Lm connected to the failure detector 2 are connected. The monitoring transmission line Lm is, for example, an optical fiber. The optical splitter 12 outputs the branched optical gate signal from all the output ports. The transmission path connecting the two light emitting elements 11a and 11b and the optical splitter 12 may be a two-branch optical fiber. The two-branch optical fiber combines two optical signals separately input from two input ports into one and outputs it. In this case, at least one input port of the light splitter 12 is sufficient.

  The plurality of thyristor valve modules 3 constitute a power conversion circuit of the power conversion device 10. The thyristor valve module 3 is a modularization of a configuration in which N light trigger thyristors 31 are connected in series. Each light trigger thyristor 31 fires with the light gate signal received from the light gate circuit 1 through the respective transmission paths L1 to LN. Thereby, the power conversion operation of the power conversion device 10 is controlled by the switching operation of each light trigger thyristor 31.

  The failure detector 2 detects a failure of the optical gate circuit 1 based on the optical gate signal for failure detection received from the optical gate circuit 1 via the monitoring transmission path Lm. When the fault detector 2 detects a fault, it outputs a fault signal Sng.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of the failure detector 2 according to the present embodiment.

  The failure detector 2 includes a light receiving element 21, a monitoring circuit 22, and a failure output unit 23.

  The light receiving element 21 applies a current in accordance with the light amount of the optical gate signal received from the optical gate circuit 1. The light receiving element 21 outputs a larger current as the amount of light of the light gate signal is larger. The current output from the light receiving element 21 is input to the monitoring circuit 22. The light receiving element 21 is, for example, a photodiode.

  The monitoring circuit 22 determines, based on the current input from the light receiving element 21, whether or not the optical gate circuit 1 is broken. If the input current is smaller than a preset current value, the monitoring circuit 22 determines that one of A system and B system is in failure. One-system failure is a case where either system A or system B fails. For example, the failure of the A system is a case where a device or the like that constitutes the A system such as the light emitting element 11a of the A system or the transmission path La of the A system is broken. The monitoring circuit 22 determines that both the A-system and the B-system fail when the input current is substantially zero. Similarly to the single-system failure, the monitoring circuit 22 may determine whether the failure is smaller than a preset current value. The current value set to determine the failure of both systems is smaller than the current value set to determine the failure of one system. When the monitoring circuit 22 detects a failure, the monitoring circuit 22 outputs a failure detection signal indicating the content of the failure to the failure output unit 23.

  Here, how to determine the current value to be a threshold value for determining whether or not a failure occurs will be described.

  In order to turn on the light trigger thyristor 31, it is necessary to input a light gate signal of a certain light amount or more. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the light emitting elements 11 a and 11 b gradually decrease in light amount due to aged deterioration. In order to function as a dual system, it is necessary for each of the light emitting elements 11a and 11b to output a light gate signal which is greater than the amount of light necessary to turn on the light trigger thyristor 31. Therefore, for example, a current value serving as a threshold value for determining a failure in one system is necessary for the total amount of light gate signals output from the two light emitting elements 11a and 11b to turn on the light trigger thyristor 31. Make it a value that can be judged to be twice or more of the light amount.

  When the fault output unit 23 receives a fault detection signal from the monitoring circuit 22, the fault output unit 23 outputs a fault signal Sng to a predetermined point. Thereby, for example, a display or a sound indicates that a failure has occurred. At this time, it is possible to distinguish between one-system failure and both-system failure. The target of informing the failure is, for example, an operator of the power conversion device 10 or a device of a higher control system. In addition, the failure signal Sng may be used for control or the like inside the power conversion device 10.

  Here, the failure detector 2 which converts the light amount of the optical gate signal received from the optical gate circuit 1 into the magnitude of the current and detects the fault based on the magnitude of the converted current has been described. Not exclusively. For example, the failure detector 2 may directly measure the amount of light of the received optical gate signal, and detect the failure based on the measured amount of light.

  According to the present embodiment, even if the optical gate signals of both systems are simultaneously output with the same waveform by detecting a failure based on the light amount of the optical gate signal obtained by combining the optical gate signals of both systems, It is possible to detect a single system failure. If it is a failure of one system, the operation of the power conversion device 10 can be continued in the other system, so that the power conversion device 10 can be stopped systematically to repair the failure of the one system.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as it is, and at the implementation stage, the constituent elements can be modified and embodied without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriate combinations of a plurality of components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, components in different embodiments may be combined as appropriate.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical gate circuit, 2 ... Failure detector, 3 ... Thyristor valve module, 10 ... Power converter.

Claims (4)

Two light emitting elements constituting a double system, each generating an optical gate signal,
Light combining means for combining the light gate signals respectively generated from the two light emitting elements;
An optical branching unit that branches the plurality of optical gate signals into a plurality of optical gate signals in order to output the optical gate signal combined by the optical combining unit to a plurality of switching elements;
And a failure detection means for detecting a failure in one of the dual systems based on the light quantity of one failure detection optical gate signal among the plurality of optical gate signals branched by the light branching means. An optical gate circuit characterized by The failure detection means
A light receiving element that outputs a current based on the light amount of the failure detection light gate signal;
2. The optical gate circuit according to claim 1, further comprising: failure judging means for judging that the one-system failure has occurred when the current output from the light receiving element is smaller than a set value. A power conversion circuit composed of a plurality of switching elements,
Two light emitting elements constituting a double system, each generating an optical gate signal,
Light combining means for combining the light gate signals respectively generated from the two light emitting elements;
An optical branching unit that branches the optical gate signal combined by the optical combining unit into a plurality of optical gate signals in order to output the optical gate signal to the plurality of switching elements;
And a failure detection means for detecting a failure in one of the dual systems based on the light quantity of one failure detection optical gate signal among the plurality of optical gate signals branched by the light branching means. Power converter characterized in that. A failure detection method for an optical gate circuit comprising two light emitting elements constituting a double system, each generating an optical gate signal, comprising:
Combining optical gate signals respectively generated from the two light emitting elements;
Branching into a plurality of optical gate signals in order to output the combined optical gate signal to a plurality of switching elements;
A failure of an optical gate circuit characterized by including detection of a failure in one of the dual systems based on the light amount of one failure detection optical gate signal among the plurality of branched optical gate signals. Detection method.

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