JPH11299289A - Power supply equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the effective use of thermo-electric power as a power supply with a simple structure, without a complicated control. SOLUTION: This equipment is constituted of an inverter 2 for controlling the duty of pulses, a heat source which generates heat due to a load, a motor 1 driven by the inverter 2, a rotating speed detector for the motor, and a microcomputer 7 for controlling the inverter 2 based on the detection result of the rotating speed detector. In this case, the heat source is provided with a thermoelectric transducing element 4 and therefore thermoelectric power from the heat source is added to a power supply of the inverter 2. Another thermo-electrically transducing element 4 is connected to a power circuit of the inverter 2 serially. With this method, when an electric equipment is operated, the voltage caused by the thermoelectric power is added to the power circuit of the inverter 2, and thereby the duty of a chopper signal for making the rotating speed a specified one can be made small and power consumption can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power supply device provided in a home appliance (electric device), and more particularly, to an energy saving technology of a power supply device utilizing exhaust heat of a heat source (load) of the home appliance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a prior art of a power supply device utilizing thermoelectromotive force, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-178446, a battery for charging thermoelectric power is provided. In some cases, the power supply source is switched from an external power supply to an internal power supply (battery) using thermal electromotive force.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a thermoelectric element unit 13 generates a thermoelectromotive force from a temperature gradient caused by operating heat generated from an operating load unit 12. The battery unit 14 is charged by the thermoelectromotive force to obtain an internal electromotive force. The switching unit 16 selectively supplies either the external power supplied from the external power supply 11 or the internal electromotive force of the battery unit 14 to the load unit 12. The power monitoring means 15 switches the switching means 16 according to the status of the battery unit 14 and the load unit 12.

[0004]

In such a conventional power supply apparatus, it is necessary to perform a complicated control of constantly monitoring the thermoelectromotive force and switching a power supply according to the magnitude of the thermoelectric power.

An object of the present invention is to effectively utilize thermoelectromotive force as a power supply with a simple configuration without performing complicated control.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power supply apparatus comprising: an inverter for controlling a power supply to a load by controlling a pulse duty; A heat source that generates heat by supplying power to the load, a motor driven by the inverter, and a rotation speed detection unit that detects the rotation speed of the motor;
Control means for controlling the duty of the inverter based on the rotation speed detected by the rotation speed detection means, wherein a thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the heat source, and the thermoelectric conversion element is heated by the heat source. A power supply device characterized in that generated thermoelectromotive force is added to a power supply of the inverter.

The invention according to claim 2 is the power supply device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thermoelectric conversion element is connected in series to a power supply circuit of the inverter.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electric equipment having a refrigeration cycle, the heat source is a compressor, and the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the compressor or a member that conducts heat from the compressor. Item 3. A power supply device according to item 1 or 2.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the heat source is a power module or a power transistor of the inverter or a radiator plate thereof, and at least one of the power module, the power transistor and the radiator plate. 3. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the power supply device.

The invention according to claim 5 is the power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the heat source is a reactor, and the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the reactor.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the heat source is a diode bridge or a heat sink thereof, and the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the diode bridge or the heat sink. Or the power supply device according to 2.

With the above configuration, the power supply device of the present invention is
When the heat source generates heat due to the operation of electrical equipment, the voltage of the thermoelectromotive force of the thermoelectric conversion element is added to the power supply of the inverter.
Accordingly, the duty of the chopper signal can be reduced, power consumption can be saved, and energy can be saved.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to further clarify the structure and operation of the power supply device of the present invention, an embodiment in which the power supply device of the present invention is applied to an air conditioner will be described below. Note that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, but uses a PWM (Pulse Wi-Fi) using a chopper signal.
The present invention is applicable to all devices having a duty control type inverter of dth Modulation (pulse width modulation), for example, refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners.

FIG. 1 shows a power supply device for an air conditioner according to this embodiment. The power of the inverter of the air conditioner is supplied from the AC power supply to the power module 2 after being rectified by the diode bridge 6 through the reactor 3 and smoothed by the capacitor 5. The motor 1 of the compressor (not shown) is connected to the power module 2, and the power module 2 is driven by the inverter drive signal 8 from the microcomputer 7. The inverter drive signal 8 includes a chopper signal for controlling the duty of PWM. In some cases, a power transistor is used in combination instead of the power module 2.

The operation of the air conditioner generates heat in the reactor 3, the diode bridge 6, the power module 2, and the compressor. The diode bridge 6 and the power module 2 are provided with a heat radiating plate for heat radiation. The reactor 3, the diode bridge 6, the power module 2, the compressor, and the radiator serve as heat sources, and the thermoelectric conversion element 4 is attached to any of these heat sources.

The thermoelectric conversion element 4 is connected in series to the inverter power supply so that the generated thermoelectromotive force is added to the inverter power supply. At this time, the plurality of thermoelectric conversion elements 4 attached to the heat sources are connected in parallel or in series, respectively.

The operation of the air conditioner generates heat in the reactor 3, the diode bridge 6, the power module 2, and the compressor, and accordingly, a thermoelectromotive force is generated from the thermoelectric conversion elements 4 attached to each heat source. This thermoelectromotive force is added to the power supply of the inverter, and the duty of PWM for rotating the motor 1 at a predetermined rotation speed can be reduced by the thermoelectromotive force of the thermoelectric conversion element 4 as described later.

The motor 1 used in this embodiment is
The rotation speed is detected by a rotation speed detecting means (not shown) such as a Hall element, and the microcomputer 7 (control means) changes the duty of the PWM so that the required rotation speed is obtained based on the detected rotation speed. Feedback control.

Therefore, when the thermoelectromotive force of the thermoelectric conversion element 4 is added to the power supply of the inverter due to the heat generated by the heat source, the rotation speed of the motor 1 increases if the duty is the same. Thus, the duty is changed to a value at which a high rotational speed can be obtained, and the duty of PWM can be reduced.

[0020]

According to the power supply device according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, a thermoelectric conversion element is attached to a heat source that generates heat by operation of an electric device, and the thermoelectromotive force is added to the power supply of the inverter. , The duty of the PWM for rotating the motor at a predetermined number of rotations is reduced by that amount, so that power consumption can be saved and energy can be saved.

According to the third aspect, by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element to a compressor or a mounting material thereof as a heat source for generating a thermoelectromotive force in the thermoelectric conversion element,
Sufficient thermoelectromotive force can be obtained, and the duty of PWM for rotating the motor at a predetermined number of rotations decreases accordingly, so that power consumption can be saved and energy can be saved.

According to the fourth aspect, by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element to a power module or a power transistor of an inverter or a heat radiating plate thereof as a heat source for generating a thermoelectromotive force in the thermoelectric conversion element, sufficient thermoelectromotive force can be obtained. As a result, the duty of PWM for rotating the motor at a predetermined number of rotations is reduced correspondingly, so that power consumption can be saved and energy can be saved. In addition, by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element, the heat radiation efficiency from the heat source is increased, and the reliability of the element is improved.

According to the fifth aspect, by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element to the reactor as a heat source for generating the thermoelectromotive force in the thermoelectric conversion element, sufficient thermoelectromotive force can be obtained, and the motor can be mounted at a predetermined temperature. The duty of the PWM for rotating at the number of rotations is reduced accordingly, so that power consumption can be saved and energy can be saved.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a sufficient thermoelectromotive force can be obtained by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element to a diode bridge or its heat radiating plate as a heat source for generating a thermoelectromotive force in the thermoelectric conversion element. In addition, the duty of PWM for rotating the motor at a predetermined number of rotations is reduced correspondingly, so that power consumption can be saved and energy can be saved. Further, by attaching the thermoelectric conversion element, the heat radiation efficiency is increased, and the reliability of the element is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a power supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional power supply device.

[Description of Signs] 1 Compressor motor 2 Inverter power module 3 Reactor 4 Thermoelectric conversion element 5 Smoothing capacitor 6 Diode bridge 7 Microcomputer 8 Inverter drive signal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H02N 11/00 H02N 11/00 A

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An inverter for controlling a power supply to a load by controlling a duty of a pulse, a heat source generating heat by supplying power to the load, a motor driven by the inverter, and a rotation speed of the motor. And a control means for controlling the duty of the inverter based on the number of revolutions detected by the number of revolutions detection means, wherein a thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the heat source and the heat source A power supply device for adding a thermoelectromotive force generated by the thermoelectric conversion element due to heat from the inverter to a power supply of the inverter. 2. The power supply according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric conversion element is connected in series to a power supply circuit of the inverter. 3. An electric device having a refrigeration cycle, wherein the heat source is a compressor, and the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the compressor or a member that conducts heat from the compressor. Power supply. 4. The power source of the inverter, the power transistor, or a heat radiating plate thereof, wherein the heat source is the power module, the power transistor, and the heat radiating plate. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the power supply device is attached. 5. The power supply according to claim 1, wherein the heat source is a reactor, and the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the reactor. 6. The heat source is a diode bridge, or
The power supply device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the heat sink, the diode bridge or the heat sink.