A DC power supply apparatus comprising: a rectifying circuit including, a first rectifying portion, a second rectifying portion, a third rectifying portion and a fourth rectifying portion; a current detection portion; a first switching portion; and a second switching portion; wherein each of the first rectifying portion cooperatively operating with the first switching portion and the second rectifying portion cooperatively operating with the second switching portion is a semiconductor element which is formed by using a schottky junction formed between silicon carbide or gallium nitride and metal and has a withstanding voltage property with respect to a voltage of an ac power supply.
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1. A DC power supply apparatus comprising:
a rectifying circuit including,
a first rectifying portion,
a second rectifying portion,
a third rectifying portion, and
a fourth rectifying portion,
wherein the first rectifying portion and the second rectifying portion are connected to a positive electrode terminal of the rectifying circuit so as to be parallel to each other,
the third rectifying portion and the fourth rectifying portion are connected to a negative electrode terminal of the rectifying circuit so as to be parallel to each other,
one end of an ac power supply is connected between the first rectifying portion and the third rectifying portion, and
an other end of the ac power supply is connected between the second rectifying portion and the fourth rectifying portion;
a current detection portion which is connected to the negative electrode terminal of the rectifying circuit and detects a current flowing through the rectifying circuit;
a first switching portion which is connected in parallel to the current detection portion and the third rectifying portion;
a second switching portion which is connected in parallel to the current detection portion and the fourth rectifying portion;
a control portion which generates a control signal for controlling a ratio between an on period and an off period of each of the first switching portion and the second switching portion;
a comparing portion which compares the control signal with a triangular waveform signal for controlling a switching frequency of 25 kHz or more of the first switching portion and the second switching portion to generate a pwm control signal; and
a driving portion which drives the first switching portion and the second switching portion in accordance with the pwm control signal,
wherein each of the first rectifying portion cooperatively operating with the first switching portion and the second rectifying portion cooperatively operating with the second switching portion is a semiconductor element which is formed by using a schottky junction formed between silicon carbide or gallium nitride and metal and has a withstanding voltage property with respect to a voltage of the ac power supply.
2. The DC power supply apparatus according to
3. The DC power supply apparatus according to
4. The DC power supply apparatus according to
5. A freezing apparatus driving an air blower or a compressor by using a DC output supplied from the DC power supply apparatus according to
6. An air conditioning apparatus driving an air blower or a compressor by using a DC output supplied from the DC power supply apparatus according to
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This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-024185 filed on Feb. 5, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Aspects of the present invention relate to a DC power supply apparatus for performing AC/DC conversion.
In a rectifying circuit contained in a DC power supply apparatus of related art, since an input current inputted into the DC power supply apparatus from an AC power supply can not be rectified synchronously with the voltage of the AC power supply, the power factor of the power supply is low and the reactive power amount is large. That is, there arises a problem that the electric power utilization factor is low. The reactive power component is the power returned to the power supply side without being consumed by a load side connected via the DC power supply apparatus, among the power supplied from the power supply. The presence of the reactive power component corresponds to a state that the efficiency of each of the electric power generation and the electric power transmission is low when seen from the power supply side and a state that the electric power supplied from the power supply is not utilized effectively when seen from the load side. Further, the DC power supply apparatus of the related art has a problem that the waveform of the input current inputted from the AC power supply deforms from the sinusoidal waveform, that is, the input current contains much harmonic current component. Thus, there arises a problem that the operation of other apparatuses connected to the same power supply system is interfered and the power transmission facility is damaged. Such the problems are required to be improved according to the International Standard (IEC61000-3) etc. As the measures for the improvement, a DC power supply apparatus is used which performs the PWM control by using semiconductor switching elements to thereby improve the power factor of a power supply, suppress the harmonic current of the power supply and adjust the DC output voltage (see JP-A-2001-286149 (pages 11 to 12, FIGS. 1 to 4)).
Further, according to a recent tendency of energy saving, an inverter circuit for driving a motor etc. uses a Schottky Barrier diode (SBD) made of silicon carbide (SiC) as a power semiconductor module to thereby reduce steady loss due to the voltage drop of the power semiconductor module and to thereby increase the switching speed (turn-on speed) of the power semiconductor module to reduce the switching loss, so as to reduce the loss and the heating amount of the power semiconductor module while almost maintaining the current driving efficiency of the motor etc. (see JP-A-2008-92663 (pages 3 to 4))
In the related-art DC power supply apparatus connected to the AC power supply for improving the power factor of the power supply and suppressing the harmonic current of the power supply, the switching is performed by the switching frequency of about 20 kHz to 25 kHz. In this case, since a large current ripple occurs due to the switching operation on the input current from the AC power supply, there arises a problem that a portion for removing the current ripple component, that is, a filter circuit is required. Further, when the switching frequency is low, since the time control of the current and voltage according to a PWM control becomes rough, there arise problems that the input current from which the current ripple has been removed can not maintain the sinusoidal waveform and is distorted and further a phase shift occurs between the input current and the voltage of the power supply. Furthermore, since the filter circuit for removing the large current ripple component largely influences on the phase of the input current, the waveform of the input current is deformed or distorted. In view of these problems, it is desired to set the harmonic current of the power supply to 0 and set the power factor of the power supply to 1 according to a theoretical design, that is, according to the control by a control circuit.
As a method for solving the problems, related-art discloses a method of increasing the switching frequency of the DC power supply apparatus to thereby finely perform the time control of the PWM control. When the switching frequency is increased, the current ripple becomes small. Thus, the current ripple component can be removed by a filter circuit which scarcely influences except for the removal of the current ripple component. Further, the input current of the sinusoidal waveform having small distortion can be generated due to the fine time control of the PWM control. As a result, the harmonic current of the power supply can be reduced and the power factor of the power supply can be improved, so as to become close to a theoretical design.
However, in the case of increasing the switching frequency of the DC power supply apparatus to be connected to the AC power supply, even when the voltage of the AC power supply is applied so as to follow the high-speed switching operation of the semiconductor switching elements, there is a problem that there is no rectifying element having a high withstanding voltage and current which can prevent the dielectric breakdown thereof.
Further, when the switching frequency is increased in the constituent components of the related art, the loss of each of the semiconductor elements, that is, the rectifying elements and the semiconductor switching elements on a path for flowing the current from the DC power supply apparatus becomes large. Thus, there arise problems that the efficiency of the DC power supply apparatus reduces and the semiconductor elements can not withstand heat generated by the loss and are burnt.
Further, when the switching frequency is increased, since the amount of heat generation increases due to the increase of the loss of the semiconductor elements of the DC power supply apparatus, there arises a problem that the size and the cost of a cooling apparatus increases.
Furthermore, since high-frequency noise is generated due to the high-speed switching operation of the semiconductor elements of the DC power supply apparatus, there arise problems that another apparatus except for the DC power supply apparatus is erroneously operated or the DC power supply apparatus itself is erroneously operated.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a DC power supply apparatus with a high efficiency, which can realize the increase the switching frequency, increase the power factor of the power supply and reduce the harmonic current of the power supply, in a manner that semiconductor elements which can perform high-speed switching operation and to which the voltage of an AC power supply can be applied are used as rectifying elements which operate in cooperation with semiconductor switching elements of the DC power supply apparatus.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor element, which is formed by using a Schottky junction formed between metal and silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) and has withstanding voltage property with respect to a voltage of the AC power supply, is employed as a rectifying element cooperatively operating with the switching operation of the semiconductor switching element.
Accordingly, because a semiconductor element, which is formed by using the Schottky junction formed between metal and silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) and has the withstanding voltage property with respect to the voltage of the AC power supply, is employed as the rectifying element cooperatively operating with the switching operation of the semiconductor switching element, it is possible to obtain a DC power supply apparatus with a high efficiency, which realizes the increase of the switching frequency, is high in the power factor of the power supply and is reduced in the harmonic current of the power supply.
First Exemplary Embodiment
In
The semiconductor switching element 5a is connected in parallel to the series connection of the rectifying element 4c and the current detection shunt resistor 6 in an opposite manner in its polarity to the polarity of the rectifying element 4c so as to flow the current in an opposite direction. Similarly, the semiconductor switching element 5b is connected in parallel to the series connection of the rectifying element 4d and the current detection shunt resistor 6 in an opposite manner in its polarity to the polarity of the rectifying element 4d so as to flow the current in an opposite direction. The semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b are controlled so as to control the AC input current inputted from the AC power supply 1 and also control the DC output voltage generated at the both ends of the smoothing capacitor 7. The current detection shunt resistor 6 detects a current for controlling the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b.
Further, the control block of
Next, the explanation will be made with reference to
In
In contrast, when each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is in a turn-off state in
Next,
In
In contrast, when each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is in the off state in
The aforesaid operations are repeated and the power supply voltage and the input current are controlled so as to have the same phase, whereby the power factor of the power supply can be improved. Further, since the input current is rendered to have a sinusoidal waveform, a harmonic current of a high-order component contained in the input current, that is, the harmonic current of the power supply can be reduced, and the DC output voltage is boosted by the energy accumulated by the reactor 3. In the case where the AC power supply 1 has an AC 100 V, the converted DC voltage can be boosted to about DC 400 V, and the DC voltage is controlled in a variable manner within this range.
Next, the explanation will be made as to an operation for controlling the input current so as to have a sinusoidal waveform. In the control block shown in
Next, the multiplier 11 outputs the output voltage error amplification signal of a sinusoidal waveform based on the output voltage error component signal from the output voltage error amplifier 9 and the sinusoidal reference waveform signal from the power supply synchronous circuit 10. The power supply synchronous circuit 10 obtains the sinusoidal reference waveform signal by converting the voltage of a sinusoidal waveform having the same phase as that of the voltage between the R1-S1 lines detected from the R1, S1 lines as the output of the noise filter 2, that is, the power supply voltage of the AC power supply 1. The multiplier 11 outputs a current of a sinusoidal waveform synchronous with the power supply voltage of the AC power supply 1 by using the sinusoidal reference waveform signal of a sinusoidal waveform having the same phase as that of the power supply voltage of the AC power supply 1. The power factor of the power supply approaches 1 since the input current of the power supply 1 is converted into the current having the same phase with that of the power supply voltage and synchronous therewith. Further, the harmonic current of a high-order component contained in the input current, that is, the harmonic current of the power supply approaches 0 since the waveform of the input current of the AC power supply 1 is made close to a sinusoidal waveform. Although it is desirable to obtain the sinusoidal reference waveform signal from the R1, S1 lines on the output side of the noise filter 2 from which noise is removed, the sinusoidal reference waveform signal may be obtained from the R, S line on the input side so long as there is no problem as to noise etc.
Next, the current error amplifier 12 calculates the current error amplification signal based on the sinusoidal reference waveform signal and the actual current signal to thereby adjust an actual flowing current. That is, the current error amplifier 12 controls so as to increase the actual flowing current when the actual current signal is smaller than the sinusoidal reference waveform signal, whilst controls so as to reduce the actual flowing current when the actual current signal is larger than the sinusoidal reference waveform signal.
Lastly, the comparator 14 generates the PWM driving signal based on the current error amplification signal from the current error amplifier 12 and the triangular waveform signal from the triangular waveform generator 13. The semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b are turned on and off in accordance with the PWM driving signal generated from the comparator 14. That is, the switching frequency of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is controlled in accordance with the triangular waveform signal and the ratio of the turn-on period and the turn-off period of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is controlled in accordance with the current error amplification signal. Further, as explained with reference to
By repeating the aforesaid operation with the switching frequency, that is, a switching period for switching the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b, the input current and the DC output voltage is controlled.
Since the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b are driven by the PWM driving signal, the changing state of the input current changes in accordance with the length of the repetition time of the turn-on and off operation, that is, the switching period. That is, when the switching period is long, since the on and off times within the switching period also become long, a changing time of the current becomes long and a changing amount of the current become large. Thus, as shown in
Although the current ripple is prevented from flowing on the AC power supply 1 side by providing a filter circuit, configured by a normal coil etc. within the noise filter 2, for removing the current ripple component, the size of the circuit for removing the current ripple becomes larger as the current ripple becomes larger.
In the DC power supply apparatus, it is necessary to approach the waveform of the input current to a more accurate sinusoidal waveform in order to increase the power factor of the power supply and suppress the harmonic current of the power supply. To this end, it is necessary to increase the switching frequency. That is, it is necessary, by increasing the switching frequency, to perform fine time control of the PWM control to thereby generate the current with an accurate sinusoidal waveform and also to reduce the current ripple to thereby reduce the influence of the filter circuit for removing the current ripple component. Thus, the input current, from which the current ripple is removed, is prevented from being distorted from the sinusoidal waveform and from causing the deviation from the synchronous phase etc.
However, in the configuration of the semiconductor of a related art, when the switching operation (turn-on and off operation) of the switching semiconductor is performed at a high speed in order to increase the switching frequency, an unnecessary current flows between the switching of the current flowing state, which results in a loss of a state transition.
The loss of the state transition that an unnecessary circuit current flows at the time of the switching operation will be explained with reference to
When the semiconductor switching element 5a is in the off state, the rectifying element 4e is placed in an on state since the anode terminal A of the rectifying element 4e is applied with a voltage higher than that of the cathode terminal K thereof, that is, applied with a forward bias voltage. Thus, a current flows toward the cathode terminal K from the anode terminal A. In this case, when a turn-on signal is applied to the gate terminal G of the semiconductor switching element 5a, the semiconductor switching element 5a is placed in a conductive state between the collector terminal and the emitter terminal to thereby flow a current toward the emitter terminal E from the collector terminal C. However, the voltage of the anode terminal A of the rectifying element 4e gradually changes to a value lower than the voltage of the cathode terminal K, that is, a reverse bias voltage. Further, the rectifying element 4e gradually performs the state transition from the current conductive state to a current interruption or blocking state. That is, the rectifying element 4e is placed for a short time in the conductive state which can not operate in cooperation with the semiconductor switching element 5a and so a current flows toward the emitter terminal E of the semiconductor switching element 5a from the cathode terminal K of the rectifying element 4e as shown by a solid line e in
Thus, in the turn-on and off states of the semiconductor switching element 5a, in addition to the current flowing state through the path of the broken line a and the current flowing state through the path of the dotted line b, there is the state that the current flows through the path of the solid line e at the time of the switching operation of the semiconductor switching element 5a, in particular, at the moment where the state transition occurs from the off state to the on state, that is, upon the timing of the turning-on operation. However, as explained with reference to
On the other hand, there arise some problems when a reverse recovery current flows through the path of the solid line e shown in
For example,
Although not shown in
Further, since the reverse recovery current passes through the semiconductor switching element, the loss is generated in the semiconductor switching element due to the unnecessary current not contributing to any of the improvement of the power factor of the power supply, the reduction of the harmonic current of the power supply and the adjustment of the DC output voltage. Thus, an amount of heat generated in the semiconductor switching element increases. The efficiency of the DC power supply apparatus is degraded due to the unnecessary loss and a cooling apparatus such as a heat sink having an unnecessary size is required due to the heat generated by the loss. Theoretically it is sufficient to select the semiconductor switching element which is configured by a semiconductor chip designed, that is, having a necessary capacitance or size in view of the currents shown in
Further, since this unnecessary current finally increases the input current from the AC power supply 1 but does not contribute to the output of the DC power supply, there is a problem that this unnecessary current merely reduces the circuit efficiency.
This phenomenon of generating the reverse recovery current also occurs in the case of
In order to reduce the reverse recovery current and realize the high-speed switching operation, in the circuit of
The SBD is a diode utilizing the Schottky junction, whilst the rectifying diode as a general rectifying element utilizes a PN junction. In the PN junction, the current transportation is mainly performed by the minority carriers within a semiconductor. In contrast, in the Schottky junction, since the current transportation is performed by the majority carriers, the Schottky junction has the characteristic that a value of the voltage drop in the forward direction to the cathode terminal from the anode terminal is small and the switching speed is high. However, the Schottky junction has the drawback that the leakage current in the reverse direction is large at the time of applying a high voltage in the reverse direction to the anode terminal from the cathode terminal and the reverse-direction withstanding voltage is low. Thus the SBD has not been employed in a high-voltage/large-current circuit, which is connected directly to the AC power supply in use, due to the reason that the loss caused by the leakage current is large and the SBD can not withstand the applied voltage. The normal SBD has a tradeoff that when the carrier density of the drift layer is reduced in order to maintain the reverse-direction withstanding voltage, the voltage drop in the forward direction increases. In contrast, when the carrier density of the drift layer is increased in order to suppress the voltage drop in the forward direction, the leakage current in the reverse direction increases and the reverse-direction withstanding voltage degrades or reduces. However, when the Schottky junction between silicon carbide (hereinafter called SiC) or gallium nitride (hereinafter called GaN) as semiconductor and metal such as titanium is used in place of the Schottky junction between silicon (Si) as semiconductor and metal constituting the normal SBD, the leakage current in the reverse direction can be reduced. Further, the leakage current in the reverse direction can be reduced while holding the reverse-direction withstanding voltage in combination with such a configuration or method that the interface where the semiconductor and the metal is joined is extremely flattened to thereby uniformize the height of the Schottky barrier which is the potential barrier formed at the interface, that is, to thereby suppress a phenomenon that both metallic atoms and semiconductor atoms pass and diffuse through the interface due to the interfacial chemical reaction and hence the height of the Schottky barrier varies at respective portions of the interface. According to such configuration, each of the reverse-direction withstanding voltage and the leakage current in the reverse direction is improved while maintaining the characteristics of the SBD of the related art as to the voltage drop in the forward direction and the high-speed switching operation. Further, since such the SBD can withstand the applied voltage of the AC power supply and has a small loss of the leakage current, this SBD can be employed in a high-voltage/large-current circuit. In other words, an SiC-SBD can be formed which is an SBD using SiC capable of being used in a high-voltage/large-current circuit. This SiC-SBD is used as each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f in
Accordingly, by employing such the SBD, the semiconductor switching element can smoothly perform the switching operation in cooperation with the rectifying element without replacing the semiconductor switching element, that is, even by using the semiconductor switching element of the related art, whereby the high-speed switching operation of the semiconductor switching element can be realized as it is.
Even if the SiC-SBD, in which the switching characteristics are improved, is employed in a rectifying circuit, the rectifying function of the diode is not changed. Thus, when the SiC-SBD is used as each of the rectifying elements, not only the high-speed switching operation is performed but also the voltage drop in the forward direction is suppressed since the carrier density of the drift layer is adjusted. Thus, the loss due to the voltage drop in the forward direction of each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f itself reduces and so an amount of heat generated therefrom can also be suppressed.
Further, since the semiconductor chip is formed by using SiC, the dielectric breakdown withstanding voltage of the semiconductor chip becomes almost 10 times as large as that of the silicon (Si). Furthermore, the current density to be dealt can be made large and so the maximum current can be made larger as compared with the silicon. Thus, the withstanding voltage can be increased by forming the drift layer for securing the withstanding voltage with SiC and the current can be increased while not changing the area of the semiconductor chip. In the case of forming the semiconductor chips having almost same withstanding voltage and maximum current, the semiconductor chip formed by SiC can be made small in size as compared with the semiconductor chip formed by silicon (Si) by thinning the layer for securing the withstanding voltage and by reducing the area for passing thought the current.
Further, since the semiconductor chip is formed by SiC, the heat endurance can be improved in a manner that the semiconductor chip can be operated at the temperature of about 300 degrees Celsius as compared the semiconductor chip formed by silicon (Si) having the similar efficiency which thermal limitation is about 200 degrees Celsius. Further, since the thermal conductivity of the semiconductor chip formed by SiC is almost three times as large that of the semiconductor chip formed by silicon (Si), the heat dissipation capacity can be improved.
As described above, since each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f, through which a large reverse recovery current flows in response to the switching operation of the corresponding one of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b, is formed by the SiC-SBD, an amount of the reverse recovery electric charges becomes quite small and so the reverse recovery time becomes quite short. That is, since an amount of the reverse recovery current becomes quite small, the switching loss of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b can be made small. For example, as to the SiC-SBD with a rated reverse withstanding voltage of 600 V and a rated forward current of 6 A which is generally used in the case of the input voltage of AC 100 V of the AC power supply, an amount of the reverse recovery electric charges is almost 20 nC which is quite small as compared with 150 to 1,500 nC in the case of the usual PN junction diode. Thus, an amount of the reverse recovery current becomes also small in the SiC-SBD.
When the switching frequency is same as the current frequency, this loss improvement can realize the downsize of the a heat dissipation component, for example, a heat sink, which also contributes to the ease of the restriction of the mounting location, the cost down and downsize of electric components. Further, an amount of silicon compound, that is, heat dissipation grease to be pasted between the heat sink and the semiconductor switching elements or the rectifying elements can be reduced. Similarly, a heat dissipation sheet to be sandwiched between the heat sink and the semiconductor switching elements or the rectifying elements can be replaced by another one having a large thermal resistance, whereby the circuit can be fabricated with a low cost. Furthermore, the contact surface between the heat sink and the semiconductor switching elements or the rectifying elements has been extremely flattened by the milling process etc. so as to maintain a small contact resistance as possible. However, when there is a margin in the cooling efficiency as described above, the process such as the milling process requiring a long time can be eliminated, whereby the circuit can be fabricated with a further low cost.
Further, by applying the aforesaid effects of the reduction of an amount of heat generation, the switching frequency may be increased to a value raising an amount of heat generation to almost the current degree, while maintaining the current state of the cooling apparatus.
Furthermore, similarly, by applying the aforesaid effects of the reduction of an amount of heat generation, the input current may be increased to a value raising an amount of heat generation to almost the current degree to thereby intend the large capacity of the circuit, while maintaining the current states of the cooling apparatus and the switching frequency.
Supposing that the switching frequency is maintained to the current value, in the high-voltage/large-current circuit used by directly converting the AC power supply, the semiconductor switching element configured by the semiconductor chip has been selected at the time of designing in a manner that the semiconductor chip has an excessive capacity or size so as to have the thermal endurance in view of the theoretical current value or more. However, according to the aforesaid configuration, since an amount of the reverse recovery electric charges becomes small, a sufficient operation of the circuit can be realized by the semiconductor switching element having the semiconductor chip smaller than the currently designed one.
Further, supposing that the switching frequency is maintained to the current value, according to the aforesaid configuration, the time period of the phenomenon shown in
When the switching frequency is increased by performing the high-speed switching operation, according to
According to the increase of the switching frequency, in the switching of the current path, for example, the switching between the paths of the broken line a and the dotted line b by the single-time turning-on/off operation explained in
Further, since an amount of the current ripple can be reduced due to the increase of the switching frequency, the noise filter 2 can be reduced in its size and weight. Like the reactor 3, supposing that the switching frequency is raised to about 40 kHz from about 20 kHz, the current ripple contained in the input current explained with reference to
Further, since the time control of the PWM control can be performed finely due to the increase of the switching frequency, the performance of the filter circuit for removing the current ripple can be reduced by the reduction of the current ripple and the degree of the influence of the filter circuit affecting on the current phase etc. can be reduced. Thus, even if the current ripple is removed from the input current, the input current after the removal can be made close to the accurate sinusoidal waveform. As a consequence, the deviation from the synchronous phase etc. with respect to the power supply voltage can not be caused, and hence the high power factor of the power supply and the low harmonic current of the power supply can be realized.
Further, since the circuit is realized in a manner that the SiC-SBD is used for the rectifying elements 4e, 4f which operate in cooperation with the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b, the circuit can be realized without performing such a large design change that the remaining rectifying elements 4c, 4d and the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b are changed from the semiconductor constituent components of the related art.
Although the above-described disclosure has been made as to the example where the SiC-SBD is used for the rectifying elements 4e, 4f which operate in cooperation with the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b and most effective in the high-speed switching operation, the SiC-SBD may also be used for the rectifying elements 4c, 4d. When the SiC-SBD is used for the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, due to the improvement characteristics of the forward-direction voltage drop of the SiC-SBD, the loss of the rectifying elements 4c, 4d can also be reduced and soothe efficiency of the entirety of the circuit can be improved. Of course, the cooling apparatus such as the heat sink corresponding to the rectifying elements 4c, 4d can be downsized due to the reduction of the loss of the rectifying elements 4c, 4d. Since the influence on the high-speed switching operation is small as to the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, the diode of the SBD configuration may not be used for each of these rectifying elements so long as each of these rectifying elements is formed by using SiC.
Each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b may be formed by using SiC. When each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is formed by using SiC or GaN, the semiconductor switching elements each having a wide band gap are realized, whereby the high withstanding voltage can be realized by a small semiconductor chip. Further, since the forward direction voltage drop, that is, an internal resistance at the time of flowing the current through each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b reduces, the loss of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b reduces. The cooling apparatus such as the heat sink corresponding to the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b can be downsized due to the reduction of the loss of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b. In the case where each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b and the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f is attached to the same heat sink and is formed by using SiC or GaN, the heat sink can be downsized as a whole, which contributes to the ease of the restriction of the heat dissipation structure.
Further, when each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b and the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f is formed by using SiC, the withstanding property thereof with respect to a high voltage and a large current can be improved.
For example, when the switching operation is performed at a high seed and a high frequency, a serge voltage or a surge current is generated to thereby cause a trouble. However, even when such the surge current enters into the DC power supply apparatus side from the AC power supply 1 side or such the surge current is generated and transmitted from other device such as a driving circuit for a fan or a compressor connected to the smoothing capacitor 7, each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f scarcely breaks down when formed by using SiC. Further, when each of the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, 4e and 4f is formed by using SiC, even if the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b become failure due to a serge voltage or a surge current, the normal rectifying operation can be performed by using the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, 4e and 4f. Thus, since it is possible to supply the electric power to other devices, there is enough time to store the state and cause etc. of the failure in a control memory and to determine the stop or continue as to the power supply.
Of course, when each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b and the rectifying elements 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f is formed by using SiC, it is possible to provide the DC power supply apparatus which more unlikely becomes failure.
In the case where each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is a transistor such as an IGBT, when the PWM driving signal for turning on the semiconductor switching element is inputted therein to thereby apply a voltage in the forward direction, that is, a forward bias voltage is applied between the collector and emitter terminals thereof, the transistor flows the current in the forward direction to the emitter terminal E from the collector terminal C. However, when the voltage in the reverse direction, that is, a reverse bias voltage is applied between the collector and emitter terminals of the semiconductor switching element, the semiconductor switching element does not flow the current in the reverse direction toward the collector terminal C from the emitter terminal E. Thus, even when the same PWM driving signal is inputted to the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b to thereby simultaneously turn-on and off these elements irrespective of the forward bias voltage or the reverse bias voltage applied between the collector and emitter terminals of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b according to the positive or negative voltage from the AC power supply 1, since there arises no path except for a path for flowing the current through only one of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b, there arises no problem that the current flowing between the collector and emitter terminals is blocked.
Like the general inverter device for converting a DC current into an AC current to drive a motor etc., it is supposed a circuit which is configured in a manner that semiconductor switching elements which collector sides are connected to the P line and constitute an upper arm are provided and also semiconductor switching elements which emitter sides are connected to the N line and constitute a lower arm are provided, wherein the emitter sides of the upper arm and the collector sides of the lower arm are connected to thereby constitute a set of arms formed by the upper and lower arms, and wherein this circuit is configured by three arms and six semiconductor switching elements in the case of driving a three-phase motor, for example. In this circuit, at the moment where one of the upper and lower arms performs the switching operation, the reverse recovery currents flow into the diodes connected in parallel to each of the upper and lower arms. However, it is quite difficult and takes a long time to predict and design in advance as to the relation between the reverse recovery currents of the six diodes and the semiconductor switching elements through each of which the corresponding one of the reverse recovery currents flows. Further, in the PWM control for performing the frequency control for changing the rotation speed for driving the motor and performing the voltage control for changing the output voltage, the pulse pattern of the PWM driving signal is complicated and there arises such a pattern that two or more of the upper and lower arms simultaneously perform the switching operation to flow the currents. That is, since the cooperative operation with the semiconductor switching elements is complicated, it is not easy to design or change the control in view of the influence of the voltage change dv/dt and the current change di/dt and the current flow. Thus, in general inverter device, noise can not always be reduced even when the diodes are formed by using SiC.
In contrast, the DC power supply apparatus for converting the DC current of the AC power supply into the AC current according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is configured to perform the switching operation by the semiconductor switching element which is connected in parallel to the series connection of the negative electrode side of the rectifying circuit 4 and the current detection shunt resistor 6, that is, the semiconductor switching element which is connected to the N line. According to this configuration, the input current is controlled in a state that the voltage of the AC power supply has a constant effective value and the switching frequency is almost constant to thereby perform the control to improve the power factor of the power supply, suppress the harmonic current of the power supply and change the DC output voltage. Thus, the pulse pattern of the PWM driving signal for the PWM control does not become complicated but is simple. Thus, it is easy to apply the countermeasure to the components which operate cooperatively with the semiconductor switching elements so as to perform the design or change the control for suppressing the linking voltage or the linking current that is a voltage or a current resonating with the LC component to cause the vibration. There does not arise such a problem that the control operation is obstructed and a failure occurs in the circuit configuration even when each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f is formed by using the SiC-SBD.
Although in the aforesaid configuration, the current detection shunt resistor 6 is provided so as to commonly detect the currents of the positive half-wave and the negative half-wave in
Further, the improvement of the loss due to the reduction of the reverse recovery current may be utilized as the countermeasure for the electromagnetic noise.
The switching loss of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b increases when such a change is performed that the switching speed, that is, the turning-on or turning-off speed of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b is delayed, that is, the resistance value of a not-shown gate resistor etc. connected to the gate terminal is increased. On the other hand, the change di/dt of the reverse recovery current at the time of the turning-on of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b also becomes slow, so that the electromagnetic noise is suppressed. In the case of delaying the turning-on or turning-off speed of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b despite that the loss of about 12 W increases so as to compensate by the aforesaid improvement of the loss of about 12 W obtained by forming the rectifying portion by using the SiC-SBD, the voltage change dv/dt between the collector and emitter terminals of each of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b can be suppressed to almost half, for the purpose of calculation, so long as the efficiency is the same. Although the efficiency of the DC power supply apparatus is almost same as the conventional one, since the radiation noise near 100 MHz, in particular, can be suppressed to a large extent, the required number, weight and size of the choke coils as the countermeasure component for the noise can be reduced.
As described above, each of the rectifying elements cooperatively operating with the semiconductor switching elements is configured by SBD formed by using SiC or GaN which is formed by the Schottky junction that is small in the reverse recovery electric charges and the reverse recovery current and so capable of performing the high-speed switching operation and, which can withstand the dielectric breakdown even when the AC voltage of about 100 V to 240 V of the AC power supply or the DC voltage obtained by rectifying, smoothing and boosting the output of the AC power supply and being converted to the voltage of twice or more of the AC power supply from almost voltage of the AC power supply is applied. Thus, the switching frequency can be increased even as to the circuit to which the voltage of the AC power supply is applied, whereby the current ripple component on the input current of the AC power supply can be reduced, and the current ripple removal portion can be suppressed, that is, the influence on the input current of the circuit can be suppressed. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the DC power supply apparatus which can suppress the harmonic current of the power supply with a high power factor of the power supply according to the theoretical design, that is, according to the control of the control circuit.
Further, since the rectifying element cooperatively operating with the semiconductor switching element is formed by the SiC-SBD, it is possible to obtain the DC power supply apparatus which can suppress the harmonic current of the power supply with a high power factor of the power supply without large changing the circuit configuration and the circuit components of the related art.
In
As described above, since the rectifying circuit 4, the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b and the current detection shunt resistor 6 are molded by the insulating resin together and integrated to form the module 20, the size of the board can be made small as compared with the case where these constituent components are formed on the thin film wiring board. In particular, the aforesaid configuration can be effectively utilized for an electrical household appliance such as an air conditioner which uses a high voltage and a large current, that is, about AC 100 V to 240 V and about 20 A of the AC power supply and about DC 400 V of the DC conversion output and which is required to be housed in a small space. Although the thin film wiring accorded to the about AC 100 V to 240 V and about 20 A of the AC power supply and about DC 400 V of the DC conversion output is required to have a large pattern width, a large creeping distance and a large space distance, such the restriction can be eliminated when the module is formed in the aforesaid manner. Thus, the apparatus can be downsized.
Further, since the semiconductor elements can be mounted as a single module component, the assembling property can be improved as compared with the case where the respective semiconductor elements are mounted on the circuit board by the soldering.
Further, although the explanation is made as to the example where each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f is formed by the SiC-SBD, each of the rectifying elements 4c, 4d and the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b may be formed by using SiC. In this case, the same effects as explained with reference to
Since each of the rectifying elements 4e, 4f is formed by the SiC-SBD, the loss of the semiconductor switching elements 5a, 5b side can be suppressed. Further, since an amount of heat generated from the SiC-SBD itself reduces, the heat dissipation mechanism can be simplified, whereby the module 20 can be downsized. Further, since it is not necessary to design in view of the prediction of the loss due to an unnecessary current, sufficiently small semiconductor chips can be selected according to the theoretical design, whereby the module 20 can further be downsized.
Further, since the semiconductor elements which generate heat can be attached to the single heat dissipation by integrating these elements as a module, the dissipation mechanism can be concentrated and downsized and hence the mounting/assembling procedure can be performed efficiently.
In the case of realizing the countermeasure as to noise generated due to the further increase of the frequency, since the noise sources are concentrated at the single module and the peripheral circuit thereof, the noise can be shielded concentrically within a small range. Thus, the countermeasure for the noise can be realized easily with a low cost.
Further, since not only the loss reduces but also both the heat endurance property and the heat dissipation property is improved due to the employment of the SiC, the shielding close to the sealed state can be realized. In this manner, the countermeasures can be performed flexibly.
Such a countermeasure as to the tracking due to dust or obstacle matter can also be realized at low cost due to the downsizing and the module without performing the countermeasures widely. Further, since the loss reduces and the heat endurance property improved due to the employment of the SiC, the countermeasure can be realized even if the performance of the heat dissipation mechanism for the module such as a wind path is degraded.
Further, although the apparatus for the AC power supply of AC 100 V and AC 200 V within Japan and the apparatus for the AC power supply of AC 240 V for the abroad have been designed independently, since it becomes easy to raise the voltage withstanding property of the module due to the employment of the SiC, the apparatus can cope with the various types of the power supplies used in the world by employing the single module. Thus, since the apparatus can cope with the power supply such as the AC power supply of AC 100 V to 240 V, the convenience and the efficiency of the design of the products can be improved.
Further, even in the case of independently fabricating the circuits and the apparatuses for the respective power supplies so as to cope with the AC 100 V and AC 200 V, for example, and providing the products, since the circuits and the apparatuses can be manufactured by merely exchanging the module component, the design of the apparatus can be made common to the respective power supplies.
Further, in the case of mounting the module 20 on the circuit board, since the size of the module 20 is small, an area of the circuit loop by the thin film wiring on the thin film wiring board becomes small and hence the length of the wiring becomes short. Thus, it becomes possible to suppress the radiation noise caused by the wiring inductance of the thin film wiring and the erroneous operation due to the radiation noise. Further, it is possible to employ such a configuration that the current detection shunt resistor 6 is not provided within the module 20 but provided outside thereof to thereby facilitate the setting of the current detection level by changing the resistance value of the current detection shunt resistor 6. Also it is possible to employ such a configuration that the driving circuit for the semiconductor snitching elements is incorporated within the module to thereby directly couple the control signal to the module 20.
If necessary, the current detection shunt resistor 6 may also be integrated within the module 20 and molded together with the semiconductor elements as a signal module.
As described above, the thin film wiring board formed by mounting the module on the circuit board can be downsized due to the downsizing of the module, the countermeasure structure for the noise and the countermeasure structure for heat dissipation. Thus, it is possible to obtain the DC power supply apparatus which is low in cost, small in size, high in efficiency and performance, low in the noise generation degree, and high in the reliability as to the erroneous operation etc.
With respect to the semiconductor switching elements within the module, at least each of the rectifying elements cooperatively operating with the semiconductor switching elements is configured by SBD formed by using SiC or GaN, which is formed by the Schottky junction that is small in the reverse recovery electric charges and the reverse recovery current and so capable of performing the high-speed switching operation and, which can withstand the dielectric breakdown even when the AC voltage of about 100 V to 240 V of the AC power supply or the DC voltage obtained by rectifying, smoothing and boosting the output of the AC power supply and being converted to the voltage of twice or more of the AC power supply from almost voltage of the AC power supply is applied. Thus, the switching frequency can be increased even as to the circuit to which the voltage of the AC power supply is applied, whereby the current ripple component on the input current of the AC power supply can be reduced, and the current ripple removal portion can be suppressed, that is, the influence on the input current of the circuit can be suppressed. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the DC power supply apparatus which can suppress the harmonic current of the power supply with a high power factor of the power supply according to the theoretical design, that is, according to the control of the control circuit.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been explained by taking an air conditioner as an example, this invention can be applied to other devices using the DC power supply such as an air blower for performing the air cleaning and the air blasting, a refrigeration device such as a freezer, a refrigerator or a showcase, and a water heater for feeding hot water. Further, this invention can also be applied in the similar manner to a freezer or an air conditioner using water and brine, such as a chiller.
Suzuki, Daisuke, Saito, Katsuhiko, Amano, Katsuyuki
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