TNPC inverter device and method for detecting short-circuit thereof

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Chinese Patent Applications No. 201410251114.3, filed on Jun. 6, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present application generally relates to a T-type neutral point clamped (TNPC) inverter device, and a method for detecting a short-circuit in such a TNPC inverter device.

As the development of high power electronics and electric devices towards high frequency, high power density, high reliability, and low cost gradually, inverter topologies widely applied in devices such as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), an active power filter (APF) and a static var generator (SVG), become the hotspot of researching.

Currently, the widely used inverter topologies are, for example, T-type neutral point clamped (TNPC) topologies and diode neutral point clamped (DNPC) topologies, which exhibit different advantages in different applications. Since the TNPC topology has a relatively low loss in middle frequency bands, and has a relatively short commutation path during reactive power period, the TNPC topology is gradually applied in different electronics and electric devices.

Reliability is one of important indexes for evaluating the quality of electronics and electric devices, and the reliability of high power electronics and electric devices is especially important. Thereby, in order to improve the reliability of devices, different methods for detecting a straight-through short-circuit in a bridge arm of an inverter are proposed with respect to different inverter topologies.

The existing methods for detecting a straight-through short-circuit in a bridge arm of a TNPC inverter are mainly achieved by detecting a de-saturation of a voltage applied on a switch in the inverter, for example, with respect to an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) type switch, detecting whether a voltage Vce between a collector and an emitter thereof quits the saturation state. FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle of detecting a de-saturation of a switch voltage Vce. For ease of explanation, An IGBT is taken as an example here, and the same as below.

As shown in FIG. 1A , the abscissa is the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch, the ordinate is a current Ic of the collector of the switch, a plurality of solid curves are characteristic curves of the switch with respect to different gate voltages (i.e., a static driving voltage of the IGBT), the left and right sides of a dotted curve respectively illustrate a so-called saturation region and a linear region, and the same as below. When the switch (i.e., the IGBT) operates normally, its operating current (such as rated current) Inormal is relative small. For example, when the static driving voltage Vge of the IGBT is 15V, the switch operates at a point P 1 on the characteristic curve corresponding to the static driving voltage Vge of 15V, which is in the saturation region. At this time, the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch is relatively low, generally is 2˜3V.

When a straight-through short-circuit occurs in an inverter, a short current Isc flowing through a switch in the inverter is relative large, which is generally 4˜7 times of the rated current of the switch, i.e., Isc=(4˜7)×Inormal. For example, at this time, the switch operates at a point P 2 on the characteristic curve corresponding to the static driving voltage Vge of 15V, which is in the linear region. At this time, the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch is higher than that during the normal operation. The drift of an operating point of the switch from P 1 to P 2 is generally called as a de-saturation of the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch, which is abbreviated as Vce de-saturation, and the same as below. In this way, whether a straight-through short-circuit occurs in the inverter can be determined by detecting the Vce de-saturation.

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit for detecting a de-saturation of the switch voltage Vce in the related art. The connection relationships among individual elements comprised in the circuit for detecting the de-saturation of the switch voltage Vce in the related art are shown in FIG. 1B . When no straight-through occurs in the bridge arm, at which the switch S is located, of the inverter, a weak current of a current source Isource is discharged by a resistor R, a diode Da, a diode Db and a switch S which are connected in serial in turn, no relatively high voltage can be accumulated across the two terminals of a capacitor C, and thus a voltage on a positive terminal of the capacitor C, i.e., a point B, is not high enough to trigger a comparator (i.e., an operational amplifier) A. Here, a diode D which is anti-parallelly connected with the switch S does not participate in the detection.

When the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S satisfies: Vce is greater than a voltage obtained by subtracting a threshold voltage of the diode Da and a threshold voltage of the diode Db from 7V, i.e., is greater than about 5.6V (since the threshold voltage of the diode Da or Db is generally 0.7V, and a voltage drop on the resistor R may be ignored), the voltage on the positive terminal of the capacitor, i.e., point B, is increased for the capacitor C is constantly charged by the current source Isource, and when the voltage on the point B is greater than 7V, the comparator A is inverted and an output terminal O thereof outputs a high level, thereby, whether a straight-through occurs in the bridge arm, at which the switch S is located, of the inverter may be detected. Here, the signs “+” and “−” on the two sides of the switch S represent that the voltage at this time is up positive and down negative.

The existing methods for detecting a straight-through in a bridge arm or short-circuit in a TNPC inverter described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B are used in inverter circuits of various existing TNPC topologies. For example, FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of a TNPC topology, FIG. 1D is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of another TNPC topology, FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of further another TNPC topology, and FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of still another TNPC topology. The connection relationships among individual elements comprised in the inverter circuits of the TNPC topologies are shown in FIGS. 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F . Direct voltage sources V 1 and V 2 connected in series in the same direction constitute a DV source, the signs “+” and “−” respectively represent a positive DV terminal and a negative DV terminal of the DV; G is a grounding terminal, and is also a midpoint of the DV source; switches S 1 and S 2 connected in series in the same direction constitute an inverting bridge arm, The collector of the switch S 1 is connected to the positive DV terminal, the emitter of the switch S 2 is connected to the negative DV terminal, diodes D 1 and D 2 , which are anti-parallelly connected with the switches S 1 and S 2 respectively, are used for free-wheel or commutation, a connection point Oac between the switches S 1 and S 2 is an AC (alternative current) terminal; a bi-directional switching bridge arm is connected between the midpoint G and an AC terminal Oac, the bi-directional switching bridge arm can be formed by two switches connected in reverse parallel (i.e. anti-parallelly) or in reverse series, so as to achieve the free-wheel or commutation on two directions. For example, in FIG. 1C , switches S 3 and S 4 are connected in reverse series and are respectively anti-parallelly connected with diodes D 3 and D 4 ; in FIG. 1D , switches S 13 and S 14 are connected in reverse series and are respectively anti-parallelly connected with diodes D 13 and D 14 ; in FIG. 1E , switches S 23 and S 24 are anti-parallelly connected and are correspondingly connected with diodes D 23 and D 24 in reverse series; and in FIG. 1F , the switches S 33 and S 34 are anti-parallelly connected and are correspondingly connected with diodes D 33 and D 34 in reverse series.

Taking the TNPC topology type shown in FIG. 1C as an example, FIG. 1G is a schematic diagram illustrating a block diagram of a device for detecting a straight-through in a bridge arm of a TNPC inverter in the related art. All the switches S 1 ˜S 4 shown in FIG. 1G as a whole are encapsulated in one plastic package, and the detection circuit achieves the detection by being connected to pins of the packaged TNPC module. In the conventional technology, in order to detect whether a short-circuit occurs in the TNPC module, at least four detection circuits X 1 , X 2 , X 3 and X 4 need to be constructed to correspond to the switches S 1 , S 2 , S 3 and S 4 comprised in the packaged TNPC module. The four detection circuits respectively detect the switches connected thereto. Therefore, for power supply devices equipped with such a TNPC module, detection circuits surrounding the packaged TNPC module will be relatively complex, and occupy a relatively large area of its circuit board. Furthermore, when there are too many detection circuits, the probability of false operation due to interruption by peripheral circuits tends to be increased.

The present disclosure is made by considering at least a part of the above problems.

One object of the present disclosure is to provide a TNPC inverter device, including: a TNPC inverter module including a first DC terminal, a second DC terminal, an AC terminal, a capacitor bridge arm, an inverting bridge arm and a bi-directional switching bridge arm, wherein ends of the capacitor bridge arm and ends of the inverting bridge arm are correspondingly connected to the first DC terminal and the second DC terminal, ends of the bi-directional switching bridge arm are correspondingly connected to a midpoint of the capacitor bridge arm and a midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, the AC terminal is the midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, and the inverting bridge arm includes an upper switch unit and a lower switch unit; and a short-circuit detecting module mainly consisting of an upper switch detecting unit and a lower switch detecting unit, wherein the upper switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the upper switch unit, and the lower switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the lower switch unit.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for detecting a short-circuit in a TNPC inverter device, wherein the TNPC inverter device includes: a TNPC inverter module including a first DC terminal, a second DC terminal, an AC terminal, a capacitor bridge arm, an inverting bridge arm and a bi-directional switching bridge arm, wherein ends of the capacitor bridge arm and ends of the inverting bridge arm are correspondingly connected to the first DC terminal and the second DC terminal, ends of the bi-directional switching bridge arm are correspondingly connected to a midpoint of the capacitor bridge arm and a midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, the AC terminal is the midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, and the inverting bridge arm includes an upper switch unit and a lower switch unit; and a short-circuit detecting module mainly consisting of an upper switch detecting unit and a lower switch detecting unit, wherein the upper switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the upper switch unit, and the lower switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the lower switch unit, wherein the method for detecting a short-circuit in a TNPC inverter device includes: detecting only voltage drops of the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit in the TNPC inverter module of the TNPC inverter device; and determining that a short-circuit occurs in a loop at which one of the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit or both are located, when the voltage drop of the upper switch unit or the lower switch unit is greater than a reference value.

The present application performs a priority-ranked de-saturation to the switches in the inverting bridge arms of the TNPC inverter device, and the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device is increased, thereby only by detecting the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device, the short-circuit in the loop of the TNPC inverter device may be detected reliably. Furthermore, since in the present disclosure, only the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device is detected, the number of the detecting circuits is reduced greatly, and thus the circuit is simple, with few components, and the cost is lower.

The above and other purposes, features and other advantages of the present application will become more distinct and pellucid from the following detailed depiction in combination with the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle of operation of a switch;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit for detecting the voltage of the switch voltage Vice in the related art;

FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of a TNPC topology;

FIG. 1D is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of another TNPC topology;

FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of further another TNPC topology;

FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram illustrating an inverter circuit of still another TNPC topology;

FIG. 1G is a schematic diagram illustrating a block diagram of a device for detecting a short-circuit in a TNPC inverter in the related art;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating a path of the short-circuit in the TNPC inverter;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating another path of the short-circuit in the TNPC inverter;

FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram illustrating further another path of the short-circuit in the TNPC inverter;

FIG. 2D is a schematic diagram illustrating waveforms for driving the switches, which lead to the short-circuit path in FIG. 2C ;

FIG. 2E is a schematic diagram illustrating experiment waveforms corresponding to circumstances of FIGS. 2C and 2D ;

FIG. 2F is a schematic diagram illustrating another waveforms for driving the switches, which lead to the short-circuit path in FIG. 2C ;

FIG. 2G is a schematic diagram illustrating experiment waveforms corresponding to circumstances of FIGS. 2C and 2F ;

FIG. 2H is a schematic diagram illustrating a defect existing in the method for detecting a short-circuit in a bridge arm of a TNPC inverter in the related art;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating a block diagram of an embodiment of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a means for improving the effect of detecting occurrence of short-circuit in one embodiment of TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram illustrating the effect of detecting a straight-through short-circuit in the bridge arm corresponding to circumstances in FIGS. 3A and 3B ;

FIG. 3D is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of a means for improving the effect of detecting a straight-through short-circuit in the bridge arm in the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram illustrating further another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 4D is a schematic diagram illustrating still another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 4E is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a varied topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a driving voltage generating circuit of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of a driving voltage generating circuit of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram illustrating further another embodiment of a driving voltage generating circuit of the TNPC inverter device of the present application;

FIG. 5D is a schematic diagram illustrating still another embodiment of a driving voltage generating circuit of the TNPC inverter device of the present application; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow chart of a method for detecting a straight-through short-circuit in a bridge arm of a TNPC inverter of the present application.

Hereafter, the present application will be described in detail in combination with FIGS. 2A ˜ 6 , wherein the same reference signs indicate the same or similar devices or signals. In addition, if there is a cross point appears on line segments functioning as connecting wires, a black spot “•” on the cross point indicates that the cross point is a connecting point. Meanwhile, symbols of respective components not only represent the components per se, but also represent the volumes of these components.

For the convenience of describing the present application, taking the topology type shown in FIG. 1C as an example, there are three paths of short-circuit in the TNPC inverter. FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating a path of the short-circuit in the TNPC inverter. FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating another path of the short circuit in the TNPC inverter. FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram illustrating further another path of the short circuit in the TNPC inverter. Since DV sources V 1 and V 2 in FIG. 1C supplying power is equivalent to capacitors having tremendous volumes discharging, for the convenience of illustration, in FIGS. 2A ˜ 2 C, the two terminals of the capacitor bridge arm consisting of capacitors C 1 and C 2 is used to seem as DV sources V 1 and V 2 in FIG. 1C .

As shown in FIG. 2A , the dotted line with an arrow indicates that a short current flows through a midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm, a diode D 3 , a switch S 4 , a switch S 2 , and a negative DC terminal “−”. As shown in FIG. 2B , the dotted line with an arrow indicates that a short current flows through a positive DC terminal “+”, a switch S 1 , a switch S 2 , and the negative DC terminal “−”. As shown in FIG. 2C , the dotted line with an arrow indicates that a short current flows through a positive DC terminal “+”, the switch S 1 , a diode D 4 , a switch S 3 , and the midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm.

For the TNPC inverter having the topology type shown in FIGS. 1C ˜ 2 C, the applicant notices that the common feature of the short circuits in the TNPC inverter lies in that the short currents flow through the switch S 1 or the switch S 2 in the inverting bridge arm, or flow through the switch S 1 and the switch S 2 in the inverting bridge arm at the same time.

In particular, taking FIG. 2C as an example, different manners of driving waves for the switches of the inverter, i.e., the waveforms for driving the switches could cause the same short circuit in the TNPC inverter. FIG. 2D is a schematic diagram illustrating one kind of waveforms for driving the switches, which lead to the short-circuit path in FIG. 2C . The waveforms of driving voltages Vge_S 1 , Veg_S 2 , Veg_S 3 and Veg_S 4 of the switches S 1 ˜S 4 varying with time are respectively shown in FIG. 2D . Before the switch S 1 turns on, the switch S 3 turns on due to a wrong driving waveform. When a turning-on signal of the switch S 1 is coming, a short current flowing through the positive DC terminal “+”, the switch S 1 , the diode D 4 , the switch S 3 , and the midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm is formed.

FIG. 2E is a schematic diagram illustrating experiment waveforms to perform the operation illustrated in FIGS. 2C and 2D , wherein CH 1 is a waveform of a voltage Vice (50V/div) between a collector and an emitter of the switch S 1 , CH 2 is a waveform of a driving voltage Vge_S 1 (5V/div) of the switch S 1 , CH 3 is a waveform of a driving voltage Vge_S 3 (5V/div) of the switch S 3 , and CH 4 is an experiment waveform of the short current Ic (1 kA/div) of the short-circuit path. As shown in FIG. 2E , during the time of a short-circuit detection shown between two vertical dotted lines, the voltage Vce_S 1 between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 1 is only about 3V, which is insufficient for, e.g., the aforesaid circuit X 1 for detecting Vce de-saturation, to correctly determine whether a short circuit occurs in the bridge arm.

FIG. 2F is a schematic diagram illustrating another kind of waveforms for driving the switches, which lead to the short-circuit path in FIG. 2C . The waveforms of the driving voltages Vge_S 1 , Veg_S 2 , Veg_S 3 and Veg_S 4 of the switches S 1 ˜S 4 varying with time are respectively shown in FIG. 2F . Before the switch S 3 turns on, the switch S 1 turns on due to a wrong driving waveform. When a turning-on signal of the switch S 3 is coming, a short current flowing through the positive DC terminal “+”, the switch S 1 , the diode D 4 , the switch S 3 , and the midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm is formed.

FIG. 2G is a schematic diagram illustrating experiment waveforms to perform the operation illustrated in FIGS. 2C and 2F , wherein CH 1 is the waveform of the voltage Vce (50V/div) between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 1 , CH 2 is the waveform of the driving voltage Vge_S 1 (5V/div) of the switch S 1 , CH 3 is the waveform of the driving voltage Vge_S 3 (5V/div) of the switch S 3 , and CH 4 is the waveform of the short current Ic (1 kA/div) of the short-circuit path. As shown in FIG. 2G , during the time of a short-circuit detection shown between two vertical dotted lines, the voltage Vce_S 1 between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 1 is only about 4V, which is insufficient for, e.g., the aforesaid circuit X 1 for detecting Vce de-saturation, to correctly determine whether a short-circuit occurs in the inverter at this time. That is, if the switches S 3 and S 4 in the bi-directional switching bridge arm are not detected, the method for detecting a short circuit in the TNPC inverter in the related art is still unable to correctly determine whether a short-circuit occurs in the TNPC inverter.

The reason for the above issue lies in that rated currents of the switches S 1 and S 2 in the inverting bridge arm in the standard TNPC inverter module and their anti-parallelly connected diodes D 1 and D 2 in the conventional art are respectively greater than those of the switches S 3 and S 4 in the bi-directional switching bridge arm and their anti-parallelly connected diodes D 3 and D 4 . For example, under the condition that the temperature of the case is 25° C., rated currents of the switches S 1 and S 2 in a TNPC three-level inverter module of a model F 3 L400R12PT4_B 26 (Infineon) are 600 A, while the rated currents of the switches S 3 and S 4 are 360 A. In this case, under the two manners of driving waves shown in FIGS. 2D and 2F , in a short-circuit loop formed by the positive DC terminal “+”, the switch S 1 , the diode D 4 , the switch S 3 and the midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm, the switches S 1 and S 3 are connected in series, the static short current Isc of the two switches are the same, e.g., 2000 A, and since there is a relatively large difference between the switch rated currents of the used switches S 1 and S 3 , the static short current Isc reaches 4˜7 times of the rated current of the switch S 3 , but does not reach 4˜7 times of the rated current of the switch S 1 . FIG. 2H is a schematic diagram illustrating an issue existing in the method for detecting a short circuit in a bridge arm of a TNPC inverter in the related art. As shown in FIG. 2H , a plurality of solid curves are characteristic curves of the switch S 1 with respect to different gate voltages, and a dotted curve formed by grids is a characteristic curve of the switch S 3 with respect to a 15V gate voltage (for clearness, only one characteristic curve of the switch S 3 is plotted). Based on the characteristic of the switches, under the same level of the driving voltage, for example, both the corresponding driving voltages Vge 13 S 1 and Vge_S 3 of the switches S 1 and S 3 are 15V, the short-circuit detection voltage (i.e., the voltage between the collector and the emitter) Vce_S 1 of the switch S 1 is relatively small, e.g., the switch S 1 operates at an intersection point P 11 on both the characteristic curve of the switch S 1 with 15V gate voltage and the characteristic curve of the switch S 3 with 15V gate voltage, the short-circuit detection voltage Vce_S 1 is only 3V or 4V, while the short-circuit detection voltage Vce_S 3 of the switch S 3 is relatively large, e.g., the switch S 3 operates at an operating point P 12 on the characteristic curve of the switch S 3 with 15V gate voltage, the short-circuit detection voltage Vce_S 3 endures most of the BUS voltage. Under such a circumstance, whether a short circuit occurs in the TNPC inverter cannot be determined correctly only by detecting the switch S 1 .

The key for addressing the issue existing in the method for detecting a short circuit in the TNPC inverter in the conventional technique is how to improve the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switches S 1 and S 2 in an inverting bridge arm during the time when a short-circuit occurs, for instance, improve it to be greater than 5.6V.

For the above purpose, the applicant proposes a new TNPC inverter device. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating a block diagram of an embodiment of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. FIG. 3A is an improvement based on FIG. 1G , and the same or similar components or elements are not repeated here. As shown in FIG. 3A , the TNPC inverter device of this embodiment includes: a TNPC inverter module 10 including a first DC terminal “+”, a second DC terminal “−”, an AC terminal Oac, a capacitor bridge arm, an inverting bridge arm and a bi-directional switching bridge arm, wherein ends of the inverting bridge arm are correspondingly connected to the first DC terminal “+” and the second DC terminal “−”, ends of the bi-directional switching bridge arm are correspondingly connected to a midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm and the AC terminal Oac of the inverting bridge arm, wherein the AC terminal Oac is a midpoint Oac of the inverting bridge arm, the inverting bridge arm includes an upper switch unit S 41 and a lower switch unit S 42 ; and a short-circuit detecting module 20 mainly consists of an upper switch detecting unit X 41 and a lower switch detecting unit X 42 , wherein the upper switch detecting unit X 41 is configured to detect a voltage drop of the upper switch unit S 41 , and the lower switch detecting unit X 42 is configured to detect a voltage drop of the lower switch unit S 42 .

As an embodiment, the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A may further include one midpoint terminal (not shown) which is electrically connected to the midpoint G of the capacitor bridge arm.

As an embodiment, in the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A , the bi-directional switching bridge arm includes a first flow direction switch unit S 43 and a second flow direction switch unit S 44 . When the first flow direction switch unit S 43 turns on, the current in the bi-directional switching bridge arm flows from the AC terminal to the midpoint terminal, and when the second flow direction switch unit S 44 turns on, the current in the bi-directional switching bridge arm flows from the midpoint terminal to the AC terminal.

The TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A is illustrated by referring to a conventional TNPC inverter module. The TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A includes four switches (i.e., switch units) S 41 ˜S 44 . The four switches are plastically encapsulated in one packing case having pins for the connection terminals of the four switches. Due to the working manner of the TNPC inverter module per se, the parameters of the switches S 41 and S 42 are generally different from the parameters of the switches S 43 and S 44 in the bi-directional switching bridge arm. In a conventional TNPC inverter module, the rated voltage and rated currents of the switches S 41 and S 42 are higher than those of the switches S 43 and S 44 . Thereby, when a short-circuit path is formed by a loop of the first DC terminal “+” or the second DC terminal “−” and the bi-directional switching bridge arm, it can not be detected only by an upper switch detection unit X 41 and/or a lower switch detection unit X 42 . In order to detect such a short-circuit circumstance, it is needed that a voltage drop of the upper switch S 41 or the lower switch S 42 in the short-circuit path is not less than a voltage drop of the corresponding first flow direction switch unit S 43 or second flow direction switch unit S 44 .

In order to achieve that the short-circuit detection module 20 mainly consisting of the upper switch detection unit X 41 and the lower switch detection unit X 42 can detect any a short-circuit path in the TNPC inverter module, implementing manners are illustrated as follows.

In the first embodiment, the static driving voltage of the upper switch unit S 41 and the lower switch unit S 42 is reduced without changing the parameters of respective switches in a conventional TNPC inverter module. In the customary TNPC inverter module in the conventional technology, e.g., the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A , the static driving voltages of the four switch units (i.e., switches) S 41 ˜S 44 , corresponding to their switch parameters, are the same driving voltage. The same driving voltage may simplify the manufacture of the driving circuits of the respective switches. However, in order to detect a short-circuit in any circumstances in a conventional TNPC module only by the upper switch detection unit X 41 and the lower switch detection unit X 42 , the present application adjusts the driving circuits of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 , such that the static driving voltage of any one of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 is less than the static driving voltage of any one of the first flow direction switch S 43 and the second flow direction switch S 44 . By reducing the driving voltages of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 , the voltages between the collectors and the emitters of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 are increased when any a short-circuit path occurs, such that the short-circuit detection module 20 can detect the short-circuit circumstance.

The increase of the voltage between the collector and the emitter of the upper switch S 41 achieved by reducing the driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 is illustrated by FIG. 3B . As shown in FIG. 3B , a plurality of solid curves are characteristic curves of the switch S 41 with respect to different gate voltages, and a dotted curve formed by grids is characteristic curve of the switch S 43 with respect to a 15V gate voltage (for clearness, only one characteristic curve of the switch S 43 is plotted). Assuming that the switches S 41 and S 43 still have the characteristic curves of the corresponding switches S 1 and S 3 shown in FIG. 2H , and the rated current of the switch S 41 is greater than that of the switch S 43 . By reducing the static driving voltage Vge_S 41 of the switch S 41 , for example, reducing the static driving voltage Vge_S 41 from 15V to 12V, and keeping the static driving voltage Vge_S 43 of the switch S 43 unchanged, the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 , during the time when a short-circuit occurs, moves from the point P 11 in FIG. 2H to the point P 13 in FIG. 3B . In this way, the identification criterion of the static short current Isc is reduced, such that the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 increases. Thereby, the upper switch detecting unit X 41 in FIG. 3A can detect the occurrence of a short-circuit reliably.

FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram illustrating the effect of detecting a short-circuit in the TNPC inverter performed the method illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B , wherein the manners of triggering a short circuit shown in FIG. 2D are adopted, CH 1 is the waveform of the voltage Vce (50V/div) between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 , CH 2 is the waveform of the driving voltage Vge_S 41 (5V/div) of the switch S 41 , CH 3 is the waveform of the driving voltage Vge_S 43 (5V/div) of the switch S 43 , and CH 4 is the experiment waveform of the short current Ic (1 kA/div) of the short-circuit path. The voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 is greater than 50V, such that the upper switch detecting unit X 41 in FIG. 3A can detect the occurrence of a short-circuit reliably.

The TNPC inverter device may further include a driving voltage generating circuit. FIGS. 5A ˜ 5 D illustrate examples of the driving voltage generating circuit with respect to the TNPC inverter device shown in FIG. 3A .

As shown in FIG. 5A , the driving voltage generating circuit includes a driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 41 (upper right in the drawing), which includes a stabilivolt D 51 . The driving voltage generating circuit further includes a driving voltage generating circuit for driving the first flow direction switch S 43 (lower right in the drawing), which includes a stabilivolt D 52 . In conventional applications of the TNPC inverter module, the static driving voltages for driving the upper switch S 41 and for driving the first flow direction switch S 43 are substantially the same. However, in the embodiments illustrated in the present disclosure, in order to enable the upper switch detection unit X 41 corresponding to the upper switch S 41 to detect the occurrence of the short-circuit comprised the upper switch S 41 , the static driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 needs to be reduced to make the static driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 to be less than the static driving voltage of the first flow direction switch S 43 . As shown in FIG. 5A , the voltage of the stabilivolt D 51 is selected to be less than the voltage of the stabilivolt D 52 , for example, the operating voltage of the stabilivolt D 51 is 12V and the operating voltage of the stabilivolt D 52 is 15V, such that the static driving voltage Vge_S 41 generated by the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 41 is Vge_S 41 =Vc 1 =12V, and the static driving voltage Vge_S 43 generated by the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 43 is Vge_S 43 =Vc 3 =15V. Additionally, auxiliary components such as diodes D 53 , D 54 , D 56 and D 57 , a stabilivolt D 55 , a switch S 51 , a transformer T, capacitors C 51 , C 52 , C 53 and C 54 , resistors R 51 and R 52 , and output lines such as nodes E 1 and E 3 , and connection terminals Vc 1 , Ve 1 , Vc 3 and Ve 3 , are further included in FIG. 5A , and the connection relationships among them are as shown in FIG. 5A , which are not repeated here.

As shown in FIG. 5B , the static driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 being less than the static driving voltage of the first flow direction switch S 43 may also be, for example, achieved by adjusting voltage adjusting resistors in the driving voltage generating circuit. For example, the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 41 includes voltage stabilizing integrated circuits IC 1 and IC 2 , and voltage adjusting resistors R 512 and R 522 . The driving voltage generating circuit for driving the first flow direction switch S 43 includes voltage stabilizing integrated circuits IC 3 and IC 4 , and voltage adjusting resistors R 532 and R 542 . By adjusting the resistances of the voltage adjusting resistors R 512 and R 522 and adjusting the resistances of the voltage adjusting resistors R 532 and R 542 , it may be achieved that the static driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 is less than the static driving voltage of the first flow direction switch S 43 . For example, by adjusting the voltage stabilizing integrated circuits IC 1 and IC 2 through the voltage adjusting resistors R 512 and R 522 , and adjusting the voltage stabilizing integrated circuits IC 3 and IC 4 through the voltage adjusting resistors R 532 and R 542 , the static driving voltage Vge_S 41 generated by the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 41 is Vge_S 41 =Vc 1 =12V, and the static driving voltage Vge_S 43 generated by the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 43 is Vge_S 43 =Vc 3 =15V. Additionally, auxiliary components such as diodes D 531 , D 532 , D 541 , D 542 , D 56 and D 57 , a stabilivolt D 55 , a switch S 51 , a transformer T, capacitors C 51 , C 52 , C 53 and C 54 , resistors R 511 , R 521 , R 531 and R 541 , and output lines such as nodes E 1 and E 3 , and connection terminals Vc 1 , Ve 1 , Vc 3 and Ve 3 , are further included in FIG. 5 , and the connection relationships among them are as shown in FIG. 5B , which are not repeated here.

Since the configuration of the lower switch unit S 42 and the second flow direction switch S 44 is electrically symmetric with the configuration of the upper switch S 41 and the first flow direction switch S 43 , the static driving voltage for driving the lower switch S 42 being less than the static driving voltage for driving the second flow direction switch S 44 may be achieved with reference to FIG. 5A or 5B . For the person skilled in the art, it can be understand that the driving voltage generating circuit may not be only formed by stabilivolts, or voltage stabilizing integrated circuits and voltage adjusting resistors, but also may be in other forms, or various combinations. The output of different static driving voltages may be achieved by adjusting parameters of corresponding components in the driving voltage generating circuit.

Although the total loss of a switch may be increased when the static driving voltage is reduced to be less than a normal driving voltage of the switch, the switching loss may be kept unchanged by adjusting the driving resistor to which the switch corresponds, then the increase of the conductive loss may be ignored. As shown in FIG. 5C , the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the upper switch S 41 further includes a connection resistor Rg 1 , and when the static driving voltage of the upper switch S 41 is reduced, the switching loss of the upper switch S 41 may be reduced by decreasing the resistance of the connection resistor Rg 1 . FIG. 5D is a schematic diagram illustrating that the driving voltage generating circuit for driving the first flow direction switch S 43 drives the first flow direction switch S 43 via a connection resistor Rg 3 , and the resistance of the connection resistor Rg 3 may not be decreased. In FIGS. 5C and 5D , the driving voltage generating circuit push-pull outputs via geminate switches Sin 1 and Sin 2 , pulse-width modulation signals PWM 1 and PWM 2 input via a resistor Rin, the upper switch S 41 and the first flow direction switch S 43 are respectively anti-parallelly connected with diodes D 41 and D 43 , nodes E 1 and E 3 shown in FIG. 5A are for example connected to nodes E 1 and E 3 shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D , connection terminals Vc 1 , Ve 1 , Vc 3 and Ve 3 are the same as those in FIGS. 5A and 5B , and the connection relationships among them are shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D , which are not repeated here. For the lower switch S 42 , the same device or method may be adopted to reduce the switching loss, which is not repeated here.

In the second embodiment, still by refer to the configuration of the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A , it is illustrated that, if the application environment of the TNPC inverter module is allowable, the parameters of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 may be selected to be the same as or similar to those of the first flow direction switch S 43 and the second flow direction switch S 44 , thereby, the rated current of any one of the upper switch S 41 and the lower switch S 42 may not be greater than the rated current of any one of the first flow direction switch S 43 and the second flow direction switch S 44 .

Hereafter, the second embodiment is explained in detail by referring to FIG. 3D . As shown in FIG. 3D , a plurality of solid curves are characteristic curves of the switch S 41 with respect to different gate voltages, a dotted curve formed by grids is a characteristic curve of the switch S 43 with respect to a 15V gate voltage (for clearness, only one characteristic curve of the switch S 43 is plotted), a chain dotted curve formed by grids is another characteristic curve of the switch S 41 with 15V gate voltage under a circumstance that the rated current Irate_S 41 of the switch S 41 is less than the rated current Irate_S 43 of the switch S 43 (for clearness, only one characteristic curve of the switch S 41 is plotted). Assuming that the static driving voltages of the switches S 41 and S 43 are the same, for example, the static driving voltage Vge_S 41 of the switch S 41 and the static driving voltage Vge_S 43 of the switch S 43 are kept to be 15V, then, by selecting parameters of the switches per se, the rated current Irate_S 41 of the switch S 41 decreases or the rated current Irate_S 43 of the switch S 43 increases, such that the rated current of the switch S 41 is less than the rated current Irate_S 43 of the switch S 43 . In the present embodiment, by choosing the smaller rated current Irate_S 41 of the switch S 41 , the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 during the time when a short-circuit occurs, operates at point P 14 not point P 11 in FIG. 3D , wherein the operating point P 11 is, for example, an intersection point on both the characteristic curve of the switch S 41 with normal rated current driving with 15V gate voltage, and the characteristic curve of the switch S 43 with smaller rated current compared with the rated current of the switch S 41 and driving with 15V gate voltage, and the operating point P 14 is an operating point on the characteristic curve of the switch S 41 with smaller rated current driving with 15V gate voltage. In the present embodiment, by selecting the parameters of the switches per se, the identification criterion of the static short current Isc is reduced, such that a voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 41 increases, meanwhile a voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 43 does not increase, such that the bus voltage is mainly endured by the switch S 41 , and such that the upper switch detecting unit X 41 in FIG. 3A can detect the occurrence of a short circuit in the TNPC inverter sufficiently and reliably.

In the third embodiment, in the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A , a transconductance of the upper switch S 41 or the lower switch S 42 is less than a transconductance of the first flow direction switch S 43 or the second flow direction switch S 44 . In this way, the purpose for increasing the voltage Vce between the collectors and the emitters of the switch units S 41 or S 42 during a short circuit may be achieved.

The short circuit path in the inverter shown in FIG. 2A is symmetric with that shown in FIG. 2C , thereby the above-mentioned solution may also be used to increase the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch S 2 (i.e., corresponding to the switch unit S 42 in FIG. 3A ), so as to detect the occurrence of a short circuit. Therefore, detecting other short-circuit circumstances in TNPC by detecting the lower switch S 42 through the lower switch detecting unit X 42 are not repeated here.

The short-circuit path shown in FIG. 2B only passes through the switches S 1 and S 2 (i.e., corresponding to the switches unit S 41 and S 42 in FIG. 3A ), but does not pass through the switches S 3 and S 4 , which can be exactly detected by the upper switch detecting unit and the lower switch detecting unit, thereby will not be repeated here.

Thereby, the above description is illustrated by taking the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A as an example, in which the short circuit detecting module mainly consisting of the upper switch detecting unit and the lower switch unit may achieve the detection of various paths of short circuit in the TNPC inverter modules. Compared with the conventional technology, this kind of TNPC inverter module may efficiently reduce the number of switch detecting units used in the short circuit detecting module, and reduce the probability of false operation due to external interference to the switch detecting unit.

Although the above embodiments are all illustrated by taking the TNPC inverter module shown in FIG. 3A as an example, the upper switch unit is not limited to the upper switch S 41 , and the lower switch unit is not limited to the lower switch S 42 . Similarly, the first flow direction switch unit is not limited to the first flow direction switch S 43 shown in FIG. 3A , and the second flow direction switch unit is not limited to the second flow direction switch S 44 shown in FIG. 3A .

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4A , the upper switch unit is formed of a plurality of switches S 411 , . . . and S 41 n connected in series, and the lower switch unit is formed of a plurality of switches S 421 , . . . and S 42 n connected in series. Such configuration of the upper and lower switch units is used for improving the operating voltage of the TNPC inverter module. FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4B , the upper switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 411 , . . . and S 41 n connected in parallel, and the lower switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 421 , . . . and S 42 n connected in parallel, so as to improve the operating current of the TNPC inverter module. FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram illustrating further another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. The first flow direction switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 431 , . . . and S 43 n connected in series, and the second flow direction switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 441 , . . . and S 44 n connected in series, so as to improve the operating voltage of the TNPC inverter module. FIG. 4D is a schematic diagram illustrating still another embodiment of an extended topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4D , the first flow direction switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 431 , . . . and S 43 n connected in parallel, and the second flow direction switch unit may be formed of a plurality of switches S 441 , . . . and S 44 n connected in parallel, so as to improve the operating current of the TNPC inverter module. FIG. 4E is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a varied topology of the TNPC inverter device of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4E , the first flow direction switch unit and the second flow direction switch unit are connected in parallel, each of the switches constituting the first flow direction switch unit or the second flow direction switch unit is connected with a diode in reverse series, such as diodes D 43 and D 44 , and each of the switches constituting the upper switch unit or the lower switch unit is anti-parallelly connected with a diode.

As an embodiment, in the TNPC inverter modules shown in FIGS. 3A ˜ 4 E, any switch in the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit is anti-parallelly connected with a diode, such as diodes D 41 , D 42 , D 441 , . . . and D 41 n , D 421 , . . . and D 42 n.

It should be definitely pointed out that, in the TNPC inverter modules shown in FIGS. 3A ˜ 4 E, all the switches are the controllable switches. The controllable switches include Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET), Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), Junction Field-Effect Transistor (JFET), Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO) or Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Control Transistor (MCT).

Taking a TNPC inverter module according to the present application as an example, for those of a TNPC three-level inverter module of a model F3L400R12PT4_B 26 (Infineon), in order to enable the short circuit detecting module to detect the short circuit in any path in the TNPC inverter module according to the present application, voltage drop of any one of the upper switch and the lower switch thereof when a short-circuit path is formed is greater than 5.6V.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for detecting a short circuit in a TNPC inverter device. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow chart of the method for detecting a short circuit in a TNPC inverter device.

The method for detecting occurrence of a short circuit in the TNPC inverter device which includes: a TNPC inverter module including a first DC terminal, a second DC terminal, an AC terminal, a capacitor bridge arm, an inverting bridge arm and a bi-directional switching bridge arm, wherein ends of the capacitor bridge arm and ends of the inverting bridge arm are correspondingly connected to the first DC terminal and the second DC terminal, ends of the bi-directional switching bridge arm are correspondingly connected to a midpoint of the capacitor bridge arm and a midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, the AC terminal is the midpoint of the inverting bridge arm, and the inverting bridge arm includes an upper switch unit and a lower switch unit. The TNPC inverter device further includes a short circuit detecting module mainly consisting of an upper switch detecting unit and a lower switch detecting unit, wherein the upper switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the upper switch unit, and the lower switch detecting unit is configured to detect a voltage drop of the lower switch unit. The method for detecting a short circuit in the TNPC inverter device is illustrated in details in FIG. 6 , and the method for detecting a short-circuit includes the following steps.

In step S 101 , only voltage drops of the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit in the TNPC inverter module are detected.

In step S 102 , when any one of the voltage drops of the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit is greater than a reference value, it is determined that a path of a short circuit has been formed in the inverter.

The detecting method may be applied to the above embodiments of various TNPC inverter module configurations, which are not repeated here. In order to enable the short circuit detecting module to monitor various short-circuit circumstances in the TNPC inverter module, the methods for improving the voltage drop of the upper switch unit and the lower switch unit in the TNPC inverter module detected by the short circuit detecting module when a short-circuit occurs in the upper switch unit or the lower switch unit, which are not repeated here. For those skilled in the art, the TNPC inverter module may also be applied for rectification in other circumstances, which is not limited to the inverting function as limited by the name here.

The present application performs a priority-ranked de-saturation to the switches in the inverting bridge arms of the TNPC inverter device, so that the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device is increased, thereby only by detecting the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device, the short-circuit in the TNPC inverter device may be detected reliably. Furthermore, since in the present disclosure, only the voltage Vce between the collector and the emitter of the switch in the inverting bridge arm of the TNPC inverter device is detected, the number of the detecting circuits is reduced, and thus the circuit is simple.

Although the present application has been described with reference to the typical embodiments, it should be understood that the terms used here are illustrative and exemplary, not restrictive. Since the present application may be embodied in many forms, it should be appreciated that the above embodiments are not limited to any details mentioned above, but should be interpreted widely within the scope defined by the accompanying claims. Therefore, all the variations and modifications made in the claims or its equivalent scope should be covered by the accompanying claims.