JP6537246B2 - Power module and power unit - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a power module and a power unit.

Conventionally, as described also in Patent Document 1, two sets of semiconductor switch elements such as MOS-FET and IGBT are connected in series between the P electrode and the N electrode, and the two sets of semiconductor switch elements are connected to each other The bridge circuit which made the point an AC electrode is used for a DC-AC inverter etc. As well known, as a multiphase output inverter of a motor control system, a circuit having a plurality of phases of the bridge circuit is configured.
In the power unit described in Patent Document 1, a plurality of power modules are radially arranged in an annular arrangement space in order to be arranged on the end face of the AC motor.

Patent No. 4708951

However, in the power module described in Patent Document 1, the P electrode terminal and the N electrode terminal and the AC electrode terminal are disposed on the opposite side (opposite side), and the signal terminal of the semiconductor switching element on the upper arm side and the lower arm side The signal terminals of the semiconductor switching device are also disposed on the opposite side (opposite side), and the lengths of the sides that are opposite sides of the pair on which the terminals are disposed are equal and are configured in a rectangular shape.
As shown in FIG. 8, when a plurality of rectangular power modules 100 are arranged in the annular arrangement space, there is a problem that useless space 101 is generated and the space efficiency is deteriorated. There is a problem that the outer diameter 102 of the annular arrangement space must be increased by the amount of the useless space 101, and the size of the power unit is increased.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a power module capable of arranging a plurality of elements in an annular arrangement space in a space efficient manner.

The invention according to claim 1 for solving the above problems is characterized in that two sets of semiconductor switch elements are connected in series between the P electrode and the N electrode, and the connection point between the two sets of semiconductor switch elements is an AC electrode. Power modules in which one or more bridges are configured on one circuit board,
A free wheeling diode connected in parallel to each of the semiconductor switch elements mounted on the circuit board;
The circuit board has opposite ends different in width, and P electrode terminal, N electrode terminal and AC electrode terminal are disposed at relatively wide ends, and the two at the relatively narrow ends. Signal terminals for connection to the set of semiconductor switch elements are provided;
The outer shape of the circuit board forms a straight side extending in the width direction at the relatively narrow end;
It is a power module in which the plurality of signal terminals are disposed along the side.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the diode according to claim 1, wherein a diode connected between the P electrode and the signal terminal such that a cathode electrode is equipotential with the P electrode is mounted on the circuit board. Power module.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the power module according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the AC electrode terminal is disposed between the P electrode terminal and the N electrode terminal.

  The invention according to claim 4 places the center position of the AC electrode terminal outside the straight line connecting the center position of the P electrode terminal and the center position of the N electrode terminal in plan view of the circuit board. It is a power module according to claim 3.

  The invention according to claim 5 is that, in a plan view of the circuit board, the longitudinal direction of the AC electrode terminal, the longitudinal direction of the P electrode terminal, and the longitudinal direction of the N electrode terminal are the same. It is a power module of a statement.

  In the power module according to any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the relatively wide end portion is an outer peripheral side, and the relatively narrow end portion is an inner peripheral side. As a plurality of power units arranged in an annular arrangement space.

  According to the power module of the present invention, the P electrode terminal, the N electrode terminal, and the AC electrode terminal, which are relatively thick in order to flow a relatively large current, are disposed at the relatively wide end to flow a relatively small current Therefore, a plurality of signal terminals, which are relatively thin, are disposed at relatively narrow ends, and a plurality of relatively wide end portions are on the outer circumferential side, and relatively narrow end portions are on the inner circumferential side. Since it can arrange, a useless space can be reduced in annular arrangement space, and a plurality can be arranged space-efficiently.

It is a circuit diagram for one bridge constituted in a power module concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the power module concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the power module which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, Comprising: The thing of the external shape different from the thing of FIG. 2 is shown. It is the top view which showed arrangement | positioning of the power module in the power unit which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the power module concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a typical perspective view of the power module concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the power unit concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is the top view which showed arrangement | positioning of the power module in the power unit which concerns on a prior art example.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following is one embodiment of the present invention and does not limit the present invention.

[Basic circuit configuration of power module]
First, the basic configuration of the power module circuit will be described. FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of one bridge configured in a power module.
As shown in FIG. 1, in this circuit, two sets of semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 are connected in series between the P electrode (“P” in the figure) and the N electrode (“N” in the figure) The bridge BR is configured such that the connection point between the semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 is an AC electrode ("AC" in the figure). The semiconductor switch element T1 is connected to the P electrode and the AC electrode, and the semiconductor switch element T2 is connected to the AC electrode and the N electrode.
In this example, the semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 are IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors), the free wheel diode D1 is connected in parallel to the semiconductor switch element T1, and the free wheel diode D2 is connected in parallel to the semiconductor switch element T2. Ru.
The power module of this embodiment is configured such that one or more such bridges BR are formed on one circuit board.
The diode D3 is connected between the P electrode and the control signal terminal 6 (18) so that the cathode electrode is equipotential to the P electrode. The control signal terminals 6 (18) are, for one bridge, the gate electrode and emitter electrode of the element T1, the anode electrode of the diode D3, and the gate electrode and emitter electrode of the element T2 (FIGS. 5).

First Embodiment
The power unit of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. A plan view of a power module 1A according to the first embodiment is shown in FIG. 2, and a power module 1B according to the first embodiment is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the power modules are arranged in an annular shape to constitute a power unit. The power module 1A has a pentagonal outer shape, the power module 1B has a hexagonal outer shape, and the others are similar to each other.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the power modules 1A and 1B applied to the present embodiment, one bridge BR described above is formed on the circuit board 2 joined to a metal base plate (not shown). It is a thing. The semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 for one bridge, the free wheeling diodes D1 and D2 and the diode D3 for control are shown in FIGS. The circuit board 2 has an electrode pattern formed on one surface (upper surface) of the insulating substrate, and the lower surface of the insulating substrate is bonded to the base plate.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the power modules 1A and 1B are provided with a P electrode terminal 3, an N electrode terminal 4, an AC electrode terminal 5, and a control signal terminal 6. A control signal from a drive circuit (not shown) is applied to the control signal terminal 6 to cause the semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 to perform switching operation.
In the figure, the width of the upper end of the circuit board 2 is W1, and the width of the lower end is W2. The width W1 is wider than the width W2. The end having the width W1 and the end having the width W2 are opposite ends. That is, the circuit board 2 has opposite ends with different widths. Among them, the relatively wide end is an end having the width W1, and the P electrode terminal 3, the N electrode terminal 4 and the AC electrode terminal 5 are disposed at the end having the width W1. The relatively narrow end is an end having a width W2, and a control signal terminal 6 for connection to the two sets of semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 is disposed at the end having a width W2. The AC electrode terminal 5 is disposed between the P electrode terminal 3 and the N electrode terminal 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the power module 1A, the edge 7A of the end having the width W1 is constituted by two sides, and the edge of the end having the width W1 is constituted by one side 8. The circuit board 2 is formed into a pentagonal outer shape by the edge 7A, the side 8 and the side 9, 9 connecting these. The opposite side 9 and side 9 are equal in length.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, in the power module 1B, the edge 7B is configured by three sides and configured in a hexagonal outer shape.
Moreover, the external shape of power module 1A, 1B is an external shape for arrange | positioning multiple in annular | circular shape. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the region sandwiched by the outer arc GT centering at the point O and the inner arc GI almost corresponds to the shape cut by the radial straight line extended from the point O. Sides 9, 9 overlap this "radial straight line extended from point O".
The edges of the edges 7A, 7B are along the outer arc GT. That is, the edges 7A and 7B approximately replace the outer arc GT with a connection of a plurality of line segments (chords). Both end points of the line segments constituting the edges 7A and 7B are on the outer arc GT.
Also, the side 8 is along the inner arc GI. That is, the side 8 is one in which the inner arc GI is approximately replaced with one line segment (chord). Both end points of the side 8 are on the inner arc GI.
The edges 7A and 7B may not be formed in a straight line, but may be an arc overlapping the outer arc GT (an arc cut at the point where the outer arc GT intersects the side edges 9, 9). Instead of this, an arc overlapping with the inner arc GI (an arc cut at a point where the inner arc GI intersects the side edges 9 and 9) may be used.
The P electrode terminal 3, the N electrode terminal 4 and the AC electrode terminal 5 are arranged so as not to overlap with each other as viewed in the radial direction about the point O, and the individual terminals constituting the control signal terminal 6 also center the point O As viewed in the radial direction, they are arranged so as not to overlap each other. This is to suppress the dimension in the radial direction centering on the point O of the power modules 1A, 1B.
As described above, since the outer shapes of the power modules 1A and 1B are configured, as shown in FIG. 4, the power modules 1A and 1B can be annularly arranged in a space efficient manner to configure a power unit. FIG. 4 shows the power module 1B as a representative.
As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of power modules (1B) are arranged in the circumferential direction.

  When the circuit board 2 is viewed in plan as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the center position of the AC electrode terminal 5 in the middle is a straight line connecting the center position of the P electrode terminal 3 and the center position of the N electrode terminal 4 It is located outside. By this arrangement, the P electrode terminal 3, the N electrode terminal 4 and the AC electrode terminal 5 can be arranged along the outer arc GT with good space efficiency.

The outer diameter 102 in the case where the rectangular power modules 100 shown in FIG. 8 are annularly arranged is also shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, in the case where the rectangular power modules 100 are arranged in an annular shape, a useless space 101 is generated between the power modules 100 and 100, and the outer diameter 102 is increased accordingly.
Focusing on the shape feature of the power module, the width of the end disposed on the inner peripheral side of the power module 100 is equal to the width of the end disposed on the outer peripheral side. Since one of the P electrode terminal, the N electrode terminal, and the AC electrode terminal is disposed at both ends of the annularly arranged power module 100 in the radial direction, the dimension in the radial direction becomes long. These are factors that increase the outer diameter 102.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, in the embodiment of the present invention, the useless space between the power modules (1B, 1B) is reduced, and the outer diameter can be reduced accordingly.
Focusing on the shape feature of the power module, the width W2 of the end portion disposed on the inner peripheral side of the power module (1B) is narrow, so the plurality of power modules (1B) are arranged to be gathered closer to the center can do. Since the P electrode terminal, the N electrode terminal, and the AC electrode terminal are disposed only at the outer peripheral end of the annularly arranged power module (1B), the dimension in the radial direction becomes short. These are factors that reduce the outer diameter.
Further, the diode D3 conventionally mounted on the control circuit connected to the control signal terminal 6 is mounted on the circuit board 2 of the present power module. Therefore, the control circuit can be miniaturized.

Second Embodiment
Next, the power unit of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. The power module 10 which concerns on 2nd Embodiment is shown in FIG.5 and FIG.7.
As shown in FIG. 5, the power module 10 applied to the present embodiment is one in which the two bridges BR described above are formed on the circuit board 12 joined to the metal base plate 11. Semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 for two bridges, free wheel diodes D1 and D2 and a diode D3 for control are shown in FIG. The circuit board 12 has an electrode pattern formed on one surface (upper surface) of the insulating substrate, and the lower surface of the insulating substrate is bonded to the base plate 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the P electrode terminal 13, the N electrode terminals 14 and 15, the AC electrode terminals 16 and 17, and the control signal terminal 18 are provided upright on the circuit board 12. The P electrode terminal 13 is commonly used by two bridges formed on the circuit board 12. One of the two bridges formed on the circuit board 12 has the other electrode drawn to the N electrode terminal 14 and the AC electrode terminal 16, and the other bridge has the other electrode to the N electrode terminal 15 and the AC electrode terminal 17. Electrode is pulled out.

At the side edge of the base plate 11 of the power module 10, protrusions 11a and 11b are provided.
As shown in FIG. 7, the power unit 1 includes a disk-shaped heat sink 20, the power module 10 joined to the heat sink 20, and a drive circuit board 30 as another module electrically connected to the power module 10. Equipped with
A plurality of power modules 10, 10,... Are annularly arranged on the heat sink 20. The figure shows the case where the number of power modules 10 is five.
The protrusion 11 a of the base plate 11 and the P electrode terminal 13, the N electrode terminals 14 and 15, and the AC electrode terminals 16 and 17 provided on the circuit board 12 are disposed on the outer peripheral side of the annular arrangement. The protrusions 11 b of the base plate 11 and the control signal terminals 18 provided on the circuit board 12 are disposed on the inner peripheral side of the annular arrangement.
The drive circuit board 30 is configured such that a drive circuit for operating the power module 10 is configured, and is disposed adjacent to the power module 10 on the opposite side of the heat sink 20 and electrically connected to the power module 10 through the control signal terminal 18. Connected.
A smoothing capacitor 31 is also mounted on the drive circuit substrate 30, and the P electrode terminal 13 and the N electrode terminals 14 and 15 are also connected to the drive circuit substrate 30, one end of the smoothing capacitor 31 is a P pole, and the other is Are connected to the N pole.

On the other hand, the heat sink 20 is provided with a rod-like positioning member 21 which protrudes perpendicularly to the mounting surface of the power module 10.
The protrusions 11 a and 11 b are formed in a cutout shape so as to hold the positioning member 21. The positioning members 21 are provided at positions and numbers corresponding to the positions and numbers of the protrusions 11 a and 11 b of the power module 10. In the power module 10 shown in FIG. 5, there is one on the outer peripheral side and one on the inner peripheral side. The power module 10 is positioned with respect to the heat sink 20 by the projections 11 a and 11 b abutting on the positioning members 21 and 21.

Furthermore, the drive circuit board 30 is connected to the positioning member 21, and the drive circuit board 30 is positioned with respect to the heat sink 20 by the positioning member 21. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the connection hole 32 is provided in the drive circuit board 30, and positioning is performed by fitting the positioning member 21 into the connection hole 32. Further, not the connection holes 32 but the notches may be provided in the drive circuit board 30, and the positioning members 21 may be held by the notches.
The drive circuit board 30 is integrally configured on the basis of a ring-shaped substrate. The positioning member 21 connected to the drive circuit board 30 can be stably positioned by setting it at at least two places, preferably three places or more. In the present embodiment, the positioning member 21 on the outer peripheral side in contact with the projection 11 a is connected to the drive circuit board 30, and the positioning member 21 on the inner peripheral side in contact with the projection 11 b is not connected to the drive circuit board 30.

In the power module 10 according to the second embodiment described above, the circuit board 12 has opposite end portions with different widths, and the P electrode terminal 13 and the N electrode terminals 14 and 15 are relatively wide end portions among them. And AC electrode terminals 16 and 17 are provided, and a control signal terminal 18 for connection to the two sets of semiconductor switch elements T1 and T2 is provided at a relatively narrow end.
The AC electrode terminal 16 is disposed between the P electrode terminal 13 and the N electrode terminal 14. The AC electrode terminal 17 is disposed between the P electrode terminal 13 and the N electrode terminal 15.
Furthermore, when the circuit board 12 is viewed in plan, the center position of the AC electrode terminal 16 is disposed outside the straight line connecting the center position of the P electrode terminal 13 and the center position of the N electrode terminal 14. When the circuit board 12 is viewed in plan, the center position of the AC electrode terminal 17 is disposed outside the straight line connecting the center position of the P electrode terminal 13 and the center position of the N electrode terminal 15.
With the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of power modules 10 can be arranged in an annular arrangement space, with the relatively wide end as the outer peripheral side and the relatively narrow end as the inner peripheral side. Therefore, as in the first embodiment, the useless space can be reduced in the annular arrangement space, the plurality of power modules 10 can be arranged efficiently, and the power unit 1 can be miniaturized.
In addition, the diode D3 conventionally mounted on the control circuit connected to the control signal terminal 18 is mounted on the circuit board 12 of the power module. Therefore, the control circuit can be miniaturized.

In the second embodiment, when the circuit board 12 is viewed in plan, the longitudinal direction of the AC electrode terminals 16 and 17, the longitudinal direction of the P electrode terminal 13, and the longitudinal direction of the N electrode terminals 14 and 15 are the same. Direction). Here, the longitudinal direction of each of the P, N, and AC electrode terminals is the longitudinal direction in a plan view of the projecting portion (connecting portion) in FIG. 6 as shown in FIG. It is a direction.
Such a configuration facilitates the positioning of the terminal.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 power unit 1A, 1B power module 2 circuit board 3 P electrode terminal 4 N electrode terminal 5 AC electrode terminal 6 control signal terminal 10 power module 12 circuit board 13 P electrode terminal 14 15N electrode terminal 16 17 AC electrode terminal 18 control Signal terminal D1, D2 Free wheel diode D3 diode T1, T2 Semiconductor switch element

Claims (6)

Two sets of semiconductor switch elements are connected in series between the P electrode and the N electrode, and one or more bridges having AC electrodes as connection points between the two sets of semiconductor switch elements are formed on one circuit board A power module,
A free wheeling diode connected in parallel to each of the semiconductor switch elements mounted on the circuit board;
The circuit board has opposite ends different in width, and P electrode terminal, N electrode terminal and AC electrode terminal are disposed at relatively wide ends, and the two at the relatively narrow ends. A plurality of signal terminals are provided for connection to the set of semiconductor switch elements;
The outer shape of the circuit board forms a straight side extending in the width direction at the relatively narrow end;
A power module in which the plurality of signal terminals are disposed along the side.   The power module according to claim 1, wherein a diode connected between the P electrode and the signal terminal such that a cathode electrode is equipotential to the P electrode is mounted on the circuit board.   The said AC electrode terminal is arrange | positioned between the said P electrode terminal and the said N electrode terminal, The power module of Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The circuit according to claim 3, wherein the center position of the AC electrode terminal is disposed outside a straight line connecting the center position of the P electrode terminal and the center position of the N electrode terminal in plan view of the circuit board. Power module.   5. The power module according to claim 4, wherein the longitudinal direction of the AC electrode terminal, the longitudinal direction of the P electrode terminal, and the longitudinal direction of the N electrode terminal are the same in a plan view of the circuit board.   The power module according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the relatively wide end portion is an outer peripheral side, and the relatively narrow end portion is an inner peripheral side. Power unit to be placed.

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