Shared Gate Drive Power Supply for Multi-Phase Short-Circuit Protection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing gate driving power source devices have a large mounting area and high costs due to the need for multiple power source generation circuits for each gate drive circuit, and they fail to prevent large currents from flowing to a single chip during short-circuit failures in multi-phase conversion circuits.
Innovation Solution
A shared DC power source unit supplies power to multiple gate drive circuits, reducing the number of power source units required and allowing power to be rerouted from a different unit in case of a short-circuit failure, thereby preventing large currents from flowing to a single chip.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a power source generation circuit is provided for each gate drive circuit, then reliability is improved, but mounting area increases and device size becomes large
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple power source generation circuits are merged into a single shared power source unit that supplies DC power to multiple gate drive circuits. The shared power source unit includes a transformer and rectification circuit that generate DC power commonly used by upper arm and lower arm gate drive circuits, thereby reducing the total number of power source units and minimizing mounting area while maintaining power supply reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared power source unit is designed to serve multiple functions by supplying DC power to both upper arm gate drive circuits and lower arm gate drive circuits simultaneously. This multi-functional power source unit replaces multiple dedicated power source circuits, reducing device complexity and mounting area while ensuring reliable power supply to all gate drive circuits.
2Area of stationary object
If a shared power source unit supplies power to all lower arms, then mounting area is reduced, but reliability decreases during short-circuit failures
Solution Approach 1:
The power source supply system is segmented into multiple independent power source units: a shared power source unit supplying lower arms and separate power source units supplying upper arms. This segmentation ensures that if the shared power source unit fails during a short-circuit condition, the separate power source units can still operate independently to prevent catastrophic failure and allow for controlled shutdown or protection mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuit acts as an intermediary that monitors the operational status of the shared power source unit and implements protective control when failures are detected. During short-circuit failures, the control circuit detects the failure condition and adjusts the operation of switching elements to prevent excessive current flow, thereby maintaining system reliability even when the shared power source unit fails.
3Reliability
If multiple power source units are used for each gate drive circuit, then reliability is maintained during failures, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple power source generation circuits are merged into a shared power source unit that serves multiple gate drive circuits, reducing device complexity and the number of components. The shared unit includes a single transformer and rectification circuit that generate DC power for both upper and lower arm gate drive circuits, eliminating the need for multiple separate power source units while maintaining reliable power supply.
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuit implements feedback monitoring to detect failures in the shared power source unit or short-circuit conditions in switching elements. When failures are detected, the control circuit adjusts the operation of gate drive circuits and switching elements to maintain system reliability, compensating for the reduced redundancy while keeping device complexity low.
Data Source
AI summary
A gate driving power source device can be miniaturized by sharing power source units, and a large current can be prevented from locally flowing in a single chip even when a short-circuit failure occurs in a multi-phase conversion circuit included in a power conversion device. There is provided a shared power source unit supplying a shared DC power source to a gate drive circuit provided in any one of a plurality of lower arms of multi-phase conversion circuits or any one of a plurality of upper arms of the multi-phase conversion circuit and gate drive circuits provided in upper arms or lower arms of other conversion circuits.