Continental Automotive Systems Us, Inc.

Ballard Power Systems Corporation

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.

Siemens Vdo Automotive Corporation

Other

Nucellsys Gmbh

Continental Automotive Systems Corporation

Lizhi Zhu

Richard Joseph Hampo

Fred C Lee

John M Van Dyke

Jih-Sheng Lai

Xingyi Xu

Fred Flett

Sayeed Ahmed

Venkatapathi Raju Nallapa

Brian W Wells

Bryan M Ludwig

Kanghua Chen

Vinod Reddy

Fengtai Huang

Christophe Soudier

Subramanian Vadula

Jin-Sheng Lai

A circuit and method to provide dynamic fault protection to transistors are disclosed. The fault protection may be particularly suited for protecting insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs).

Operating and controlling insulated gate bipolar transistors in high speed failure mode situations

Power converter system topologies comprise a DC/DC converter. The DC/DC converter includes a transformer coupling a high side to a low side. The high side may include an inverter bridge in the form of an inverter module and an inductor. The low side may include a rectifier in the form of a rectifier module and a pair of inductors. The transformer may take the form of a planar transformer.

DC/DC converter

A system and method for controlling power converters are disclosed. Briefly described, one embodiment is a method comprising communicating at least one first control signal to an alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) power converter from a multi-converter system controller, the AC/DC power converter and the multi-converter system controller residing in a power system electronics housing, and communicating at least one second control signal to a direct current/direct current (DC/DC) power converter from the multi-converter system controller, the DC/DC power converter residing in a power system electronics housing.

System and method of commonly controlling power converters

A fuel cell based power supply comprises a main power converter and control that allows the fuel cell stack to be electrically shorted from time-to-time to improve performance. Additionally, the power converter may temporarily disconnect the fuel cell stack from the load after shorting, allowing the fuel cell stack to return to an open circuit voltage, and/or provide current limiting during a period after shorting to provide stable operation while the fuel cell stack powers the load and recharges a power storage device.

Power converter architecture and method for integrated fuel cell based power supplies

A controller implements a state machine for operating the bi-directional power converter with a flexible load pattern while maintaining a thermal condition of the power converter within acceptable limits. The state machine implements a wait loop in response to selected conditions to maintain the thermal condition.

Method, apparatus and article for bi-directional DC/DC power conversion

A power converter architecture interleaves full bridge converters to alleviate thermal management problems in high current applications, and may, for example, double the output power capability while reducing parts count and costs. For example, one phase of a three phase inverter is shared between two transformers, which provide power to a rectifier such as a current doubler rectifier to provide two full bridge DC/DC converters with three rather than four high voltage inverter legs.

Interleaved power converter

A power converter integrates at least one planar transformer comprising a multi-layer transformer substrate and/or at least one planar inductor comprising a multi-layer inductor substrate with a number of power semiconductor switches physically and thermally coupled to a heat sink via one or more multi-layer switch substrates.

Integration of planar transformer and/or planar inductor with power switches in power converter

A power converter may employ a planar transformer to minimize winding conduction loss, and the switching devices of the power converter may be aligned in lines parallel to an edge of the planar transformer to minimize the termination leakage inductance. The windings of the planar transformer may be thermally conductively coupled to one or more heat sinks carried by a circuit board which are with respective ones of the switching devices, to provide a cooling path for the planar transformer.

Power converter employing a planar transformer

Integrated power conversion systems and methods for use in an electric vehicle having an electric motor, a primary high-voltage energy source, and an auxiliary energy source including a traction inverter module operable for converting a DC current generated by the high-voltage energy source into an AC current capable of powering the electric motor, and a DC/DC converter operable to step-down a voltage of the high-voltage energy source or step-up a voltage of the auxiliary energy source, wherein the traction inverter module and the DC/DC converter may share one or more common components, such as a common high-voltage DC bus capacitor, a common DC bus bar, and/or a common high-voltage transistor.

Integrated traction inverter module and DC/DC converter

A device and method of commutation control for an isolated boost converter provides a unique commutation logic to limit voltage spikes by utilizing switches on the secondary side to minimize a mismatch between current in the inductor and current in the leakage inductance of the transformer when commutation takes places. To minimize this mismatch, the current in the leakage inductance is preset at a certain level that approaches the current in the inductor prior to the commutation, thus significantly reducing the power rating for a clamp circuit and enabling use of a simple passive clamp circuit. In addition, through unique timing of the turn-on of the secondary switches, soft switching conditions are created that eliminate turn-on losses and the reverse recovery problems of free-wheeling diodes.

Device and method of commutation control for an isolated boost converter

An efficient and cost effective bidirectional DC/DC converter reduces switch voltage stress via accelerated commutation allowing use of a low-cost passive clamp circuit in boost mode. The converter includes a primary circuit, transformer and secondary circuit. The primary circuit takes the form of a 'full bridge converter,' a 'push-pull converter,' or an &#x201c;L-type converter.&#x201d;. The primary circuit may include a dissipator such as a snubber circuit or small buck converter. A secondary side of the transformer is momentarily shorted by the secondary circuit by, for example, turning on at least two switches in the secondary circuit simultaneously for a minimal calibratable period when a pair of primary circuit controllers turn off to protect the primary circuit switches from voltage spikes during switching conditions.

Accelerated commutation for passive clamp isolated boost converters

The invention is a scheme for high power isolated full-bridge boost DC/DC converters to minimize the effect of in-rush current during start-up. A single pulse width modulation controller (PWM) is possible for the present invention for not only start-up but also normal boost modes. A primary circuit can have a clamping switch or at least two choke diodes. The choke diode can include &ldquo;push-pull&rdquo; and &ldquo;L&rdquo;-type configurations. A resistor can be used to dissipate energy clamped from the voltage spike. A startup circuit can be used to eliminate the in-rush current experienced during start-up. The proposed start-up schemes have been experimentally verified using a 1.6 kW, 12V/288 V prototype. Since the present invention eliminates the need to match characteristics of multiple controllers, it significantly reduces the cost associated with implementing this type of technology.

Start-up circuit and control for high power isolated boost DC/DC converters

This invention is an efficient and cost effective bi-directional DC/DC converter that can effectively reduce the switch voltage stress (such as a semiconductor) with an accelerated commutation circuit, and thus allowing a low-cost passive clamp circuit to be used. Specifically, the invention is a method and system to accelerate commutation for passive-clamped isolated boost converters, which can also be a boost mode in a bi-directional DC/DC converter. A primary circuit has a snubber comprising a diode, a capacitor and an energy dissipater (such as a resistor or small buck converter). The primary circuit can be a &ldquo;full bridge converter&rdquo; or a &ldquo;push-pull converter&rdquo; or an &ldquo;L-type converter&rdquo; configuration. The commutation of the present invention protects the primary circuit switches from voltage spikes during switching conditions. The present invention can shorten a secondary circuit by turning on at least two switches on the secondary circuit simultaneously for a minimal calibratable period while primary circuit diagonal switches turn off. The present invention also has a means to allow a smooth transition between a choke current and a primary current. Primary current increases linearly through the snubber circuit during circuit startup, thus protecting the primary circuit controllers.

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Canton, MI, United States of America

Lizhi Zhu