Busbar Device and Intermediate Circuit Capacitor Apparatus Having a Snubber Action, and Motor Vehicle

Abstract

A busbar device, a corresponding intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus and a motor vehicle equipped therewith are provided. The busbar device has electrical contact elements, each forming a contact surface region in which they extend parallel to one another in a planar manner. On at least one end thereof each of the contact elements has a connection region as an outer connection. The contact elements form a snubber capacitor. For this purpose the contact surface regions are spaced apart from one another, perpendicularly to their main extension plane, only by an electrical insulation layer. Moreover, the contact surface regions extend, in the directions which span their main extension plane, over the majority of a total extent of the busbar device. The height of the busbar device perpendicularly to the main extension plane of the contact surface regions is less than the extent thereof in this main extension plane.

Claims

1.-10. (canceled)

11. A busbar device for an intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus, the busbar device comprising: a first contact element and a second contact element which each form a contact surface region, in which the first contact element and the second contact element extend parallel to one another in a planar manner, as a connection surface for a plurality of capacitors and each have, at at least one end of the contact surface region, a respective adjoining connection region as an outer connection, wherein the contact elements form a snubber capacitor; wherein the contact surface regions are spaced apart from each other perpendicularly to a main extension plane of the contact surface regions only by an electrical insulation layer, wherein the contact surface regions extend in directions spanning the main extension plane over a majority of a total extent of the busbar device, and wherein a height of the busbar device perpendicular to the main extension plane of the contact surface regions is less than an amount the contact surface regions extend in the main extension plane.

12. The busbar device according to claim 11, wherein the insulation layer has a thickness of at most 500 m.

13. The busbar device according to claim 11, wherein the insulation layer has a relative permittivity of .sub.r>>1.

14. The busbar device according to claim 12, wherein the insulation layer has a relative permittivity of .sub.r>>1.

15. The busbar device according to claim 11, wherein one of the contact surface regions which faces the capacitors in the intended installation position, has at least one recess for each capacitor as a leadthrough to another one of the contact surface regions.

16. The busbar device according to claim 12, wherein one of the contact surface regions, which faces the capacitors in the intended installation position, has at least one recess for each capacitor as a leadthrough to another one of the contact surface regions.

17. The busbar device according to claim 13, wherein one of the contact surface regions, which faces the capacitors in the intended installation position, has at least one recess for each capacitor as a leadthrough to another one of the contact surface regions.

18. The busbar device according to claim 11, wherein the connection regions arranged at one end of the contact surface regions are configured to be the same at least apart from a height difference that corresponds to the distance between the contact surface regions perpendicular to their main extension plane.

19. The busbar device according to claim 12, wherein the connection regions arranged at one end of the contact surface regions are configured to be the same at least apart from a height difference that corresponds to the distance between the contact surface regions perpendicular to their main extension plane.

20. The busbar device according to claim 13, wherein the connection regions arranged at one end of the contact surface regions are configured to be the same at least apart from a height difference that corresponds to the distance between the contact surface regions perpendicular to their main extension plane.

21. The busbar device according to claim 11, wherein the busbar device has a connection inductance of less than 1 nH.

22. The busbar device according to claim 12, wherein the busbar device has a connection inductance of less than 1 nH.

23. The busbar device according to claim 13, wherein the busbar device has a connection inductance of less than 1 nH.

24. An intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus, having a busbar device according to claim 11 and a plurality of capacitors which are electrically connected by way of the busbar device.

25. The intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the capacitors are configured as winding capacitors and are arranged on the contact surface regions in such a way that their winding axes are perpendicular to the main extension plane of the contact surface regions.

26. The intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the capacitors are arranged in a compact grouping and the size of the contact surface regions correspond substantially to the corresponding size of the grouping of capacitors in respect of the main extension plane of the contact surface regions.

27. The intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the capacitors are arranged in a compact grouping and the size of the contact surface regions correspond substantially to the corresponding size of the grouping of capacitors in respect of the main extension plane of the contact surface regions.

28. A motor vehicle, having a traction battery and an intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus according to claim 24 that is electrically connected to the traction battery.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a detail of a busbar device for an intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus; and

[0025] FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a graph for illustrating a snubber function of the busbar device in comparison to a conventional busbar device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective illustration of a detail of an intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 1 having a busbar device 2. The busbar device 2 has a first contact element 3, a second contact element 4 and an insulation layer 5 arranged between them. The contact elements 3, 4 are therefore electrically conductive, while the insulation layer 5 is electrically nonconductive, in particular is manufactured entirely or partially from a highly permittive dielectric.

[0027] The contact elements 3, 4 each have a contact surface region 6 in which they extend parallel to one another in a planar manner, that is to say are configured in a plate-shaped manner. The contact elements 3, 4 further have a respective connection region 7 at at least one end-here at only one end by way of exampleor on at least one side. A further connection region can be formed at the opposite end or the opposite side of the contact elements 3, 4 or the contact surface regions 6.

[0028] A coordinate system with spatial directions x, y, z is schematically indicated for illustration purposes or as a reference.

[0029] Therefore, here, the contact surface regions 6 extend in a planar manner in the x-z plane or maximized in respect of their size or extent. Perpendicular to this, that is to say in the x-y plane or in the y-z plane, the busbar device 2 can, however, have or cover, in particular, a comparatively smaller surface area.

[0030] Owing to the configuration, proposed here, of the busbar device 2, the busbar device can have a particularly low ESL together with a particularly high capacitance C.sub.bar, where C.sub.bar=.sub.0.Math..sub.r.Math.A/d. Here, .sub.0 indicates the electrical field constant, .sub.r indicates the relative permittivity of the insulation layer 5, A indicates the surface area over which the contact elements 3, 4 are arranged locally parallel to each other in a manner separated by the insulation layer 5, that is to say in particular or including the surface area of the contact surface regions 6 in the x-z plane, and d indicates the distance between the contact surface regions 6 in the y-direction, that is to say the thickness of the insulation layer 5.

[0031] The busbar device 2 therefore functions as a high-frequency X capacitor here, that is to say as an HF snubber for damping oscillations and for reducing voltage overshoots or peaks.

[0032] The intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 1 also comprises a plurality of capacitors 8, likewise schematically indicated here. These capacitors are arranged vertically on the contact surface regions 6 and can together form or provide an intermediate circuit capacitance. In contrast to the manner schematically illustrated here, the capacitors 8 can be arranged in particular in a more tightly packed manner for practical implementation of the intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 1. The contact surface regions 6 can in particular be dimensioned such that they cover at least substantially the entire surface area required by the capacitors 8 in the x-z plane, but project beyond capacitors 8 therein only to the structurally necessary extent.

[0033] To further illustrate the damping or snubber effect of the busbar device 2, FIG. 2 shows, by way of example and schematically, a graphical illustration in which two curves of an intermediate circuit voltage U are plotted with respect to time t. Specifically, a transient curve 9 produced with the busbar device 2 and a reference curve 10 are illustrated for a switching process here. The reference curve 10 may be produced when using a conventional busbar instead of the busbar device 2 in an otherwise identical intermediate circuit or an otherwise identical intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 1. It can be clearly seen here that, on account of the configuration of the busbar device 2 and the snubber action caused or achieved as a result, the transient curve 9 has a voltage peak 11 which is considerably lower than a corresponding reference voltage peak 12, that is to say a maximum, of the reference curve 10. In addition, the transient curve 9 exhibits a significantly lower oscillation frequency than the reference curve 10. This illustrates that the busbar device 2, owing to its configuration for implementing a parasitic capacitor, can reduce voltage overshoots and, in particular high-frequency, oscillations during operation of the intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 1 or an electrical system comprising it, without additional elements being required for this purpose.

[0034] Overall, the described examples therefore show how an HF snubber but for an intermediate circuit capacitor can be implemented in a simple and efficient manner.

TABLE-US-00001 List of reference signs 1 Intermediate circuit capacitor apparatus 2 Busbar device 3 First contact element 4 Second contact element 5 Insulation layer 6 Contact surface region 7 Connection region 8 Capacitor 9 Transient curve 10 Reference curve 11 Voltage peak 12 Reference voltage peak U Intermediate circuit voltage t Time x, y, z Spatial directions