EMC Filter Component with DC-Link with Improved Attenuation, Semiconductor Component and DC-Link EMC System

Abstract

In an embodiment an EMC filter component includes a first interface, a second interface, a filter circuit, a mechanical connection and a DC-Link capacitor as a circuit element, wherein the filter circuit is electrically connected between the first interface and the second interface, wherein the mechanical connection is configured for mechanically connecting the EMC filter component to an external mounting location, and wherein the mechanical connection is configured for electrically connecting the filter circuit to a ground potential of the external mounting location.

Claims

1.-21. (canceled)

22. An EMC filter component comprising: a first interface; a second interface; a filter circuit; a mechanical connection; and a DC-Link capacitor as a circuit element, wherein the filter circuit is electrically connected between the first interface and the second interface, wherein the mechanical connection is configured for mechanically connecting the EMC filter component to an external mounting location, and wherein the mechanical connection is configured for electrically connecting the filter circuit to a ground potential of the external mounting location.

23. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the external mounting location is a mounting location of a semiconductor component configured to provide the ground potential to the EMC filter component.

24. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the mechanical connection comprises a material selected from an electrically conducting material, a metal or an alloy.

25. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the mechanical connection has an elongated shape that has an extension directed away from the EMC filter component.

26. The EMC filter component of claim 25, wherein the elongated shape has a section along the extension direction with a uniform cross section.

27. The EMC filter component of claim 25, wherein the elongated shape has a cross section selected from a quadratic cross section, a rectangular cross section, a circular cross section, or an elliptical cross section.

28. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the mechanical connection has a distal end that comprises a flat section with a hole.

29. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the mechanical connection comprises 2, 3 or more pieces.

30. The EMC filter component of claim 29, wherein all pieces of the mechanical connection are arranged at the same side of the EMC filter component.

31. The EMC filter component of claim 30, wherein the first interface is configured for an electrical connection to a component selected from a further electrical component, a semiconductor component, an inverter, a battery or an electric motor drive.

32. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the first interface comprises 1, 2, 3 or more connections to be connected to a first potential and 1, 2, 3 or more connections for connection to a second potential.

33. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the second interface is configured for an electrical connection to a component selected from a further electrical component, a semiconductor component, an inverter, a battery or an electric motor drive.

34. The EMC filter component of claim 22, further comprising: a second mechanical connection at a side of the second interface, wherein the second mechanical connection is configured for mechanically connecting the EMC filter component to a second external mounting location, and wherein the second mechanical connection is also configured for electrically connecting the filter circuit to a ground potential of the second external mounting location.

35. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the second interface comprises 1, 2, 3 or more connections for a first potential, 1, 2, 3 or more connections for a second potential, 1, 2, 3 or more connections for the ground potential.

36. The EMC filter component of claim 22, wherein the filter circuit comprises resistance elements, capacitance elements and inductance element.

37. The EMC filter component of claim 36, wherein two inductance elements are magnetically coupled.

38. A DC-Link EMC system comprising: the EMC filter component of claim 22; and a semiconductor component, wherein the EMC filter component and the semiconductor component are electrically and mechanically connected to one another via their mechanical connections.

39. A system comprising: the EMC filter component of claim 22; a battery; and an electric motor drive, wherein the system is an electrical system of a vehicle, and wherein the EMC filter component is located between the battery and the electric motor drive.

40. A semiconductor component comprising: a first interface; a second interface; a semiconductor circuit; and a mechanical connection, wherein the semiconductor circuit is electrically connected between the first interface and the second interface, wherein the mechanical connection is configured for mechanically connecting an EMC filter component to an external mounting location, and wherein the mechanical connection is also configured for electrically connecting the semiconductor circuit to the mechanical connection of the EMC filter component.

41. The semiconductor component of claim 40, wherein the semiconductor component is an inverter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] Central working principles and details of preferred embodiments are shown in the accompanying schematic figures.

[0051] FIG. 1 shows basic elements of the EMC filter component EFC;

[0052] FIG. 2 shows basic elements of the semiconductor circuit SC;

[0053] FIG. 3 shows a system comprising the semiconductor component SC and the EMC filter component EFC;

[0054] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the first interface of the EMC filter component EFC;

[0055] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the system comprising the semiconductor component and the filter component;

[0056] FIG. 6 shows an enlarged view of the actual contact area of the mechanical connection;

[0057] FIG. 7 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of one possible filter circuit;

[0058] FIG. 8 shows an alternative equivalent circuit diagram of the filter circuit FC;

[0059] FIG. 9 illustrates the performance of an EMC filter component with conventional ground connections; and

[0060] FIG. 10 shows a comparison between the performance levels of the conventional component and the improved EMC filter component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0061] FIG. 1 illustrates basic elements of the EMC filter component EFC. The filter component EFC comprises a first interface I1 and a second interface 12. At the side of the first interface I1 mechanical connections MC are arranged. The mechanical connections MC are created with a mechanical strength sufficient for solidly mounting the EMC filter component EFC to external mounting locations. In addition, the mechanical connections MC further provide an electric functionality because the mechanical connections MC are provided to and configured for electrically connecting the EMC filter component to a ground potential of the external mounting location.

[0062] In FIG. 1 the first interface, thus, comprises two pure electrical connections arranged between the mechanical connections MC and the two further dual purpose mechanical connections MC for mechanically and electrically connecting the component EFC to an external circuit environment.

[0063] On the respective other side, the second interface 12 comprises electrical connections that are dedicated for propagating electric power to or from the filter component.

[0064] Of course, the provision of mechanical connections MC as provided at the first interface I1 is also possible at the second interface 12.

[0065] Correspondingly, FIG. 2 illustrates basic elements of the circuit component that is dedicated to be connected to the EMC filter component EFC as shown in FIG. 1. As an example only, the component can be a semiconductor component SC which has mechanical connections MC at the second interface 12 in addition to electrical connections at the second interface 12. The semiconductor component SC has further electrical connections at the first interface I1.

[0066] FIG. 3 shows a system comprising the semiconductor component SC of FIG. 2 electrically and mechanically connected to the EMC filter component as shown in FIG. 1. The mechanical connections MC of the EMC filter component EFC are mechanically and electrically connected to corresponding mechanical connections MC of the semiconductor component SC. Specifically, the first interface I1 of the EMC filter component EFC is electrically and mechanically connected to the second interface 12 via mechanical connections.

[0067] It is possible for the component shown in the present application that a first interface is an interface electrically configured to receive electric energy from an external circuit environment while a second interface is an interface provided for forwarding electric energy to other elements of the electric circuit environment. Correspondingly, the semiconductor circuit can receive electric energy at its first interface I1 and provides electric energy to the EMC filter component EFC at its second interface 12 while the EMC filter component EFC receives the electric energy at its first interface I1 and provides electric energy, e.g. to a motor drive, via its second interface 12.

[0068] It is possible that the semiconductor circuit SC has a good connection to a ground potential of the circuit environment of the system. In this case, the mechanical connection MC can be utilized to also use the ground connection of the semiconductor component for the circuit components of the EMC filter component EFC, such that efforts to create a separate ground connection at the side of the EMC filter component are not necessary, while improving the performance of the EMC filter component.

[0069] The number of connections per interface can be 2 (as shown in FIG. 2) or 3 (as shown with respect to the first interface in FIG. 2) or higher. When the number of connections is 3 then the interface can be configured to handle a 3-phase power signal.

[0070] FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the side of the housing of the EMC filter component EFC where the connections of the first interface I1 are arranged. Specifically, the first interface can comprise a first piece of the mechanical connection MC and a second piece of the mechanical connection MC where the two pieces are arranged at opposite sides of the body of the filter component EFC. Between the two pieces of the mechanical connection MC the first interface comprises three connections C1, dedicated for being electrically connected to a first electrical potential, and three further electrical connections C2, dedicated for being connected to a second electrical potential. Further, the component has one compartment housing Y2 capacitors at the side of the corresponding piece of the mechanical connection MC. The pieces of the mechanical connection themselves have an elongated shape pointing away from the body of the filter component EFC. The elongated portion has a section with a rectangular or quadratic cross section. Distal ends of the pieces have a flat section with a hole that allows an easy to perform, but stiff, connection via bolts and nuts.

[0071] For each of the connections C1, C2 of the interface and for each of the pieces of the mechanical connection MC a corresponding counter element is provided at the side of the component having the external mounting location such that good electrical and mechanical connection is obtained.

[0072] In this respect it should be noted that the connections C1, C2 that provide an electrical connection could also provide a certain degree of mechanical stability when connected to their corresponding counterparts. However, the mechanical stability of the connection via the mechanical connections is substantially stronger, e.g. by a factor of 2, 5 or 10 with respect to pulling forces or shearing forces.

[0073] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the system comprising the EMC filter component EFC at one side and the semiconductor component SC on the respective other side.

[0074] The semiconductor component also has a first interface I1 for receiving electric power and the filter component EFC has a corresponding second interface 12 for providing electric power.

[0075] FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the connection area of the mechanical connection MC of one of the pieces shown in Figure.sub.5. A flat surface of the distal end of the mechanical connection of the filter component is in direct contact with the corresponding flat surface of a mechanical connection MC of the semiconductor component. Each of the corresponding distal ends has a hole. The mounting is performed such that the holes overlap with respect to their position such that a common bolt can be used to be inserted in the common hole of the mechanical connection.

[0076] FIG. 7 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of one embodiment of the filter circuit FC. The filter circuit FC has a first power line PIA and a second power line PL2. The first power line PIA electrically connects a connection of the second interface 12 to three connections of the first interface. The second power line PL2 electrically connects a respective other connection of the second interface 12 to three connections of the first interface I1 Each power line comprises two inductance elements electrically connected in series to one another. Each inductance element is magnetically coupled to an inductance element of the respective other power line. Further, three capacitance elements C5, C6, C7 electrically connect the two power lines PL1, PL2 to one another. A ground connection GND established by a mechanical connection MC2 of the second interface 12 is electrically connected to the first power line via a series connection of a capacitance element C9 and a resistance element R4 and to the second power line PL2 via a series connection of a capacitance element C8 and a resistance element R3.

[0077] At the side of the first interface I1 a first piece and a second piece of the mechanical connection MC are arranged. The first piece is electrically connected with the first power line PIA via a series connection. The series connection comprises a resistance element R2 and a parallel connection of capacitance elements C3 and C4 which establish a Y2-Class safety capacitor. Further, the respective second piece of the mechanical connection MC is electrically connected to the second power line PL2 via a series connection. The series connection comprises the resistance element R1 and a parallel connection of two capacitance elements C1, C2 also establishing a Y2-Class safety capacitor.

[0078] The provision of the ground connection via the very short conductors reduces effort in ground connection, reduces spatial area needed for the component and enhances the performance of the filter component.

[0079] An alternative possibility for the filter circuit FC is shown in FIG. 8. The circuitry for the filter functionality and the circuitry at the side of the second interface corresponds to that shown in FIG. 7. However, the component shown in FIG. 8 has only one piece of the mechanical connection MC. This piece is electrically connected to the second power line PL2 via a series connection that consists of a resistance element R2 and the parallel connection of the capacitance elements C3 and C4. The connection between the piece of the mechanical connection MC and the first power line PIA is established via a series connection of a resistance element R1 and a parallel connection of capacitance elements C1, C2.

[0080] FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate the electrical performance of conventional EMC filter components compared to improved EMC filter components as described above. In particular, the upper left portion of FIG. 9 shows (curve A) a differential mode attenuation and (curve B) a typical common mode attenuation.

[0081] The upper right of FIG. 9 shows in curves C typical noise from a filtered motor drive.

[0082] The lower right portion of FIG. 9 shows the common mode noise CMN with respect to the ground potential and the differential mode noise DMN as noise between the potential for a typical noise, respectively.

[0083] In contrast, the upper left of FIG. 10 shows (curve D) the differential mode attenuation, a common mode attenuation (curve F) with a not optimized ground connection and (curve E) the common mode attenuation of an improved ground connection as described above.

[0084] The upper right portion of FIG. 10 shows (peaks of curves G) typical noise of an inverter system with a filter.

[0085] The lower right portion of FIG. 10 illustrates the performance differences with respect to the noise level. Specifically at an operation frequency of 400 KHz the improved EMC filter component (curve I)— due to its counterintuitive but effective ground connections—have a noise level reduced by approx. 20 dB compared to the noise level (curve H) without the filter described above.

[0086] Although the invention has been illustrated and described in detail by means of the preferred embodiment examples, the present invention is not restricted by the disclosed examples and other variations may be derived by the skilled person without exceeding the scope of protection of the invention.