COOLING STRUCTURE FOR COIL COMPONENT

Abstract

A coil device with a cooling structure includes: a coil unit that has a core structure having one or more leg parts and one or more coils wound around the one or more leg parts; and a flow-rectifying member having a flat plate portion covering a face of the one or more coils and flow-rectifying ribs inwardly protruding from an inner surface of the flat plate portion, the flow-rectifying ribs extending in a direction parallel to center axes of the one or more coils and being positioned to face side boundaries of the face of the one or more coils. The flat plate portion and the flow-rectifying ribs form a first air cooling channel at a substantially uniform gap outside of the one or more coils along the direction parallel to the center axes thereof, the first air cooling channel passing cooling air to air-cool the one or more coils.

Claims

1. A coil device with a cooling structure, comprising: a coil unit that has a core structure having one or more leg parts and one or more coils wound around said one or more leg parts; and a flow-rectifying member having a flat plate portion covering a face of said one or more coils and flow-rectifying ribs inwardly protruding from an inner surface of the flat plate portion, the flow-rectifying ribs extending in a direction parallel to center axes of said one or more coils and being positioned to face side boundaries of said face of said one or more coils, wherein the flat plate portion and the flow-rectifying ribs form a first air cooling channel at a substantially uniform gap on an outside of said one or more coils along said direction parallel to the center axes of said one or more coils, said first air cooling channel passing cooling air therethrough so as to air-cool said one or more coils.

2. The coil device with the cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the flow-rectifying ribs each have a substantially triangular shape in a cross section taken along a direction perpendicular to the center axes of the one or more coils.

3. The coil device with the cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein a second air cooling channel is formed between an inner surface of each of said one or more coils and a surface of each of the one or more leg parts around which said one or more coils is wound, said second air cooling channel having a substantially uniform gap.

4. The coil device with the cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the coil unit is a reactor or transformer having said one or more coils respectively wound around a plurality of leg parts of the core structure.

5. The coil device with the cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the core structure further includes a pair of outermost leg parts around which no coil is wound, wherein inner side faces of the respective outermost leg parts, the flat plate portion and the flow-rectifying ribs of the flow-rectifying member form an air cooling tunnel surrounding said one or more coils at said substantially uniform gap.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a reactor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an assembly state of FIG. 1.

[0025] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] FIGS. 4A to 4C are views of an embodiment of the present invention: FIG. 4A is a partial cutout front view; FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view along line A-A in FIG. 4A; and FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view along line B-B in FIG. 4A.

[0027] FIGS. 5A to 5C are views of a core-type reactor described in Patent Document 1: FIG. 5A is a plan view; FIG. 5B is a front view; and FIG. 5C is right side view.

[0028] FIG. 6 is a plan view for describing the cooling effect of the reactor in FIGS. 5A to 5C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0029] An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is the present invention as applied to a shell-type reactor, which is a coil unit; FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the reactor, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the assembly state.

[0030] In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference number 10 is the shell-type reactor, which is the coil unit of a coil device, and this shell-type reactor has three phase coils 11, 12, and 13 and a core structure 14 in which these coils 11, 12, and 13 are wound. The core structure 14 of the coil device has three leg parts respectively disposed in the centers of the coils 11, 12, and 13, and two leg parts disposed outside the coils 11 and 13.

[0031] Reference number 16 is an output conductor for connecting the coils 11, 12, and 13 to an external conductor (not shown).

[0032] Furthermore, reference numbers 50A and 50B are flow-rectifying members attached from both sides of the coils 11, 12, and 13 so as to sandwich the coils 11, 12, and 13. These flow-rectifying members 50A and 50B include a rectangular flat plate portion 51 covering the side faces of the coils 11, 12, and 13, fixing ends 52 formed on both ends of the flat plate portion, and flow-rectifying ribs 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d formed on the inner surface of the flat plate portion 51 (i.e., on the surface of the flat plate portion facing the coils 11, 12, and 13).

[0033] As shown in FIG. 2, the flow-rectifying ribs 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d are formed to have an approximately triangular cross section so as to face the corner portions 15a, 15b, 15c, and 15d of the outer peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, and 13 while maintaining a uniform gap therebetween. These flow-rectifying ribs 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d are protrusion-shaped members that are parallel to the center axes of the coils 11, 12, and 13 and longer than the axial direction length of the coils 11, 12, and 13.

[0034] The flow-rectifying members 50A and 50B containing the flow-rectifying ribs 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d are each entirely and integrally fabricated of a resin or metal material.

[0035] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a reactor formed by combining the reactor 10 and the flow-rectifying members 50A and 50B. The flow-rectifying members 50A and 50B are attached to the outer leg parts 14a and 14e of the core structure 14 on both sides of the reactor 10 by an adhesive, spot welding, or the like.

[0036] FIG. 4A is front view in which a portion of the flat plate portion 51 of the flow-rectifying member 50B has been cut out, FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view along line B-B. Hatching to indicate a cross section has been omitted for convenience.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 4B, gaps that will serve as first cooling air channels 17 (or tunnels; the shaded portions) are maintained between the coils 11, 12, and 13, between the outer leg part 14a and the outer peripheral surface of the coil 11, and between the outer leg part 14e and the outer peripheral surface of the coil 13. In FIG. 4B, the reference numbers 14b, 14c, and 14d are each leg parts around which the coils 11, 12, and 13 are wound.

[0038] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, when cooling air generated by a cooling fan etc. (not shown) is supplied from below the reactor, the resulting airflow passes through the cooling air channels 17 formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, & 13 and flows towards the output conductors 16.

[0039] In the present embodiment, the flow-rectifying members 50A and 50B, which include the flat plate portions 51 and flow-rectifying ribs 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d, are attached between the leg parts 14a and 14e and sandwich the coils 11, 12, and 13 from both sides. As shown in FIG. 4B, this forms the first cooling air channels 17 on the outer peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, and 13 at generally uniform widths along the direction perpendicular to the center axes of the coils. As a result, the resistances of the flow channels around the coils 11, 12, and 13 become generally uniform, and the cooling air passes evenly across the outer peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, and 13; thus, the coils 11, 12, and 13 can each be uniformly cooled from outside.

[0040] Furthermore, by forming second cooling air channels 18 (or tunnels) between the inner peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, & 13 and the outer peripheral surfaces of the leg parts 14b, 14c, and 14d at generally uniform widths along the direction perpendicular to the center axes of the coils 11, 12, and 13, it is possible to cool the inner peripheral surfaces of the coils 11, 12, & 13 and the outer peripheral surfaces of the leg parts 14b, 14c, and 14d.

[0041] In other words, the first cooling air channels 17 and the second cooling air channels 18 cool the coils 11, 12, & 13 from inside and outside and can uniformly cool the leg parts 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d, and 14e.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0042] The present invention is applicable as a cooling structure for various types of single-phase, multi-phase, core-type, or shell-type coil units having coils and a core structure, such as a transformer, reactor, or the like.

[0043] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. In particular, it is explicitly contemplated that any part or whole of any two or more of the embodiments and their modifications described above can be combined and regarded within the scope of the present invention.