Abstract
In a method for controlling a plurality of semiconductors that form a power converter, a protocol for controlling the plurality of semiconductors is transmitted via a signal line between a control unit and the semiconductors. Additionally transmitted via the signal line is a sign-of-life signal, wherein the semiconductors are switched off, when the sign-of-life signal is absent, and the semiconductors of the power converter are switched using optimized pulse patterns.
Claims
1.-14. (canceled)
15. A method, comprising: transmitting a protocol for controlling a plurality of semiconductors that form a power converter via a signal line between a control unit and the semiconductors; additionally transmitting a sign-of-life signal via the signal one; switching off the semiconductors, when the sign-of-life signal is absent; and switching the semiconductors of the power converter using optimized pulse patterns.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising switching off a transmission of the sign-of-life signal by the control unit for initiating a protective intervention.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the sign-of-life signal is transmitted cyclically or permanently.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the sign-of-life signal is transmitted as a Manchester code.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein the signal line is embodied as an optical waveguide and/or bus system.
20. A semiconductor circuit, comprising: a plurality of semiconductors configured to form a power converter; driver circuits operably connected to the plurality of semiconductors in one-to one correspondence; a control unit; a signal line arranged between the control unit and the plurality of semiconductors for transmitting a protocol for controlling the plurality of semiconductors and for additionally transmitting a sign-of-life signal, wherein the driver circuits are designed to switch off the semiconductors, when the sign-of-life signal is absent, and wherein the semiconductors of the power converter are switched by optimized pulse patterns.
21. The semiconductor circuit of claim 20, wherein the signal line is embodied as an optical waveguide and/or bus system.
22. The semiconductor circuit of claim 20, wherein the sign-of-life signal is transmitted as a Manchester code.
23. A power converter, comprising a semiconductor circuit, said semiconductor circuit comprising a plurality of semiconductors, with the semiconductors or at least part of the semiconductors being arranged in a bridge circuit, driver circuits operably connected to the plurality of semiconductors in one-to one correspondence, a control unit, a signal line arranged between the control unit and the semiconductors for transmitting a protocol for controlling the semiconductors and for further transmitting a sign-of-life signal, wherein the driver circuits are designed to switch off the semiconductors, when the sign-of-life signal is absent, wherein the semiconductors of the power converter are switched by optimized pulse patterns.
24. The power converter of claim 23, constructed in the form of a modular power converter, said modular power converter comprising at least two power converter modules, said control unit embodied to control at least two of the at least two power converter modules.
25. The power converter of claim 24, wherein the power converter modules are arranged in a series circuit.
26. The power converter of claim 24, wherein the power converter modules are arranged galvanically separated from one another.
27. A vehicle, comprising a power converter as set forth in claim 23.
28. A wind turbine, comprising a power converter as set forth in claim 23.
Description
[0018] The invention is described and explained in more detail below on the basis of the exemplary embodiments shown in the figures, in which:
[0019] FIG. 1 shows the design of the semiconductor circuit,
[0020] FIG. 2 shows the response over time when transmitting a protective intervention without a sign-of-life signal,
[0021] FIG. 3 shows the response over time when transmitting a protective intervention with a sign-of-life signal,
[0022] FIG. 4 shows a vehicle with a semiconductor circuit of this type,
[0023] FIG. 5 shows a wind turbine with a semiconductor circuit of this type,
[0024] FIG. 6 shows a modular power converter with a series circuit of power converter modules, and
[0025] FIG. 7 shows a modular power converter with redundantly arranged power converter modules.
[0026] FIG. 1 shows the design of a semiconductor circuit 5. This has a control unit 2 and a plurality of semiconductors 1. The control unit 2 is connected to the semiconductors 1 by way of a signal line 3. Control signals 13, i.e. switching information for the individual semiconductors 1, are transmitted to the semiconductors 1 by way of the signal line 3. These signals are received in a driver circuit 5 and converted into control pulses for the switching element of the semiconductor 1. In order to avoid a separate line for each semiconductor 1, the control signals 13 are transmitted bundled into a protocol 11 by way of just one signal line 3. The representation of the control signals 13 and the protocol 11 is carried out with the reference characters in the following figures. The signal line 3 can be an optical waveguide line or a copper line, for instance. With a copper line, a line pair is advantageously to be provided in each case, so that the reciprocating current can flow, or a defined voltage is applied between the two potentials of the line pair. A converter is present in order to separate the signals, i.e. the protocol 11, into the individual semiconductors 1, preferably in the spatial vicinity of the semiconductors 1. This can also convert an optical signal into an electrical signal, for instance. Similarly, but not necessarily, an evaluation of the protocol 11 can already take place at least partially in the converter 10.
[0027] FIG. 2 shows the temporal course of the effect of the signal transmission from the control unit 2 to the semiconductors 1. Provided the operating signal 14 is present, in this example shown as a high level, the control unit 2 sends protocols 11 with the information relating to the switching operations by way of the signal line 3 to the driver circuit 4 of the semiconductors 1. The driver circuit 4 evaluates these and converts them into control signals 13 for the switching element of the respective semiconductor 1, in this case three semiconductors 1. If the semiconductors 1 are now all to be switched off at the point in time indicated with the flash, as a result for instance of an operational requirement or on account of a protective response, this information is therefore recorded in the protocol 11. These protocols 11 are shown as dark. It can however initially be completely recorded in the first protocol 11 that the requirement to switch off follows. It is only after evaluating the corresponding protocol by means of the driver circuit that this information is executed on the control signals 13 for the switching elements of the semiconductors 1. A duration Δt.sub.1 from starting the switch-off until its execution therefore results for the switching-off of the semiconductors 1, in particular for a corresponding protective response. This lies in the order of magnitude of up to two protocol lengths and typically corresponds to a duration of 5 μs to 10 μs.
[0028] FIG. 3 shows a similar course, which results with the use of a sign-of-life signal 12. In order to avoid repetitions, reference is made to the description relating to FIG. 2 and to the reference characters cited there. Here, too, the operating signal 14 identifies the point in time relating to the requirement to switch off the semiconductors 1. At this point in time, the sign-of-life signal 12 is switched off. The sign-of-life signal is, as shown by the rectangular signal, part of the protocol 11. The protocols 11 are not only evaluated after a complete transmission, as shown by the thick arrows, but instead monitored continuously or in brief time intervals of less than 1 μs, particularly advantageously in the order of magnitude of 100 ns, for the presence of the sign-of-life signal 12. Once it is no longer present in the protocol, i.e. if the sign-of-life signal is absent, the semiconductors 1 are switched off directly. This results in a response time Δt.sub.2, which lies in the order of magnitude of the time intervals while monitoring the sign-of-life signal. In order to ensure a particularly safe and reliable switch-off, it is also only possible to perform a switch-off when two or generally one previously defined number of switching edges are absent. Therefore errors in the signal transmission do not result in an unintentional switching-off of the semiconductors 1 of the semiconductor circuit 5. A response time Δt.sub.2 of approx. 200 ns can be realized with this sign-of-life signal 12. The semiconductor circuit 5 or a power converter 20 can therefore be reliably protected against high currents, which may develop in the event of an error, by the semiconductors only being switched off with a minimal time delay.
[0029] From this time sequence, it is easy to identify that this method is particularly advantageous for the use of optimized pulse patterns, since for this case future switching information is already calculated in advance by the control unit 2 and is available in the control unit 2. This can then already be recorded in the protocol 11 by means of the control unit 2 at a point in time before executing the switching operation. After transmission, this information is then promptly provided in the driver circuit 4, in order to be able to be implemented on the semiconductors 1 of a power converter 20, 21, for instance.
[0030] FIG. 4 shows a vehicle 30, in this example a bus, but could also involve an automobile, truck or a rail vehicle, for instance. This vehicle 30 has a power converter 20 with a previously described semiconductor circuit 5. Here the power converter 20 supplies the motors of the vehicle 30 and can control or regulate the acceleration or slowing down of the vehicle 30. For safety reasons a vehicle 30 requires a switch-off of the semiconductors 1 to be carried out rapidly and above all reliably. Damage to the power converter 20 on account of excessively large currents in the case of an error must be avoided, so that a high reliability and availability of the vehicle 30 are reached and a breakdown of the vehicle 30 can be avoided.
[0031] FIG. 5 shows a wind turbine 40 for obtaining electrical energy from wind. This energy is taken from the wind by way of rotor blades and converted by way of a power converter 20 with one or more semiconductor circuits 5 so that this can be fed into a power supply network 41. In order also here to ensure a reliable operation of the power converter 20, it has proven advantageous to equip this wind turbine 40 with a previously described semiconductor circuit 5. This ensures a rapid switching-off of the semiconductors 1, not shown in more detail here, and avoids damage or destruction of the semiconductors 1 as a result of excessively large currents particularly in the case of error.
[0032] FIG. 6 shows a cutout of a semiconductor circuit 5, with which the semiconductor circuit 5 forms a modular power converter 21. In order to improve clarity, the available semiconductors 1 are provided here only partially with the reference character. In the example shown the modular power converter 21 is an M2C power converter (modular multilevel converter). This has a plurality of power converter modules 22, which are arranged in a series circuit. The semiconductors 1 are therefore located on a different electrical potential. In order to bridge this potential difference, the use of optical waveguides is particularly advantageous, since these can also be reliably and confidently applied to controlling semiconductors 1, for instance of a power converter 20, 21, by means of the proposed method. At the same time, a rapid switching-off of the semiconductors 1 of the power converter is possible for a protective intervention by removing the operating signal and thus by omitting or switching-off of the sign-of-life signal 12.
[0033] FIG. 7 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a modular power converter, in which the two power converter modules 22 are separated galvanically by way of the secondary winding of a transformer 51. Here, too, the available semiconductors 1 are only provided partially with their reference characters in order to increase the clarity of the representation. The motors 50, as examples of an electrical load, can be operated redundantly with this arrangement. In other words, failure of a power converter module 22 only results in failure of one of the motors 50. To ensure that an error in a power converter module 22 does not have an impact on the other power converter module 22, the control of the semiconductors 1 is to take place free of potential, such as is possible with optical waveguides, for instance. A loss of potential from one power converter module 22 to the other power converter module 22 can therefore be reliably ruled out. This achieves a higher availability and reliability of the power converter.
[0034] In summary, the invention relates to a method for controlling a plurality of semiconductors by means of a control unit, wherein a signal line is arranged between the control unit and the semiconductors, wherein a protocol for controlling the semiconductors is transmitted by way of the signal line. In order to improve the transmission of signals from the control unit to the power converter with respect to the transmission reliability, it is proposed that a sign-of-life signal is additionally transmitted by way of the signal line, wherein the semiconductors are switched off if the sign-of-life signal is absent. The invention further relates to a semiconductor circuit, having a plurality of semiconductors with in each case a driver circuit and a control unit, wherein a signal line is arranged between the control unit and the semiconductors, wherein a protocol for controlling the semiconductors can be transmitted by way of the signal line, wherein a sign-of-life signal can additionally be transmitted by way of the signal line, wherein in the absence of the sign-of-life signal the semiconductors can be switched off by means of the respective driver circuit. The invention further relates to a power converter with a semiconductor circuit of this type, wherein the semiconductor or at least one part of the semiconductors are arranged in a bridge circuit.
[0035] In other words, the invention relates to a semiconductor circuit, having a plurality of semiconductors with in each case a driver circuit and a control unit, wherein a signal line is arranged between the control unit and the semiconductors, wherein the signal line is designed to transmit a protocol for the control of the semiconductors, wherein the signal line is additionally designed to transmit a sign-of-life signal, wherein the driver circuit is designed so that the semiconductors are switched off by means of the respective driver circuit if the sign-of-life signal is absent. The invention further relates to a power converter, in particular a modular power converter, a vehicle and a wind turbine with a power converter of this type.
