Adjustable speed drive with integrated solid-state circuit breaker and method of operation thereof

A method of providing circuit breaking in a power conversion circuit, the method comprising:

• receiving an AC power at an input of the power conversion circuit;
• measuring or determining, via a detection circuit and logic circuit of the power conversion circuit, one or more current and voltage parameters of power provided to the power conversion circuit or present in the power conversion circuit;
• comparing, via the detection circuit or logic circuit, the one or more current and voltage parameters to one or more respective current and voltage thresholds;
• identifying, via the logic circuit, a fault condition in the power conversion circuit if the one or more measured or determined current and voltage parameters exceed the one or more respective current and voltage thresholds;
• and
• controlling, via the logic circuit, a solid-state circuit breaker integrated into the power conversion circuit to interrupt current flow through the power conversion circuit upon identification of the fault condition;
• wherein controlling the solid-state circuit breaker comprises controlling switching of a plurality of solid-state switches included in switching units positioned on a plurality of phase legs of a rectifier bridge of the power conversion circuit.

An adjustable speed drive (ASD) circuit comprising:

• an input connectable to an AC source;
• a rectifier bridge with integrated solid-state circuit breaker connected to the input to convert an AC power input to a DC power;
• a DC link coupled to the rectifier bridge to receive a DC link voltage therefrom;
• a detection circuit configured to measure or determine at least one of a voltage value and a current value at one or more locations in the ASD circuit;
• and
• a logic circuit operably connected to the detection circuit and configured to:
• receive an input signal from the detection circuit comprising the at least one of the voltage value and the current value measured or determined thereby;
• compare the at least one of the voltage value and the current value to one or more voltage or current thresholds;
• and
• identify a fault condition in the ASD circuit if the at least one of the voltage value and the current value crosses a respective one of the one or more voltage or current thresholds;
• wherein the rectifier bridge with integrated solid-state circuit breaker comprises a plurality of phase legs each including thereon an upper switching unit and a lower switching unit;
• and
• wherein at least one of the upper and lower switching units on each phase leg is configured to control current and withstand voltage in both directions and allow for the selective interruption of current flow through the respective switching unit.