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US 12,676,469 B2Granted
Short-circuit detection device
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics International N.V.
InventorsGhafour Benabdelaziz, Jean Pierre Proot
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a short-circuit detection device in a direct current circuit, including a voltage source, a bus including at least two conducting elements each coupled to either one of the terminals of the voltage source, first and second thyristors coupled to the voltage source and to the bus, and at least one capacitive element forming a storage capacitor, whose electrodes are each coupled to either one of the conducting elements of the bus, wherein the short-circuit detection device includes at least one control circuit configured to control the biasing and the modes of operation of the first and second thyristors such that a short circuit detection phase is implemented before a pre-charge of the storage capacitor.
Claims20
A short-circuit detection device, comprising:
- a control circuit coupled to a direct current circuit, the direct current circuit including:
- a voltage source having terminals;
- a bus including at least two conducting elements, each of the at least two conducting elements coupled to either one of the terminals of the voltage source;
- first and second thyristors coupled to the voltage source and to the bus;
- and
- at least one capacitive element that forms a storage capacitor including terminals and electrodes, each of the electrodes of the storage capacitor being coupled to either one of the at least two conducting elements of the bus,
- wherein the control circuit is configured to control biasing and modes of operation of the first and second thyristors such that:
- during a detection phase of a short-circuit, the first thyristor is set to an off state and the second thyristor is reverse-biased and conducts a non-zero reverse current that charges the storage capacitor;
- and
- if a voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is lower than or equal to a short-circuit threshold value, the first and second thyristors are set to an off state, or if the voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is higher than the short-circuit threshold value, the first thyristor is set to an on state and the second thyristor is set to an off state to pre-charge the storage capacitor.
7 more elements
A system comprising:
- a direct current circuit including:
- a voltage source having terminals;
- a bus including at least two conducting elements, each of the at least two conducting elements coupled to either one of the terminals of the voltage source;
- first and second thyristors coupled to the voltage source and to the bus;
- and
- at least one capacitive element that forms a storage capacitor including terminals and electrodes, each of the electrodes of the storage capacitor being coupled to either one of the at least two conducting elements of the bus;
- and
- a short-circuit detection device including a control circuit configured to control biasing and modes of operation of the first and second thyristors such that:
- during a detection phase of a short-circuit, the first thyristor is set to an off state and the second thyristor is reverse-biased and conducts a non-zero reverse current that charges the storage capacitor;
- and
- if a voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is lower than or equal to a short-circuit threshold value, the first and second thyristors are set to an off state, or if the voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is higher than the short-circuit threshold value, the first thyristor is set to an on state and the second thyristor is set to an off state to pre-charge the storage capacitor.
8 more elements
An electrical power converter comprising:
- at least one short-circuit detection device including:
- a control circuit coupled to a direct current circuit, the direct current circuit including:
- a voltage source having terminals;
- a bus including at least two conducting elements, each of the at least two conducting elements coupled to either one of the terminals of the voltage source;
- first and second thyristors coupled to the voltage source and to the bus;
- and
- at least one capacitive element that forms a storage capacitor including terminals and electrodes, each of the electrodes of the storage capacitor being coupled to either one of the at least two conducting elements of the bus,
- wherein the control circuit is configured to control biasing and modes of operation of the first and second thyristors such that:
- during a detection phase of a short-circuit, the first thyristor is set to an off state and the second thyristor is reverse-biased and conducts a non-zero reverse current that charges the storage capacitor;
- and
- if a voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is lower than or equal to a short-circuit threshold value, the first and second thyristors are set to an off state, or if the voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor is higher than the short-circuit threshold value, the first thyristor is set to an on state and the second thyristor is set to an off state to pre-charge the storage capacitor.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.