Short-circuit detector and power converter

A power converter supplying power to a load through a plurality of arms, each including a semiconductor switch, the power converter comprising:

• a first Rogowski coil configured to generate a first detection signal in accordance with a load short-circuit current, the load short-circuit current being a current that flows through a first arm from among a plurality of arms due to a short circuit in the load;
• a second Rogowski coil configured to generate a second detection signal in accordance with an arm short-circuit current, the arm short-circuit current being a current that flows through the first arm due to:
• a short circuit in the first arm;
• or
• a short circuit in a second arm from among the plurality of arms;
• a load short-circuit detection circuit configured to detect the short circuit in the load, based on the first detection signal;
• an arm short-circuit detection circuit configured to detect the short circuit in the first arm or the short circuit in the second arm, based on the second detection signal;
• a short-circuit detection circuit configured to detect a short-circuit, based on:
• an output signal output from the load short-circuit detection circuit;
• and
• an output signal output from the arm short-circuit detection circuit;
• and
• a gate drive circuit configured to stop driving a semiconductor switch included in the first arm, based on a short-circuit detection signal output from the short-circuit detection circuit.

A power converter for supplying power to a load through a plurality of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) arms, each including a semiconductor switch, the power converter comprising:

• a plurality of Q (Q is a positive integer that is less than P) short-circuit detector that correspond to respective ones of a plurality of Q arms from among the plurality of P arms,
• wherein each of the plurality of Q short-circuit detectors is configured to:
• include a first Rogowski coil that is configured to output a first detection signal in accordance with a current flowing through a corresponding arm due to a short circuit in the load, and
• detect a short circuit based on the first detection signal.

A power converter for supplying power to a load through an arm including a semiconductor switch, the power converter comprising:

• a first Rogowski coil that is configured to output a first detection signal in accordance with a current flowing through the arm due to a short circuit in the load;
• a second Rogowski coil that is configured to output a second detection signal in accordance with a current flowing through the arm due to a short circuit in a diode connected in series to the arm;
• and
• a short-circuit detector configured to detect a short circuit based on the first detection signal or the second detection signal.