GTO module with piggyback bypass diode
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRonald B. Bailey, Stephen T. Radack
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power supply has a stack formed by a first bus plate, a gate take off (GTO) thyristor, a second bus plate, a bypass diode and a third bus plate all mounted to a heat sink by a single clamp, with the anode of the thyristor closest to the heat sink. Preferably, the bus plates are sized and of a material to provide local thermal storage. The heat sink then can be sized to handle only the average heat dissipation requirements, rather than the peak requirements, and the total power supply can be very compact.
Claims17
A structure for mounting a power supply, the power supply having a thyristor with a first face and a second face opposite from the first face, and a bypass diode with a first face and a second face opposite from the first face, the structure comprising:
- a heat sink;
- a first bus plate having a first face contiguous to and thermally connected to the heat sink, and a second face opposite from the first face and engaging the thyristor first face;
- a second bus plate having a first face operatively contacting the thyristor second face, and a second face opposite from the second face and engaging the bypass diode first face;
- a third bus plate having a first face operatively contacting the second face of the bypass diode second face, and a second face opposite from the first face;
- and
- clamp means, operatively connected to the heat sink, for connecting the bus plate, the thyristor, the second bus plate, the bypass diode and the third bus plate to the heat sink, wherein at least one of the bus plates has a size and consists of a material sufficient to provide local thermal storage to allow the heat sink to be only of a size suitable to dissipate the average heat flow through the power supply.
A power supply for operatively connecting at least one AC line in and at least one DC line out, the power supply comprising:
- a heat sink;
- a first bus plate having a first face contiguous to and thermally connected to the heat sink and a second face opposite from the first face, the first bus plate being electrically connected to one of the AC line in and one of the DC line out;
- a gate turn off thyristor having a first face operatively connecting the first bus plate second face, and a second face opposite from the first face, the anode of the thyristor being electrically connected to the first bus plate;
- a second bus plate having a first face operatively connecting the thyristor second face and a second face opposite from the first face, the second bus plate being electrically connected to the cathode of the thyristor and to another at the AC line in and the DC line out;
- a bypass diode having a first face operatively connecting the second bus plate second face and a second face opposite from the first face, the anode of the bypass diode being electrically connected to the second bus plate;
- a third bus plate having a first face operatively connecting the bypass diode second face and a second face opposite from the first face, the third bus plate being electrically connected to the cathode of the bypass diode and to the first bus plate;
- clamping means, mounted to the heat sink, for clamping a stack formed by the first bus plate, the thyristor, the second bus plate, the bypass diode, and the third bus plate to the heat sink;
- a snubber diode having its anode electrically connected to the AC line in when the third bus plate is connected to the AC line in and its cathode connected to the AC line in when the second bus plate is connected to the AC line in;
- snubber diode support means for holding the snubber diode adjacent to the clamping means;
- a snubber capacitor connected between the DC line out and the one of the anode and cathode of the snubber diode which is not connected to the AC line in;
- and
- snubber capacitor support means for holding the snubber capacitor adjacent to the clamping means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.