# US 8,274,768 B2 · Inverter device

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- Number: US 8,274,768 B2
- Document ID: US8274768B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 12/801,379
- Filed: 2010-06-07
- Published: 2010-12-09
- Granted: 2012-09-25
- Earliest claimed: 2009-06-08
- Assignees: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Kenichiro Ueki; Takao Ichihara
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8274768B2

## CPC

- H02M 1/08: Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters
- H02M 1/32: Means for protecting converters other than automatic disconnection
- H02M: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF (transformers H01F; dynamo-electric converters H02K47/00; controlling transformers, reactors or choke coils, control or regulation of electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters H02P)

## Abstract

The inverter device includes an IGBT bridge circuit, a drive block which has an upper arm photocoupler and a lower arm photocoupler, and a control block including a CPU which generates gate signals and supplies them to the photocouplers. The control block includes an upper arm shutdown circuit and lower arm shutdown circuit which individually shutdown the gate signals of the upper arm and lower arm IGBTs in accordance with shutdown signals input from the exterior, and the shutdown circuits carry out a shutdown operation in accordance with the shutdown signals, which have mutually inverted logics.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An inverter device, comprising:
a bridge circuit formed of a plurality of bridge-connected semiconductor switching elements having upper and lower arm semiconductor switching elements;
a drive block having an upper arm photocoupler and a lower arm photocoupler which output drive signals for turning on and off the upper arm semiconductor switching elements and the lower arm semiconductor switching elements of the bridge circuit, respectively; and
a control block including a drive signal generating circuit which generates the drive signals and supplies them to the upper arm photocoupler and the lower arm photocoupler,
wherein the control block includes an upper arm shutdown circuit and a lower arm shutdown circuit which individually shutdown the drive signals of the upper arm semiconductor switching elements and the drive signals of the lower arm semiconductor switching elements in accordance with shutdown signals inputted from an exterior, and
the upper arm shutdown circuit and the lower arm shutdown circuit carry out a shutdown operation in accordance with the shutdown signals, which have mutually inverted logics.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The inverter device according to claim 1, wherein the upper arm shutdown circuit and the lower arm shutdown circuit are connected between the drive signal generating circuit and the upper arm photocoupler and the lower arm photocoupler.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The inverter device according to claim 2, further comprising a failure detection circuit connected at an output side of the upper arm shutdown circuit and the lower arm shutdown circuit, and an output signal of the failure detection circuit is fed back to the drive signal generating circuit.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The inverter device according to claim 3, wherein the drive signal generating circuit outputs to the exterior a failure detection signal generated based on the output signal of the failure detection circuit.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The inverter device according to claim 3, wherein the failure detection circuit includes a wired OR circuit connected between the output side of the upper arm shutdown circuit and the lower arm shutdown circuit and a direct current power source, and an output signal of the wired OR circuit is fed back to the drive signal generating circuit.