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US 8,553,414 B2Granted
Gas cooled traction drive inverter
AssigneeUT-Battelle, LLC
InventorMadhu Sudhan Chinthavali
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a modular circuit card configuration for distributing heat among a plurality of circuit cards. Each circuit card includes a housing adapted to dissipate heat in response to gas flow over the housing. In one aspect, a gas-cooled inverter includes a plurality of inverter circuit cards, and a plurality of circuit card housings, each of which encloses one of the plurality of inverter cards.
Claims15
A gas-cooled converter comprising:
- a cylindrical housing having a central axis and a capacitor mounting surface;
- a cylindrical capacitor having a mounting surface and another surface, said another surface affixed to the capacitor mounting surface of the cylindrical housing such that the cylindrical capacitor is coaxial with the central axis;
- a plurality of converter circuit cards adapted to operate together to convert a power input to at least power output;
- and
- a plurality of circuit card housings, each of the plurality of circuit card housings enclosing one of the plurality of converter circuit cards, wherein the plurality of circuit card housings are adapted to dissipate heat from the plurality of converter circuit cards in response to gas flowing over the plurality of circuit card housings,
- wherein the plurality of circuit card housings are mounted to the mounting surface of the capacitor in a spaced apart configuration such that the plurality of circuit card housings are spaced around the mounting surface of the capacitor and each of the plurality of circuit card housings extends radially outward from the central axis.
3 more elements
A circuit component comprising:
- a cylindrical housing having a central axis and a capacitor mounting surface;
- a cylindrical capacitor having a mounting surface and another surface, said another surface affixed to the capacitor mounting surface of the cylindrical housing such that the cylindrical capacitor is coaxial with the central axis;
- a plurality of modular circuit cards adapted to form parts of a system of circuit cards, a first modular circuit card of the plurality of modular circuit cards being interchangeable with a second modular circuit card of the plurality of modular circuit cards, wherein the system of circuit cards produces an output;
- and
- a card housing supporting each of the plurality of modular circuit cards, wherein the card housing is adapted to dissipate heat from each of the plurality of modular circuit cards in response to gas flowing over the card housing,
- wherein each of the card housings is mounted to the mounting surface of the capacitor in a spaced apart configuration such that each of the card housings is spaced around the mounting surface of the capacitor and extends radially outward from the central axis.
3 more elements
A traction inverter comprising:
- a cylindrical housing having a central axis and a capacitor mounting surface;
- a cylindrical capacitor having a mounting surface and another surface, said another surface affixed to the capacitor mounting surface of the cylindrical housing such that the cylindrical capacitor is coaxial with the central axis;
- a plurality of modular inverter circuit cards adapted to operate together to supply AC power to an electric motor in a vehicle, the plurality of modular inverter cards being interchangeable with each other;
- and
- a plurality of circuit card housings having heat transfer features, each of the circuit card housings supporting one of the plurality of modular inverter circuit cards, wherein the heat transfer features are adapted to improve convective heat transfer between each of the modular inverter circuit cards and a gas coolant stream,
- wherein the plurality of circuit card housings are mounted to the mounting surface of the capacitor in a spaced apart configuration such that the plurality of circuit card housings are spaced around the mounting surface of the capacitor and each of the circuit card housings extends radially outward from the central axis, and
- wherein the gas coolant stream flows in an axial direction through the cylindrical housing and generally aligned with the central axis.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.