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US 9,320,179 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.
Claims17
A gas-cooled converter comprising:
- a plurality of converter circuit cards adapted to operate together to convert a power input to at least one power output, the plurality of converter circuit cards being in a spaced apart configuration, and the plurality of converter circuit cards being modular such that each of the plurality of converter circuit cards is interchangeable with others of the plurality of converter circuit cards;
- a plurality of gas coolant channels having a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- the plurality of gas coolant channels adapted to allow a gas to flow from the gas inlet to the gas outlet;
- and
- a plurality of circuit card housings forming part of an enclosure, the plurality of circuit card housings being stacked directly alongside one another, each of the plurality of circuit card housings enclosing one of the plurality of converter circuit cards, wherein the plurality of gas coolant channels are adapted to allow the gas to flow through the plurality of circuit card housings, wherein the plurality of circuit card housings are adapted to dissipate heat from the plurality of converter circuit cards in response to the gas flowing through the plurality of circuit card housings,
- wherein the enclosure includes a gas inlet side and a gas outlet side, wherein the plurality of gas coolant channels are fluidly separated from each other between the gas inlet side and the gas outlet side such that the gas flows through a respective one of the plurality of gas coolant channels within each of the circuit card housings from the gas inlet side to the gas outlet side.
3 more elements
A system of circuit cards in a gas-cooled inverter comprising:
- the circuit cards are in a spaced apart configuration, each of the circuit cards being a modular circuit card adapted to form a part of the system of the circuit cards in the gas-cooled inverter, and the modular circuit card being interchangeable with others of the circuit cards of the system, wherein the system of circuit cards produces an output;
- and
- a plurality of card housings forming part of an enclosure, the plurality of card housings being stacked directly alongside one another, each of the card housings supporting the modular circuit card, wherein the plurality of card housings are adapted to dissipate heat from the modular circuit cards in response to gas flowing through each of the plurality of card housings.
A traction inverter comprising:
- 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 circuit cards being in a spaced apart configuration, and the plurality of modular inverter cards being interchangeable with each other;
- a plurality of gas coolant channels having a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- and
- a plurality of circuit card housings forming part of an enclosure, the plurality of circuit card housings being stacked directly alongside one another, the plurality of circuit card housings each having at least one heat transfer feature, each of the circuit card housings supporting one of the plurality of modular inverter circuit cards, wherein the plurality of gas coolant channels are adapted to allow gas to flow through a respective one of the plurality of circuit card housings, wherein the at least one heat transfer feature is adapted to improve convective heat transfer between each of the modular inverter circuit cards and a gas coolant stream flowing through a corresponding one of the plurality of gas coolant channels.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.