Power converter comprising an architecture having nonaligned arms
The invention mainly provides a power converter ( 3 ) including a positive converter bridge (P+) and a negative converter bridge (P−), the converter bridges being of the diode bridge type and being connected in parallel, each converter bridge including a first series of arms of components connected to the phases of the first secondary of the transformer ( 2 ) and a second series of arms of components connected to the phases of the second secondary of the transformer ( 2 ), said power converter being characterized in that at least one series of arms of components includes arms (B 1 , B 2 , B 3 ) disposed relative to one another in such a manner as not to be aligned in the same plane.
1. A power converter including:
a positive converter bridge to be connected to phases of a first secondary and to phases of a second secondary of a transformer;
a negative converter bridge to be connected to the phases of the first secondary and to the phases of the second secondary of the transformer;
the positive converter bridge and the negative converter bridge being of a diode bridge type and being connected in parallel;
the positive converter bridge and the negative converter bridge including a first subset of arms of components connected to the phases of the first secondary of the transformer and a second subset of arms of components connected to the phases of the second secondary of the transformer;
wherein at least one subset of arms of the components includes arms disposed relative to one another in such a manner as not to be aligned in a same plane, and wherein, when observed in cross-section, the arms of said at least one subset of arms of components define vertices of a polygon; and
wherein at least a first subset of the arms includes arms aligned in a first plane, and at least a second subset of the arms includes arms aligned in a second plane, the first plane intersecting the second plane.
2. A power converter according to claim 1 , being a high-power rectifier for electrolysis.
3. A power converter according to claim 1 , being a twelve-phase power converter and wherein the positive converter bridge and the negative converter bridge each include six arms of semiconductor components comprising a first subset of three arms connected to the phases of the first secondary of the transformer and a second subset of three arms connected to the phases of the second secondary of the transformer.
4. A power converter according to claim 1 , wherein, when observed in cross-section, the arms of said at least one subset of arms of components define the vertices of a triangle.
5. A power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the maximum value for the imbalance in current in any given arm of the positive converter bridge and/or of the negative converter bridge is less than or equal to 15%, this maximum value being determined by the following formula:
dI
max
=
100
×
I
max
of
a
component
in
the
arm
-
Imean
of
all
of
the
components
in
the
arm
Imean
of
all
of
the
components
in
the
arm
.
6. A power converter according to claim 1 , wherein each arm of the positive converter bridge and/or of the negative converter bridge is connected in parallel to a plurality of diodes and/or thyristors, each diode or thyristor being connected in series with a fuse.
7. A power converter according to claim 1 , wherein a distance between two consecutive arms of said at least one subset of arms of components is greater than a distance that would exist between said two consecutive arms in any configuration in which the arms of said at least one subset of arms of components are disposed relative to one another in such a manner as to be aligned in the same plane.
8. A power converter according to claim 1 , wherein a first arm and a third arm are situated on either side of a second arm of said at least one set, and a distance between the first arm and the third arm is less than the distance that would exist between said first arm and said third arm in any configuration in which the first, second, and third arms of said subset of arms of components are disposed relative to one another in such a manner as to be aligned in the same plane.
9. A high-power converter circuit, including
the transformer including the first secondary and the second secondary; and
the power converter according to claim 1 .