Electronic apparatus and system and method for controlling series connected switch modules

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of switch units each comprising a plurality of series connected switch modules, each of the series connected switch modules comprising at least two parallel connected electronic switches;

a detection module configured to detect whether any electronic switch of the respective series connected switch modules has a failure, and generate one or more fault signals for identifying one or more faulty switch modules which have a failure; and

a controller configured to:

in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules, turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules when the electronic switches of other non-faulty switch modules are controlled to be turned on; and

turn off the electronic switches of the non-faulty switch modules if the total number of the fault signals is greater than the total number of redundant switch modules.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules, continuously turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of the faulty switch modules.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to continuously turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of the faulty switch modules, and turn on or off the electronic switches of other non-faulty switch modules if a total number of the fault signals from the detection modules is smaller than or equal to a total number of redundant switch modules comprised in the series connected switch modules.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to generate one or more alternative control signals for continuously turning on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules according to one or more fault signals, the apparatus further comprising a plurality of protection modules coupled between the controller and the electronic switches of the respective series connected switch modules;

wherein the protection modules are configured to maintain a voltage magnitude of the respective alternative control signals at a desired voltage magnitude, such that the alternative control signals are sufficient to continuously turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of the respective faulty switch modules.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:

control terminals of the electronic switches of each switch module are coupled to a common point which is coupled to the controller via the respective protection module.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each protection module comprises protection elements coupled between the controller and the respective electronic switches of the corresponding switch module;

the protection elements of each protection module are configured to limit currents flowed from the controller to the respective faulty electronic switches of the corresponding switch module.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein each of the protection elements comprises a fuse element or a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistor.

8. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the protection elements of each switch module are impedances of high enough value, such that a short circuit occurred on a control terminal of any one of the electronic switches of a respective switch module does not degrade the control signal magnitude on the control terminal of any other electronic switch of the respective switch module to be below a minimum value that is needed to turn on the electronic switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the protection elements of each protection module are independent driver stages that generate separate control signals for continuously turning on the respective electronic switches of a corresponding switch module, the independent driver stages of each protection module are designed such that a short circuit occurred on a control terminal of any one of the electronic switches of the respective switch module does not degrade the control signal magnitude on the control terminal of any other electronic switch of the corresponding switch module to be below a minimum value that is needed to turn on the electronic switch.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the series connected switch modules comprises three parallel connected flat-pack IGBTs or MOSFETs.

11. A method for controlling a plurality of series connected switch modules each comprising at least two parallel connected electronic switches, the method comprising:

detecting a switch failure via a detection module which is (i) coupled with the plurality of series connected switch modules and (ii) configured to detect whether any electronic switch of the respective series connected switch modules has a failure;

in response to a detection of a failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules:

turning on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules when the electronic switches of other non-faulty switch modules are controlled to be turned on; and

turning off the electronic switches of the non-faulty switch modules if the total number of the fault signals is greater than the total number of redundant switch modules.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules, continuously turning on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising

generating one or more fault signals for identifying one or more faulty switch modules if any electronic switch of one or more switch modules has failure.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

using a controller to generate one or more alternative control signals for continuously turning on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules according to one or more fault signals;

using each of the protection modules to maintain a voltage magnitude of the respective alternative control signal at a desired voltage magnitude, such that one or more alternative control signals are sufficient to turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules;

wherein the protection modules are coupled between the controller and the electronic switches of the respective series connected switch modules.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein each protection module comprises protection elements coupled between the controller and the respective electronic switches of the corresponding switch module, the method further comprising:

using the protection elements of each protection module to limit currents flowed from the controller to the respective faulty electronic switches of the corresponding switch module.

16. A system for controlling a plurality of series connected switch modules each comprising at least two parallel connected electronic switches, the system comprising:

a detection module configured to detect whether any electronic switch of the respective series connected switch modules has a failure, and generate one or more fault signals for identifying one or more faulty switch modules which have a failure; and

a controller configured to, in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules:

turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules when the electronic switches of other non-faulty switch modules are controlled to be turned on; and

turn off the electronic switches of the non-faulty switch modules if the total number of the fault signals is greater than the total number of redundant switch modules.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules, continuously turn on any non-faulty electronic switch of the faulty switch modules.