Method and a device for determining a switching current of a converter of a system for inductive power transfer and a method of control

1. A method for operating a switching element of a converter of a system for inductive power transfer, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

determining a phase current value of at least one AC phase line of the converter;

determining at least one switching time point of the at least one switching element and the phase current value at said switching time point, wherein the switching time point is a point in time at which the at least one switching element changes from a non-conductive state to a conductive state or from the conductive state to the non-conductive state;

determining a value of switching current of the at least one switching element depending on the phase current value; and

controlling the at least one switching element based on the determined value of switching current of the at least one switching element such that the switching current of the at least one switching element is positive when the at least one switching element changes from the non-conductive state to the conductive state and negative when the at least one switching element changes from the conductive state to the non-conductive state.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the phase current value is measured by a current sensor.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a bandwidth of the current sensor is higher than 150 kHz.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the phase current value is digitized by an A/D converter, and wherein a bandwidth of the A/D converter is smaller than the bandwidth of the current sensor.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the current sensor comprises a Rogowski coil or a current transformer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a phase voltage change over time is determined, and wherein the phase current value is determined depending on the phase voltage change.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a set of at least two successive switching time points of the at least one switching element and at least two phase current values at said at least two successive switching time points is determined, and wherein the at least one switching current is determined depending on the at least two phase current values.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a first switching time point is determined depending on a first time point of a switch signal generation, wherein at least one further switching time point is determined depending on a further time point of a switch signal generation, and wherein a time difference between the at least one further switching time point and the further time point of a switch signal generation is different from the time difference between the first switching time point and the first time point of a switch signal generation.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the time difference between a switching time point and the time point of a switch signal generation increases for successively determined switching time points.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein successive switching time points are determined by adding an increasing offset value to each of successively determined time points of a switch signal generation.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the switching current is determined as the local maximum of the course of phase current values for the varying time differences.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein a predetermined number of successive switching time points are determined and/or all switching time points in a time interval of a predetermined length are determined.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first switching element voltage across a first switching element in one leg of the converter and a second switching element voltage across a second switching element in said leg of the converter are determined, wherein the first and the second switching element voltages provide input values of a XOR operation, wherein the switching time point is determined as the time point at which the output value of the XOR operation changes to a logic “1” signal, and wherein the switching current is determined as the phase current value at said switching time point.

14. A device for operating a switching element of a converter of a system for inductive power transfer, wherein the device comprises:

at least one means for determining at least one phase current value of at least one AC phase line of the converter; and

at least one evaluation means;

wherein the at least one phase current value of at least one AC phase line of the converter is determinable;

wherein at least one switching time point of the at least one switching element and the at least one phase current value at said at least one switching time point is determinable,

wherein the at least one switching time point is a point in time at which the at least one switching element changes from a non-conductive state to a conductive state or from the conductive state to the non-conductive state;

wherein the at least one switching current is determinable depending on the at least one phase current value; and

wherein the device is to:

control the at least one switching element based on the at least one switching current of the at least one switching element such that the at least one switching current of the at least one switching element is positive when the at least one switching element changes from the non-conductive state to the conductive state and negative when the at least one switching element changes from the conductive state to the non-conductive state.

15. The device according to claim 14 , further comprising:

a current sensor and/or at least one means for determining a phase voltage change over time.

16. The device according to claim 14 , further comprising:

a control unit for generating switching signals for the at least one switching element.

17. The device according to claim 14 , further comprising:

at least one means for determining a first switching element voltage across a first switching element in one leg of the converter and a second switching element voltage across a second switching element in said leg of the converter.