Motor driving apparatus including life determining unit of direct-current capacitor

1. A motor driving apparatus comprising: a converter converting, into a direct-current power, an alternating-current power supplied from an alternating-current power source side; at least two direct-current capacitors provided in a direct-current link being a direct-current side of the converter and mutually connected in parallel; and at least two inverters respectively connected in parallel with the direct-current capacitors, and converting a direct-current power in the direct-current link into an alternating-current power being a driving power of a motor, the motor driving apparatus characterized by comprising:

a voltage detecting unit for detecting a voltage for each of the direct-current capacitors;

a current detecting unit for, for each of the inverters, detecting a current either inputted to or outputted from the inverter;

a commanding unit for outputting power-converting command to the inverters to command conversion of the direct-current power in the direct-current link into an alternating-current power, after the direct-current capacitors are charged as well as supply of direct-current power from the alternating-current power source side to the converter is shut off;

a current integrating unit for integrating a current of each of the inverters detected by the current detecting unit while the commanding unit is outputting the power-converting commands, and outputting 30 the result as a current integration value for each of the inverters;

a capacity estimating unit for calculating an estimated capacity for each of the direct-current capacitors, based on the current integration value corresponding to the inverter corresponding to the direct-current capacitor and a voltage of the direct-current capacitor detected by the voltage detecting unit after supply of the direct-current power to the converter is shut off and before the commanding unit outputs the power-converting commands; and

a life determining unit for each of the direct-current capacitors, determining whether the direct-current capacitor is at the end of its life based on an initial capacity value of the direct-current capacitor still unused measured in advance and the estimated capacity of the direct-current capacitor calculated by the capacity estimating unit.

2. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the life determining unit determines that the direct-current capacitor is at the end of its life, when a ratio of the estimated capacity to the initial capacity is equal to or smaller than a pre-set standard ratio.

3. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the life determining unit determines that the direct-current capacitor is at the end of its life, when the estimated capacity is equal to or smaller than a value obtained by multiplying the initial capacity by a pre-set standard ratio.

4. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein

the current detecting unit detects a current outputted from the inverters for each of the inverters, and

the power-converting commands outputted from the commanding unit command conversion of a direct-current power in the direct-current link to a reactive power.

5. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:

a standard-ratio setting unit for setting the standard ratio.

6. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:

an alarm signal outputting unit for outputting an alarm signal when the life determining unit has determined that the direct-current capacitor is at the end of its life.

7. The motor driving apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

an initial capacity storage unit having stored therein an initial capacity value of the direct-current capacitor still unused measured in advance.