POWER CONVERTER

摘要

In a power converter using a semiconductor switching element, the semiconductor switching element generates a surge voltage when the element is turned off due to the wiring inductances which are parasitic on wiring conductors connecting circuit components to each other. Therefore, it is required to add a large-capacitance capacitor to the power converter so as to absorb the surge voltage. In order to eliminate the need of the large-capacitance capacitor, a self-arc-extinguishing semiconductor element stack in a module is brought nearer to a DC bus and the DC bus is positioned between the lower limit and upper limit of the height of the module. Since the wiring distance from the DC bus to the module section can be made the shortest, the wiring inductances of wide wiring conductors (1) can be reduced and the surge voltage which is generated when the semiconductor switching element is turned off can be reduced. In addition, the size of the power converter can be reduced, because the capacitance of the capacitor added for absorbing the surge voltage can be reduced.