A capacitive element has its terminals coupled together by two thyristors electrically in antiparallel. The discharge of the capacitive element is controlled by the application of a gate current to one thyristor of the two thyristors which is in a reverse-biased state in response to a voltage stored across the terminals of the capacitive element. The reverse-biased thyristor responds to the applied gate current by passing a leakage current to discharge the stored voltage.

The present document relates to a power converter comprising an inductor, a first stage, and a second stage. The first stage may be coupled between an input of the power converter and the inductor, and the first stage may comprise a first flying capacitor. The second stage may be coupled between the inductor and an output of the power converter, and the second stage may comprise a second flying capacitor. A second terminal of the first flying capacitor may be connected to a first terminal of the inductor, and a first terminal of the second flying capacitor may be connected to a second terminal of the inductor.

An apparatus includes a soft start manager such as implemented via hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The soft start manager receives input parameter from a power supply; the input parameter (such as output voltage, duty cycle, input voltage, etc.) is associated with conversion of the input voltage into an output voltage that powers a load. The soft start manager monitors a magnitude of the input parameter. Based at least in part on the magnitude of the input parameter, the soft start manager controls a switching period applied to switch circuitry in the power supply.

A power supply circuit of a step-down type, configured to generate an output voltage at a predetermined level from an alternating current (AC) voltage. The power supply circuit includes a rectifier circuit configured to rectify the AC voltage, a first line coupled to the rectifier circuit, a second line on a ground side, a switch coupled between the first line and the second line, and a control circuit configured to control the switch to bring a level of the output voltage to the predetermined level. The power supply circuit is free of an inductor interposed between the first line and the rectifier circuit.

A power converter includes a first circuit including an inductor and configured to convert an input voltage into a first voltage, a second circuit including a transformer and configured to convert the first voltage input to the insulating transformer to a second voltage, a control circuit configured to control the first circuit, a first power supply circuit including a first winding magnetically coupled to the inductor and configured to output a third voltage generated by the first winding to the first control circuit, and a second power supply circuit including a second winding magnetically coupled to the transformer and configured to output a fourth voltage generated by the second winding to the first control circuit. When the second voltage is not output the third voltage is output to the control circuit, and when the second voltage is output the fourth voltage is output to the control circuit.

A converter system (100) includes a transformer (102) having a primary side (104) and a secondary side (106), a first switch (114) with a first terminal (1151) coupled to the primary side (104) and a second terminal (1152) coupled to a voltage supply terminal, a second switch (116) coupled to the first terminal (1151) of the first switch (114), loop control circuitry (119), coupled to the secondary side (106), and configured to generate an offset signal based on an output voltage provided at the secondary side (106) and to generate a compensated signal by compensating the offset signal to a sensed signal being representative of a first current flowing through the primary side (104), and switch control circuitry (120), coupled to the loop control circuitry (119), and configured to operate the first and second switches (114, 116) based on the compensated signal.

A power stage controller includes: a reference circuit having a first reference input and a reference output, the first reference input adapted to be coupled to an input terminal of a power stage, and the reference circuit configured to adjust a reference voltage at the reference output responsive to whether a voltage at the first reference input is below a threshold; and a comparator having a current sense input, a second reference input, and a comparator output, the current sense input adapted to be coupled to a current terminal of the power stage, the second reference input coupled to the reference output, and the comparator output coupled to a driver input of a driver circuit configured to configured to control a driver output adapted to be coupled to a gate of a transistor of the power stage and responsive to the driver input.

An apparatus according to an embodiment includes an upper and lower arm connected between a high and a low potential end; a first capacitor connected at one end to the high potential end; a second capacitor connected at one end to the low potential end; a first regenerative rectifier circuit connected to another end of the first capacitor; a second regenerative rectifier circuit connected to another end of the second capacitor; a first conversion circuit to cause energy stored in the first capacitor to be discharged; and a second conversion circuit to cause energy stored in the second capacitor to be discharged.

A power conversion apparatus accurately estimates a main current of a power device using observation of a sense current. The power conversion apparatus includes: an inverter circuit including a device having a main element and a sense element; a temporary-main-current estimator estimates a current flowing through the main element, from a sense current flowing through the sense element, as a temporary main current; a temperature-difference estimator configured to estimate a temperature difference between the main element and the sense element based on a gate drive signal for the main element and the temporary main current; a main-current corrector corrects the temporary main current using the estimated temperature difference and a temperature characteristic of on-resistance of the main element and output the corrected temporary main current as a corrected main current; and an inverter control circuit configured to output the gate drive signal based on the corrected main current.

A buck converter including: a first switching element connecting an input voltage node to a switching node; a second switching element connecting the switching node to a ground node; a low drop out (LDO) voltage regulator connected to the input voltage node; a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller configured to receive a mode signal indicating an operation mode and toggle, in response to the mode signal, a first control signal for turning on the first switching element or a second control signal for turning on the second switching element; a bootstrap charger configured to receive the mode signal and toggle, in response to the mode signal, a third control signal for turning on the second switching element; and a bootstrap capacitor connecting an output node of the LDO voltage regulator to the switching node.