The invention provides a power converter comprising: an input for receiving input power with a variable nominal mains level, wherein said variable nominal mains level falls within at least 90V to 240V; a main power switch (Q1) driven by the input power, and a control circuit (Q2, Q3) for controlling a control current of the main power switch (Q1), wherein the control circuit in (Q2, Q3) is adapted to sense the level of the input power and draw current from a control terminal of the power switch (Q1) according to the level, and said control circuit is adapted to operate in linear region and increase the drawn current along with the increase of the level throughout the variable nominal mains level of the input power, wherein the control circuit comprises: a Darlington bridge with a first transistor (Q2) and a second transistor (Q3), the first transistor (Q2) with a base terminal connected to a circuit position indicative of the voltage amplitude of the input power, the second transistor (Q3) with a base terminal connected to an emitter terminal of the first transistor (Q2) and a collector terminal connected to the control terminal of the main power switch (Q1) and a collector terminal of the first transistor (Q2); and a resistor network (R3, R7) coupled to the emitter of the second transistor (Q3) for regulating the amplification of the second transistor (Q3) and keep the second transistor (Q3) working at linear region throughout the variable nominal mains level of the input power.

A flyback converter includes a primary side circuit, a secondary side circuit and a controller. The primary side circuit includes a primary winding and a main switch electrically connected to the primary winding. The secondary side circuit includes a secondary winding and an output diode electrically connected to the secondary winding and having a parasitic electrical parameter. The controller generates a correcting parameter for counteracting an effect on an output voltage of the flyback converter from the parasitic electrical parameter, wherein the parasitic electrical parameter is an equivalent series-connection resistance R.sub.d of the output diode and the secondary side circuit, and the correcting parameter is calculated based on the formula $\frac{n_p}{n_s}{I}_{\mathrm{ini}}{R}_d,$
wherein n.sub.p denotes a turns number of the primary winding, n.sub.s denotes a turns number of the secondary winding, and I.sub.ini denotes an initial current value which is detected when the main switch is conducted.

A micro-energy harvester that receives an input direct current (DC) voltage from a micro-energy source. The micro-energy harvester includes an oscillator and builds up the input DC voltage into an output DC voltage, where the oscillator includes a transistor that is configured to be normally off and the transistor is configured to be switched on by the micro-energy source. The micro-energy harvester outputs the output DC voltage to a micro-energy application. The micro-energy application and the micro-energy harvester are both configured to operate without a battery. The micro-energy harvester also includes an integrated power manager that provides a complete solution for transforming and storing electrical energy from micro-energy power sources to efficiently power applications that do not require continuous power.

A power converter connected between a direct current power supply and a load, the power converter including a switching unit energizing the load based on inputted control signal, a voltage detector detecting a voltage of the direct current power supply, and a protection operation portion detecting a steep elevation of the voltage and performing protection operation to stop a switching operation by the switching unit, wherein the protection operation portion includes an addition circuit adding a predetermined voltage to the voltage detected by the voltage detector and a delay time generator connected to an output of the addition circuit, and wherein the protection operation is performed when a difference between the voltage detected by the voltage detector and an output voltage of the delay time generator reaches a certain value.

A switching power supply apparatus includes a PFM control circuit that outputs a clock signal Set such that a switching frequency of a switching element varies in accordance with a load state. The clock signal Set determines a turn-on timing of the switching element. A reference value of a current flowing through the switching element determines a turn-off timing of the switching element. A modulation signal is applied to the turn-off timing of the switching element to modulate one of a peak value of a drain current flowing through the switching element and an on-time of the switching element. Input control is performed separately on the clock signal Set and the modulation signal. Accordingly, even when the clock signal Set and the modulation signal contribute to each other to offset each other, modulation effects are not cancelled.

The present invention relates to a resonant DC-DC power converter assembly comprising a first resonant DC-DC power converter and a second resonant DC-DC power converter having identical circuit topologies. A first inductor of the first resonant DC-DC power converter and a second inductor of the second resonant DC-DC power converter are configured for magnetically coupling the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters to each other to forcing substantially 180 degrees phase shift, or forcing substantially 0 degree phase shift, between corresponding resonant voltage waveforms of the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters. The first and second inductors are corresponding components of the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters.

The present invention relates to a resonant DC-DC power converter assembly comprising a first resonant DC-DC power converter and a second resonant DC-DC power converter having identical circuit topologies. A first inductor of the first resonant DC-DC power converter and a second inductor of the second resonant DC-DC power converter are configured for magnetically coupling the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters to each other to forcing substantially 180 degrees phase shift, or forcing substantially 0 degree phase shift, between corresponding resonant voltage waveforms of the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters. The first and second inductors are corresponding components of the first and second resonant DC-DC power converters.

A resonant converter includes: a rectifier bridge; a first capacitor coupled across output terminals of the rectifier bridge; a diode with its anode coupled to a first terminal of the first capacitor; a second capacitor with a first terminal coupled to the cathode of the diode, and a second terminal coupled to a second terminal of the first capacitor; a first transistor having a first terminal coupled to the first terminal of the second capacitor; a second transistor having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal of the first transistor, and a second terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first capacitor; a resonant tank having a first input terminal coupled to the first terminal of the first capacitor, and a second input terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first transistor and the first terminal of the second transistor; and a rectifying and filtering circuit coupled across output terminals of the resonant tank, and configured to provide an output signal to a load.

A magnetic core for a transformer, which includes a closed ring with a thick part and a thin part. The thin part is magnetically saturated before the thick part when excited by the same increasing magnetic fields. The thin part only operates briefly at or near first quadrant saturation point or a third quadrant saturation point and, for the rest of the time, it operates in a state between the first quadrant saturation point and the third quadrant saturation point. The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the conventional magnetic core for a self-excitation push-pull type converter, and significantly improves the efficiency of the converter when it is under a light load, and further improves its efficiency while under a rated load. As the number of turns of the coil on the magnetic saturation transformer is reduced, the working frequency of the converter is improved while still keeping the loss low.

A magnetic core for a transformer, which includes a closed ring with a thick part and a thin part. The thin part is magnetically saturated before the thick part when excited by the same increasing magnetic fields. The thin part only operates briefly at or near first quadrant saturation point or a third quadrant saturation point and, for the rest of the time, it operates in a state between the first quadrant saturation point and the third quadrant saturation point. The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the conventional magnetic core for a self-excitation push-pull type converter, and significantly improves the efficiency of the converter when it is under a light load, and further improves its efficiency while under a rated load. As the number of turns of the coil on the magnetic saturation transformer is reduced, the working frequency of the converter is improved while still keeping the loss low.