ELECTRICAL POWER CONVERTER WITH PRE-CHARGE MODE OF OPERATION

• Main Authors: SLAATS, Noud, EVERTS, Jordi
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 06.03.2024
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC,OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWERSUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUTPOWER; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION

An electrical converter includes first and second converter stages, an output filter, and a controller having a first mode for converting a three-phase AC signal into a DC signal. The first converter stage has a three-phase bridge rectifier connecting three phase terminals to an upper intermediate node and a lower intermediate node, and a phase selector having first switches connecting the terminals to a middle intermediate node. The second converter stage includes a switch node connected to the middle intermediate node and a pair of second switches connecting the switch node to one of the DC terminals. In a second mode, the first switches are operated while keeping the upper or lower intermediate node disconnected from all the phase terminals to allow a current to flow between the middle intermediate node and the output filter, allowing for stepwise increasing a voltage across the DC terminals during start-up.