Patent ID: 9742337
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: B60L,H02M,H02P,Y02T

Claim:
1. A power conversion apparatus, comprising: a converter having a pair of switching elements that are connected in series between a higher potential side terminal and a lower potential side terminal to form upper and lower arms; a coil whose end is connected between the pair of switching elements; and a controller that: i) calculates, based on a voltage between the higher potential side terminal and the lower potential side terminal and an inductance of the coil, a time rate of change of a current value of a current flowing through the coil; ii) predicts, based on the time rate of change, a local minimum or minimum of the current flowing through the coil before an occurrence of the local minimum or minimum; and iii) switches, based on the predicted local minimum or minimum, between a single arm drive mode in which only one of the pair of switching elements is driven to be turned on/off and a double arm drive mode in which the pair of switching elements are driven to be turned on/off in opposite phase.