Patent ID: 8184458

Claim:
A snubber circuit for improving the efficiency of a switching converter, comprising: a power source having a first rail and a second rail; a first diode having a first anode and a first cathode, the first cathode being connected to the first rail; a second diode having a second anode and a second cathode, the second cathode being connected to the first anode to form a switch common point and the second anode being connected to the second rail; a switch connected in parallel with one of the first and second diodes to form a power converter; a snubber transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, a first end of each of the primary and secondary windings being coupled together to form a transformer common point and a second end of the primary winding being connected to the switch common point; a first capacitor connected between the first rail and the transformer common point; a second capacitor connected between the second rail and the transformer common point; a third diode having a third anode and a third cathode, the third anode being connected to a second end of the secondary winding and the third cathode being connected to the first rail; a fourth diode having a fourth anode and a fourth cathode, the fourth cathode being connected to the second end of the secondary winding and the fourth anode being connected to the second rail; a filter inductor having a first inductor terminal and a second inductor terminal, the first inductor terminal being connected to the switch common point; and a load connected between the second inductor terminal and the power source, the snubber circuit being effective to suppress voltage transients in the converter circuitry and recover energy from said voltage transients, thereby improving the efficiency of the converter.