Patent ID: 7239194

Claim:
A power converter system comprising: (a) a plurality of trench capacitors, each having a positive terminal and a negative terminal, arranged in one or more phases with one or more charging switches electrically between respective pairs of the capacitors in each phase; (b) one or more voltage supply switches connecting the positive terminal of a respective one or more of the plurality of capacitors to a voltage input terminal; (c) one or more first discharging switches connecting the positive terminal of a respective one or more of the plurality of capacitors to an output terminal for that phase; (d) one or more second discharging switches connecting the negative terminals of respective ones of the plurality of capacitors to a selected reference potential; (e) a control stage operatively connected to all of the switches, the control stage operative to activate and de-activate selected ones of the switches of a selected phase to change between a first charging mode and a second discharging mode, the control stage operative to activate selected ones of the voltage-shifting switches of the selected phase prior to activating selected ones of the second discharging switches.