Patent ID: 8730699

Claim:
A power converter comprising: a rectifier module connected upstream thereof to a plurality of inputs supplied by a current source; a power supply bus connected downstream of the rectifier module and including a positive line and a negative line; an inductor connected to at least one of the positive line and the negative line of the power supply bus; the rectifier module including a plurality of switching legs connected between the positive line and the negative line of the power supply bus, each switching leg including a top transistor and a bottom transistor in series and a connection middle-point between the top transistor and the bottom transistor, each of the connection middle-points being linked to respective inputs of said plurality of inputs, each of the top and bottom transistors being normally-on field effect transistors and being controlled by a gate control device; an auxiliary normally-open switch in series with the switching legs and connected to the positive line of the power supply bus; and a control device to control the auxiliary switch, wherein the auxiliary switch is initially in an OFF-state at start-up of the power converter so as to isolate the positive line of the power supply bus from the rectifier module, wherein the gate control device includes a first gate control device portion associated with the top transistors, and a second gate control device portion associated with the bottom transistors, and wherein the first gate control device portion is connected to the control device and an auxiliary power supply.