Patent ID: 7164589

Claim:
A circuit for converting power from an AC power source to DC power, the circuit comprising: one or more bi-directional switches capable of conducting and blocking a current flow in both directions, each bi-directional switch including corresponding pairs of gates and sources; one or more control switches coupled to a bi-directional switch to enable and disable the current flow through the bi-directional switch, the control switches being controlled by a signal voltage to turn a bi-directional switch ON by discharging a threshold voltage on one of the bi-directional switch gates and turning a bi-directional switch OFF when the threshold voltage is not discharged by the control switches; and a transformer having one or more primary windings and a secondary winding, each primary winding being coupled to one of the bi-directional switch sources, wherein the current flow through the primary winding is disabled when the current flow through the corresponding bi-directional switch source is disabled.