Patent ID: 8351231

Claim:
A power converter comprising: an upper arm; a lower arm; and gate drive circuits each configured to drive a corresponding one of the arms according to a reference signal, the reference signal having a first-potential period and a second-potential period, wherein each arm includes a set of switching devices connected in parallel, each gate drive circuit includes: a switching gate control circuit configured to bring a first switching device among the corresponding set of switching devices into conduction at the beginning of the first-potential period, and to bring the first switching device out of conduction at a point within the first-potential period; a turn-off gate control circuit configured to bring a third switching device among the corresponding set of switching devices into conduction at the beginning of the second-potential period, and to bring the third switching device out of conduction at a point within the second-potential period; and a conduction gate control circuit configured to bring a second switching device among the corresponding set of switching devices into conduction at a point within a period from when the first switching device is brought into conduction, which corresponds to the beginning of the first-potential period, until the first switching device is brought out of conduction, and to bring the second switching device out of conduction at a point within a period from when the third switching device is brought into conduction, which corresponds to the beginning of the second-potential period, until the third switching device is brought out of conduction, wherein the first switching device has a smaller parasitic capacitance than the second switching device.