Patent ID: 6987680

Claim:
A series chopper comprising: a pair of input terminals A and B for connecting a DC input voltage Vin between these terminals, the potential of the terminal A being greater than the potential of the terminal B; a pair P of breakers SB, ST in series connected by the breaker SB to the input terminal B, ST comprising a control input Cm 1 for setting ST either into an on state by the application to its input of the control of a first control signal s 1 or into an isolated state by application to its control input of a second control signal s 2 , SB comprising a control input Cm 2 for setting SB either into an on state by the application to its control input of a third control signal s 3 , or into an isolated state by application to its control input of a fourth control signal s 4 , a pair of output terminals C and D, for supplying, with an output voltage Vout, a load R in parallel with a filtering capacitor Cout, the output terminal D being connected to the input terminal B and the output terminal C to the point of connection between the two breakers SB and ST in series across an inductor L, the pair of output terminals, wherein: K other additional pairs Pi of breakers in series between the input terminal A and the free side of the breaker ST comprising the same control inputs Cm 1 and Cm 2 , with i=1, 2 . . . K., each pair Pi comprising two breakers SBi and STi in series, the breaker SBi of each pair of breakers comprising a diode in parallel the cathode of the diode having to be on the common point of STi and SBi; K input capacitors Cf i in series connected to the K pairs of breakers with i=1, 2 . . . K., each capacitor Cf i being connected on both sides of the pair of breakers Pi; K output capacitors Cs i in series, each output capacitor Cs i being connected between the common point of the breakers of the pair P i and the common point of the breakers of the previous pair P i−1 , with i=1, 2, . . . K, (when i=1, P i−1 =P 0 =P), the breakers of these other additional pairs being operated simultaneously by the first and second signals applied to Cm 1 and by the third and fourth signals applied to Cm 2 forming, when the breaker is operated to the isolated state, a first network of capacitors, connected between the terminal A and the terminal B, comprising in series Cf k , Cf k−1 in parallel with Cs k , . . . , Cf i in parallel with Cs i+1 , . . . , Cf 1 in parallel with Cs 2 and Cs 1 and when the breaker of the pair is operated into the on state, these other pairs of breakers forming a second network of capacitors connected between the terminal A and the inductor (L), comprising in series Cf k in parallel with Cs k , . . . Cf i in parallel with Cs i , . . . Cf 1 in parallel with Cs 1 .