Patent ID: 8659276

Claim:
An interleaved power converter for converting a DC voltage source into a DC voltage output, the converter comprising:— two or more sub-circuits connected in parallel, each sub-circuit comprising an inductive element, a rectifying element and a controllable switching device connected for converting a DC voltage source into a DC voltage output; driving means for driving the switching device of each sub-circuit to repeatedly switch on at a time t 1 and off at a time t 2 , with a phase difference between the switch-on times t 1 of each switching device; current sensing means for repeatedly determining an input current value associated with each sub-circuit, by sensing the input current of the converter at a sample point a pre-determined time relative to the switch-on time t 1 or the switch-off time t 2 of said switching device; and control means comprising:— comparator means for comparing the input current value determined at each sample point with the input current value determined at the preceding sample point, to obtain a measure of current imbalance attributable to one or both of the sub-circuits with which the compared input current values are associated; and current balancing means for adjusting the time interval Ton from t 1 to t 2 , for one or both of the sub-circuits with which the compared input current values are associated, to compensate for said current imbalance.