Patent ID: 8129961

Claim:
A voltage conversion device comprising an input terminal, a ground terminal and an output terminal for providing a regulated output voltage from an current source connectable to the input terminal, the device comprising: a switching circuit with a plurality of switching elements and a switchable current path including an inductive element, the switchable current path being switchable such that the current path is arranged as a forward-phase current path connecting the input terminal and the output terminal, as an up-phase current path connecting the input terminal and ground terminal, or as a down-phase current path connecting the ground terminal and the output terminal; a control unit configured to operate the plurality of switching elements in accordance to at least one switching operation mode, in which a current is delivered to the output terminal via the switchable current path by current pulses comprising at least two phases; and a mode detector for detecting an actual converting mode of the device; wherein the control unit is further configured to control in a first switching operation mode the individual current pulses such that an individual phase of a individual current pulse is ended when a current in the respective switchable current path of the respective phase reaches a respective predetermined current setpoint value, and that upon an up-converting mode signal provided by the mode detector to the control unit, the control unit being configured to start after a down-phase with a up-phase for the next current pulse and otherwise with a forward-phase for the next current pulse.