Patent ID: 8897040

Claim:
A power converter system comprising: a converter comprising an input to couple to a power generation unit and an output to provide a direct current (DC) power output; a DC link comprising a capacitor coupled to said converter output and having a voltage across said capacitor defining a DC link voltage; an inverter comprising an input coupled to said DC link; a damping circuit coupled between said converter and said inverter in parallel with said DC link capacitor, said damping circuit comprising: a normally closed switching device; and, a resistor coupled in series with said normally closed switching device; and, a control system coupled to said damping circuit, said control system configured to control said normally closed switching device to selectively dissipate energy from said DC link as a function of at least one of an output power of said inverter, an output current of said inverter, and a magnitude of the DC link voltage, wherein: said control system is configured to limit the magnitude of the DC link voltage through controlling said normally closed switching device; and said control system is configured to monitor the output current of said inverter and close said normally closed switch when the monitored output current decreases below a threshold value.