Patent ID: 8669729

Claim:
A power converting apparatus for an electric vehicle, the power converting apparatus comprising: a power converter that has a plurality of ON/OFF-controlled switching elements and converts a DC voltage to an AC voltage of an arbitrary frequency to drive an AC rotating machine; at least two opening/closing units for AC blocking, connected between the power converter and the AC rotating machine; a current detector that detects a current flowing between the power converter and the AC rotating machine; and a controller that controls ON/OFF of the switching elements and opening/closing of the opening/closing units based on at least the current detected by the current detector, wherein the controller includes: a fault detector that detects whether any of the switching elements has a short-circuit fault or remains in an ON operation state based on a current value detected by the current detector, and outputs a signal indicating a detection result; an ON/OFF controller that, when a switching element of a phase that is a first phase has a short-circuit fault or remains in an ON operation state, sets one of the switching elements that constitutes a second phase other than the first phase to an ON operation state based on the signal from the fault detector and the current value, and outputs a signal for opening an opening/closing unit that is connected to the first phase and an opening/closing unit that is connected to a third phase other than the first phase and the second phase; an opening/closing controller that opens the opening/closing unit connected to the first phase and the opening/closing unit connected to the third phase by the ON/OFF controller based on the signal from the ON/OFF controller, and the opening/closing controller opens the opening/closing unit connected to the third phase in a first opening operation and opens the opening/closing unit connected to the first phase in a second opening operation after the first opening operation.