Patent ID: 7532490

Claim:
A power converter for coupling an electrical machine to an electrical grid, the power converter comprising: a machine side converter and a grid side converter, each side comprising a plurality of stages for together converting a three-phase electrical signal of the electrical machine to a three-phase electrical signal of the electrical grid; wherein the machine side converter comprises a plurality of single-phase bridges coupled in a series and is configured for coupling with the electrical machine; wherein the grid side converter comprises a plurality of three-phase bridges, each three-phase bridge corresponding to one of the single-phase bridges of the machine side converter; wherein each three-phase bridge is coupled to the primary windings of a transformer while the secondary windings of the transformer are phase-shifted from the primary windings thereof and are coupled to secondary windings of another transformer, thus providing for coupling of the plurality of three-phase bridges in a series, wherein a transformer at the end of the series is configured for coupling to the electrical grid; and wherein each single-phase bridge of the machine side converter is coupled to the corresponding three-phase bridge of the grid side converter by a direct current (DC) link.