Patent ID: 8824180

Claim:
A power conversion apparatus comprising: a circuit segment comprising an inductor and a capacitor connected in series, the circuit segment connected to a first end of an AC power supply; a first switch having a first end connected to the first end of the AC power supply via the circuit segment, and a second end connected to a second end of the AC power supply, wherein the first switch conducts when a first pulse signal turns on, and becomes nonconductive when the first pulse signal turns off; a second switch having a first end connected to a node that connects the first end of the first switch and the circuit segment, and a second end connected via a smoothing capacitor to a node that connects the second end of the first switch and the second end of the AC power supply, wherein the second switch conducts when a second pulse signal turns on, and becomes nonconductive when the second pulse signal turns off; an input voltage detector which detects a voltage of the AC power supply as an input voltage; a circuit current detector which detects a circuit current flowing through the inductor; an output voltage detector which detects voltage at both ends of the smoothing capacitor as an output voltage; a rated current value determinator which determines, in each of a plurality of pulse output cycles, a peak value of circuit current and a lower limit value of circuit current that is lower than the peak value, the determination being based on a corrected output voltage obtained by subtracting a predetermined reference voltage from an output voltage detected by the output voltage detector, and an input voltage detected by the input voltage detector; and a pulse signal output unit which outputs one of the first and second pulse signals at a start of a pulse output cycle, continues outputting said first or second pulse signal until the circuit current detected by the circuit current detector reaches the peak value, stops outputting said first or second pulse signal when the circuit current reaches the peak value, and thereafter, begins a next pulse output cycle when the circuit current decreases to the lower limit value, wherein the first pulse signal is outputted to the first switch when a polarity of the input voltage is positive and the second pulse signal is outputted to the second switch when the polarity of the input voltage is negative.