Patent ID: 8860379

Claim:
An electrical system comprising: a direct current (DC) interface; an alternating current (AC) interface; a DC bus capacitor coupled electrically parallel to the DC interface; a first energy conversion module comprising a plurality of switching elements; a second energy conversion module comprising a plurality of switching elements; an isolation module coupled between the first energy conversion module and the second energy conversion module to provide galvanic isolation between the first energy conversion module and the second energy conversion module; an inductive element coupled between the second energy conversion module and the AC interface; an interface shorting switch coupled electrically parallel to the AC interface to selectively short the AC interface; and a control module coupled to the first energy conversion module, the second energy conversion module, and the interface shorting switch, the control module configured to: detect a condition indicative of a need to discharge the DC bus capacitor; actuate the interface shorting switch to electrically short the AC interface; and operate the plurality of switching elements of the first energy conversion module and the plurality of switching elements of the second energy conversion module to at least partially discharge the DC bus capacitor.