Patent ID: 7420827

Claim:
A power converter with limited inrush current, comprising: a rectifier circuit for converting an AC input voltage to a rectified voltage a switching-mode average current regulator connected to receive the rectified voltage from the rectifier circuit, the switching-mode average current regulator comprising: a switch a power inductor a diode a bulk capacitor connected to receive a charging current from the switching-mode average current regulator a bypass switch to allow a current flow to bypass the switching-mode average current regulator when the bulk capacitor is fully charged wherein the charging current flows on a first path through the switch and the power inductor when the switch is turned on, and the charging current flows on a second path through the diode and the power inductor when the switch is turned off, and wherein the switching-mode average current regulator provides a regulated average charging current to the bulk capacitor during time intervals when the rectified voltage sufficiently exceeds the voltage across the bulk capacitor.