Patent ID: 8289741

Claim:
A power supply apparatus comprising: a converter circuit comprising a first switching circuit and a second switching circuit both coupled with an output circuit; an input rectifier circuit configured for receiving an AC input voltage and for generating a rectified voltage, the input rectifier circuit coupled with a first and a second input of the first and the second switching circuit, respectively, the input rectifier circuit including one or more controlled switches, the input rectifier circuit including a first configuration of a bridge rectifier and a second configuration of the bridge rectifier; and a controller circuit coupled with a configuration switch and coupled with the input rectifier circuit for providing a control signal for enabling either the first configuration or the second configuration according to a parameter of the AC input voltage, the first configuration couples the first and second input of the first and the second switching circuit, respectively, in series, whereas the second configuration couples the first and second input of the first and the second switching circuit, respectively, in parallel, wherein the configuration switch is controlled by the controller circuit for coupling the first and second switching circuits together, wherein the first configuration includes a first set of switches comprising a first pair and a second pair of semiconductor switches and the second configuration includes a second set of switches comprising the first set of switches and the one or more controlled switches, wherein the one or more controlled switches comprise a first pair of gate-driven semiconductor switches and a second pair of gate-driven semiconductor switches.