Patent ID: 8724353

Claim:
A switched capacitor power converter comprising: a first terminal for coupling to a first external circuit at substantially a high voltage; a second terminal for coupling to a second external circuit at substantially a low voltage less than the high voltage in magnitude; a first plurality of active semiconductor switch elements configured to electrically interconnect capacitors to at least one of one another and to the first or second terminal, in successive states, wherein the switch elements are configured to interconnect at least some capacitors to one another through a series of multiple of the switch elements; and a plurality of switch driving circuits, each switch element coupled to and for control by a drive output of one of the switch driving circuits, each driving circuit having a control input, power connections, and a drive output coupled to and for control of one or more of the switch elements; wherein at least some switch driving circuits are configured to be powered via the power connections of said driving circuits from one or more of the capacitors such that the voltage across the power connections of said driving circuit is substantially less than the high voltage, and wherein each of the series of multiple of the switch elements comprises N switch elements, N>1, and wherein the maximum voltage ratings of the switch elements is no greater than 2/N times the low voltage.