Patent ID: 8773051

Claim:
A power converter, comprising: 2N (N is an integer no less than two) switching elements, of N phases, provided in each of higher and lower arms; 2N freewheeling diodes connected in parallel with corresponding ones of the 2N switching elements; a diode conducting state detector for determining times at which the 2N freewheeling diodes are turned on and off; an ON PLL circuit for generating an ON synchronized signal formed as a result of synchronization control based on the times determined by the diode conducting state detector when the 2N freewheeling diodes are turned on; an OFF PLL circuit for generating an OFF synchronized signal formed as a result of synchronization control based on the times determined by the diode conducting state detector when the 2N freewheeling diodes are turned off; a gate instruction generator PWM section for generating a gate instruction signal on the basis of the ON synchronized signal and the OFF synchronized signal, the gate instruction signal controlling switching of the switching elements; and a cycle checker for checking to see whether the cycle of an induction voltage of each phase is correct and whether all phases are detected in correct order, the checks being made by comparing results of determinations of times when the 2N freewheeling diodes are turned on and off with the ON synchronized signal and the OFF synchronized signal, wherein the gate instruction generator PWM section generates the gate instruction signals on the basis of results of the checks made by the cycle checker.