Patent ID: 8456874

Claim:
A direct current (DC) to DC converter, comprising: input ports for receiving an input DC voltage; output ports for outputting an output DC voltage; a first matrix of capacitors and switches; and a control circuit, coupled to the switches of the first matrix, configure d to repetitively: configure the first matrix to a charge configuration and couple the first matrix to the input ports; maintain the charge configuration for a first period of time; configure the first matrix to the discharge configuration and couple the first matrix to the output ports; and maintain the discharge configurations for a second period of time; wherein the charge configuration and the discharge configurations of the first matrix differ from each other by a replacement of serial connections of capacitors of the matrix to parallel connections of capacitors of the matrix; wherein the charge configuration and a discharge configuration the first matrix are responsive to required conversion ratio between the input DC voltage and the output DC voltage; wherein different required conversion ration result in different charge and discharge configurations; and wherein the first matrix comprises at least four capacitors; wherein the first matrix is a non-rectangular matrix; and wherein the control circuit is arranged to selectively connect each capacitor of the first matrix to each column of the first matrix.