Patent ID: 7274579

Claim:
A converter circuit having a pair of input terminals and a pair of output terminals, and for boosting an output voltage of a single phase AC power supply having a first output terminal and a second output terminal constituting a pair of output terminals of the single phase AC power supply, said converter circuit comprising: a rectifier circuit for rectifying an output voltage between the pair of output terminals of the single phase AC power supply, and outputting the rectified output voltage of the single phase AC power supply to said pair of output terminals of said converter circuit; first and second capacitors connected in series between said pair of output terminals of said converter circuit; and a switch circuit comprising serially connected first and second switching elements, serially connected first and second diodes, and serially connected third and fourth diodes, wherein: said serially connected first and second switching elements, said serially connected first and second diodes, and said serially connected third and fourth diodes are connected in parallel with each other; a connection node of said first and second diodes is connected to the first output terminal of the single phase AC power supply; a connection node of said third and fourth diodes is connected to the second output terminal of the single phase AC power supply; a connection node of said first and the second switching elements is connected to a connection node of said first and the second capacitors; and said first and the second switching elements are operable to be switched by a switching control signal having a frequency that is higher than a frequency of the single phase AC power supply.