A three phase buck power converter having input power control is
described. The power converter uses a three input buck converter
comprising switches for each phase, a catch rectifier, an inductor and an
output capacitor. The duty cycle of the three switches is constrained to
have a sine function relationship that may be derived from the input
voltage wave form or from a reference oscillator. When so constrained,
the input currents have high power factor. The output is a precise, high
quality dc voltage, comparable to the output of a dc--dc buck converter,
and the dynamic response is comparable. Voltage mode and current mode
controls are shown, as is a precise line regulation feed forward for the
voltage mode embodiment. The three phase buck power converter may be
operated in reverse as a three phase boost converter, as they are
reciprocal. A three phase ac--ac converter may have a three phase buck
converter as its input and a three phase boost converter as its output.