DC-DC converter with modular stages

1. An apparatus for electric power conversion, said apparatus comprising:

a converter having a path for a power flow between a first terminal and a second terminal; said converter comprising

a regulating circuit on the path for the power flow, said regulating circuit having one or more ports, the regulating circuit including

one or more inductors, and

one or more switching elements connected to said one or more inductors, said one or more switching elements being controllable to switch between switching configurations,

wherein, said regulating circuit is controllable to maintain a current through each of the one or more ports according to currents in the one or more inductors; and

said converter further comprising

a switching network on the path for the power flow, the switching network having a plurality of ports at least some of said ports being coupled to the one or more ports of the regulating circuit, said switching network including

a plurality of charge storage elements, and

switching-network switching elements connected to said charge storage elements, said switching-network switching elements being controllable to switch between switch configurations,

wherein, in one switch configuration in operation, said switching-network switching elements form a first arrangement of the plurality of charge storage elements in which

a first charge storage element of the plurality of charge storage elements is charged at a rate determined by a current through at least a first port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit and

a second charge storage element of the plurality of charge storage elements is discharged at a rate determined by a current through at least a second port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit,

wherein in another switch configuration of the switching-network switching elements in operation, said switching-network switching elements form a second arrangement of charge storage elements in which the first charge storage element is discharged at a rate determined by a current through at least a third port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit and the second charge storage element is charged at a rate determined by a current through at least a fourth port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said switching network comprises a reconfigurable switching network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said switching network comprises a multi-phase switching network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit comprises a bidirectional regulating circuit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit comprises a multi-phase regulating circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit comprises a switch-mode power converter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit comprises a resonant power converter.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit is connected to an output of said switching network.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit is connected between said first terminal of said converter and said switching network, said switching network being an adiabatically charged switching network.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit comprises a first regulating circuit and a second regulating circuit, and said switching network is connected between said first regulating circuit and said second regulating circuit.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said regulating circuit is connected between said switching network and an additional switching network.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said switching network is configured as an AC switching network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a power-factor correction circuit connected to said AC switching network.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein said power-factor correction circuit is connected between said AC switching network and said regulating circuit.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a third port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit is coupled to the first terminal of the converter, and a port of the plurality of ports of the switching network is coupled to the second terminal of the converter.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first port and the second port of the regulating circuit are a same port.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first port and the second port of the regulating circuit are different ports and wherein a third port of the regulating circuit is coupled to the first terminal of the converter and a fourth port of the regulating circuit is coupled to the second terminal of the converter.

18. The apparatus of 3 , wherein the multi-phase switching network comprises multi-phase series-parallel switching network.

19. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the multi-phase switching network comprises a multi-phase multiple stage switching network.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein said multiple stage switching network comprises a cascade multiplier switching network.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said switching network comprises a multiple stage switching network.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the regulating circuit is controllable to maintain a pulsed current through each of the one or more ports.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the converter is configured to vary switch configurations of the switching network at a frequency that is different than a frequency at which switching configuration of the regulating circuit are varied.

24. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said AC switching network comprises a bridge rectifier.

25. An apparatus for electric power conversion, said apparatus comprising:

a converter having a path for a power flow between a first terminal and a second terminal; said converter comprising

a regulating circuit on the path for the power flow, said regulating circuit having one or more ports, the regulating circuit including

one or more inductors, and

one or more switching elements connected to said one or more inductors, said one or more switching elements being controllable to switch between switching configurations,

wherein, said regulating circuit is controllable to maintain a current through each of the one or more ports according to currents in the one or more inductors; and

said converter further comprising

a switching network on the path for the power flow, the switching network having a plurality of ports at least some of said ports being coupled to the one or more ports of the regulating circuit, said switching network including a plurality of charge storage elements, and

switching-network switching elements connected to said charge storage elements, said switching-network switching elements being controllable to switch between switch configurations,

wherein, in one switch configuration in operation, said switching-network switching elements form a first arrangement of the plurality of charge storage elements in which

a first charge storage element of the plurality of charge storage elements is charged at a rate determined by a current through at least a first port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit and

a second charge storage element of the plurality of charge storage elements is discharged at a rate determined by a current through at least a second port of the one or more ports of the regulating circuit,

wherein said switching network is configured as an AC switching network,

wherein said apparatus further comprises a power-factor correction circuit connected to said AC switching network, and

wherein said power-factor correction circuit is connected between said AC switching network and said regulating circuit.