US Patent 7848121 Advanced matrix converter and method for operation

A matrix converter may be provided with AC switches that comprise bi-directional sets of semiconductor switches that are gated with a common gating link. A low loss diode-bridge based snubber may facilitate introduction of time delay between sequential operations of the bi-directional set of semiconductor switches. The matrix converter may be operated in a three-phase mode with only one gating signals for each AC switch, in contrast to prior-art matrix converters which may require use multiple gating signals for each AC switch.