Series capacitor buck converter having circuitry for precharging the series capacitor

A method of precharging a power converter, comprising:

• providing a series capacitor buck converter including a first half-bridge circuit having a first high side power switch (HSA) and first low side power switch (LSA) connected in series having a first switching node (SWA) therebetween which drives a first output inductor, a second half-bridge circuit including a second HS power switch (HSB) and second LS power switch (LSB) connected in series having a second switching node (SWB) therebetween which drives a second output inductor, and a transfer capacitor (Ct) connected in series with said HSA and said LSA and between said first half-bridge circuit and said second half-bridge circuit, a first current source providing a charging current (I_in) for said Ct coupled to said Ct at a first node and a second current source coupled to said Ct at a second node providing an output current (I_out), and a feedback network coupled for forcing said I_out to match said I_in, and
• precharging said Ct with I_in while sinking said I_out to ground before operating said series capacitor buck converter.