Power transforming apparatus and air conditioner including the same

An operating method of a power transforming apparatus for driving an inverter to drive a motor, the operating method comprising:

• detecting a magnitude of input power and a speed of the motor when the inverter is driven;
• based on the detected input power and the speed of the motor, determining a number of converter channels to perform a PFC operation among a plurality of converter channels;
• and
• determining target converter channels to perform the PFC operation among the plurality of converter channels and a switching timing thereof according to whether at least one converter channel is in operation.

An air conditioner comprising a compressor to which a power transforming apparatus is applied, wherein the power transforming apparatus comprises:

• a rectifier configured to rectify an input AC voltage;
• a power factor improving unit configured to perform a power factor correction (PFC) operation that improves power factor on a rectified voltage output from the rectifier unit, the power factor improving unit comprising a plurality of converter channels;
• a DC link capacitor configured to store an output voltage of the power factor improving unit;
• a current sensor disposed between the rectifier unit and the power factor improving unit;
• and
• a controller configured to (i) based on an input power and a speed of the motor calculated using an input current that is sensed by the current sensor while the inverter is driven, determine a number of converter channels to perform the PFC operation among the plurality of converter channels, (ii) determine target converter channels to perform the PFC operation among the plurality of converter channels, and (iii) determine a switching time, based on at least one converter channel being in operation.