A power converter includes an inverter unit that includes a plurality of semiconductor switching elements constituting upper and lower arms and converts DC power into AC power; a gate driving unit that outputs, to the inverter unit, a gate signal used to drive gates of the plurality of semiconductor switching elements; a driving control unit that supplies the gate driving unit with a switching control signal used for the gate driving unit to output the gate signal; a first abnormality detection unit that performs over voltage detection of the DC power and over current detection of the AC power and temperature detection of the upper and lower arms; and a second abnormality detection unit that detects abnormality of the plurality of semiconductor switching elements of the upper arm and lower arms, wherein the driving control unit includes a first protection circuit and a second protection circuit.