Current sharing power supplies with redundant operation

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention allows power supplies to be connected in a parallel configuration, wherein the combination of power supplies share current without additional circuit complexity or overhead as compared to individual supplies and therefore affords more reliable operation.
In general, the improvement in current sharing over output voltage offset between power supplies with parallel-connected outputs is roughly 10 times better than the droop sharing configuration, and has no increased circuit complexity when compared to competing schemes such as 3-wire control, or local control, which require substantially more components, many of which interfere with the premise of independent operation of units implicit in the reliability calculations.
Therefore, a first object of the invention is a power supply which shares current over a wide range of output currents.
A second object of the invention is a power supply which shares current while maintaining a high tolerance to output voltage offsets and drifts, particularly at low output currents.
A third object of the invention is a highly reliable current sharing power supply.