Principle of Operation
To increase the reliability of the output power supply, DC-DC converters are manufactured as redundant systems, e.g. with a redundancy of 2/3. This means that a single rack contains three identical DC-DC converters designed to operate in parallel. The output power of any two converters is sufficient to supply the loads. During normal operation, the load is distributed between the three converters, each of them supplying one third of the output power. Should one of the converters fail, the remaining two will continue to supply power to the loads. The failed converter can then be replaced (without the need to switch off the power supply).
The rack containing the DC-DC converters is fitted with a set of fuses, which protect the circuits of the individual converters. Versions can be produced with different levels of redundancy (1/2, 2/3) and different numbers of converters operating in parallel.