Patent ID: 7564702

Claim:
A DC-DC power converter system providing plural regulated DC outputs, each having a regulated voltage, comprising: a) a DC input providing an input voltage that varies over a range that is more than plus or minus a few percent; b) a non-regulating isolating step-down converter through which power from the DC input flows first before flowing through any regulation stage, the non-regulating isolating step-down converter providing a non-regulated, isolated DC output having a non-regulated voltage and comprising: i) at least one transformer that is not driven into saturation, the at least one transformer having plural windings including at least one primary winding and at least one secondary winding; ii) plural power MOSFET switches in circuit with the at least one primary winding, the plural power MOSFET switches causing power to flow into the at least one primary winding; iii) control circuitry coupled to the plural MOSFET switches, the control circuitry determining when the power MOSFET switches are turned on and off in a switching cycle at a switching frequency; and iv) plural controlled rectifiers in circuit with the at least one secondary winding, each having a parallel uncontrolled rectifier, each controlled rectifier being turned on for an on-state time and off for an off-state time in synchronization with a voltage waveform of the at least one primary winding to provide the non-regulated, isolated DC output, the voltage waveform of the at least one primary winding having a fixed duty cycle and transition times which are short relative to the on-state and the off-state times of the controlled rectifiers; and c) plural non-isolating down-converter switching regulators, each receiving power from the non-regulated, isolated DC output and each providing one of the regulated DC outputs having a regulated voltage.