Patent ID: 7518894

Claim:
A distributed power system for delivering DC power to a plurality of loads, comprising; a plurality of power converter modules having associated therewith a DC/DC power conversion operation, each disposed proximate an associated one of the loads, each of said converter modules having associated therewith a switching pulse generator for generating switching pulses; a distributed power line for distributing input power to each of said modules; a data communication line for distributing command data between said modules, each of said modules uniquely addressable over said data communication line; each of said modules having: a power regulation section for receiving said distributed input power from said distributed power line to generate a DC output by controlling the operation of said switching pulse generator, a processing section for interfacing with said data communication line for interfacing with said commands, said processing section capable of operating in both a slave mode to receive commands from said data communication bus and a master mode for generating the commands, at least one of said modules operating in the master mode, in said master mode, said processing section operable to generate the commands for transmission over said data communication line to an addressed one of the other of said modules, wherein said processing section in the slave mode of operation is operable to configure and monitor the operation of said power regulation section, and wherein said processing section in the slave mode of operation is operable to negotiate among each active slave for assignment of a selected module as a new master responsive to failure of a previous master.