Patent ID: 8410716

Claim:
An apparatus for regulating currents through two or more loads, comprising: a first set of two or more current limiter circuits, wherein each of the current limiter circuits of the first set is configured to be coupled in series with an associated load, and is further configured to at least partially regulate the current through the associated load; a second set of two or more current limiter circuits, wherein each of the current limiter circuits of the second set is configured to be coupled in series with the associated load, and wherein each of the current limiter circuits of the second set is corresponding to, and coupled in series with, each of the current limiter circuits of the first set; and a sense and control unit configured to provide one or more drive signals to the current limiter circuits of the second set; and wherein the sense and control unit is further configured to control a power converter that is configured to supply power to each of the loads based on a signal from one of the current limiter circuits of the first or second sets, and the sense and control unit is further configured to sense voltage differentials across each of the current limiter circuits of the first set or the second set, and to control the power converter based on a comparison of the smallest of the voltage differentials to a power converter reference signal.