Patent ID: 7586211

Claim:
An apparatus for supplying redundant power, comprising: a plurality of power units, each of the plurality of power units comprising: first and second alternating current (AC) front ends, and a direct current (DC) back end; an AC input of the first AC front end is adapted for connection to a first AC power source, and an AC input of the second AC front end is adapted for connection to a second AC power source; a DC output of the first AC front end and a DC output of the second AC front end are coupled to a DC input of the DC back end; DC outputs of the DC back ends of the plurality of power units are coupled together for supplying DC power to a load; and wherein each of the first and second AC front ends has an available power capacity of TRP/(N+1) and each of the DC back ends has an available power capacity of TRP/N, wherein TRP is total redundant power and N is the number of non-redundant power units, and wherein the number of non-redundant power units is the total number of power units in the plurality of power units less one.