Patent ID: 7554219

Claim:
A DC/DC converter comprising: an input switching stage on the primary side and a plurality of output channels on the secondary side of the converter, each output channel having a secondary control loop, a power valve, and an output channel monitoring device, where each output channel monitoring device measures a control current of the respective power valve of each said output channels and provides an electrical analog output signal as a function of the proximity of the control current to an overload situation; a primary control loop being provided on the primary side which directly receives said electrical analog output signals from each of said output channel monitoring devices and drives the input switching stage according to the electrical analog output signals; and an overload advance warning unit which monitors the electrical analog output signal of each of said output channel monitoring devices, senses the proximity of the respective control current in each output channel to an overload situation, and provides an indicator signal if one of the electrical analog output signals exceeds a threshold value, where said indicator signal is used to control the pulse width of said input switching stage, where said pulse width is either increased or decreased, without disabling operation of said DC/DC converter.