Why should a power supply be paralleled?

Spreading the supply heat also puts less thermal stress on components, extending each supply’s lifetime. Paralleled supplies will provide differing portions of the load by default, so simply connecting the outputs of multiple power supplies in parallel will not guarantee that the load current is shared properly.

How do I Wire Load sharing with parallel power supplies?

Although there may be more than one way to wire load sharing with parallel power supplies, the star wiring method is typically the one most recommended. In the proceeding figures herein, it is demonstrated three typical star wiring schemes that provide options for any desired level of redundancy:

Why do designers connect power supplies in parallel?

Designers connect power supplies in parallel to obtain a total output current greater than that available from one individual supply as well as to provide redundancy, enhance reliability, avoid PCB thermal issues and boost system efficiency.

What are the selection requirements of power supplies in parallel operation?

The selection requirements of power supplies in parallel operation are similar to those for redundancy, but the control function differs. It is obvious, in this type of application a single unit is not sufficient to provide desired power needs, so two or more power supplies in parallel are expected to be always loaded.

What happens if two power supplies are connected in parallel?

Power supply output characteristics with current limit. When these two power supplies are connected in parallel they will not be able to share the output current properly. Remember that we are paralleling two completely independent building blocks both capable of regulating the output voltage, although at slightly different levels.

What is a parallel power supply configuration?

A basic understanding of such configuration is when the power supplies are designed to decrease the output voltage with increased load current. This allows two or more power supplies to “meet” with increased load current at the same voltage level and provide the power in parallel as seen in figure 6.