A DC-DC converter can be used to step down a voltage, step up a voltage, or even invert a voltage from positive to negative. Which of these solutions is selected will depend on the type of load being driven and the power architecture of the design. The most common application is to step down the DC voltage from a higher voltage to a lower voltage. Distributed power architecture is an example of a power system that steps down DC voltages to create a series of voltage rails that drive different loads.