Power supply

Introduction: When dealing with electronic circuits, we have to meet the basic requirement of providing electrical power for them to work. Without that power, your circuit is no more useful or meaningful than a single raindrop in a hurricane. The basic purpose of a power supply is to provide one or more fixed voltages to the working circuit, with sufficient current-handling capacity to maintain the operating conditions of the circuit. The power source doesn't have to be fancy the typical hand-held transistor radio uses a !-volt battery as its power source. " flashlight uses cells that are physically much larger, but provide a lower voltage. #a$or electronic appliances such as television sets, %&'s, and microwave ovens have electronic circuits built in that take power from a wall socket and convert it to the form and voltages required by the other internal circuits of the appliance. "lthough each power supply has its own individual specifications and

characteristics, all power supplies have certain characteristics in common. We'll look at the main parts of a power supply on this page and see how they work together. Then, on subsequent pages, we'll take a more detailed look at each of the parts we haven't seen before, and explore the ma$or variations that are commonly used in modern power supplies.

The Main Sections: " basic power supply consists of three main sections, as shown in the block diagram below and to the right. (epending on the requirements for a given power supply, the sections can be very simple or extremely complex, or even left out altogether in certain circumstances. )ach of the sections serves one or more specific purposes, as follows*

Transformer: +n general, the ac line voltage present in your house wiring is not suitable for electronic circuits. #ost circuits require a considerably lower voltage, while a few require higher voltages. The transformer serves to convert the ac line voltage to a voltage level more appropriate to the needs of the circuit to be powered. "t the same time, the transformer provides electrical isolation between the ac line and the circuit being powered, which is an important safety consideration. ,owever, a line transformer is generally large and heavy, and is rather expensive. Therefore, some power supplies -notably for .&s/ are deliberately designed to operate directly from the ac line without a line transformer. The output of the transformer is still an ac voltage, but now of an appropriate magnitude for the circuit to be powered. Rectifier: The next step is to force current to flow in one direction only, preventing the alternations that occur in the transformer and the ac line. This process is known as rectification, and the circuit that accomplishes the task is the rectifier. There are many different rectifier configurations that may be used according to the requirements of the circuit. The output of the rectifier is a pulsating dc, which still has some of the variations from the ac line and transformer. Filter* The pulsating dc from the rectifier is generally still not suitable to power the actual load circuit. The pulsations typically vary from 0 volts to the peak output voltage of the transformer. Therefore, we insert a circuit to store energy during each voltage peak, and then release it to the load when the rectifier output voltage drops. This circuit is called a filter, and its $ob is to reduce the pulses from the

rectifier to a much smaller ripple voltage. 1o filter configuration can be absolutely perfect, but a properly designed filter will provide a dc output voltage with only a small ac ripple. )ach of the three sections identified above can have a number of variations 2 even the transformer, which we covered in an earlier page on transformers. 'egardless of these variations, each section performs its specific task. ,owever, some circuits do the $ob more effectively than others, or pick different trade-offs between possible alternatives. To measure the effectiveness of each circuit, we compare the magnitude of the remaining ac component, or ripple, with the dc component of the total voltage appearing at the output of that section. The ratio of ac voltage to dc voltage is known as the ripple factor. The goal of any power supply design is to reduce the ripple factor as much as possible, or at least to the point where the load circuit will not be adversely affected by the remaining ac ripple voltage. +n the remaining pages in this group, we will examine typical circuits and variations used for rectifiers and filters, and compare their performance. "s we have noted when looking at the )lements of a .ower 3upply, the purpose of the rectifier section is to convert the incoming ac from a transformer or other ac power source to some form of pulsating dc. That is, it takes current that flows alternately in both directions as shown in the first figure to the right, and modifies it so that the output current flows only in one direction, as shown in the second and third figures below. The circuit required to do this may be nothing more than a single diode, or it may be considerably more complex. ,owever, all rectifier circuits may be classified into one of two categories, as follows*

Half-Wave Rectifiers* "n easy way to convert ac to pulsating dc is to simply allow half of the ac cycle to pass, while blocking current to prevent it from flowing during the other half cycle. The figure to the right shows the resulting output. 3uch circuits are known as half-wave rectifiers because they only work on half of the incoming ac wave.

Full-Wave Rectifiers* The more common approach is to manipulate the incoming ac wave so that both halves are used to cause output current to flow in the same direction. The resulting waveform is shown to the right. 4ecause these circuits operate on the entire incoming ac wave, they are known as full-wave rectifiers. 'ectifier circuits may also be further classified according to their configuration, as we will see below. The Half-Wave Rectifier:

The simplest rectifier circuit is nothing more than a diode connected in series with the ac input, as shown to the right. 3ince a diode passes current in only one direction, only half of the incoming ac wave will reach the rectifier output. Thus, this is a basic half-wave rectifier.

The orientation of the diode matters as shown, it passes only the positive halfcycle of the ac input, so the output voltage contains a positive dc component. +f the diode were to be reversed, the negative half-cycle would be passed instead, and the dc component of the output would have a negative polarity. +n either case, the (& component of the output waveform is v p5 6 0.7897vp, where vp is the peak voltage output from the transformer secondary winding.

+t is also quite possible to use two half-wave rectifiers together, as shown in the second figure to the right. This arrangement provides both positive and negative output voltages, with each output utili:ing half of the incoming ac cycle. 1ote that in all cases, the lower transformer connection also serves as the common reference point for the output. +t is typically connected to the common ground of the overall circuit. This can be very important in some applications. The transformer windings are of course electrically insulated from the iron core, and that core is normally grounded by the fact that it is bolted physically to the metal chassis -box/ that supports the entire circuit. 4y also grounding one end of the secondary winding, we help ensure that this winding will never experience even momentary transformer. The Full-Wave Rectifier: voltages that might overload the insulation and damage the

While the half-wave rectifier is very simple and does work, it isn't very efficient. +t only uses half of the incoming ac cycle, and wastes all of the energy available in the other half. ;or greater efficiency, we would like to be able to utili:e both halves of the incoming ac. <ne way to accomplish this is to double the si:e of the secondary winding and provide a connection to its center. Then we can use two separate halfwave rectifiers on alternate half-cycles, to provide full-wave rectification. The circuit is shown to the right. 4ecause both half-cycles are being used, the (& component of the output waveform is now =vp5 6 0.>7>>vp, where vp is the peak voltage output from half the transformer secondary winding, because only half is being used at a time. This rectifier configuration, like the half-wave rectifier, calls for one of the transformer's secondary leads to be grounded. +n this case, however, it is the center connection, generally known as the center tap on the secondary winding.

The full-wave rectifier can still be configured for a negative output voltage, rather than positive. +n addition, as shown to the right, it is quite possible to use two fullwave rectifiers to get outputs of both polarities at the same time.

The full-wave rectifier passes both halves of the ac cycle to either a positive or negative output. This makes more energy available to the output, without large intervals when no energy is provided at all. Therefore, the full-wave rectifier is more efficient than the half-wave rectifier. "t the same time, however, a full-wave rectifier providing only a single output polarity does require a secondary winding that is twice as big as the half-wave rectifier's secondary, because only half of the secondary winding is providing power on any one half-cycle of the incoming ac. "ctually, it isn't all that bad, because the use of both half-cycles means that the current drain on the transformer winding need not be as heavy. With power being provided on both half-cycles, one half-cycle doesn't have to provide enough power to carry the load past an unused half-cycle. 1evertheless, there are some occasions when we would like to be able to use the entire transformer winding at all times, and still get full-wave rectification with a single output polarity.

The Full-Wave

rid!e Rectifier:

The four-diode rectifier circuit shown to the right serves very nicely to provide full-wave rectification of the ac output of a single transformer winding. The diamond configuration of the four diodes is the same as the resistor configuration in a Wheatstone 4ridge. +n fact, any set of components in this configuration is identified as some sort of bridge, and this rectifier circuit is similarly known as a bridge rectifier.

+f you compare this circuit with the dual-polarity full-wave rectifier above, you'll find that the connections to the diodes are the same. The only change is that we have removed the center tap on the secondary winding, and used the negative output as our ground reference instead. This means that the transformer secondary is never directly grounded, but one end or the other will always be close to ground, through a forward-biased diode. This is not usually a problem in modern circuits.

To understand how the bridge rectifier can pass current to a load in only one direction, consider the figure to the right. ,ere we have placed a simple resistor as the load, and we have numbered the four diodes so we can identify them individually. (uring the positive half-cycle, shown in red, the top end of the transformer winding is positive with respect to the bottom half. Therefore, the transformer pushes electrons from its bottom end, through (7 which is forward biased, and through the load resistor in the direction shown by the red arrows. )lectrons then continue through the forward-biased (=, and from there to the top of the transformer winding. This forms a complete circuit, so current can indeed flow. "t the same time, (8 and (? are reverse biased, so they do not conduct any current. (uring the negative half-cycle, the top end of the transformer winding is negative. 1ow, (8 and (? are forward biased, and (= and (7 are reverse biased. Therefore, electrons move through (8, the resistor, and (? in the direction shown by the blue arrows. "s with the positive half-cycle, electrons move through the resistor from left to right. +n this manner, the diodes keep switching the transformer connections to the resistor so that current always flows in only one direction through the resistor. We can replace the resistor with any other circuit, including more power supply circuitry -such as the filter/, and still see the same behavior from the bridge rectifier.

The power supplies are designed to convert high voltage AC mains electricity to a suitable low voltage supply for electronics circuits and other devices. A power supply can by broken down into a series of blocks, each of which performs a particular function. A d.c power supply which maintains the output voltage constant irrespective of a.c mains fluctuations or load variations is known as Regulated D.C ower !upply"

#or e$ample a %& regulated power supply system as shown below'

Transformer:
" transformer is an electrical device which is used to convert electrical power from one electrical circuit to another without change in frequency. Transformers convert "& electricity from one voltage to another with little loss of power. Transformers work only with "& and this is one of the reasons why mains electricity is "&. 3tep-up transformers increase in output voltage, step-down transformers decrease in output voltage. #ost power supplies use a step-down transformer to reduce the dangerously high mains voltage to a safer low voltage. The input coil is called the primary and the output coil is called the secondary.

There is no electrical connection between the two coils instead they are linked by an alternating magnetic field created in the soft-iron core of the transformer. The two lines in the middle of the circuit symbol represent the core. Transformers waste very little power so the power out is -almost/ equal to the power in. 1ote that as voltage is stepped down current is stepped up. The ratio of the number of turns on each coil, called the turn@s ratio, determines the ratio of the voltages. " step-down transformer has a large number of turns on its primary -input/ coil which is connected to the high voltage mains supply, and a small number of turns on its secondary -output/ coil to give a low output voltage.

An (lectrical Transformer

Turns ratio = Vp/ VS = Np/NS Power Out= Power In

VS X IS=VP X IP
%p 6 primary -input/ voltage 1p 6 number of turns on primary coil +p 6 primary -input/ current

RECTIFIER:
A circuit which is used to convert a.c to d.c is known as R(CT)#)(R. The process

of conversion from a.c to d.c is called rectification"

T"P#S $F R#%TIFI#RS: ,alf wave 'ectifier ;ull wave rectifier -8. &entre tap full wave rectifier. -=. 4ridge type full bridge rectifier.

%omparison of rectifier circuits:

Type of Rectifier Parameter 1umber of diodes 8 .+% of diodes %m =%m %m = 7 Half wave rid!e Full wave

(.& output voltage

%m5

=%m5

=%m5

%dc, at no-load

0.789%m

0.>7>%m

0.>7>%m

'ipple factor 'ipple frequency

8.=8

0.?9=

0.?9=

=f

=f

'ectification efficiency Transformer Atili:ation ;actor-TA;/ '#3 voltage %rms %m5= %m5C= %m5C= 0.=9B 0.>!7 0.98= 0.?0> 0.98= 0.98=

Full-wave Rectifier:
;rom the above comparison we came to know that full wave bridge rectifier as more advantageous than the other two rectifiers. 3o, in our pro$ect we are using full wave bridge rectifier circuit.

Bridge Rectifier: A bridge rectifier makes use of four diodes in a bridge arrangement to achieve full*wave rectification. This is a widely used configuration, both with individual diodes wired as shown and with single component bridges where the diode bridge is wired internally.
" bridge rectifier makes use of four diodes in a bridge arrangement as shown in fig-a/ to achieve full-wave rectification. This is a widely used configuration, both with individual diodes wired as shown and with single component bridges where the diode bridge is wired internally.

;ig-"/

$peration:
(uring positive half cycle of secondary, the diodes (= and (7 are in forward biased while (8 and (? are in reverse biased as shown in the fig-b/. The current flow direction is shown in the fig -b/ with dotted arrows.

#ig+,(uring negative half cycle of secondary voltage, the diodes (8 and (? are in forward biased while (= and (7 are in reverse biased as shown in the fig-c/. The current flow direction is shown in the fig -c/ with dotted arrows.

;ig-&/ Filter:

" ;ilter is a device which removes the a.c component of rectifier output but allows the d.c component to reach the load.

%apacitor Filter:
We have seen that the ripple content in the rectified output of half wave rectifier is &'&( or that of full-wave or bridge rectifier or bridge rectifier is )*( such high percentages of ripples is not acceptable for most of the applications. 'ipples can be removed by one of the following methods of filtering*

+a, " capacitor, in parallel to the load, provides an easier by Dpass for the ripples voltage though it due to low impedance. "t ripple frequency and leave the d.c to appears the load.

+-, "n inductor, in series with the load, prevents the passage of the ripple current -due to high impedance at ripple frequency/ while allowing the d.c -due to low resistance to d.c/

+c, %arious combinations of capacitor and inductor, such

as E-section

filter

section filter, multiple section filter etc. which make use of wave rectifier and another with full wave rectifier.

both the properties

mentioned in -a/ and -b/ above. Two cases of capacitor filter, one applied on half

#iltering is performed by a large value electrolytic capacitor connected across the DC supply to act as a reservoir, supplying current to the output when the varying DC voltage from the rectifier

is falling. The capacitor charges .uickly near the peak of the varying DC, and then discharges as it supplies current to the output. #iltering significantly increases the average DC voltage to almost the peak value +/.0 1 R2! value-. To calculate the value of capacitor+C-, C 3 45675f5r5Rl 8here, f 3 supply fre.uency, r 3 ripple factor, Rl 3 load resistance Note' )n our circuit we are using /999microfarads.

Regulator:
%oltage regulator +&s is available with fixed -typically F, 8= and 8F%/ or variable output voltages. The maximum current they can pass also rates them. 1egative voltage regulators are available, mainly for use in dual supplies. #ost regulators include some automatic protection from excessive current -'overload protection'/ and overheating -'thermal protection'/. #any of the fixed voltage regulator +&s has 7 leads and look like power transistors, such as the B90F GF% 8" regulator shown on the right. The E#B90F is simple to use. Hou simply connect the positive lead of your unregulated (& power supply -anything from !%(& to =?%(&/ to the +nput pin, connect the negative lead to the &ommon pin and then when you turn on the power, you get a F volt supply from the output pin.

;ig >.8.> .*//:

" Three Terminal %oltage 'egulator

The 4ay Einear E#B9II is integrated linear positive regulator with three terminals. The E#B9II offer several fixed output voltages making them useful in wide range of applications. When used as a Jener diode5resistor combination replacement, the E#B9II usually results in an effective output impedance improvement of two orders of magnitude, lower quiescent current. The E#B9II is available in the T<=F=, T<-==0 K T<-=>7packages,