How power supply circuits operate Operation of RC filters Diserete voltage regulator operation About practical IC voltage regulators Chapter 15 introduces the operation of power supply circuits built using filters, rectifiers, and then voltage regulators. (Refer to Chapter 2 forthe initial description of diode rectifier icuits.) Starting with an ac voltage, we obtain a steady de voltage by rectifying the ac voltage, then filtering to a de level, and, finally, regulating to obtain a desired fixed de voltage. The regulation is usually obtained from an IC voltage regulator unit, which takes 1a de voltage and provides a somewhat lower de voltage, which remains the same even if the input de voltage varies or the output load connected to the de voltage changes. ‘A block diagram containing the parts ofa typical power supply and the voltage at various points in the unit is shown in Fig. 15.1. The ac voltage, typically 120 V rms, is connected to a transformer, which steps that ac voltage down to the level for the desired de output. A diode rectifier then provides a full-wave rectified voltage, which is initially filtered by abasic capacitor filter to produce a de voltage. This resulting dc voltage usually has some ripple or ac voltage variation, A regulator circuit ean use this de input to provide a de voltage that not only has much less ripple voltage, but also remains atthe same de value even ifthe input de voltage varies somewhat or the load connected to the output de voltage changes, This voltage regulation is usually obtained using one of a number of popular voltage regulator IC units. Transformer Rectifier Fier IC repustor Ve Block diagram showing parts of a power supply:Tes POWER SUPPLIES (VOLTAGE REGULATORS) 15.2_GENERAL FILTER CONSIDERATIONS e A rectifier circuit is necessary to convert a signal having zero average value into one that has a nonzero average. The output resulting from a rectifier is @ pulsating de voltage and not yet suitable as a battery replacement, Such a voltage could be used in, say, a battery charger, where the average de voltage is large enough to provide a charging current for the battery. For de supply voltages, such as those used in a radio, stereo system, computer, and so on, the pulsating de voltage from a rectifier is not good enough. A filter circuit is neces sary to provide a steadier de voltage. Filter Voltage Regulation and Ripple Voltage Before going into the details ofa filter circuit, it would be appropriate to consider the usual ‘methods of rating filter circuits so that we can compare a circuit's effectiveness as a filter. Figure 15.2 shows a typical filler output voltage, which will be used to define some of the signal factors, The filtered output of Fig. 15.2 has a de value and some ac variation (rip ple). Although a battery has essentially a constant or de output voltage, the de voltage derived from an ac source signal by rectifying and filtering will have some ac variation (ipple). The smaller the ae variation with respect to the de level, the better is the filter circuit's operation, egg FIG. 15.2 Filter voltage waveform showing de and ripple voltages. Consider measuring the output voltage of a filter circuit using a de voltmeter and an ‘ac (rms) voltmeter. The de voltmeter will read only the average or de level of the output voltage. The ac (rms) meter will read only the rms value of the ac component of the output voltage (assuming the ae signal is coupled through a capacitor to block out the de level. Definition: Ripple is defined as ;-— fipple voltage ems) __Vi(ems) aSvotags Vag 100% (15.1) [ear evar ara pearertmmnramasenenar enema rama EXAMPLE 15.1 Using a de and ac volimeter to measure the output signal from a filler circuit, we obtain readings of 25 V de and 1.5 V rms. Calculate the ripple ofthe filter out- put voltage, Solution: 15V sey % 100% Voltage Regulation Another factor of importance in a power supply is the amount the de output voltage changes over a range of circuit operation. The voltage provided at the‘output under no-load condition (no current drawn from the supply) is reduced when load current is drawn from the supply (under load). The amount the de voltage changes between the no-load and load conditions is described by a factor called voltage regulation Definition: Voltage regulation is given by vot tation = 228d Voltage — fal-toad voltage olngersguiauon Tull-load voltage evr = Ye x 100% (15.2) EXAMPLE 15.2 A de voltage supply provides 60 V when the output is unloaded. When connected to a load, the output drops to 56 V. Calculate the value of voltage regulation, Solution: 60V - S6V x 100% = SV = EY 00% Bq, (152 RVR = oF Ifthe value of full-load voltage is the same as the no-load voltage, the voltage regula- tion calculated is 0%, which is the best expected. This means that the supply is a perfect voltage source for hich the output voltage is independent of the current drawn from the supply. The smaller the voltage regulation, the better is the operation of the voltage sup- ply circuit Ripple Factor of Rectified Signal Although the rectified voltage is not a filtered voltage, itnevertheless contains a de component and a ripple component. We will see that the full- ‘wave reclfied signal has a larger de component and less ripple than the half-wave rectified voltage. Half-wave: For a half-wave rectified signal, the output de voltage is Vac = O.318Vj_ (15.3) ‘The rms value of the ac component of the output signal can be calculated (see Appendix C) tobe Vrms) = 0.385V (15.4) ‘The percentage ripple of a half-wave rectified signal ean then be caleulated as V,(ems) 0.385¥in _ Tae % 100% = aay % 100% = 121% (5.5) Fall-wave: For afull-wave rectified voltage the de value is Veg = 0.636¥y (15.6) ‘The rms value of the ac component of the output signal can be calculated (see Appendix C) tobe V,(ems) = 0.308V, (15.7) ‘The percentage ripple of a full-wave rectified signal can then be calculated as Vrms) 0.308Vi5 _ Vag % 100% =O gagy,. X 100% = 48% (15.8) In summary, a full-wave rectified signal has less ripple than a half-wave rectified sig- nal and is thus better to apply to a filter. GENERAL FILTER 785 CONSIDERATIONS786 POWER SUPPLIES (VOLTAGE REGULATORS) cy 15.3__ CAPACITOR FILTER e A very popular filter circuit isthe capacitor-ilter circuit shown in Fig, 15.3. A capacitor is connected at the rectifier output, and a de voltage is obtained across the capacitor, Figure 15.4a shows the output voltage ofa full-wave rectifier before the signal is filtered, whereas Fig. 15.4b shows the resulting waveform after the filter capacitor is connected at the recti- fier output, Notice that the filtered waveform is essentially a de voltage with some ripple (or ac variation), Output of ctf cneuit Capacitor filer FIG. 15.3, Basie capacitor filter. > 3B cy FIG. 15. Capacitor filter operation: (a) full-wave rectifier voliage: (b) filtered ouput voltage. Figure 15.5a shows a full-wave bridge rectifier and the output waveform obtained from the circuit when connected to a load (R,). If no load were connected across the capacitor, the output waveform would ideally be a constant dc level equal in value to the peak voltage (Vq) from the rectifier circuit. However, the purpose of obtaining a de voltage isto provide ve Op Dy a3 ¥ cla ¥ spt] ® © Capacitor filter: (a) capacitor filter cireut;(b) ouput voltage waveform.this voltage for use by various electronic circuits, which then constitute a load on the voltage supply. Since there will always be a load on the filter output, we must consider this practical cease in our discussion, Output Waveform Figure 15.5 shows the waveform across a capacitor filter. Time 7; is the time during which diodes of the full-wave rectifier conduct, charging the capacitor up to the peak recti- fier voltage Vp. Time 7> is the time interval during which the rectifier voltage drops below the peak voltage, and the capacitor discharges through the load, Since the charge-discharge cycle occurs for each half-cycle for a full-wave rectifier, the period of the rectified wave- form is T/2. The filtered voltage, as shown in Fig. 15.6, shows the output waveform to have a de level Vi. and a ripple voltage V, (rms) as the capacitor charges and discharges. ‘Some details of these waveforms and the circuit elements are considered next. ¥,8-) Va = Me o r T 7 z FIG. 15.6 Approsimate output voltage of capacitor filter circuit. Ripple Voltage V, (RMS) Appendix C provides the details for determining the value of the ripple voltage in terms of the other circuit parameters. The ripple voltage can be calcu- lated from Tg _ 2s _ 24Vic View) ~ avai CC (15.9) ‘where Ji. isin milliamperes, Cis in microfarads, and R; is in kilohms. [er yer rr ret EXAMPLE 15.3. Calculate the ripple voltage of a full-wave rectifier with a 100-,F filter capacitor connected to a load drawing 50 mA. Solution: Bq. (15.9): Vrms) DC Voltage Vie From Appendix C, we can express the de value of the waveform across the filter capacitor as Tae _ 417s Vac = Ym 45g = Ym (15.10) where Vj is the peak rectifier voltage, 14: is the load current in milliamperes, and C is the filter capacitor in microfarads.. CAPACITOR FILTER 787Tes POWER SUPPLIES (VOLTAGE REGULATORS) EXAMPLE 15.4 Ifthe peak rectified voltage for the filter circuit of Example 15.3 is 30 V. calculate the filter de voltage. Solution: Eg, (15.10): Vig = Vy — Azle = 39 — 4478 _ apy 100 Filter Capacitor Using the definition of ripple [Eq (15.1)], Eq. (15.9), and Eq, (15.10), with Vig © Vy We can obtain the expression for the output waveform ripple of a full-wave rectifier and filter- capacitor circuit — Yetems) _ 2g — 24 = A % 100% = Sy x 00% = Fe x 100K | (15.11) where fic isin milliamperes, C is in microfarads, Vie is in volts, and Ry is in kilohms. EXAMPLE 15.5 Calculate the ripple ofa capacitor filter for a peak rectified voltage of 30 V, capacitor C = 50 uF, and « load current of 50 mA. Solution: 2c 2.4(50) - Bq (SAD: 1 = TPE x 100% = Tray % 10% = 43% ‘We could also calculate the ripple using the basic definition: V,{ems) 12 x x = Tae % 100% = say X 100% = 43% Diode Conduction Period and Peak Diode Current From the previous discussion, it should be clear that larger values of capacitance provide less ripple and higher average voltage, thereby providing better filter action, From this ‘one might conclude that to improve the performance of a capacitor filter itis only neces- sary fo increase the size of the filter capacitor, The capacitor, however, also affects the peak current drawn through the rectifying diodes, and, as will be shown next, the larger the value of the capacitor, the larger is the peak current drawn through the rectifying diodes. Recall that the diodes conduct during period 7; (see Fig. 15.5), during which time the diode must provide the necessary average current to charge the capacitor. The shorter this, ‘time interval. the larger is the amount of the charging current. Figure 15.7 shows this rela- tion for a half-wave rectified signal (t would be the same basic operation for the full-wave case). Notice that for smaller values of capacitor, with T; larger, the peak diode current is less than for larger values of filter capacitor. ‘Since the average current drawn from the supply must equal the average diode current during the charging period, the following relation can be used (assuming constant diode current during charge time): from which we obtain Iya = F hae (15.12)FIG. 15.7 Output voltage and diode current waveforms: (a) small C:(b) large C. where T; = diode conduction time T= Uff = 2 X 60 for the full-wave case) wverage current drawn from the filter peak current through the conducting diodes 5.4 RC FILTER Iis possible to further reduce the amount of ripple across a filter capacitor by using an additional RC filter section as shown in Fig, 15.8. The purpose of the added RC section is to pass most of the de component while attenuating (reducing) as much of the ac compo- nent as possible. Figure 15.9 shows a full-wave rectifier with capacitor filter followed by aan RC filter section. The operation of the filter circuit can be analyzed using superposition for the de and ac components of the signal. oe . ‘ ~_ I Capacitor | Additional RC Load filer filer FIG. 15.8 RC filter stage DC Operation of RC Filter Section Figure 15.10a shows the de equivalent circuit to use in analyzing the RC filter circuit of Fig. 15.9. Since both capacitors are open-circuit for de operation, the resulting output de voltage is Re RER, Vie Voc (15.13)