LINEAR DC

POWER
SUPPLY

Importance of the DC power supply unit in

electronic equipment:
Electronic equipment use active devices like diodes, transistors, and
others. Active devices require dc voltage to enable it to operate.
Dry cells weakened over time. Electronic equipment that uses a high
current will shorten the life of dry cells.
Electronic equipment that requires high DC voltage use a lot of dry
cells. Therefore the use of dry cells is not economical.
Sources of electricity supplied to homes and buildings are in the form
of AC voltage (Single phase = 240 V, Three phase = 415 V).

Block diagram of DC Power Supply

AC
Voltag Transformer
e

Rectifier

Filter

Regulator

DC
Voltage Voltag
divider
e

FUNCTION OF EACH STAGE:

Transformer: To steps down high AC voltage mains to low voltage AC
Rectifier: To convert AC voltage to pulsating DC voltage.
Filter: To smooth the Pulsating DC from varying greatly to a small
ripple voltage
Regulator: to reduce the ripple to zero or at least to a minimal value.
Voltage divider: offer the needed DC voltage required in the circuit
and to produce stable reference voltages.

Diode as half wave rectifier

Half wave rectifier
Diode Forward Bias

Forward Bias

Vo

Vi
+
+

Vi
-

D
RL

Vo

Reverse
Bias

Current flow

During positive half cycle of input voltage,

diode D forward bias and act as a close
switch. Current flow through it. Voltage
drop at the RL equals to magnitude of input
voltage (ignore the voltage drop at the
diode).

Diode as half wave rectifier

Forward Bias

Half wave rectifier

Diode Reverse Bias

Vo

Vi
+

Vi
-

D
RL

Vo

+
Reverse
Bias
No current
flow

During negative half cycle of the input

voltage, diode D is reverse bias. D act as
open switch, so the current cant flow
through the diode and voltage drop across
RL is zero.

Full-wave rectifier
center-tapped

Full-wave rectifier, center-tapped

This circuit's is easily understood one half-cycle at a time. Consider the

first half-cycle, when the source voltage polarity is positive (+) on top
and negative (-) on bottom. At this time, only the top diode is conducting;
the bottom diode is blocking current, and the load sees the first half of
the sine , positive on top and negative on bottom. Only the top half of the
transformer's secondary winding carries current during this half-cycle as
in Figure below.

During the next half-cycle, the AC polarity reverses. Now, the other
diode and the other half of the transformer's secondary winding carry
current while the portions of the circuit formerly carrying current during
the last half-cycle sit idle. The load still sees half of a sine , of the
same polarity as before: positive on top and negative on bottom.
(Figure below)

Full-wave rectifier
Bridge Circuit

Full-wave rectifier, bridge circuit

Current directions for the full-wave bridge circuit are

as shown in Figure below for positive half-cycle

Figure below for negative half-cycles of the AC

source waveform.

Note that regardless of the polarity of the input, the

current flows in the same direction through the load.
That is, the negative half-cycle of source is a positive
half-cycle at the load.
The current flow is through two diodes in series for
both polarities. Thus, two diode drops of the source
voltage are lost (0.72=1.4 V for Si) in the diodes.
This is a disadvantage compared with a full-wave
center-tap design. This disadvantage is only a
problem in very low voltage power supplies.

Figure below shows easy to remember layout of diodes in a full-wave

bridge circuit, It's the exact same circuit, except all diodes are drawn in
a horizontal attitude, all pointing the same direction.

REVIEW:
Rectification is the conversion of alternating current (AC) to
direct current (DC).
A half-wave rectifier is a circuit that allows only one half-cycle
of the AC voltage waveform to be applied to the load, resulting
in one non-alternating polarity across it. The resulting DC
delivered to the load pulsates significantly.
A full-wave rectifier is a circuit that converts both half-cycles of
the AC voltage waveform to an unbroken series of voltage
pulses of the same polarity. The resulting DC delivered to the
load doesn't pulsate as much.

IMAGE OF BRIDGE RECTIFIER IC

When used in its most common application, for

conversion of an alternating current (AC) input
into direct current (DC) output, it is known as a
bridge rectifier IC.
A bridge rectifier IC provides full-wave
rectification from a two-wire AC input, resulting in
lower cost and weight as compared to a rectifier
with a 3-wire input from a transformer with a
center-tapped secondary winding

FILTER
1.RC filter
2.LC filter
3. filter

RC FILTER

RC FILTER

The RC filter contains two capacitors and only one resistor.

capacitor C1 offers low reactance to the rectified output.
the AC components present in the rectifier output are bypassed to ground
through C1.
the resistor R develops a DC voltage drop across it in addition to ripple
voltage drop.
the capacitor C2 again filters the AC component so the output contains
only pure DC.
22

A capacitor-input filter will charge and discharge such that

it fills in the gaps between each peak. This reduces
variations of voltage. This voltage variation is called ripple
voltage.

The advantage of a full-wave rectifier over a half-wave is

quite clear. The capacitor can more effectively reduce the
ripple when the time between peaks is shorter.

LC
FILTER

LC FILTER

It is a combination of capacitor and inductor

the inductor provides high reactance to the AC components of the
rectified output and blocks the AC and passes the DC components to
the load
the AC components is once again filtered by the capacitor C.
the filtered output contain almost only pure DC components.
22

 FILTER

 Filters

To reduce the ripple even more without a lot of dc resistance, we can replace the
resistor with an inductor as shown in the circuit diagram
Contains two capacitors and one inductor form a symbol of
The two capacitors store energy as before, and attempt to maintain a constant
output voltage between input peaks from the rectifier.
At the same time, the inductor stores energy in its magnetic field, and releases
energy as needed in its attempt to maintain a constant current through itself.
This provides yet another factor that attempts to smooth out the ripple voltage.
22

VOLTAGE
REGULATOR
1.Zener Diode regulator
2.Series transistor regulator
3.Integrated Circuit (IC)
regulator

ZENER DIODE
REGULATOR

Diagram shows a simple zener voltage regulator. It is a

shunt regulator and operates by way of the zener diode's
action of maintaining a constant voltage across itself when
the current through it is sufficient to take it into the zener
breakdown region. The resistor R1 supplies the zener
current IZ as well as the load current IR2 (R2 is the load).

This regulator is used for very simple low power applications where the currents involved
are very small and the load is permanently connected across the zener diode (such as
voltage reference or voltage source circuits).
The regulation of this circuit is not very good because the zener current (and hence the
zener voltage) will vary depending on VS and inversely depending on the load current.

33

SERIES
TRANSISTOR
REGULATOR

Adding an emitter follower stage to the

simple zener regulator forms a simple
series voltage regulator and
substantially improves the regulation of
the circuit. Here, the load current IR2 is
supplied by the transistor whose base is
now connected to the zener diode. Thus
the transistor's base current (IB) forms the load current for the zener diode and is
much smaller than the current through R2. This regulator is classified as "series"
because the regulating element, viz., the transistor, appears in series with the load.

Much better regulation than the simple zener regulator, since the base
current of the transistor forms a very light load on the zener, thereby
minimising variation in zener voltage due to variation in the load.
Note that the output voltage will always be about 0.65V less than the zener
due to the transistor's VBE drop. Although this circuit has good regulation, it
is still sensitive to the load and supply variation.
33

INTEGRATED
CIRCUIT
REGULATOR

To most effectively reduce the ripple occurring after filtering we use IC

voltage regulator.
- A regulator IC has 3 terminals: input, output and reference (or adjust).
- In general, it is better to add capacitors after (and before) the regulator.
- A large capacitor between the input voltage and the input terminal further
filters the signal.
To improve transient response a smaller capacitor is added after the
regulator.
- The 78XX series are examples of positive output regulators.
33
-The 79XX series are examples of negative output regulators

VOLTAGE DIVIDER CIRCUIT

Voltage divider circuit

Some particular circuits may need different DC voltage level, example
in television which have different voltage circuit level for various circuit
function. Below are diagrams of simple fixed and variable voltage
divider circuits.
60V
Voltage
Regulator
Circuit

R1
40V

60V
Voltage
Regulator
circuit

R1

R2
20V

VR1

R3

(a): Fixed Voltage Divider Circuit

(b) Variable Voltage Divider Circuit

0 - 40V

POWER SUPPLY
CIRCUIT

D1

G
C

RL
D2

C1

Dz

C2

Output
Voltage

Transformer

Rectifier
circuit

Filter Circuit

Voltage
Regulator
Circuit

Voltage divider
circuit

POWER SUPPLY SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

END OF TOPIC

POWER SUPPLY
UNIT