1) 1voltage regulator

A small device or circuit that regulates the voltage fed to the microprocessor. The power supply of
most PCs generates power at 5 volts but most microprocessors require a voltage below 3.5 volts.
The voltage regulator's job is to reduce the 5 volt signal to the lower voltage required by the
microprocessor. (A device that controls or maintains the voltage of an electrical circuit.)Typically,
voltage regulators are surrounded by heat sinks because they generate significant heat.
Pentium microprocessors with MMX actually require two voltage regulators -- one for the internal
(core) voltage, and one for the I/O drivers at 3.3 volts.
Some voltage regulators, particularly those packaged as a voltage regulator module (VRM),
are voltage ID (VID) programmable, which means that the microprocessor can program the
voltage regulator to provide the correct voltage during power-up.

The voltage
regulator is needed to keep voltages within the prescribed range that can be tolerated by the
electrical equipment using that voltage. Such a device is widely used in motor vehicles of all types
to match the output voltage of the generator to the electrical
load and to the charging requirements of the battery.

2) Shunt Regulator
A regulator that maintains a constant output voltage by controlling the
current through a dropping resistance in series with the load.
Essentially the load is operated with a resistor in series with the
voltage source and the shunt regulator then in parallel with the load.
A shunt regulator provides a path from the supply voltage towards
the ground through a variable resistance. Shunt regulators are
simpler than series regulators and sometimes only consist of a voltage-reference diode and are
used in very low-powered circuits where the amount of wasted current is too small to be of any
concern. Shunt regulators are very common in voltage reference circuits. Several simple DC
power supplies regulate the voltage by using a shunt regulator.

There are several applications for shunt regulators including:

Low Output Voltage Switching Power Supplies
Current Source and Sink Circuits
Error Amplifiers
Adjustable Voltage or Current Linear and Switching
Power Supplies
Voltage Monitoring
Analog and Digital Circuits Requiring Precision References
Precision current limiters
A series regulator operates using a pass-element that's in series with the load. As such, it cannot
sink current. That is, if something makes the load voltage increase, it cannot regulate it because it
can't draw current from the load. A shunt regulator can.

On the other hand, a shunt regulator regulates by shunting current from a fixed source away from
the load. Think of a voltage source supplying power to a load through a resistor with a variable
resistor across the load, that shunts current from the load. As the load voltage rises, more current
is shunted. Shunt regulators are generally much less efficient and so are used only for lowerpower loads.

3) Series
A regulator
voltage or
automatically
in series with
The series
series pass
uses a variable
series with the
resistance of
the voltage
can be varied to
across the load

Regulator
that controls output
current by
varying a resistance
the voltage source.
voltage regulator or
voltage regulator
element placed in
load. By changing the
the series element,
dropped across it
ensure that the voltage
remains constant.

Series type voltage regulators are voltage controlling circuits which manage variable fluctuations
within input voltage levels of electronic devices. These are also known as linear regulators. They
perform their operations with the help of both active and passive electronic components. Active
electronic components are units which consume as well as produce energy during operations,
while passive components consume but do not produce energy in any form. Series voltage
regulators have a distinct position among different types of voltage regulators. This distinction is
based on their unique structure, operations, features and applications.
The advantage of the series voltage regulator is that the amount of current drawn is effectively that
used by the load, although some will be consumed by any circuitry associated with the regulator.
Unlike the shunt regulator, the series regulator does not draw the full current even when the load
does not require any current. As a result the series regulator is considerably more efficient.