16:23, 23/09/2021 Functions Of RC Snubber Circuit In SMPS | Electronics Repair And Technology News Function Of RC Snubber Circuit In SMPS

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By Jestine Yong on September 23, 2021

FREE ELECTRONICS REPAIR NEWSLETTER
In my last article you have learned about the
functions of the electrolytic and non-polarity
capacitor (connected parallel) in the DC output
line of a switch mode power supply (SMPS). In
today’s article I will show you another circuit that
has two components (resistor in series with a
non- polarity capacitor) that are connected
parallel with the secondary output diode of
SMPS. Let’s take a look at the schematic
diagram below. You can right click on the photo
and choose “Open image image in Tab” to see
the enlarged photo.

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Figure 1

What is the name of such circuit?

It is called as snubber circuit but this circuit is generally called as RC snubber because it contains
only a resistor and a capacitor. Snub means to brush off (or rebuff) and in electronics term it means
to suppress.

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Some snubber circuits like the one found in the primary section of SMPS is called as RCD snubber
because it contains of a diode, a resistor and a capacitor (R1, C5 and D2) and the RC snubber
circuit is C74 and R133. Take a look at the diagram below:

Figure 2

What is the function or purpose of Snubber circuit?

Snubbers circuits are placed across semiconductor devices for protection and to improve
performance. It can do many things such as:

· Suppress over voltage (voltage spikes) and over current (current spikes)  due to parasitic
capacitances and parasitic inductances, by using resistors to convert the voltages into heat.

· Discarding the energy stored in the leakage inductance of the transformer.

· Reduce EMI by damping voltage and current ringing.

Why some SMPS designs does not have such circuit?

Take a look at the diagram below where certain output diodes (D529 and D511) does not have the
RC snubber at all but to some designs (please refer to figure 1 ), all output diodes must have the
RC snubber circuits. It may be some design engineers find the snubber circuits induce more losses
(reduce circuit efficiency) than the losses they try to avoid.

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Figure 3

What is the common problems in the RC snubber circuit?

It is actually quite rare to have problems in these two components. If the capacitor is open circuit or
the value run, it may not have direct impact to the DC output but if it is shorted then the resistor may
get hot and the power supply may go into shutdown mode or you can’t power up the power supply
at all.  If the vibrant colour of the resistor already changed to a darker colour due to heat, the best is
to replace with the same type and value of resistor.

If the output diode is shorted then it is always good to check on these two components also. It is
always a good procedure if you found a bad component, check also the corresponding components.
It may be that corresponding components that have killed the output diode.  Corresponding
components can be any components that are located at the same DC output line of the shorted
output diode such as the electrolytic and the non-polarity filter capacitors, inductors and etc.

Conclusion– By understanding each circuit functions in a circuit board, you will not be afraid of
what you are actually looking at. Being said that, this mean the moment you hold the SMPS, your
brain will immediately will tell you that this is a RC snubber and you know the functions of such
circuit and be able to test the components if they are faulty.  This is why recognizing a circuit in a
circuit board is so important and will eventually help you to speed up your troubleshooting work.
Remember, to be a good repairer, you need to be able to understand many type of circuit functions
in a circuit board and be able to recognize the components in those circuits. Well, that’s all for this
week and hope to see you again.

This article is brought to you by Jestine Yong. He is from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and he loved
electronics repair and blogging about electronics repair information. He is the author of the famous
Basic Electronics Repair and SMPS Repair ebook . He is also a trainer and conduct electronics
repair courses at Noahtech Electronics Training Center.

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welcome. Please leave it in the comments.

P.S- If you enjoyed reading this article, click here to subscribe to my blog (free subscription). That
way, you’ll never miss a post. You can also forward this website link to your friends and colleagues-
thanks!

You may also interested in his previous repair article on the Functions Of Capacitors In SMPS DC
output line

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