Using Capacitors and Inductors as Filters for Power Supplies

Most power supplies found in industrial electronic circuits have capacitors and inductors used as filters.
A filter on the power supply circuit will reduce the amount of ripple to a point where the output dc
voltage is nearly a straight line, or pure dc. It's important in some circuits where the dc voltage is
converted back to ac voltage that all traces of the original frequency of the input voltage is removed.

Fig. 1 shows a diagram of a typical capacitor and inductor in the power supply circuit. The capacitor is
connected in parallel with the load, and the inductor is connected in series with the dc voltage
terminals. Recall from basic electrical courses that the capacitor will charge when voltage is supplied to
it. It will then discharge the stored voltage when the supply voltage is less than the stored charge. The
effect of the capacitor charging and discharging is to smooth out the area between the peaks of the full-
wave dc output voltage. The waveform in Fig. 1 shows the effect of the capacitor filter. (It should be
noted at this time that it's customary to show only the voltage waveform since it can easily be seen from
an oscilloscope. The current waveform exists but it's difficult to view it directly.) The inductor provides
essentially the same function to the current waveform as it stores energy in its magnetic field and
releases it back into the output circuit. The effect of the inductor storing and releasing energy into the
output circuit's to provide a slight phase shift, which smooths the area between the current peaks.
Together the capacitor and inductor filter the dc full-wave output voltage and current to a smoother,
near pure supply of dc power. The capacitor can be increased in size or several capacitors can be used
together in parallel to increase the filtering capability of the circuit.

Above: Fig. 1 Electronic circuit that shows a capacitor connected in parallel and an inductor connected in
series with the dc output part of the rectifier circuit.

The inductor that is used for filtering is generally called a choke and it looks very similar to a small
transformer except it will have two wires instead of four. In the rectifier circuit for larger motor drives,
the capacitors in the filter will have a pre-charge circuit that limits the rate that voltage is supplied to the
capacitors when power is initially applied. The capacitors also have a discharge resistor to ensure that all
of the stored potential is removed from the capacitor when power is turned off. It's important to
remember that these filter capacitors store a large amount of energy and it will take several seconds for
them to discharge after power is removed.

Using a Zener Diode for Voltage Regulation

Most industrial power supplies require the dc output voltage to have some type of regulation to keep
the output voltage level constant when the input voltage fluctuates. The ac voltage that supplies power
to industry today will fluctuate up to 10% of the supply voltage specification. This means that in the
hottest days of the summer it may not be uncommon for the three-phase 208 volts that is supplied to a
machine to drop below 200 volts. When this occurs, the dc output voltage of all of the rectifier circuits
will also drop. When the dc voltage drops, the circuit may become unreliable, so a zener diode is
generally used in the output section of the power supply to provide voltage regulation. Fig. 1 shows a
circuit with the zener diode connected in parallel with the load.

The zener diode must be rated for the same voltage the dc load requires. For example, if the dc load
needs 20 volts dc, the zener will be rated for 20 volts. The operation of the zener diode in the regulation
part of the circuit can easily be explained using the diagram in Fig. 1. In this circuit notice that the zener
diode is connected in parallel with the load resistor and it's connected in reverse bias with the power
supply. In normal conditions, the output voltage from the rectifier is 15% to 20% larger than the zener
level. The zener diode will go into conduction when the voltage reaches or exceeds its rating. In the
circuit in the diagram, the zener diode is rated for 30 volts dc, and the full-wave bridge voltage that is
supplied to it's 35 volts. Since the 35 volts exceeds the zener rating, the zener diode will go into
conduction and create a voltage drop across its terminals of exactly 30 volts. Since the load resistor is
connected in parallel with the zener, the 30 volts across the zener terminals will be the same voltage
supplied to the load resistor. Anytime the voltage is less than the zener rating, the zener will present
high resistance and have no effect on the circuit.

If the ac voltage that supplies the diode section of the rectifier drops 2% or 3%, the peak half-wave dc
voltage at the output will drop 1-2 volts. This means that the original 35 volts will become 33 or 34 volts.
Since this voltage still remains larger than the zener diode rating, the zener diode will continue to stay in
conduction and provide the 30 volt drop and continue to supply 30 volts to the load. As can be seen, the
incoming ac voltage will need to drop more than 10% to cause the dc half-wave voltage to become
lower than the zener diode rating, and cause it to stop regulating.

It's important to understand that as the dc half-wave voltage becomes larger, the zener must shunt
more current. The term shunt means that the zener diode will provide a parallel path for this excess
voltage and current so that the load resistor will always be supplied with a constant 30 volts. Zener
diodes come in a variety of voltage and current ratings for all types of industrial power supplies up to
several hundred volts.

If an oscilloscope is used to view the waveforms in a power supply, one will note that the voltage from
the terminals of the rectifier will be complete full-wave rectification like the waveform shown in Fig. 1b.
The waveform that would be observed at the load is shown in Fig. 1c and it shows the top parts of the
rectified full-wave as missing because the zener diode shunted the excess voltage so that the load would
see the regulated 30 volts.

Above: Fig. 1 (a) Electrical diagram that shows a zener diode connected to the output side of the rectifier
circuit so that it can supply a regulated voltage to the load. (b) The waveform of full-wave rectification
voltage at the output of the rectifier. (c) The waveform of the regulated voltage measured across the
load after it passes the zener diode.