DESIGN OF A REGULATED POWER SUPPLY

THEORY
A regulated power supply converts unregulated AC (Alternating Current) to a constant DC
(Direct Current). A regulated power supply is used to ensure that the output remains constant
even if the input changes. A regulated DC power supply is also known as a linear power supply,
it is an embedded circuit and consists of various blocks. Power supply regulation is the ability of
a power supply to maintain an output voltage within a specified tolerance as referenced to
changing conditions of input voltage and/or load.

Most electronic equipment is powered from DC voltage derived from the unregulated AC mains
voltage. A rectifier circuit converts the AC to DC which is then conditioned to meet the circuit or
load requirements. The rectified voltage follows the AC input and will vary as the mains vary.
The variations may affect the circuit performance and is undesirable in sensitive equipment such
as computers, sensor and precision circuits. In addition, components and circuits will only
operate or perform efficiently when the power supply is within a certain limit. Anything beyond
the design limit will either destroy the components and equipment or be insufficient to power the
equipment such that it will not turn on or simply malfunction.

The mains supply voltage is usually supposed to remain within certain limits and most
equipment are designed o accommodates these. However, these variations, sometimes beyond
limits, may cause problems in the sensitive equipment since they will cause variations in the
output voltage of the power supply.

Controlling the voltage variations are beyond the control of the equipment manufacturer and the
consumer. For this reason, the best the designers can do is to ensure that the power supply output
voltage remains fairly constant over a wide range of input voltages.

A power supply with regulation provides an output that remains constant irrespective of
variations in the input mains voltage. A typical power supply unit consists of several blocks
depending on the design and stability required. A simple linear supply will have a transformer,
rectifier, filter and a regulator. A switched mode supply contains the four building blocks and
additional blocks such as the inverters and feedback stages. In a regulated power supply, the
input to the regulating device is usually higher than expected output. This allows the circuit to
work with a wide range of input voltages while giving out a constant output. The regulating
device is usually in series with the output. And since the input is always higher than expected
output, the device or circuit works in a way that a certain amount of voltage is dropped across the
regulating circuit.

Even with a low input AC voltage, the regulating circuit must receive a higher voltage; however,
in this case, a small amount of voltage is dropped. If the input AC is very high, the regulating

Page 1
circuit drops a higher voltage. In switched power supplies, the regulation is achieved by varying
the switching of the series transistor.

There are different forms of regulating circuits, the type varies with the power supply design and
required level of stability. Typical regulating components include Zener diodes, series transistors
or switching devices, and fixed and reliable integrated circuit regulators.

There are also some situations where consumers use automatic voltage regulators to condition
the AC input voltage so that it remains within a specified limit. Some of these have bulky
transformers and may not be practical in some cases due to cost, convenience and other factors.

TRANSFORMERS
A transformer has no internal moving parts, and it transfers energy from one circuit to another by
electromagnetic induction. External cooling may include heat exchangers, radiators, fans, and oil
pumps. Radiators and fans are evident in figure 1. The large horizontal tank at the top is a
conservator. Transformers are typically used because a change in voltage is needed. Power
transformers are defined as transformers rated 500 kVA and larger. Larger transformers are oil-
filled for insulation and cooling; a typical GSU transformer may contain several thousand
gallons of oil. One must always be aware of the possibility of spills, leaks, fires, and
environmental risks this oil poses. Transformers smaller than 500 kVA are generally called
distribution transformers. Pole-top and small, pad-mounted transformers that serve residences
and small businesses are typically distribution transformers. Generator step-up transformers,
used in Reclamation powerplants, receive electrical energy at generator voltage and increase it to
a higher voltage for transmission lines. Conversely, a step-down transformer receives energy at a
higher voltage and delivers it at a lower voltage for distribution to various loads. All electrical
devices using coils (in this case, transformers) are constant wattage devices. This means voltage
multiplied by current must remain constant; therefore, when voltage is “stepped-up,” the current
is “stepped-down” (and vice versa). Transformers transfer electrical energy between circuits
completely insulated from each other. This makes it possible to use very high (stepped-up)
voltages for transmission lines, resulting in a lower (stepped-down) current. Higher voltage and
lower current reduce the required size and cost of transmission lines and reduce transmission
losses as well. Transformers have made possible economic delivery of electric power over long
distances. Transformers do not require as much attention as most other equipment; however, the
care and maintenance they do require is absolutely critical. Because of their reliability,
maintenance is sometimes ignored, causing reduced service life and, at times, outright failure.

FULL WAVE RECTIFIERS

The input power from the transformer is of AC. The DC (average) value of this kind of source is
zero for full cycles. To improve the dc value a process called rectification is performed. A
semiconductor diode allows a current to pass through one direction and block any current in the

Page 2
reverse direction.Setting up a circuit in a specific configuration allows the full wave to be
rectified and hence have an average value differrent from zero.

There are two types of full wave rectifiers: a center tapped transformer and a full wave bridge
rectifier. The center tapped rectifier requires an additional input rectifier and the main
disadvantage of this type of full wave rectifier circuit is that a larger transformer for a given
power output is required with two separate but identical secondary windings making this type of
full wave rectifying circuit costly compared to the “Full Wave Bridge Rectifier” circuit
equivalent.

Figure 1. A Full bridge rectifier at work

Another type of circuit that produces the same output waveform as the full wave rectifier circuit
above, is that of the Full Wave Bridge Rectifier. This type of single phase rectifier uses four
individual rectifying diodes connected in a closed loop “bridge” configuration to produce the
desired output. The main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not require a special
centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing its size and cost. The single secondary winding is
connected to one side of the diode bridge network and the load to the other side as shown below.
When an AC power is delieverd to the circuit in the given polarity, the upper right diode turns on
allowing the positive half of the input to pass. Then current passes through the load and back to
the source by opening the bottom left diode. When the polarity of the source is reversed the
reversed diodes become forward biased and start to conduct ,while the first two diodes which use
to be in forward bias condition get reversed and act as open circuits. Thus, a bridge rectifier
allows electric current during both positive and negative half cycles of the input AC signal.

The output waveforms of the bridge rectifier are shown in the below figure.

Page 3
 Figure 2. Input voltage and Output voltage across the bridge rectifier

LOW PASS FILTER

The low pass filter circuit diagram is shown below. It contains passive elements resistor and
capacitor connected in series with an applied input voltage across the resistor and its output
voltage is obtained across the capacitor. This type of filter circuit allows the frequency
components of the signal less than the cut of the frequency range of a signal. The gain of the low
pass filter is inversely proportional to the frequency. If the frequency of an input signal increases,
the gain of the circuit decreases and also becomes zero at the transition band end-stage.

The additional RC filter is added to further reduce the amount of ripple voltage and to allow
most of the dc component to pass. The operation of the filter circuit can be analyzed using the
superposition principle for the dc component and the AC component. Since both capacitors are
open-circuit for dc operation, the resulting output dc voltage is

𝑅𝐿
𝑉′𝑑𝑐 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑅+𝑅𝐿

Due to the voltagedivider action of the capacitor ac impedance and the load resistor, the ac
component of voltage resulting across the load is
𝑋𝐶
𝑉 ′ 𝑟(𝑟𝑚𝑠) = ( ) × 𝑉𝑟 (𝑟𝑚𝑠)
𝑋𝐶 + 𝑅

Page 4
 Figure 3. Construction and Operation of an RC filter

.VOLTAGE REGULATORS

Voltage regulators are a set of circuit components that function coordinately to manipulate or
regulate an incoming, fairly, unstable power source in to an output that stays constant under most
circumstances. The filtered output from the filtering circuit contains a pulsating DC voltage.
Appropriate use of of circuit elements helps to reduce this pulse and make it uniform.
Nonetheless, a little disturbance of the power is always present. Supplying this kind of input to
delicate electronic devices could be detrmintal for both the device and the source. One of the
major uses of the regulator is to fully smoothen the pulsating DC signal so that it can be safely
delivered to the devices.

For economical and other reasons using AC sources has proven to be an efficent way of
providing electricity. Paradoxially most electronic devices need a DC power supply to function
fully. A method is therefore required to somehow transform the cheap AC power source,
compared to batteries, in to DC. This is where the regulated DC power supply comes in. It is a
clustered system of electronic devices that operate cohererntly to produce a desired constant
level of DC power supply.

The incoming signal is inhernetly flactuating. Consequently the input power fed to the regulator
may exhibit these flactuations. Hence comes the other major task of the regulator in providing
constant level of power even under flactuating input.

Electronic devices are just tools that dissipate power as the tools perform their task. Essentially
these are just devices that can be modeled as variable loads for many cases. A variable load
dissipates a varying power, and as a result could have a varying potential differernce across it
self. The variations that exist may not be of desirable effect. This would lead to undesriable
output voltage flactuations. Using a voltage regulator can prevent this too by its mechanisms that
will be described shortly.

Page 5
Different regulators may apply different techniques of regulation. But the basics are
fundamentally the same for most types. Typical voltage regulators consist of:

• A reference element that provides a known stable level, (VREF)•

• A sampling element to sample output voltage level.
• A comparator element for comparing the output voltage sample to the reference and
creating an error signal.
• A control element to provide translation of the input voltage to the desired output level
over varying load conditions as indicated by the error signal.

COMPONENTS IN A VOLAGE REGULATOR

Figure 4. Schematics of a series voltage regulator

• Reference Element

The reference element forms the foundation of all voltage regulators since output voltage is
either equal to or a multiple of the reference. Variations in the reference voltage will be
interpreted as output voltage errors by the comparator and cause the output voltage to change
accordingly. For good regulation, the reference must be stable for all variations in supply
voltages and junction temperatures. Various techniques commonly used in integrated circuit
regulators are discussed in detail in the text outlining error considerations.

• Control Element

All of the previous elements discussed remain virtually unaltered regardless of the type of
regulator of which they form a part. The control element varies widely depending on the type of
regulator being designed. It is the control that determines the classification of the voltage
regulator: series, shunt, or switching. Figure 4.2 shows representations of the basic control
element configurations, each of which is discussed in detail. The control element contributes an
insignificant amount of error to the regulator's performance since the sense element monitors the
output voltage beyond the control element and compensates for its error contributions. The
control element reflects directly on the regulator's performance characteristics in that it affects

Page 6
such parameters as minimum input-to-output voltage differential, circuit efficiency, and power
dissipation.

OPERATION

The series voltage regulator circuit has mainly three components that act in accordance with each
other to produce a desired output. It has a zener diode, a pass transistor and a resistor as its
major components. The resistance of the resistor connecting the input voltage with the zener
diode is kept small in order for the zener diode to accurately refernce the input voltage.As the
power is on the current passes through the resistive part of the circuit and since the zener diode
has not reached its breakdown voltage yet small amount of current pass through it and most of
the current would flow through the transistor.

Figure 5. Types of control elements

This will turn on the transistor and allows a substantial flow of current through the load resistor.
As a result the voltage across the resistor rises up. As the input power ramps up and reach around
the breakdown voltage of the zener diode, the current through the base terminal of the transistor
gets reduced by much. The limit to which the base current is limited is given by the breakdown
current of the zener diode. All of this regulates the voltage and keep the voltage leveled across
the resistor. If there is a surge in power then the reference zener diode resists any increment by
maintaining its voltage and drawing much of the current passing through the resistor. This
reduces the current that is supposed to reach the base terminal. Therefore the current flowing
through the resistor decreases and so does its voltage. If there is a drop in power, then much of
the current through the resistor is allowed to flow through the base terminal and hence increasing
the output voltage.

Page 7
 Figure 6. Operation of the series voltage regulator

The basic equation governing the operation of the regulator is given by

𝑉𝑍 = 𝑉𝑂𝑈𝑇 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸

We chose to work with the Transistor Series Voltage Regulator. Our reasons for choosing this
type are

• It highly associates to what we’ve learned recently

• It is a simple and efficent design
• It provides a good level of voltage regulation

DESIGN
1. SPECIFICATION FOR THE TRANSFORMER

Input: Assume EEPCO’s AC supply at our home, (Vrms=220V at 50Hz)

The power supply from EEPCO is an AC supply with Vrms=220V at 50Hz. The very first step
in making this suitable for an electronic device would be to decrease the voltage level to the
desired value. A transformer is the component that enables us to”step down” the voltage level to
a desirable level. The primary side of the transformer will denote the power supply from the
mains, while the secondry side will denote the power output to the components. The total amount
of volts delieverd to the whole system to the left is calculated as

The total voltage drop across the rectifying diodes= 2*Vd for non-ideal silicon diodes Vd has the
value of 0.7v.

The maximum allowable ripple voltage= 2v

Total expected dc voltage output=20v

Page 8
Summing up all, the voltage from the secondary side of the transformer has to be at least equal to
23.4v. For simplicty reasons lets consider the peak voltage output from the secondary side to be
24v. Consequently the rms value from the secondary side is then given as

Vrms= Vpeak/√2 = 24/ √2 = 16.97v

So now the stepping down value is known. The next step would be to find the stepping ratio.
𝑉𝑃 𝑁𝑃
= Where Vp is 220 v ,Vs is 16,97 v and Np and Ns denote the number of turns on the
𝑉𝑆 𝑁𝑆
primary side and the secondary side,respectively.
𝑁𝑃
=12.96≈ 13. Hence the number of turns of the secondary coil is 13 times less than that of
𝑁𝑆
the primary. We now need to relate this with inductance of the coils by the formula

𝑁𝑃 2 𝐿𝑃
( ) =
𝑁𝑆 𝐿𝑆
This indicates that the ratio of the inductance of the secondary coil is about 0.006 times less than
that of the primary coil.

The chosen values in the spice file are given in the copy of the schematic below. The ratio of the
inductors in the schematics is given in such a way that the resulting peak from the secondary
outlet is approximately about 23.6v. the .9996 value below the schematics indicates the Mutual
coupling coefficient and the transformer setup has a very small leakage inductance.

Page 9
 Figure 7. Construction and output of the step down transformer
2. SPECIFICATION FOR THE FULL
WAVE RECTIFIER

The four constituent diodes of the full wave rectifier have the following properties:

1. PIV≥Vm where Vm is the peak voltage of the input. Thus the reverse breakdown voltage of
the diodes is above 24v.
2. A constant voltage model is assumed for each,
3. The forward bias voltage of each is equal to 0.7v,
4. The output frequency of the bridge rectifier is twice that of the input frequency
5. The average (DC value) of the output voltage is given by 0.636*(Vin- 1.4v) resulting
14.1192v.
𝑉𝑑𝑐
6. The DC value through the diode is given by Idc= while the maximum current through
𝑅𝐿
each diode is 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥= 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 .Where Vmax= 22.2, RL=10k(the resistance of the resistor that
𝑅𝐿−𝑟
𝑓
26𝑚𝑣
would require a 20V drop to pass a current of 2mA) , rf = and Idc=1.4mA Substituting in
𝐼𝑑𝑐
these values the maximum current is determined to be 2.2mA.
7. The output voltage from the bridge rectifier is a pulsating voltage with frequnecy twice as its
input. To make the output uniform a capacitor is installed in parallel.

Page 10
 Figure 7.Construction and Output of the bridge rectifier

3. SPECIFICATION FOR THE LOW

PASS FILTER

Installing a low pass filter between the load resistor and the full wave rectifier increases the dc
amount of the incoming voltage. The filter has two capacitors which discharge partially as the
input voltage from the bridge rectifier receds. As a result of this a ripple voltage is formed. The
amplitude of this ripple is determined by the capacitance of the discharging capacitors. In this
design the ripple voltage is allowed to reach a peak to peak voltage of 2v. This value is hence
used to determine the values of the capacitance of the two capacitors.

Starting from the capacitor appearing first from the bridge rectifier, its capacitance can be
calculated as

𝐼𝑑𝑐 × 𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝐶1 =
4√3 × 𝑓 × 𝑉𝑟 𝑟𝑚𝑠 × 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥

Page 11
 𝑉𝑟(𝑝−𝑝)
Where Idc= 1.4mA , Vdc=14.1192v, f=100Hz ,Vr rms = (assuming a peak to peak ripple
2√3
voltage of 3V, Vr rms equals 0.86602), Vmax= 22.2v. The resulting value of the capacitor is
2.22261µF.

The capacitance of the second capacitor is calcualted first by determining the impedance

𝑋𝐶
𝑉 ′ 𝑟(𝑟𝑚𝑠) = ( ) × 𝑉𝑟 (𝑟𝑚𝑠)
𝑋𝐶 + 𝑅

Where 𝑉 ′ 𝑟(𝑟𝑚𝑠) is the rms value of the ripple out of the second capacitor and it has a value of
0.57735V and R stands for a parallel resistance of 135𝛺. From this Xc is calaculated as
200.201j. From this the value of C2 is calculated as 5.8µ𝐹. A capacitor with a high capaciatnce is
then added in parallel to further reduce the ripple voltage.

Figure 8. Construction and Output of the Low pass filter

Page 12
 4. SPECIFICATION FOR THE VOLTAGE REGULATOR

Output: VL=Vout=20V, IL=IC=2mA,

Input: DC value of the filter out put plus its ripple (VC DC+ VC RIPPLE),

Power rating of the pass transistor 150mw

𝐼𝑀𝐴𝑋
𝐼𝐵 =
ℎ𝐹𝐸.𝑀𝐼𝑁

Power rating of the zener diode is 200mW. Hence the maximum current through the diode is calculated to
0.2𝑊
be = 9.66𝑚𝐴. The current rating on the spice file is the average value so it would be
20.7𝑉
appropriate to assume the current through the zener diode in the breakdown zone to be half of the
maximum. The resistance of the resistor is kept to be at about 100ohms. This would only
produce a voltage drop of about 160 mV, so it is safe to operate with.

Figure 9. Construction and Output of the voltage regulator

Page 13
To check if the regulator is functioning properly, a sweep resistor from 1000 ohms to 20k ohms
is added. However, The output voltage is did not make more than 50 mV of change for the
change of resistance values. This is a definite proof that the regulator is functioning properly.

The regulating effect has also been tested by varying the voltage input. As expected the output
voltage remained constant for a change of about 11volts in the primary side of the source.

Figure 10. The stabilizing effect of the voltage regulator

Page 14
 REFERENCES

• Bureau of Standards, United. Transistorized Low Voltage Regulator Circuits and

Design. 1968.

• Bureau of Reclamation. Transformers. 2011.

• Dr. Mohammad A Rashid Lecture notes: 02 Rectifer Half wave rectifer and Full wave

rectifer December 15, 2020

• Experiment No. 7 SERIES VOLTAGE REGULATOR Electronic Circuits Lab, Department of

Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum

• Elliot, S. (2020, January 9). LCM Series Bluetooth Mesh LED Driver. Sunpower UK.

https://www.sunpower-uk.com/glossary/what-is-power-supply-regulation/

• Mike Engelhardt Using Transformers in LTspice/SwitcherCAD III Linear Technology

Magazine • September 2006

• Pippenger, Dale. The Voltage Regulator Handbook. 1977.

• Principles of electronics , chapter 17 regulated dc power supply design

Data sheets

• www.vishay.com Vishay Semiconductors BZX384-Series Rev. 2.2, 20-Feb-18 Document

Number: 85764

• General purpose small signal amplifier (50V, 0.15A) 2SC4617EB ROHM Customer

Support System

Page 15