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Switching Voltage Regulator Introduction

There are two major types of Voltage Regulators: Linear and Switching. For a higher level
introduction, check out my earlier Voltage Regulator Tutorial.

Linear Regulator Example


Linear regulators only need a small number of components, are simple to add to a board, but are not
very efficient. Switching regulators can be made to be very efficient for a particular circuit, but can
be difficult to design.
Back on AddOhms #17, we talked about how Linear Regulators work. In this tutorial, we are
looking at switching regulators.

Switch-Mode Converter Core Components


There are 4 core components needed in a switching voltage regulator.

Capacitors
Capacitors store energy in an electric field. When a voltage is applied, the capacitor charges up.
When the voltage goes away, the capacitor discharges.

Inductors
Inductors store energy in a magnetic field. When current flows through the inductor, a magnetic
field is created. When the current stops, the magnetic field collapses generating current.
Switching voltage regulators work by making use of the energy storage properties of a capacitor
and an inductor. To control the charge and discharge of these components, we use diodes and
transistors.

Diodes
As we discussed in AddOhms #8, diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. Later, well
see what that is important.

Switches (or Transistors)


The switch or transistor used to control the regulator is why we call them switching regulators.

Transistor in Switching Voltage Regulator


When the switch is off no current flows through it. No current flowing, means no power wasted.
When the switch is on the voltage drop across the switch is 0 volts. So again, no power is
wasted. Typically a MOSFET is used for the transistor, however, it is possible to build a converter
with a BJT.
Now that we have all of the components lets combine them together.

Buck Converter
A buck converter, also called a step-down converter, will create an output voltage lower than its
input voltage. This is similar to how linear regulators, like the LM7805, work.
The inductor tries to keep current flowing while the capacitor tries to keep the voltage constant.
When we connect the inductor to the capacitor, the inductor becomes a current source, and the
capacitor becomes a voltage source.

Buck Converter with PWM


The transistor is used to control the charging and discharge of the inductor. For example, you could
use Pulse Width Modulation to control how long the inductor is charged and discharged.
In an ideal circuit, all of these components would have no power loss. In reality, these all burn a
little bit of power, which is known as switching losses.
However, compared to a linear voltage regulator, this switching circuit is much more efficient.

Boost Converter

Boost Converter Schematic


Unlike linear regulators, switching regulators can create output voltages higher than their input.
These are called boost converters. Because they, boost or step-up the output voltage. A boost
converter uses the same components as a buck converter, just in a slightly different configuration.

Buck-Boost

A third type of switching converter, is a Buck-Boost configuration. This circuit boosts a low input
voltage and bucks down a high input voltage. There are several types of buck-boost converters. The
one drawn here is an inverting buck-boost. Two other popular types are the Single-ended primaryinductor converter SEPIC and uk converters.
These are commonly used on battery circuits to extract the maximum energy possible from a
battery.

Integrated Circuits
Normally, an integrated circuit, or IC, is used for a switching regulator. It contains the switch and
the PWM controller. An example is the LM3671 Buck Converter from Texas Instruments.

LM3671 Simplified Schematic


The simplified schematic shows input capacitors, output capacitors, and an inductor. Even though
this looks simple, a switching regulator is much harder to design than a linear regulator.

LM3671 Datasheet have full details


Designing the PCB takes much care. In this case, TI provides a very useful layout recommendation
in their data sheet, plus lots of information on how to pick components.

Pre-Made Modules
What if you do not want to go through that much effort? Well, you can buy pre-made switching
modules that are simple as Input and Output pins.
For example, Adafruit offers pre-made modules for buck, boost, and buck-boost.

Conclusion
The high efficiency of switching regulators makes them ideal for high current applications or
projects that run on battery. What has been your experience with using or designing your own
switching power supplies?
Id also like to hear any questions or tips you have for DC-DC converter design. I might use them in
a future post (or video).

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