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