Power Electronics / Power Management


Why realistic voltage sources should be considered when designing a reliable power supply

28 July 2021 Power Electronics / Power Management

For a power supply to function reliably, there must always be an input voltage within the permissible range available to the switching regulator.

A power supply’s source, in actual use, is never ideal. The real behaviour, including parasitics, needs to be considered to build a reliable power system. When we use power supplies, we ensure that a DC-DC converter, such as a switching regulator, can withstand a certain input voltage range and that it can generate the required output voltage from it with sufficient current.

The input voltage is frequently specified as a range because it is usually not regulated precisely. For a power supply to function reliably, however, there must always be an input voltage within the permissible range available to the switching regulator. For example, a typical input voltage range for a 12 V supply voltage may lie between 8 V and 16 V. Figure 1 shows a step-down converter (buck topology) that generates 3,3 V from a nominal voltage of 12 V.

However, when designing the DC-DC converter, it is not sufficient to only consider the minimum and maximum input voltage values. Figure 1 shows that the buck converter has a switch at its positive input. This switch is turned on or off. The switching speed should be as high as possible so that only low switching losses occur. However, this causes a pulsed current to flow on the supply line. Not every voltage source can deliver these pulsed currents without any problems. As a result, voltage drops occur at the input of the switching regulator. To minimise this, backup capacitors are required right at the input of the power supply. Such a capacitor is shown as CIN in Figure 1.

Figure 2 shows the circuit from Figure 1, but this time with the parasitic elements of the supply line and the voltage source itself. Both the internal resistance of the voltage source (RSERIES), the inductance and resistance of the supply line (R, L supply line) and any current limitation are key characteristics of the voltage source that must be taken into account to guarantee trouble-free operation of the switching regulator.

For the most part, the correct selection of the input capacitors can ensure proper operation of the circuit. The first approach should be to take the recommended capacitance value for CIN from the data sheet for a switching regulator IC. However, if the voltage source or the supply line exhibits special characteristics, it makes sense to simulate the combination of the voltage source and the switching regulator. Figure 3 shows a simulation performed with the LTspice simulation environment from Analog Devices.

A simulation circuit for the ADP2360 buck converter is shown in Figure 3. The simplified form, in which the input voltage (IN) is generated with an ideal voltage source, is shown here. Because no internal resistance is defined for the voltage source and no parasitic values are given for the supply line between the voltage source and the switching regulator, the defined voltage is always applied to the VIN pin of the ADP2360. Therefore, it is not necessary to add an input capacitor (CIN).

However, in the real world, an input capacitor is always required with a switching regulator because the voltage source and the supply line are not ideal. If a simulation environment such as LTspice is also used for checking the behaviour with different input capacitors, a voltage source with internal resistance and a supply line with parasitic values for resistance and inductance, as shown in Figure 2, must be used.


Credit(s)



Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Reference board for cardio monitoring
Altron Arrow Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
The STDES-ESP01 reference board from STMicroelectronics demonstrates the capability of the ST1VAFE6AX and ST1VAFE3BX biosensors to detect ECG and SCG signals.

Read more...
Power efficiency and robustness in electronics design
Power Electronics / Power Management
Mouser Electronics recently announced a new eBook in collaboration with Analog Devices highlighting essential strategies for optimising power systems.

Read more...
USB Type-C-powered controllers
Future Electronics Power Electronics / Power Management
Diodes Incorporated has released two USB Type-C PD 3.1 extended power range sink controllers that can be embedded into battery-powered devices.

Read more...
ST MCUs extend ultra-low power innovation
Altron Arrow DSP, Micros & Memory
STMicroelectronics has introduced new STM32U3 microcontrollers with cutting-edge power-saving innovations that ease deployment of smart connected tech, especially in remote locations.

Read more...
Multicell battery monitoring
Altron Arrow Power Electronics / Power Management
The LTC6811 from Analog Devices is a multicell battery stack monitor that measures up to 12 series connected battery cells with a total measurement error of less than 1,2 mV.

Read more...
Innovative satellite navigation receiver
Altron Arrow Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
STMicroelectronics has released an innovative satellite navigation receiver to democratise precise positioning for automotive and industrial applications.

Read more...
LED driver for industrial power supply indication
Altron Arrow Editor's Choice Circuit & System Protection
A simple and small solution for driving an LED to provide visual feedback in the presence/absence of a system’s power using a chip not originally designed for this purpose.

Read more...
Full telemetry in tiny DC-DC converters
RS South Africa Power Electronics / Power Management
The FS160* series of µPOL DC-DC converters from TDK all offer full telemetry, provide increased performance, and are remarkable for extraordinary power density in the smallest sizes.

Read more...
Power IC supplies 1650 W
EBV Electrolink Power Electronics / Power Management
Power Integrations has announced a two-fold increase in power output from the HiperLCS-2 chipset with the new device now being able to deliver up to 1650 W of continuous output power.

Read more...
High-voltage step-down DC-DC converter
Altron Arrow Power Electronics / Power Management
The MAX17793 is a high-efficiency, high-voltage, synchronous step-down DC-DC converter with integrated MOSFETs operating over an input voltage range of 3 to 80 V.

Read more...