Voltage regulator. And which one do you like? Probably one of the very first problems that any radio amateur or circuit engineer faces is the problem of providing the electronic device with the required voltage. To obtain the desired voltage, use a power supply or voltage regulator.
In the most general words, we can say that a device that changes the magnitude of the electric voltage when a regulatory signal is received or when the controls are exposed is called a voltage regulator.
It should be noted that voltage regulation is such a comprehensive operation that it is performed at various stages during the operation of electronic devices. You can change the primary voltage of the network, you can change the secondary voltage of the network, which regulates the voltage, in all cases the purpose of all these operations will be one - by changing one value, get another, ensuring the correct operation of the device.
The principles that the voltage regulator uses in its work can also be very different, as well as the purpose of such devices. They can play the role of:
- voltage stabilizers, providing the necessary supply or operating voltage to all nodes of the circuit;
- can be voltage converters, let's say, getting another from one voltage;
- can act as sources of reference or control voltage, ensuring the correct operation of the entire circuit.
This is not a complete list of the possibilities and applications of such devices. So, as an example, a simple voltage regulator is an autotransformer, or LATR, which allows you to change the output voltage by simply turning the control knob.
Thus, we got a network regulator, a primary voltage regulator , or an AC voltage regulator. All this will be the same.
Another example of the use of regulators is charging a cell phone. True, double voltage conversion is already used here. Initially, the mains alternating voltage is reduced to the desired value, and then a constant voltage is obtained from the alternating voltage. The cell phone runs on battery power, and there is constant voltage. So we get from the network voltage 220V a constant voltage of 9V (or any other necessary for the operation of the device). Thus, thanks to the charger, we adjusted the voltage using our initial definition.
An equally important application of voltage regulators will be their use in regulation systems and the maintenance of device operating modes within the required limits. And here, as an example, you can consider the voltage regulator in the car. The necessary electrical energy for all devices of the car during movement is provided by a generator, the operation mode of which depends on the operation of the engine and the speed of the latter. As is clear from the described, the operating mode of the generator changes, and therefore, the voltage generated by it will change. And for the operation of electronics requires a more or less constant voltage. This problem is solved by a special voltage regulator standing on the car. The principles of regulating and adjusting the voltage of such a regulator can be very different, and for us now are not of interest.
It may be necessary to regulate the voltage in high power sources or in devices with high power consumption. In these cases, power regulating elements such as a thyristor and triac are used. Here is a triac voltage regulator capable of changing sufficiently large values of voltage and current.
The considered voltage regulators do not cover all the capabilities of these devices, but by way of familiarization they give an idea of what kind of device it is and what it is used for.