1

Acknowledgement
Firstly we would like to thank Prof. Dhananjay Gadre for his unconditional support and thorough
guidance without which this project would not have seen the light of the day. He not only guided
us through the project but also played a vital role in helping us relate the theoretical concepts with
their practical concepts and instilled in us enthusiasm to learn more about this field.

We would also like to thank our seniors Ishaan Pardesi sir,Saral sir, Ritika Malik maam, Priyanshi
maam,Saddam sir, and our fellow classmates Gaurav Tyagi, Anshuman Mishra among a few others
who helped us understand how to use EagleCAD and provided immeasurable help during the actual
PCB fabrication process.
 Contents

1 Lissajous Figure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1 Introduction 5
1.2 Generating Lissajous Figure 5
1.3 Observation 6

2 Eagle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Introduction 9
2.1.1 Schematic Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Board Layout Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 Introduction 11
3.1.1 Linear Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1.2 Switched Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2 Power Supply Characteristics 13
3.3 Conversion of input power to output power 13
3.3.1 Rectification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3.2 Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4 Voltage regulation using Zener 15
3.4.1 Improved circuit using CC configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4.2 Short Circuit Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5 Voltage regulation using IC-723 20
3.5.1 Pin Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.5.2 Over Current Protection (Current Limiting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5.3 Use of power transistor and requirement of heatsink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4

3.6 Schematic 25

4 Fabrication of Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.1 What is PCB 27
4.2 Steps of making PCB 27
4.3 Testing of regulated power supply 35
4.4 Active load testing 36
 1. Lissajous Figure

1.1 Introduction

Lissajous figures (or Lissajous curves) are produced in two dimensions when the x and y coordinates
are given by two sine waves, which may have any amplitude, frequency and phase. Lissajous curves
are the family of curves described by the parametric equations x = Asin(at+p) y = Bsin(bt)
The curves can be made to appear on an oscilloscope, the shape of the curve serving to identify the
characteristics of an unknown electric signal when compared to a known one.

1.2 Generating Lissajous Figure

Audacity software is used to obtain 2 synchronised signals of required frequency, amplitude and
phase difference. This output is fed to the oscilloscope.
 6 Chapter 1. Lissajous Figure

1.3 Observation
If the frequency and phase angle of the two curves are identical, the resultant is a straight line lying
at 45 (and 225) to the coordinate axes. If one of the curves is 180 out of phase with respect to the
other, another straight line is produced lying 90 away from the line produced where the curves are
in phase (i.e., at 135 and 315).

In this figure both input frequencies are identical, but the phase variance between them 180.

Otherwise, with identical amplitude and frequency but a varying phase relation, ellipses are
formed with varying angular positions, except that a phase difference of 90 (or 270) produces a
circle around the origin. Visually, the ratio of frequency determines the number of "lobes" of the
figure. For example, a ratio of 5/4 produces a figure with five horizontal lobes and four vertical
lobes. The ratio A/B determines the relative width-to-height ratio of the curve.

Lissajous figure displaying phase difference of 135 degrees with both input frequencies equal.

In this figure both input frequencies are identical, but the phase variance between them is 90.
 2. Eagle

2.1 Introduction
EAGLE (Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor) by Cadsoft is a flexible and expandable EDA
schematic capture, PCB layout, autorouter and CAM program widely used since 1988. EAGLE is
popular among hobbyists because of its freeware license and rich availability of component libraries
on the web.

2.1.1 Schematic Editor

In this we can create circuit schematics in the symbolic form. The various commands used in this
are:
• INFO - Shows information about an object (component, signal, trace, etc.)
• MOVE - Allows components to be moved (same as schematic.)
• GROUP - Groups a collection of objects into a "group" that can be manipulated.
• DELETE - Delete an object. Items created in schematics need to be deleted there.
• SMASH - Separate the text labels of a part from the part itself, so they can be moved
independently.
• BREAK - Add a corner to a line (or trace.)
• ROUTE - Turn an air wire into a trace
• LINE - Draw lines (usually in non-copper layers. ROUTE is for drawing copper.
• VIA - Create a hole and pad associated with some signal
• HOLE - A hole that isn’t associated with a signal, i.e. for mounting.
• RATSNEST - Recomputes air wires and polygons, example after components have been
moved.
• CHANGE - Changes an object’s properties.
• RIPUP - Changes a routed trace back to an air wire.
• TEXT - Add text
• POLYGON - Create a polygon (actually, we’ll use a text command.)
• DRC - Invoke the Design Rule Check and parameter setting.
 8 Chapter 2. Eagle

2.1.2 Board Layout Editor

Up in the file menu, there’s a "Switch to board" selection. If we do that from a bare schematic, it
will offer to create the board from the schematic for us (say "yes"), and then leave us sitting in the
Board Editor.
The various commands used in board layout editor are:
• AIR WIRES - All the signals you created in the schematic are currently airwires; thin yellow
lines that are drawn in the shortest possible way, crossing each other as needed. They stay
connected to component pins even when you move the component around.
• RATSNEST - Recomputes and redraws these after you move things around (and, say, make
two connected pins closer together than they used to be.)
• ROUTING - A signal consists of turning an airwire into an actual copper trace on some
layer(s) of the board, and positioning that trace so that it doesn’t short against other traces on
the same layer of the board.
• AUTOROUTE - Invokes the autorouter.
 3. Power Supply

3.1 Introduction

A power supply is a device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. It is the most basic
and important part of any electronic gadget. Every circuit requires a power supply. A good power
supply should give a constant voltage and current, have noise immunity and consume low power in
steady operations that is there should be negligible power losses.

A good power supply consists of mainly 3 elements-

• Source
• Protection circuit
• Regulation circuit

Power Supplies can be of two types-

• Linear Power Supply

• Switching Power Supply

3.1.1 Linear Power Supply

A linear power supply operates on the principle of a voltage divider i.e it constantly changes
resistance to regulate the output voltage. In an ideal case, the current that goes into it is the same as
the current that goes out of it. The transistor is operated in active region. It has high power wastage
and is thus comparatively less efficient though it has excellent noise immunity. It also has a faster
transient response. These are relatively simple and easy to design. Its only disadvantage is that it
only reduces the voltage that is it acts like a step down type of transformer
 10 Chapter 3. Power Supply

3.1.2 Switched Power Supply

The transistor operates in the cut off and saturated region. The voltage of a switched mode power
supply constantly oscillates and the circuitry uses this to decide when to connect and disconnect
from the source. As it stays in the cut off and saturated region, the static power dissipation is
minimal, though dynamic power dissipation is significant. It has a higher efficiency than linear
power supply but is considerably more complex. It suffers from low noise immunity. This type of
power supply is used in most electronic gadgets like Laptops, mobile phones etc.

It is of 3 types-
• Buck- Buck converter produces a DC output in a range from 0V to just less than the input
voltage.
• Boost- Boost increases the input (battery) voltage to a level required to drive a load at the
desired current level.
• Buck boost- Buck-Boost converter is a type of switched mode power supply that combines
the principles of the Buck Converter and the Boost converter in a single circuit. Like other
SMPS designs, it provides a regulated DC output voltage from either an AC or a DC input.

Block Diagram of Working of Power Supply

 3.2 Power Supply Characteristics 11

3.2 Power Supply Characteristics

There are various factors that determine the quality of the power supply like the load voltage, load
current, voltage regulation, source regulation, output impedance, ripple rejection, and so on.
Some of the characteristics are briefly explained below:

• Output Impedance – A regulated power supply is a very stiff dc voltage source. This
means that the output resistance is very small. Even though the external load resistance is
varied, almost no change is seen in the load voltage. An ideal voltage source has an output
impedance of zero.

• Source/Line Regulation – In the block diagram, the input line voltage has a nominal value
of 230 Volts but in practice, here are considerable variations in ac supply mains voltage.
Since this ac supply mains voltage is the input to the ordinary power supply, the filtered
output of the bridge rectifier is almost directly proportional to the ac mains voltage. The
source regulation is defined as the change in regulated output voltage for a specified rage of
lie voltage.

• Load Regulation – The load regulation or load effect is the change in regulated output
voltage when the load current changes from minimum to maximum value.

Load regulation = Vno−load −V f ull−load

Vno-load - Load Voltage at no load
Vfull-load - Load voltage at full load.

From the above equation we can understand that when Vno-load occurs the load resistance
is infinite, that is, the out terminals are open circuited. Vfull-load occurs when the load
resistance is of the minimum value where voltage regulation is lost.

Percentage Load Regulation = [(Vno−load −V f ull−load )/V f ull−load ] ∗ 100

• Minimum Load Resistance – The load resistance at which a power supply delivers its
full-load rated current at rated voltage is referred to as minimum load resistance.

Minimum Load Resistance = V f ull−load /I f ull−load

The value of Ifull-load, full load current should never increase than that mentioned in the
data sheet of the power supply.

• Ripple Rejection – Voltage regulators stabilize the output voltage against variations in input
voltage. Ripple is equivalent to a periodic variation in the input voltage. Thus, a voltage
regulator attenuates the ripple that comes in with the unregulated input voltage. Since a
voltage regulator uses negative feedback, the distortion is reduced by the same factor as the
gain.

3.3 Conversion of input power to output power

Conversion of input power to output power involves following steps.

3.3.1 Rectification
A rectifier circuit is a circuit which converts AC input power into DC output power. Presently a
semi-conductor junction rectifier is used.
 12 Chapter 3. Power Supply

WORKING - Transformers are attached to the rectifier circuit to bring the alternating current (A.C)
voltage down to the required level. With the help of the transformer, the alternating current (A.C)
voltage can be increased or decreased with a small amount of power loss. Moreover, transformers
also help in increasing the safety of the equipment being used. PN diodes are also used for the
rectification process along with the transformers. PN diodes help in getting a better rectification
of current. The diodes are generally attached in a separate circuit having one, two, or four diodes.
The output result is a unidirectional direct current, smooth in quality. A single rectifier can only
produce a half-wave rectification, which though unidirectional, is not continuous in flow and has
several ripples in it. In order to reduce these ripples in the direct current, a capacitor is used. Thus,
a capacitor helps in smoothing the alternative current (A.C) voltage after the rectification process.

3.3.2 Filtering

The R-C filter circuit is used to reject input noise. Smoothing capacitor helps reduce the ripples in
the circuit which converts the pulsating DC output after rectification to a constant DC voltage. The
other capacitor is the reservoir capacitor. An electrolytic capacitor is used as a reservoir capacitor.
It acts as a temporary storage for the power supply output current. The reservoir capacitor is a large
electrolytic, usually of several hundred or even a thousand or more microfarads, especially in mains
frequency PSUs. This very large value of capacitance is required because the reservoir capacitor,
when charged, must provide enough DC to maintain a steady PSU output in the absence of an input
current; i.e. during the gaps between the positive half cycles when the rectifier is not conducting.
A combined reservoir capacitor and low pass filter it is possible to remove 95 percent or more
of the AC ripple and obtain an output voltage of about the peak voltage of the input wave.

C2 –smoothing capacitor C1-reservoir capacitor

 3.4 Voltage regulation using Zener 13

Circuit for ripple free input

To obtain a ripple free constant dc supply we need to apply appropriate valued capacitor. This value
of capacitor is obtained by input voltage that we get from transformer .In this case we opted for a
step down transformer which provides output of 12 V.The peak is obtained at value of about

√
12 2 = 16.8V

Generally the available values of capacitors are 16 V, 25V; etc. This type of zener arrangement
for regulated supply is used for circuit using small supply current. Zener diode provides constant
voltage only for the case of constant current and temperature. Hence we need to provide constant
current to zener diode in order to provide constant reference voltage .So this configuration was not
used for designing the regulated voltage circuit.
As far as power efficiency is required, we observe high power loss.
Assuming current through zener is 1A,where output is 5.1V.value of resistor required is
(17-5.1 )/1=12 ,here power loss is obtained as 17-5.1=12W.
The efficiency of power supply is very low ,hence it is not a good power supply design.

Some other short comings of using the above circuit:

• Vout is settable to a precise value.
• For widely varying load current a high rated zener is required to handle dissipation at low
load current.

3.4 Voltage regulation using Zener

A zener diode is always operated in its reverse biased condition. A voltage regulator circuit can
be designed using a zener diode to maintain a constant DC output voltage across the load in
spite of variations in the input voltage or changes in the load current. The zener voltage reg-
ulator consists of a current limiting resistor RS connected in series with the input voltage VS
with the zener diode connected in parallel with the load RL in this reverse biased condition. The
stabilized output voltage is always selected to be the same as the breakdown voltage VZ of the diode.

Whenever we operate a zener in reverse bias beyond its breakdown voltage (Vz) , it gives
a constant output voltage.
14 Chapter 3. Power Supply

We could obtain constant voltage by using a zener diode in parallel with the variable voltage source.
In case of zener it conducts when the voltage reaches the diode’s reverse breakdown voltage and
for that and higher values the diode provides constant voltage. Common applications include
providing a reference voltage for voltage regulators, or to protect other semiconductor devices from
momentary voltage pulses.

R=(Vmax −Vzener )/(IR(max))

Rating of zener diode is obtained by the max current input and constant voltage provided by zener.

Power rating =Vzener ∗ IR(max)

 3.4 Voltage regulation using Zener 15

Output curve for zener diodes

IN CC AMPLIFIER

The output of Zener diode is given as input to base of the transistor and the output is taken across
the capacitor in common collector configuration. Diode D3 is in series with Zener diode which
overcomes the base emitter drop that is occurred in the transistor, so that we get the output voltage
equal to reverse breakdown voltage of Zener diode.. The Emitter Follower acts as a voltage buffer
and furthers a constant voltage output.

3.4.1 Improved circuit using CC configuration

Till now we observed that regulated voltage could be achieved by using zener diode in parallel
with load, but there were many shortcomings of such a circuit as discussed above. For improving
the circuit we were required to make the zener current independent of the load current, this was
achieved by applying common collector configuration. This is done by connecting zener to the
base of transistor, the transistor base current is small, and far lower zener power dissipation is
possible (reduced by as much as 1/; =common base current gain). This configuration reduces the
current flow in the diode. The power transistor used in this configuration is known as series pass
transistor.(power transistor is used due to high power dissipation across it.)
16 Chapter 3. Power Supply

Common collector configuration provides current gain. Hence there is little voltage drop across
the diode resistance. In this circuit design we also get a drop of voltage at the output of about Vbe
(drop across base and emitter of transistor).

Also we observe that the forward voltage drop is not constant but increases with increase in
forward current through zener, which is not favoured output.we observe the graph of forward
current and voltage as:

To remove such dependence we applied a diode in series with the zener diode. The improved circuit
is as obtained
 3.4 Voltage regulation using Zener 17

Here the diode applied is of same type as our transistor. As a result we get following advantages:
• Current range control is more for same rating zener diode. High power zener is not required.
Limitations:
• No short circuit protection.
• No provision for varying output voltage since it is almost equal to zener voltage.

3.4.2 Short Circuit Protection

In this circuit, all current passes through the base emitter junction of the transistor. Such high
amounts of current passing through the circuit can lead to excessive heating of the circuit. It
can also lead to transistor meltdown. Hence we use a simple current-limiter circuit to protect
transistor Q1. All the load current is routed through R2. A voltage difference will exist across
R2. When the load current exceeds a predetermined safe value, the voltage drop across R2 will
forward bias Q2 and cause it to conduct. Since Q2 is a silicon transistor, the voltage drop across
R1 must exceed 0.6 V to turn Q2 on. Therefore, R2 is chosen for a value that provides a drop
of 0.6 V when the maximum safe load current is drawn. R2 protects the base-emitter junction
 18 Chapter 3. Power Supply

of Q2 from current transients or from destruction in the event Q1 fails under short-circuit condi-
tions. When Q2 turns on, some of the current through the base of Q1 flows through Q2, thereby
depriving Q1 of some of its base current. This action, depending upon the amount of Q1 base cur-
rent at a precise moment, cuts off Q1 conduction to some degree, thus limiting the current through it.

DISADVANTAGE- The voltage drop across R2 which will lead to the IV curve to be slightly
decreasing.

USING OPAMP IN POWER SUPPLY FOR BETTER REGULATION

The whole circuit could be represented as

This voltage regulator consists of four blocks:

• Series element: this block gets its input from error signal to maintain constant output voltage.

• Sample circuit: this part takes the sample from output voltage and provides it to the error
detector.

• Reference voltage: this block provides reference voltage to error detector to be compared
with voltage provide by sample circuit.

• Error detector: this block gets input from reference and sample circuit which are then
compared and give the error signal to the series element,so as to control output.

3.5 Voltage regulation using IC-723

The 723 voltage regulator is commonly used for series voltage regulator applications. It can be
used as both positive and negative voltage regulator. It has an ability to provide up to 150 mA of
current to the load, but this can be increased more than 10A by using power transistors. The output
voltage can be adjusted between 2V to 37V.
3.5 Voltage regulation using IC-723 19

The internal working can be explained by dividing it into two blocks, the reference voltage
generator and the error amplifier. In the reference voltage generator, a zener diode is being
compelled to operate at fixed point (so that zener output voltage is a fixed voltage) by a constant
current Source which comes along with an amplifier to generate a constant voltage of 7.15V at the
Vref pin of the IC. The error amplifier section, consists of an error amplifier, a series pass transistor
Q1 and a current limiting transistor. The error amplifier can be used to compare the output voltage
applied at Inverting input terminal through a feedback to the reference voltage Vref applied at
the Non-Inverting input terminal. These connections are not provided internally and so has to be
externally provided in accordance with the required output voltage. The conduction of the transistor
Q1 is controlled by the error signal. It is this transistor that controls the output voltage .
 20 Chapter 3. Power Supply

3.5.1 Pin Diagram

• V+ and V-- These are the supply voltage terminals of the IC. V+ is the positive terminal
and V- is the negative terminal. The voltage difference between these terminals should be
between 9.5V to 40V.

• Non Inverting Input- This is the non inverting input of the error amplifier whose output is
connected to the series pass transistor. We usually give reference voltage or a portion of it to
the non inverting input.

• Inverting Input- This is the inverting input of the error amplifier whose output is connected
to the series pass transistor. We usually give output voltage or a portion of it to the inverting
input. This makes the output voltage constant.

• Vref- It is the reference voltage output of the IC. It is the output of voltage reference amplifier.
Its output voltage is about 7.15V.

• Vout- It is the output terminal of the IC. Usually output voltage ranges from 2 to 37V. This
pin can provide up to 150mA current.

• Current Limit- It is the base input of the current limiter transistor. This pin is used for
current limiting or current fold back applications.

• Current Sense- This is the emitter of current limiting transistor. This terminal is used with
current limiting and current fold-back applications.

• Vc- This is the collector input of the series pass transistor. It is usually directly connected to
 3.5 Voltage regulation using IC-723 21

the positive supply voltage if an external transistor is not used.

• Frequency Compensation- This pin is used to connect a capacitor which bypasses high
frequency noises. It is the output of error amplifier. The capacitor is connected between this
pin and inverting input of the error amplifier. The prescribed value of this capacitor varies for
different types of regulators. Please refer the datasheet for that.

• Vz- It is the anode of the zener diode whose cathode connected to the output terminal. It is
usually used for making negative regulators.

3.5.2 Over Current Protection (Current Limiting)

By using transistor T2 and Rsc short circuit protection is obtained. In case of absence of short circuit
protection, if the output is shorted due to any reason collector current for T1 will become high
causing blowing up of transistor. Such value of Rsc is selected so as to have enough voltage drop
across it in case of short circuit so that transistor T2 could be switched on to have alternativepath
for current. In this design of PSU we used Rsc of value 1.2 .

Now we observe the power dissipated across the resistance Rsc ,taking Vcc to be 10V,Rsc as
0.7 and Isc as 1A.Input power to the supply will be Vcc Isc, which comes out to be 10W.Max
power is dissipated in case of minimum output voltage ,in this case which comes 0.7W.Hence
power dissipated across the transistor will be about 9.3W which is huge.

3.5.3 Use of power transistor and requirement of heatsink

For such an application involving high power dissipation,power transistors are used. These transis-
tors handle larger currents and higher voltages hence there construction is also different. They must
be able to dissipate heat more quickly. Also the area of collector base junction should be large as
most of the heat is produced there. If too much power is dissipated then the collector base junction
becomes too hot and then power output of transistor also drops. This problem of heating could be
22 Chapter 3. Power Supply

minimised in two ways:

• By operating the transistor in the most efficient way possible, that is by choosing a class of
biasing that gives high efficiency and power is least wasted.
• By ensuring that the heat produced by the transistor can be removed and effectively transferred
to the surrounding air as quickly as possible.

Method 2 involves the use of heat sink, a device attached to the transistor for the purpose of
removing heat. For good transfer of heat from transistor to heat sink the area of collector is made
large so that its metal part is in direct contact of the metal of heat sink.

Further introducing a potential divider at the output could help in more varying of the output. In
order to obtain sufficient current at the output we need to have a transistor with high gain as well as
high current. As far as availability of high gain transistor is concerned then we have low collector
current whereas in case of transistor with high collector current, gain is low. Here we need to have
combination of high collector current and high gain which is achieved by arranging the transistor in
darlington pair.

T1 and T2 used here in the circuit is two transistors in common collector configuration.In case of
this power supply, T1 is external transistor which is mounted on heatsink.
 3.6 Schematic 23

3.6 Schematic

1. Connector 1 is used to take the input from transformer (step down).

2. Diodes D1, D2, D3, D4 are connected to form bridge rectifier.
3. Capacitor C1, C5 and R7(0.22) forms the filter part (known as pie filter). Value of R7 is low,
high power dissipation occurs across it.
4. The filtered voltage is applied to pin 11,12 of IC LM 723,which is used for biasing the opamp
and transistor T2 in LM723.
5. Reference voltage is applied to pin 6. Reference voltage is about 7.15V.
6. Voltage on pin 5(non inverting input of opamp) according to potential divider rule is

V5 =Vref ((1.5+TPOT1)/(1.5+2.2+TPOT1))

Vref= 7.15 V
7. Pin 4 is the inverting input of opamp which follows the voltage of pin 5, where voltage at output
is

Vout =V4(1+R2/(R4+TPOT1))

8. Pin 2,3 are the current limit and current sense pin of the short circuit protection transistor T3 .
9. Capacitor C2, C3 are used to filter out noise at the output. Capacitor C2 is electrolytic and it has
some series inductance which in case of high frequency possesses high impedance and no filtering
takes place. Hence ceramic capacitors C3 filters in case of high frequency. For the case of low
frequency C3 will not filter because at low frequency its impedance becomes high. Hence filtering
24 Chapter 3. Power Supply

action is obtained at both high and low frequency.

Checking for range of output voltage

Case 1:
When resistance of trim pot 1=10 k
Resistance of trimpot 2= 0
V5 = 7.15 ((1.5+10)/(1.5+2.2+10))
V5= 6V
V4 =6V
Vout = 6(1+2.2/(2.2+0)) =12V

Case 2:
When resistance of trimpot 1= 0
Resistance of trimpot 2=10k
V5 = 7.15 (1.5/(1.5+2.2))
V5 = 2.89V
V4=2.89V
Vout =6(1+2.2/(2.2+10)) = 3.4V
As per calculation we see that Vout (max)=12V
Vout(min) =3.4V
 4. Fabrication of Power Supply

4.1 What is PCB

Printed circuit board is the most common name but may also be called “printed wiring boards” or
“printed wiring cards”. Before the advent of the PCB circuits were constructed through a laborious
process of point-to-point wiring. This led to frequent failures at wire junctions and short circuits
when wire insulation began to age and crack.

As electronics moved from vacuum tubes and relays to silicon and integrated circuits, the size and
cost of electronic components began to decrease. Electronics became more prevalent in consumer
goods, and the pressure to reduce the size and manufacturing costs of electronic products drove
manufacturers to look for better solutions. Thus was born the PCB.

PCB is an acronym for printed circuit board. It is a board that has lines and pads that con-
nect various points together. In the picture above, there are traces that electrically connect the
various connectors and components to each other. A PCB allows signals and power to be routed
between physical devices. Solder is the metal that makes the electrical connections between the
surface of the PCB and the electronic components.

4.2 Steps of making PCB

The invention of printed circuit boards is one of the factors that has enabled electronic circuits to be
smaller, more compact, and contained on a convenient, rugged board.
With the steps listed below it is possible to make reliable printed circuit boards.
26 Chapter 4. Fabrication of Power Supply
4.2 Steps of making PCB 27

Step 1. Designing a circuit board Before making PCB board we first designed our PCB layout by
using PCB designing software. We used EAGLE to design our circuit. EAGLE has a schematic
design module and a board design module.

Step 2. Printing off the design We printed the mirror image of board file on the photo pa-
per using laser printer. Next we cut out the required size from photopaper with 1cm margin on each
side.
Inkjet Printers wouldn’t work since its ink is soluble with water so it won’t transfer its ink on the
copper clad.

Step 3. Cutting the PCB material to size We used hacksaw to cut the printed circuit board
material to the size of our design. After cutting board, sand the board to remove the roughness of
the fiberglass. After sanding we cleaned the new copper clad printed circuit board material and the
board was held from its edges to prevent any interaction with organic substance.
28 Chapter 4. Fabrication of Power Supply

Step 4: Ironing the Printed PCB Layout We used a laundry iron to iron our printed board
file to our board. Ironing the printed layout transfers the ink from the paper to the copper clad
board. The printed side of photopaper was arranged on freshly smoothed surface of clad. Then
preheated iron was pressed on it ,so as to transfer the ink from the paper to clad.

Step 5: Soaking board in water Board was left untouched for few minutes after ironing.
When the board is cold to the touch we soaked it in a container of water for 3 minutes to soften the
photo paper. Once the PCB board and the toner transfer paper have been soaked photo paper was
rubbed off. Some of the inked areas had been removed unintentionally, that was restored with a
marker and a ruler. Also some of left out paper which could have possibly caused shorting between
tracks while etching was removed using dissecting needle.
4.2 Steps of making PCB 29

Step 6: Etching the PCB Board The etchant is a chemical that reacts with exposed copper and
removes it from the PC board. Copper covered with resist (toner, rub-on patterns, and permanent
marker) won’t be removed. There are different varieties of etching solution but we used Ferric
Chloride. Etching solution was poured in a plastic container. Board was left for about 30-45
minutes in the container .This process was paced up using a heating source. After for about 30-45
minutes it was removed from the container.

Step 7: Rinsing the etched board Once the unmasked copper has been etched away board
was washed under water to stop the process and etched PCB was dried with tissue paper.
30 Chapter 4. Fabrication of Power Supply

Step 8: Coating the board using acrylic Acrylic coating is applied using acrylic spray on
board to protect it from damage due to contamination, moisture, dust and corrosion caused by
oxidation of copper, harsh environments.

Step 9: Sawing and grinding the excess board Excess board was filed with a crisscrossed
file. Next, grinding machine was used to grind the edges and achieve more finer edges and reduce
the board area.
4.2 Steps of making PCB 31

Step 10: Drilling the Holes Board was drilled using a drilling machine, dremel tool.
0.7mm drill bit was used to drill holes for resistors, capacitors and IC base.
0.95mm drill bit for diodes, potentiometer,
and connector and 3mm drill bit for DC jack.

Step 11. Soldering the Components After drilling, required components were soldered with a
soldering iron at temperature around 350C,using soldering wire. All the surface mount components
were soldered first. Soldering iron tip was constantly cleaned on a wet sponge to remove dirt and
residue that builds up.
32 Chapter 4. Fabrication of Power Supply
 4.3 Testing of regulated power supply 33

4.3 Testing of regulated power supply

No load voltage:

Power supply was connected to a rated adapter in this case 9V, 0.67A. multimeter was connected to
the output terminal in voltage mode.

Short circuit test;

Power supply was connected to adapter. Multimeter was connected to output of power sup-
ply in ammeter mode.
 34 Chapter 4. Fabrication of Power Supply

4.4 Active load testing

Testing of power supply could be done by using resistors of different values. So as to check our
power supply for different load, this involves manual work changing resistors every time. Instead
an active load is good option for testing of power supply which acts as resistance whose value could
be varied by electronic control like potentiometer.

The active load is supplied from a separate supply to obtain at a reference voltage. This volt-
age acts as reference voltage drawn from zener diode. This voltage when applied on potential
divider we get a voltage range of of 0 to 0.5 V. This range of voltage is applied on fixed resistance.
Hence we fix the voltage drop across this resistance. By fixing this drop we get the same drop when
power supply is applied, which includes the drop across transistor, drop for diode and fixed drop
for resistance. Hence we could obtain different value of current through the resistance by changing
the value of reference voltage.
4.4 Active load testing 35