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A power supply with ad"iustable output voltage and current iimiting is part of the basic equipment etf every
eleetronics lab. However, the increased complexity cf a switeh-mode design scai-es away rnany potential
builders, even though it actually isn't all that cornplicated if you use a suitable combination of well-known
technologies. The circuit described here is suitable for a building a single or dual power supply.
The idea of developing a switch-mode labo- vanically isolated, so they can also be con- improved efficiency, is to use a switch-
ratory power supply arose in the electron- nected in series to achieve higher voltages ing regulator instead of a linear regulator.
ics enthusiasts group ttl of the lnstitute or used in parallel (connected via diodes) to Although secondary-side switch-mode
for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives provide more current. power supplies are somewhat more com-
(l5EA) t2l at RWTH University in Aachen, plicated than power supplies with linear
Cermany. Conceived as a starter project for Architectunes regulators, they have only slightly higher
novice electronics designers, it manages A conventional power supply architecture component counts thanks to the availabil-
withouta microcontrollerand can be imple- has a mains transformer followed by a rec- ity of integrated circuits. The higher effi-
mented at low expense. tifierand a linear regulatorthat controls the ciency allows a more compact design, and
This power supply is based on an integrated output voltage. At high power levels with a in particular a distinctly smaller heat sink.
switching regulator to keep the component large difference between the input and out- Although the mains transformer cannot
count within reasonable limits. The func- put voltages, a linear regulator dissipates a be eliminated, it is smaller than with a lin-
tional units of this lC include voltage regula- lot of power as heat and needs a large heat ear regulator because the higher efficiency
tion, switching signal generation, and inte- sink. This high power dissipation makes means that transformer does not have to
grated power switch. This means that only a the power supply inefficient, and it means provide as much power that is dissipated
few external components are necessary. that the transformer must provide the dis- as heat.
Thanl<s to the compact construction, it is sipated power as well as the useful power. By contrast, a primary-side switch-mode
easy to build a dual power supply in a single This mal<es the transformer unnecessarily power supply rectifies the mains voltage
enclosure. A dual power supply is especially heavy and expensive. straight away without a mains transformer
handy when you need more than one sup- Another option, which results in signifi- and filters the rectified voltage to obtain a
ply voltage. Naturally, both supplies are gal- cantly lower power dissipation and thereby high DC voltage (325 V). This is then con-
z6 o4-2olo elektor
POWER SUPPLIFS
elel<tor o4-2o1o 27
POWER SUPPLIES
fore a good idea to provide a minimum load, age on pin 4 of lC1 above the value resulting adjusting P2. As an LED, D7 provide a visual
here consisting of R4 and R5, to allow the from the setting of P1, the current limiter indication when current limiting is active.
output voltage to quickly reach the set level causes the power switch to switch off ear-
even when no external load is connected. lier. This reduces the value of Vou, and thus Construction and initial use
limits the output current to the maximum The transformer should be rated for at
Current limiting level set by P2. least 1.2 times the nominal output power
Adjustable current limiting is often very lf the current is less than the set maximum of the power supply, which means at least
helpful in a lab environment in order to pro- value, the anode of D6 (and D7 as well) is 90 watts or so for a single power supply.
tect the connected circuitry. For this pur- negative relative to the cathode, which The secondaryvoltage should not be higher
pose, the circuit detects the voltage across causes the diodes to be cut off. ln this state, than 25 V since the maximum voltage that
sense resistor R8, which is proportional to the switch-off point of the power switch is lC'l and lC2 can handle is 42Y. With a 25-
the output curent. lC3a amplifies this sig- determined solely by the voltage regulator. V transformer, you still have some safety
nal by a factor of approximately 4, and C6 D6 is connected in series with D7 to prevent margin even with 10% overvoltage on the
attenuates high-frequency noise. P4 is used reverse-voltage breakdown ofthe LED, since AC mains. lf you want to build a dual power
to compensate for the offset of the current the maximum allowable reverse voltage of supply, you can use a toroidal transformer
sensing circuit (including the offset of lC3a). the LED is only around 5 V. with twice the power rating and two sec-
lC3b is wired as an adjustable non-invert- The upper limit of the adjustable current ondary windings as an alternative to two
ing amplifier, with D6 and D7 at the output range can be preset with P5. The lower limit separate transformers. For sense resistor R6,
allowing only positive output currents. As a is determined bythe maximum gain of lC3b. you can use a length of inexpensive resist-
result, lC3b can increase the voltage on R1 2 The desired current limit level (maximum ance wire instead of a 'real' sense resistor.
but not reduce it. lf lC3b increases the volt- current) can be set within these limits by With the specified resistance wire, a length
]+ I
l
1N4148 rlr
Figure 2. Power supply schematic diagram. A negative auxiliary voltage allows the output voltage to be adjusted down to 0 V.
o4-2olo elektor
POWER SUPPLIES
Resistors
(defoult: z5a mW t%)
Rl,R2 = 8200
t R3 = 240fi
R4,R5=560cr1W
R6 = 0.05e2 5W (Vishay Dale type LVR-
I
05R0500FE73 or 1.73O/rn resistance wire,
see text)
R7,R8 = 1 2kO
R9 = 47ko
Rl 0 = 39kO
Rl 1 = 160kO
R]2,Rl3 = lkA
i
Rl4= 100fi
I
Rl5=100kA
Rl6=10kf)
P1 = 25kfi potentiometer, linear
P2 = 250kO potentiometer, linear
P3 = 504 trimpot, multiturn, vertical
P4 = 10kr) trimpot, mult:turn, vertical
P5 = 50kfi trimpot, multiturn, vertical
P6 = 1kQ trimpot, multiturn, vertical
P7 = 200O trimpot, multiturn, vertical
Capacitors
C1 = 10,000pF 50V radial Figure 3. The double-sided circuit board allows very compact
C2,C3 = 220pF 63V radial power supply construction.
C4 = i 00pF 63V radial
C5 = 2200pF 63V radial
C6 = 680pF cerarnic D2,D3 = 1 N4007 (see text)
C7 = l00nF ceramic D4 = zener diode 22V 1 W Heatsink for lC l (T0-220 <9.9K/W, e.g. Fischer
D5 = zener diode 1 8V 1 W Elektronik type 5l(1 29 25,4 STS)
lnductors D5 = 1 N4148 Kl ,K2 = 2-pin PCB terminal block, lead pitch
L1 = 330pLH 4.5A (muRata Power Solution D7 = LED, 3mm, red, low current (2mA) 5mm
type i 433445C) or 330 pH 34 (Wtirth type lC"l = LM2576T-ADJ {National Semiconductor) lG = 6-pin DIL pinheader, lead pitch 2.54mm
744137) (see text) (0.1")
tc2=LM337LZ PCB, order code 090786-1
Semiconductors lc3 = LM358AN Kit of parts, contains all components except
B1 = 800V 6A bridge rectifier (e.9. Vishaytype power transformer. Order code 090786-71,
GSr8680) Miscellaneous see Elektor Shop section or www.elektor.
D1 = I N5822 (Schottky diode,40V 3A) TR1 = power transformer, secondary 25V 3.2 A com/090786.
elektor o4-2o1o
POWER SUPPLITS
RWTH Aachen University in 2005 and was awarded the degree of Dipiom-
sebastian Richter coinpleted his studies in Eiectrical Errgineering at
as a research assistant at lsEA in the field of power electronics' l-le !s also
lngenier_rr (equivalent to an li4sc). 5ince then he has been working
eiectronics enthusiasts group'
actluely involved in teaching anci is one ofthe co-founders ofthe lnstitute's
RWTH Aachen university 1n 2008 and was awarded tl":e degree of Diplonr-lng-
Stephan pohl completecl his studies in [lectrical Engineering at
at PicoLAS cmbl-|, where he is involved in the develnpnrent of current sources
enieur. Since then he has been worl<ing as a hardvrare designer
enthr-rsiasts group at 15EA, in which role he was pr!mar"ily in'
for laser dicdes. During his studies, he served as an advisor for the electronics
volved in teaching students analogue circuit technr:logy'
A proper lab power supply also has volt- with reference values measured using a
of wire equal to the distance between the
age and current displays. Voltage divid- multimeters.
a resist-
through-plated lead holes will have
ers R1 5/P7 (voltage) and R1 6/P6 (current) lf you want to build a dual lab power supply
ance of approximately 50 mO. Any small dif-
are provided for this PurPose. Potentiom- with two UniLab boards, a tailor-made dis-
ference can be compensated by adjusting
eters P3 and P4 are used to set the zero play unit with a bacl<lit four-line LCD mod-
P5.
points for the output voltage and current, ule is being developed in the Elektor lab. lt
With regard to parts selection, itis impor-
tant to use a genuine National Semiconduc-
tor 1M2576-ADJ, since problems may arise
with'type-equivalent' components from
unl<nown manufacturers.
Before assembling the circuit board (Fig-
ure 3), you should preset multi-turn trim-
pots P3 and P4 for minimum resistance
(for this purpose, connect the wiper to the
appropriate potentiometer terminal as
indicated by the PCB layout). After assem-
bling the board, you should again checl<
the polarisation of the electrolytic capaci-
tors (C1 ,C2,C3 and C5) and setting Pl and
P2 to mid travel before switching the circuit
on for the first time.
lf working properly, it should be
the circuit is
possible to adjust the output voltage from
approximately 0 V to around 25 V after it
is switched on. To precisely adjust the zero
point, rotate P1 (preferably a multiturn
potentiometer) to its minimum resistance
and connect a load. Now you can adjust P3
developed in
to set the output voltage to exactly 0 V. Figure 4. A tailored display unit with a backlit four-line LCD module is being
the Elel<tor lab for building a dual lab power supply with two UniLab boards.
To calibrate the current sensing circuit, meas-
ure the voltage across the series connection
of R15 and P6 (between (lC3a pin 1 and
K3 pin 6) with no external load connected.
while P6 and P7 are used to calibrate the continuously shows the voltage and current
Adjust P4 until this voltage is set to zero'
built-in instruments. For this purpose, set of the two outputs. Along with this display
lf you now connect a low-resistance load
the power supply output to a point near unit, Elektor provisionally plans to publish
to the output and turn P2 to its upper limit,
the upper end of its voltage or current an article on a suitable enclosure and a front
you can adjust P5 to set the upper limit of
range and calibrate the built-in instru- panel design in a future edition.
the adjustable current limit range (do not (ogoz86)
exceed 3 A). ments by comparing the displayed values
t2l www.isea.rwth-aachen.def en
'Cool Povrer', Elel<toriune 2008 (download from www'elektor"comi080198)
t3l 5inchez Moreno, Sergio:
from www.national.com/ds/LLnlL[/12576.pdf)
i41 lM2576 dat-r sheet (clownloacl
o4-2o1o elel<tor
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