in this video we're gonna focus on power

Zener diodes as a voltage regulators

because not all Zener diodes are the

same some are more effective than others

at regulating the voltage so what we're

gonna do in this video is we're gonna

see the relationship between the output

voltage across the Zener diode with the

current flowing through it the

variations in the power source so we're

gonna see how the voltage of the battery

affects the output voltage across the

Zener diode and also how it changes

based on the load resistance of the

output circuit so we're going to

consider all of that now let's say if we

have an 18 volt battery the output

voltage across the Zener diode is

designed to remain at 12 volts if we

increase it to 36 volts the output will

still be approximately 12 volts and so

that's how the Zener diode works as a

voltage regulator it doesn't matter what

the voltage of the battery is ideally

speaking the output voltage will remain

roughly around 12 now the current

flowing through the resistor is gonna

change and we're gonna talk about that

shortly

now the Zener diode that I'm using in

this video is the PN 1 to n 5 3 4 9 b b

j53 12 volt 5 watt zener diode

just in case I you wanted to know now

let's talk about the relationship

between the series current limiting

resistor RS and the output voltage so

when I use a 1 mega ohm resistor the

output voltage was eleven point seven

one and this is using an eighteen point

three five volt battery is basically two

9-volt batteries but since they're new

it's the voltages slightly above nine

volts now when I decrease the resistance

to a hundred kilo ohms the voltage

across the Zener diode went up to eleven

point eighty seven volts

at 10 kilo ohms it was eleven point nine

six volts and that one cologne and went

up to you twelve point zero one volts

and then using a 100 ohm resistor it's

at twelve point two one and then the 51

ohm resistor it's twelve point three one

so as you can see the voltage across the

Zener diode is roughly around twelve and

this experiment it varied between eleven

point seven and twelve point three but

for the most part it functioned

correctly it kept the output voltage

close to 12 thus as we decrease the

resistance of RS the current flowing

through the Zener diode increases and as

the voltage across the Zener diode

increases now doesn't increase in a

linear fashion

it increases slightly so here are the

currents flowing through the Zener diode

in this experiment so using the one mega

ohm resistor the current is

approximately six point 64 micro amps

and for the one hundred kilo ohm

resistor it's point zero six four eight

milliamps next it's point zero six three

nine milliamps and then for the 1 kilo

ohm resistor it's six point three four

milliamps and then for the 100 ohm

resistor it's sixty one point 4

milliamps so as you can see as the

current that is flowing through the

Zener diode increases the voltage

increases slight lean not

proportionately but slightly and is

based on the IV characteristics of the

Zener diode so we have current on the

y-axis and voltage on e x axis and it

looks something like this the forward

voltage of a Zener diode is the same as

a typical silicon diode which is around

point 6 point 7 volts here this is the

negative
or the reverse voltage of the Zener

diode which in this case is 12 volts as

you can see it's being operated in the

reverse direction or it's in reverse

bias mode if was in forward bias mode

the voltage drop will be about 0.6 point

7 volts depend on how much currents

flowing through it but notice this

vertical line here this means that in

the reverse bias mode the voltage is

relatively constant for a wide range of

currents and you could see that here

when a current varied from 6 micro amps

to a hundred 18 milliamps the output

voltage was still relatively centered

around 12

so the Zener diode is a very effective

voltage regulator the voltage is

centered at 12 when the current flowing

through it is approximately 6 milliamps

but now let's see how the output voltage

varies when we use or when we vary the

voltage of the battery so we're gonna

have the same circuit

but this time we're going to keep RS at

a resistance of one Cologne

so we're gonna vary the input voltage

and we're gonna see what the output

voltage is equal to
so starting with a 9-volt battery the

voltage is 9 point 12 because the

voltage is less than the Zener voltage

the output is the same its 9.12 and so

there's no current flowing through the 1

kilo ohm resistor it's negligible now

increase in the voltage to 18 point 27

using two 9-volt batteries the output

voltage was capped at 12 volts the

current flowing through it is six point

twenty five milliamps now if you wish to

calculate the current flowing through

the Zener diode is what you can do it's

the same as the current flowing through

RS so let's say this is zero volts the

battery is now eighteen point twenty

seven so the potential at this point is

eighteen point twenty seven the

potential here let's call this point a

and this is gonna be point B the

potential at point B is the Zener

voltage which is twelve point zero two

now the current that's flowing through

RS which we'll call is is going to be

the voltage across it divided by the

resistance based on Ohm's law V equals

IR the voltage across it is the

potential difference between points a

and B so it's going to be VA minus VB so

it's 18 point 27 volts minus twelve

point zero two volts divided by RS which

is one kilo ohm

if you divide it by 1 kilo ohm you're

going to get the current in milliamps

which is six point two five four

milliamps if you divide it by a thousand

ohms you're going to get the current in

amps which is point zero zero six to

five amps but that's how you can

calculate the current flowing through RS

which is the same in this example as the

current flowing through the Zener diode

because when you connect this to a

multimeter it's going to draw a very

very little current such that 99.9% of

the current will go through the Zener

diode so that's why I Z and is are the

same

it looks like I can't go back any

further than that so now let's talk

about the other values in this circuit

so increasing the voltage to

twenty-seven point four six increase the

output voltage to twelve point zero six

the current is now 15 point 4 milliamps

so as we can see as the voltage of the

battery increases the current flowing

through the Zener diode increases but

the voltage across the Zener diode is

still relatively the same it's

increasing slightly but it's relatively

constant so the Zener diode is very

effective at maintaining the output

voltage even if the input voltage

changes widely so the last one I use was

a fifty five point three volt battery

and the output voltage for that was

12.15 volts and the current flowing

through it was forty three point two

milliamps now let's summarize the data

that we have here the Zener diode was

able to maintain a relatively constant

output voltage when RS changed from a

variety of values and also when the

input voltage varied because sometimes

you may have an electric generator or

some kind of device that generates

energy let's say like a solar cell but

the input voltage may vary throughout

the day the Zener diode can help you to

maintain a constant output voltage

regardless of the changes in the voltage

of the power source so in this case this

devices are very very useful but you do

lose some energy in the process to

maintain a constant output voltage the

second thing is if the input voltage

falls below the Zener voltage

the output voltage will be the same as

the input voltage in that case the Zener

diode will be off so will no longer be

conducting all of the energy provided by

the battery goes to the output so that's

another thing you want to keep in mind

and also we can see that the voltage is

centred close to 12 when the current is

about 6 milliamps so that's the voltage

across the Zener diode is dependent on

the current that flows to it but it's

relatively constant for a wide range of

currents now the last thing that we're

going to consider is the effect of the

output voltage when add in a load

resistor because when you connect it to

a circuit the resistance of the output

circuit or the external circuit will

affect the voltage across the Zener

diode because the circuit will draw

current from this circuit that is the

external circuit will draw current from

this circuit that we're dealing with so

we need to see the effects of the load

resistor on the Zener voltage

so in this case we're gonna vary the

load of resistor and then we're gonna

measure the output voltage in this

example RS is 1k or 1 kilo ohm and the

voltage is 18 point twenty nine thousand

volt is measured by two 9-volt batteries

so when the load resistance is infinity

so basically when it's not there the

output voltage is twelve point zero two

volts when the load of resistance was a

hundred kilo ohms the output voltage

didn't change but when it was ten

columns it dropped down at twelve point

zero one volts at one cologne and went

down to nine point O six the question is

why why when the load resistance was one

kilo ohm they dropped down to nine point

O six the Zener diode failed to regulate

the output voltage why do you think that

is the answer has to do with a special

circuit that these two resistors form

and that special circuit is called a

voltage divider circuit in the absence

of the Zener diode the output voltage is

going to equal the input voltage times

RL divided by RL plus RS so the input

voltage is eighteen point twenty nine

volts RL is one Cologne and RS is also

one Cologne now the resistance is not

exactly a thousand it may be like nine

ninety or ten ten so we're not gonna get

exactly this answer but something close

to it so because these two resistors are

the same the output voltage is going to

be half of what we have here so eighteen

we could round that to eighteen point

three times 0.5 is nineteen point I mean

nine point 15 volts which is close to

what we see here now because this

voltage is less than a Zener voltage the

diode is off and so the output voltage

is the same as the voltage across the

voltage formed by the voltage divider

circuit

but let's say if we were to use the 10

kiloohm resistor this would be 18 point

2 9 times 10 K over 1 K + 10 K so that's

18 point 2 9 times 10 over 11 so in the

absence of the Zener diode voltage I

mean if the Zener dad wasn't there the

voltage across RL will be sixteen point

six three because that's above 12 volts

the Zener diode will be active and so

it's gonna regulate the voltage bringing

it down to 12 so here's what you need to

understand if the voltage divider

circuit produces a voltage that is less

than 12 volts the Zener diode will be

off and then whatever that voltage is

will be the output voltage

if the voltage divider circuit produces

a voltage that is above 12 the Zener

diode will be active and so it's gonna

bring the voltage back down to 12 so I

wanted to try this experiment again but

with a higher voltage this time I'm

using three 9-volt batteries with a

measured voltage of 20 7.92 before I

began to experiment so when the load

resistance was infinity the voltage was

12 point zero 5 volts and progressively

it decreased as RL increase as RL

increased it began to draw more current

from the circuit which means that

there's less available current for

that's flowing through the Zener diode

so as the Zener current decreases the

voltage across the Zener diode will

slowly decrease so that's what's

happening here but now notice at what

resistance the regulation was lost so it

wasn't at 1 K because at 1 kilo ohm we

know that the voltage here in the

absence of the Zener diode will be half

of what we have there so that's

approximately 28 volts

half of that is 14

and 14 is greater than 12 so by one

kiloohm in this example regulation is

still active the Zener diode will bring

that 14 volt power source down at 12

which we could see that the voltages 11

point 99 but at this point the

regulation was lost the voltage went

down from eleven point nine seven to

eleven point fifteen so at 680 ohms the

Zener diode was off and let's see why

when the Zener diode is off the output

voltage will be equal to the input

voltage times RL RL 680 in this case

divided by the sum of RS and RL so

that's a thousand plus 680 which will be

1680

so 27 point nine two times six eighty

divided by sixteen eighty gives us an

output voltage of eleven point three now

keep in mind the resistance may not be

exactly 680 I didn't measure the

resistors for each resistance in the

circuit

it could be six seventy it could be six

ninety so as mentioned before there's

going to be some fluctuation between a

threat achill

and the actual output but eleven point

three is nevertheless less than twelve

volts and so that's why the Zener diode

is off and we no longer have a voltage

regulation so the output voltage will be

whatever we're gonna get from the

voltage divider circuit now here's a

question for you how can we estimate or

determine the resistance at which point

the regulation will be los what is the

resistance that divides the point

between when we're gonna have voltage

regulation and when the Zener diode will

be off let's talk about how we can get

that first let's write down what we know

let's say that VD is the voltage the

output voltage of the voltage divider

circuit when the Zener diode is not

present when that voltage is less than

the Zener voltage the Zener diode is off

we no longer have voltage regulation

when the voltage of the divider circuit

is greater than the Zener voltage the

Zener diode is on so the threshold is

when these two are equal to each other

we know the output voltage across the

voltage divider circuit is going to be

the input voltage times R tau divided by

RL plus RS so if we set V be equal to VZ

we can now solve for the load resistance

at which point the Zener diode will be

on or off so what we're gonna do is

we're gonna multiply both sides by RL

plus RS so we're gonna have VZ x RL + RS

and that's gonna equal V in times RL so

distributing VZ to RL n RS we're going

to have VZ RL + VZ RS and that's equal

to this now we're gonna take this term

move it to the other side I'm gonna get

rid of this for now since I could use

the extra space so VZ RS is equal to V

in RL minus VZ R tau now the next thing

we need to do is factor RL from the

right side of the equation next we're

going to divide both sides by VN minus

VZ so we're gonna have VZ RS divided by

V in minus VZ and that's gonna equal R

out so this gives us the threshold for

the load resistor the point at which

will determine if the Zener diode will

be on or off so

let's go ahead and calculate our town so

the Zener voltage is 12 volts RS is

runkiller

own divided by V in which is we said

that was twenty seven point nine two

minuses Zener voltage of 12

so because RS is in kilo ohms are out

will be in kilo ohms as well so twelve

times one divided by twenty seven point

nine two minus twelve and so the

resistance that we get is 0.75 four kilo

ohms or 754 ohms and we can see that

this number is between 680 and 820 at

680 the voltage regulation was lost but

at 8:20 it was active so somewhere

between 680 and eight 20 that's the

point at which we have best of threshold

point between the diodes on and off

state and that point is at 7:54 so let's

think about what this means in order for

the Zener diode to act as a voltage

regulator the output circuit must have a

low resistance that is greater than or

equal to 754 if that's the case the

output circuit will have a constant 12

volts across it if the load resistance

of the external circuit falls below 754

ohms voltage regulation will be lost the

voltage applied to the external circuit

will be whatever the voltage is across

the load resistor of the voltage divider

circuit which means that the external

circuit its voltage will be it will vary

based on the voltage of the power source

which isn't good so if we want the

external circuit to have a constant

voltage of 12 volts regardless of the

voltage of the power source we want the

load resistance to be equal to or

greater than 750 for

it's best to be significantly above that

but that's the threshold point so now

you know how to determine the resistance

of the external circuit that is needed

in order to maintain a voltage

regulation across that circuit using a

Zener diode so that's it for this video

hopefully you found it to be educational

thanks for watching actually before we

end the video there is something

important that I want to mention and it

has to do with power dissipation because

when you build a circuit you want to

minimize the energy that is lost by the

circuit now let's talk about that when

the load of resistor was at a value of

two point two kilo ohms the voltage at

the output was twelve point zero three

volts and let's say that the ground is

at zero volts so point a will be at

twenty seven point nine two volts let's

calculate the currents flowing in a

circuit so the current flowing through

RS is going to be twenty seven point

nine two volts minus twelve point zero

three volts divided by one Cologne and

so that's going to be fifteen point

eighty-nine milliamps now the current

flowing through R out is going to be the

difference between those two potentials

which is twelve point zero three divided

by RL that's two point two K and so RL

has a current of approximately five

point four seven milliamps to calculate

the current flowing through the Zener

diode is going to be the difference

between those two currents so 15 point

89 - five point four seven so we have a

current of ten point four two milliamps

now let's talk about this the way the

Zener diode actually works is by drawing

enough current from the power source

such that the output voltage remains at

12 in this example it

only ten point four million from the

fifteen point eight nine milliamp source

so that the amount of current flowing

through RL creates a voltage drop of

twelve volts across it but if we think

about it

this energy is lost only this the

current flowing through the load

resistor that energy is being used to do

useful work so the energy that is being

used up by the Zener diode is wasted as

heat so if we think about it if we take

the ratios of the currents let's say if

we take fifty five point four seven

divided by fifteen point eight nine only

thirty four point four percent of the

energy that is being delivered by the

battery in this circuit is being used to

do useful work the other what's one

hundred minus thirty four point for the

other sixty five point six percent of

the energy in a circuit is being

dissipated as heat so what we want to do

is we want to bring down this number but

we want to increase that number and what

we can do is we can design a circuit in

such a way that the load resistance is

added stress hold value that we talked

about earlier so when RS is one kilo ohm

the ideal load resistance is 680 so

let's say the external circuit has a

resistance of 680 let's see what's gonna

happen first let me get rid of some

stuff

and the load of resistance should be 754

not 680 that's the threshold resistance

that we calculated earlier so let's see

what's gonna take place at this

resistance we know that the output

voltage is the same it's exactly the

same as the zener voltage because we set

it that way

so 27.9 to minus 12 divided by the 1

kilo ohm resistor gives us a current of

fifteen point nine two milliamps flowing

through it now if we take 12 and divided

by 754 we're gonna get point zero one

five nine one five which is in amps so

if you multiply that by a thousand

you'll get the current in milliamps and

this rounds to fifteen point nine two

milliamps which means the current

flowing through the Zener diode is zero

so notice that all of the current from

RS is being used by the load resistor or

being used by the external circuit so

that means that a hundred percent or

almost a hundred percent of the energy

provided by the circuit is being used by

the external circuit virtually none is

being dissipated by the Zener diode so

in this case this particular circuit is

almost 100 percent efficient and so that

efficiency is achieved when the external

circuit has a load resistance such that

the Zener voltage is equal to the

voltage across that resistance when it

forms a voltage divider circuit now we

can't always control the resistance of

the external circuit but we can control

the value of RS that we choose so to

determine the series current limiting

resistor that will give us the greatest

efficiency for this in voltage

regulation circuit assuming that our

elders and change assuming that it's a

relatively constant because if it

changes you don't want to lose voltage

regulation too

for the sake of efficiency but if RL is

relatively constant then you can

calculate the ideal value of RS using

this equation its RL times VN minus VZ

over VZ so in this example are out 750

for the input voltage is twenty seven

point nine two minus their Zener voltage

of 12 and so if you plug this in this

should give us the 1 kilo ohm resistor

which it does it gives us an answer of a

thousand point three so that's how we

can determine the ideal value of RS such

that we can get the greatest efficiency

possible for this voltage regulation

circuit but keep in mind if the load

resistance of the external circuit

varies let's say it varies from 800 to

900 you want to use the higher value of

RL to determine the appropriate RS so

you may want to set your RL value to 900

or may be slightly higher than that just

to be on the safe side maybe a thousand

and then you could choose the

appropriate artist value using this

equation now granted you'll lose some

efficiency but at least you will

maintain voltage regulation with your

external circuit but now you know how to

create a circuit where you can improve

the efficiency while still creating a

circuit that works very well as a

voltage regulator so that's the end of

this video if you liked it don't forget

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again for a view in this video