DC Power Supply
DC Power Supply
DC Power Supply
First the AC mains supply passes through an isolating switch and safety fuse
before it enters the power supply unit. In most cases the high voltage mains
supply is too high for the electronic circuitry. it is therefore stepped down to a
lower value by means of a Transformer. The mains voltage can be stepped up
where high DC voltages are required. From the transformer the AC voltage is fed
to a rectifier circuit consisting of one or more diodes. The rectifier converts AC
voltage to DC voltage. This DC is not steady as from a battery. It is pulsating.
The pulsations are smoothed out by passing them through a smoothing circuit
called a filter. In its simplest form the filter is a capacitor and resistor. Any
remaining small variations can, if necessary, be removed by a regulator circuit
which gives out a very steady voltage. This regulator also removes any variations
in the DC voltage output caused by the AC mains voltage changing in value.
Regulators are available in the form of Integrated Circuits with only three
connections.