Voltage regulator. And what kind of person?

Voltage regulator. And what kind of person? Probably one of the earliest problems that any radio amateur or circuit engineer faces is the problem of providing an electronic device with the necessary voltage. To obtain the desired voltage, use a power supply or voltage regulator.

In very general terms, it can be said that a device that changes the amount of electrical voltage when a control signal is received or acts on the controls is called a voltage regulator.

It should be noted that voltage regulation is such a comprehensive operation that it is carried out at the most different stages in the operation of electronic devices. It is possible to change the primary voltage of the network, it is possible to change the secondary voltage of the network, the regulating voltage, in all cases the purpose of all these operations will be one - changing one value, obtaining 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 act as:

- voltage stabilizers, providing the necessary supply or operating voltage to all nodes of the circuit;

- can be voltage converters, say so, getting another voltage 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, that allows you to change the output voltage by simply turning the control knob.

Thus, we have received a network controller, a voltage regulator of the primary network, or an AC voltage regulator. All this will be the same.

Another example of using regulators is charging a cell phone. True, here we already use, say, a double voltage conversion. Initially, the network AC voltage is reduced to the desired value, and then from the alternating voltage is obtained a constant. The cell phone works from the battery, and there is a constant voltage. So we get a constant voltage of 9V (or any other necessary for the operation of the device) from the mains voltage of 220V. Thus, we, thanks to the charger, made the voltage adjustment, using our original definition.

Equally important application of voltage regulators will be their use in control systems and maintenance of the operating modes of the device within the required limits. And here, as an example, you can consider the voltage regulator in the car. All the devices of the car are supplied with electricity by the generator, the operating mode of which depends on the engine operation and the speed of the latter. As is clear from the described, the operation mode of the generator changes, and hence the voltage generated by it will change. And for the work of electronics requires more or less constant voltage. That's the task and solves a special voltage regulator, standing on the car. The principles of regulation and adjustment of the voltage of such a regulator can be very different, and for us they are not of interest now.

It may be necessary to adjust the voltage in powerful sources or in devices with a large power consumption. In these cases, use power regulating elements, such as a thyristor and a triac. Here such, triac voltage regulator is able to change sufficiently large values of voltage and current.

The voltage regulators considered do not cover all the capabilities of these devices, but in order of familiarization give an idea of what kind of device it is, and what it is used for.