Is a smaller adjustment range of regulated power supplies always better?
The technical specifications of regulated power supplies fall into two major categories. The first category is characteristic indicators, including output voltage, output current and voltage adjustment range. The second category is quality indicators that reflect the overall performance, such as stability, equivalent internal resistance (output resistance), ripple voltage and temperature coefficient.
1. Characteristic Indicators of Regulated Power Supplies
(1) Maximum Output Current
It is determined by the maximum allowable operating current of the main regulating tube, transformer capacity and maximum rectified current of diodes.
(2) Output Voltage and Voltage Adjustment Range
These parameters are defined according to actual application demands. For devices requiring fixed power supply, a narrow adjustment range is preferred, so the set voltage can remain unchanged after calibration. For adjustable power supplies whose output voltage starts from zero volt, a wide and continuously adjustable voltage range is generally required.
(3) Protection Performance
In DC regulated power supplies, overload or short-circuit load current will damage the regulating tube. Therefore, high-speed overcurrent protection circuits are essential. In addition, power supply faults may lead to excessive output voltage and cause damage to loads, so overvoltage protection circuits are also necessary.
(4) Efficiency
As an energy conversion device, regulated power supplies have certain energy conversion efficiency. Efficiency improvement is mainly realized by reducing power consumption of the regulating tube.
