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BasicSwitchingPowerSupplyDesignTutorial
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OverviewofthisTutorial
Notes
PowerSupplytobeUsedasanExampleinthisTutorial
LinearPowersuppliesvsSwitchingPowerSupplies
BasicComponents
DefinitionsandMiscellaneousInformation
TheTL594PWMDriverIC
MoreDetailsabouttheFeaturesofthisPowerSupply
BasicTransformerDesign
SelectingtheRequiredCircuits
Changesontherev.3Boards
AssemblyNotes
Testing

Overview
Thispagewascreatedhelpyouunderstandswitchingpowersupplybasics.Itappliesonlytopushpullswitchingpowersupplies
poweredfroma12vDCsource(likethoseusedinvirtuallyallcaraudioamplifiers).It'snotanindepthtutorialandthereis
muchmoretolearnbutthisshouldhelpintroduceyoutothebasics.Mostoftheothersitesandsubjectmatterseemtobewritten
forthosewhoalreadyknowthematerial.Thispageisforthosewhoknowbasicelectronicsbutknowabsolutelynothingabout
switchingpowersupplies.Hopefully,theinformationyoufindherewillhelpyouunderstandthesubjectmatterwellenoughto
understandthemoreadvancedmaterialyou'llfindonothersites.Ifyoufindthatsomethingisbeingdiscussedbutsomepre
requisiteinformationseemstohavebeenomitted,pleaseemailme.Ifyouhavequestions,commentsorsuggestionsregarding
thismaterial,feelfreetoemailme.
Ifyou'reinterestedinbuildingaswitchingpowersupplybutareintimidatedbythelengthofthispage,don'tbe.Takeitone
sectionatatime.Giveittimetosinkinandacoupleofdayslater,readanothersection.
BackToTheTop

NotesPleaseRead
FlashBasedGraphics:
MostofthegraphicsonthissiteareFlashgraphics.Thismeansthattheywillnotbevisibleonmanyoftheinternetcapable
cellphonesandsimilardevices.Ifyou'reinterestedinthispage,it'sbestviewedfromalaptopordesktopcomputer.

~:
Ifyouseethecharacter'~',itmeansapproximately.Forexample,~15vmeans'approximately15v'.
B+:
B+isthepositivebatteryterminalconnectionontheamp,powersupplyorthepositive12vsource(dependingonthe
context).
4K7,6K8...:
Abbreviationslike4K7whenreferringtothevaluesofcomponentslikeresistorsmeans4.7Kohms(4700ohms).You'llsee
thisoftenwhenthevalueisprintedonacomponent.Sincetheprintingisoftenlowqualityonanunevensurface,it'seasy
toloseatinydecimalpoint.ThesubstitutionoftheKinplaceofthedecimalpointmakesitunlikelythatthevaluecanbe
misread.TheKmeansthousand.Ifyouhada2.2ohmresistor,itwouldlikelyread2R2.Forathreemillion,threehundred
thousandohmresistorthemarkingwouldlikelyread3M3.
g=AWG:
Forthis(andmostofmytutorials),Isubstitutetheletter'g'for'gauge'whenstatingthesizeofthewire.Thisisshortfor
AWG(AmericanWireGauge).14gwiremeans14gaugewire.
xxx:
Ifyouseeapartnumberthathasalowercase'x'aspartofthepartnumberbuttheotherlettersofthepartnumberare

uppercase,itmeansthatthereareseveralversionsofthesamebasicpart.ForexampletheTLx94couldbeaTL494ora
TL594but,forthecontext,theyaresimilarenoughsothattheTLx94wouldcoverbothparts.ThesamegoesfortheL7815,
L7805,L7809....IfthecontextwasfortheL78..regulatorsingeneral,theywouldbereferredtoastheL78xxregulators.
'S'Suffix:
Ifyouseealowercase's'attheendofapartnumber(particularlyonethathasotherlettersinuppercase),that'sthe
pluralizationofthepartnumberandisnotpartofthepartnumber.Forexample,Ifyou'reinstructedtoreplacethe
'IRF3205s'inthecircuit,thepartnumberisIRF3205,notIRF3205S.
ZoominginonFlash/ShockwaveFiles:
ManyofthegraphicsfilesareFlash.swffiles.YoucandeterminewhichareFlashfilesbyrightclickingwhilethemouse
cursorisontheimage.Ifitgivesanoptiontozoomin,youcandosobysimplyselectingthatoptioninthepopupdialogue
box.Forfilesthathavearelativelysquareformat,ifyou'veselectedtheoptiontoopentheimageinanewwindow,you
maywanttousetheF11buttontogotofullscreen.Youcanzoominwheninfullscreenmodeifyouwanttoseethefileat
ahigherresolution.Thevectorgraphicsfiles(mostoftheschematicdiagramfilesandinteractivedemos)canbeenlarged
significantlywithnolossofquality.TheFlashfilesthatcontainbitmaptypeimageshaveafiniteresolutionandzoomingin
morethanonetimegenerallywon'tprovideanybetterdetail.Whilezoomedin,youcanusetheleftmousebuttonto
scroll/navigate.
Note:
MostbrowserstogglefromfullscreentonormalviewingwithF11butFirefoxwon't.Togetbacktonormalviewing,you
mustgotothetoprightofthedisplayandclicktherestorebutton(betweentheminimizebuttonandtheX).
DeadLinks:
Forthosereadingthisonline,you'llfindlinksthataredead.ThiswasprimarilywrittenaspartoftheCarAudioAmplifier
RepairTutorial.Someofthelinksherewillpointtolinksinthetutorialsotheywillnotworkonline.It'stootimeconsuming
tohavemorethanoneversionsoI'veleftthelinks.Ifyou'rereadingthisaspartofthetutorialandfindadeadlink,please
emailme.
LinksthatOpeninPopUpWindows:
Someofthelinksandimagesopeninpopupwindows.Manypeopleclickonthemainwindowtomakethepopupfall
behindthemainwindow.Ifyouclickonanotherlinkthatissupposedtoopenontopofthemainwindow,itmaynotandit
mayappearthatthelinkisn'tworking.Thelinkwillopeninthepreviouspopupwindowthat'snowbehindthemain
windowbutyoumaynotnoticeitunlessyouseethemovingicononthebrowsertabasthecontentloads.Topreventthis
fromhappening,closeeachpopupbyclickingthe'X'atthetopofthepopupwindow.
PowerSupplyvsRegulator:
Thetermsswitchingpowersupplyandswitchingregulatorcan,manytimes,beusedinterchangeably.Onthispage,I'lltry
todifferentiatebetweenthetwo.Aswitchingpowersupplywillrefertoacircuitthatbooststhevoltage.Thesample
switchingpowersupplyonthispagebooststhevoltagefrom12vto36volts(ormore,dependingonthetransformer).A
switchingregulatorreferstoacircuitthattakesavoltagegreaterthantheregulatedoutputvoltagethenreducesand
stabilizesthevoltage.Bothswitchingandlinearregulatorswillperformthisfunction.Technically,thesamplepowersupply
couldbeconsideredaswitchingregulatorifitusesregulationtomaintainaspecificoutputvoltagebutsincethatvoltageis
alwaysgoingtobegreaterthanthe12vinputvoltage(fromthevehicle'schargingsystem),itwillbereferredtoasa
regulatedpowersupplyinsteadofaswitchingregulator.

BackToTheTop

PowerSupplytobeUsedasanExampleinthisTutorial
Thepowersupplybelowistheonethatwe'lluseasabasisforthistutorial.Itwasdesignedtobeusedwithaudiopower
amplifiersbutcanbeusedforvirtuallyanythingthatneedsDCvoltagegreaterthanwhat'savailablefromtheautomotive
chargingsystem.Ifyouwanttobuildaswitchingpowersupplytopoweranaudioamplifierthatyouoriginallybuilttooperateoff
ofmainspowerbutnowwanttouseitforcaraudio,thistypeofsupplywillworkverywell.
Manytutorialsstartbyshowingtheindividualparts/circuitsbutyouhavetowaituntillateinthetutorialtoseehowthe
individualcircuitsworktogether.Thisfirstsectionistohelpthosewhoprefertoknowwherethey'regoingbeforetheybegin
theirjourney.

BasicFeaturesofthisPowerSupply
OutputPower:
Thispowersupplycansupportan800wattaudiopoweramplifier.Tooperateatfullpowerforextendedperiods,thepower
supplywillneedafantoforceairovertheinternalcomponentsandheatsinktokeepitcool.Theheatsink(theoneusedfor
testing)generallyremainsrelativelycoolbuttheinternalcomponentswillbenefitbyhavingairflowingover/aroundthem
ifthesupplyisruntofullratedoutput.Withanaudioamplifierbridgedinto4ohms,regularlydrivenintoclipping(music)
andwiththesupply'srailvoltageinitiallysetto~94vacrosstherails(47v),a50mmx10mmfaneasilykepttheheatsink
andinternalcomponentscool.
Toclarifyforthosewhomaywanttobuildthissupplyorasimilarsupply,thispowersupplyisdesignedtosupplypowerto
anaudioamplifier.Whenit'sstatedthatitcanprovide800watts,that'snotacontinuous800wattsDCoutput(100%duty
cycle).It'sdesignedtoprovidethepowertoanaudioamplifierthatintermittentlydrawsthepowerrequiredtoproduce800
watts.Toprovideacontinuous800wattsofstraightDC,thepowersupplywouldhavetohaveapproximatelytwicethe
componentsasthisone.
Asatest,theprototypesupplywasconnectedacrossa4ohmresistor.The12vpowersupply(actually13.18vduring
testing)couldn'tsupplyenoughcurrenttodrivemorethan54.7v(1:3.75transformerwithregulation)intotheload.Itwas
drivenintothe4ohmloadfor27minutes,untilmy12vpowersupplyshutdown(toolazytounburyalarger12vsupply).
Therewasnodamagetothissupplybutthetemperatureofseveralofthecomponentsindicatedthatitwasbeingdriven
aboutashardasitcouldbewithoutgoingintothermalshutdown.ThisisaMUCHharderloadthanifitweredrivingan
amplifiertoclipping.
Testwith1:3transformer...12.7vDCdrivinga4ohmload,thepowersupplyproduced64.8vacrosstheload.
ThermistorProtection:
Thispowersupplyhasafandrivecircuitthat'scontrolledbythetemperatureofadedicatedthermistor(PowerSupply
Troubleshooting,#27).Thethermistorcanbeplacedontheheatsinkorthecomponentsthatoperateatthehighest
temperatures(whicheveryoudecidetoletcontrolthefanspeedIgenerallyplaceitontheprimaryfiltercapacitors).The
fanspeedcontroliscrudebutvariable.Forthissupply,youdon'tneedafanmovinglargeamountsofair.Aminimalamount
ofairflowwillmakeahugedifferenceinthetemperatureofthecomponents.
Thereisaseconddedicatedthermistorthat'susedforthermalprotectionofthesupply.Thesupplyisdesignedtoshutdown
at~80C(~176F).Thethermalprotectionemploys'hysteresis'whichrequiresthatthesupplycooldownto~68C
(prototypetemperaturereadings)beforeitwillpoweronagain.Theshutdowntemperaturecanbechangedbychangingthe
valueoftheresistorinserieswiththethermistor.Alowervaluewillmaketheshutdowntemperatureincrease.
RegulationofMainRails:

Youcanoperatethispowersupplywithorwithoutregulation.Whenoperatedwithregulation,boththepositiveand
negativerailsaremonitored.Theregulatorhasapotentiometertoallowprecisevoltageadjustment.Ifyouwanttohavea
regulatedpowersupply,Irecommend'overwinding'thepowertransformertonomorethan20%overwhat'sneededto
producethedesiredoutputvoltage.Thismaynotbeatightlyregulatedsupplyifexcessivecurrentisdrawnbytheamplifier
butit'stypicallygoodenoughandismoreefficientthanatightlyregulatedsupply(whichrequiresmoreoverwinding).
PreRegulators:
Thepreregulatorsinthispowersupplyallowthe15vICregulators(L7815andL7915)tobeusedwithrailvoltage
greaterthantheregulators'maximumsupplyvoltage.The7815/7915regulatorsaren'tdesignedtowithstandmorethan
35vofsupplyvoltage.Ifyouhavethemainsupplysetuptoproducemorethan35v,theyneedsomethingtolimitthe
voltagefeedingthem.That'sonereasonforthepreregulators.
Thepreregulatoroutputscanbeusedtosupplypowerto'chipamps'.Themaximuminputvoltageformanyofthechip
ampsis2530vDC.Manypeoplewanttohavealargebassampandsmaller'chipamps'fortherear/door/dashspeakers.
Thebassampcanbeoperatedfromthemainpowersupply.Thechipampswilloperateoffofthepreregulators.Thesupply
wasdesignedtoallowtheusertopowerasubampfromthemainrailsandchipampsfromthepreregulators.Ifyou're
onlygoingtousethesupplytopowerthechipamps,usethemainrailsforthechipampsinsteadofthepreregulators.This
willresultinmuchloweroperatingtemperatures.Thepreregulators(andtheICregulators)arelinearvoltageregulators
andwillproducequiteabitofheat.Insomeinstances,youmayneedtouseahighoutputfantoprovideenoughcooling.If
youusethemainrailsforyouramp(settothepropervoltageforthechipamps),thepowersupplywilloperateatamuch
lowertemperature.
Thepreregulatortransistorshavenoprotectioncircuitsandcouldbedamagediftheiroutputisshortedtogroundoroneof
theotherpowersupplyoutputs.Istronglyrecommendthatyouuseinlinefusesinthewiresthatyouusetoconnecttothe
preregoutput.A7.5ampfastblowfuseshouldbesufficienttoprotectthetransistors.
15vRegulators:
TheICvoltageregulatorsprovidecleanpowerfortheaudioopampsthatwillbeusedforthepreampsectionofthepower
amplifier(s).TheL7815andL7915(AudioTroubleshooting,onlyavailableontheamplifierrepairDVD,item#26)provide
anextremelystableoutputvoltageandemployovercurrent/shortcircuitprotectionaswellasthermalprotection.This
makesthemveryreliable.The15vregulatorsaregenerallythebestchoicebutifyouwanttouseregulatorswithadifferent
outputvoltage,that'suptoyou.
Iftherailvoltageforthemainpowersupplyissettolessthan35v,thepreregulatorsdon'tneedtobeusedtoreducethe
supplyvoltagefortheICvoltageregulators.Ifthey'renotneededforanyotherpurpose(chipamps,etc...),thepre
regulatorpowertransistorscanbeomittedandbypassed(leg2shortedtoleg3withajumperwire).Sincethepre
regulatorswon'tbeused,there'snoneedtoinstallanyoftheresistors,capacitorsordiodesassociatedwiththem.
BypassCapacitors:
Allsuppliesarebypassedwithfilmcapacitors.Powersupplies(especiallyswitchingpowersupplies,likethisone)need
significantfilteringtoremovetheripplefromtheoutput.Largealuminumelectrolyticcapacitors(roundcylindricaldevices
ontheboard)arebestsuitedtoprovidelargeamountsofcapacitance.Thisremovesmostofthenoisebutaluminumtype
electrolyticsmaynotfilterthehighestfrequencynoiseaswellasfilmcapacitors.Tomoreeffectivelyremovethatnoise,
smallervaluefilmcapacitorsareused.Theyareconnectedinparallelwiththeelectrolyticsandtogether,theydoagoodjob
ofbypassingallofthenoisetoground.
Notes:
Thereissomedisagreementastowhetherthe0.1uFbypasscapacitorsarenecessary,beneficialordetrimentaltothe
properoperationofapowersupply.Sincetherearealotofvariablesthatcouldmakethemanyofthose,youcandecide
tousethemorleavethemout.SinceIhaven'texperiencedanyproblemsusingthem,I'dsuggestthatyouinitially
installthemandonlyomitthemifthereisaproblem.Thisonlyappliestothebypasscapacitorslocatednearthe
electrolyticcapacitorsthatthey'rebypassing.Itdoesnotapplytoother0.1uFcapacitors.Thosearerequiredforthe
properoperationofthepowersupply.
Previously,theterm'noise'wasused.Sinceswitchingpowersuppliestypicallyoperateat25,000Hzorhigher,the
'noise'iswellaboveaudiofrequenciesandrarelybecomesaudiblebutcansometimesworkit'swayintotheaudio
chain.Ingeneral,the'noise'ishighfrequencynoiseatsomemultipleoftheoperatingfrequency.Insomeinstances,
thisnoisecanbetransmittedoutsidethepowersupplyandcancauseinterferencewithradiotransmissions.Ifyou've
everhadaclassDampthatinterferedwithyouram/fmradioreception,thatwasRFI(RadioFrequencyInterference)
andwascausedbythenoisegeneratedbytheamplifier'sswitchingcircuitry.
OutputFilter:
ThemainoutputusesanLCfilter.Toreducestressonthefiltercapacitors(particularlywhenthepowersupplyisusedin
regulatedmode),anLC(inductor/capacitor)filterisusedinsteadofonlyusingafiltercapacitor.Thisalsoprovidesaslightly
cleaneroutputbutthemainpurposeoftheinductoristotakestressoffofthefiltercapacitors.
SecondaryGroundOffsetProtection:
ThereisanoptocouplerthatmonitorstheDCvoltageonthesecondaryground.Thiswillshutthesupplydowniftheoutput
ofthesupplyshortstochassisground.Itwillalsoprotectboththesupplyandtheamplifierifalivespeakerwireshortsto
chassisground.Theoptocouplershutsthesupplydownwhenthesecondarygroundis2vaboveor2vbelowthechassis
groundvoltage(0vDC).
InternalFuses:
Theinternalfusesareinserieswiththemainrailsofthesupplyandhelpprotectthesupplyfromexcessivecurrentdraw.
Thesearetypicallygoingtobe15ampfusesbuttherequiredvaluemaybedifferentdependingontheoutputvoltage
selected.Ifthesupplyisusedforanampthatneedsonly20v,thefusescouldbeincreasedto20amps.Ifthesupplywas
goingtobeusedat60v,thefuseswouldhavetobereducedto10amps.
ExternalFuses:
TherewasinsufficientspaceonthecircuitboardtoprovideanonboardfusefortheB+input.ThepowersupplyMUSTbe
fusedexternallywitha50ampfuse.I'drecommendeitheraMAXIfuseoranAGUfuse(onlyBussmannorLittelfuse
brands,forproperprotection).Failuretouseafusecanleadtocatastrophicfailureofthepowersupply.Sometimes,the

damageissoseverethatthesupplywillbeirreparable.
Important:
Ifyoublowthemainpowerfusefeedingthispowersupply,it'sstronglyrecommendedthatyounotsimplyinsertanew
fuseofthesamesize.Wheningoodworkingorder,thepowersupplydrawsonlyabout1ampatidle.Afterthefuseblows,
removetheloadfromthepowersupply(orattheveryleastsetthevolumecontrolonthesignalsourcetotheminimum
position)andinstalla1020ampfuseinthemainfuseholder(theonewherethe50ampfusewasinstalled).Ifthefuse
blows,youwillhavetodisconnectALLloadsfromthepowersupplyandtryitagain.Ifthe1020ampfuseblowswithno
loadsconnectedtothepowersupply,thesupplyhaslikelyfailedandwillneedtoberepaired.DoNOT(repeat,doNOT)
installafuselargerthan50ampsanddoNOTbypassthefuse.WrappingaluminumfoilaroundthefuseWILLcause
catastrophicfailureofthesupplyandwillalmostcertainlymakethepowersupplyirreparable.
ThermalProtectionfortheAudioAmplifier:
Aninputisprovidedforthermalprotectionoftheamplifierthatwillbepoweredbythesupply.Theamplifierneedstohavea
normallyopenthermostat.Whenthethermostatcloses(atexcessivetemperatures),thesupplywillshutdown.The
thermostatmustbecompletelyisolatedfromallpowersuppliesandground(drycontacts).
LEDDriveIndicators:
Thissupplyisdesignedtobeeasytotroubleshootwithouthavinganoscilloscope.Alloutputsontheterminalblock(rail
and15v)haveLEDsthatshowthey'reproducingoutput.ThereisanLEDtoshowthattheampisreceivingremoteturnon
voltage.TherearetwootherLEDsonthepowersupplydrivecircuitthatshowthatthedrivecircuitisworking.Theseonly
illuminatewhenthere'soscillation(drivesignalforthepowersupplyFETs).TheywillnotilluminatewhenthereisonlyDC.
Thesecanbeomittedifnotneeded.Theyweremainlyincludedforthosewhodidn'thaveawaytodetermineiftherewas
oscillation/outputfromthedrivecircuit.
AuxiliaryPowerSupply:
Thereisanauxiliarypowersupplythatcanbeusedinseveralways.Normally,thiswillbeusedtoproduce
'greater_than_rail'voltageforthedrivercircuitsintheaudioamplifier.Itcanbeusedtoproducebothpositiveandnegative
voltage,onlypositivevoltageoronlynegativevoltage.Itcanbeusedwithisolatedwindingsorwithwindingsaddedtothe
secondarywindings.Additionalthroughholesareprovidedtoallowconnectingtheauxiliarywindingstothesecondary
windingsortothesecondaryground.Thissupplyisonlycapableofprovidingapproximately1ampofcurrent.Butthat's
sufficientforthedriverstageofanaudioamplifier.
Note:
Theterm'winding'referstoagroupofturns/wrapsaroundthecoreofthetransformer.Examplesareprimarywindings,
secondarywindingsandauxiliarywindings.Theterm'turns'referstotheindividualloopsofwires.Theprimarywindings
(thosedrivenbythepowersupplyFETs)willtypicallybetwogroupsof4turnseach(commonlyreferredtoasa4+4
configuration).Formanytransformers,thewireusedforthewindingswillbestranded.Itcouldbe2,3,even30strandsof
wirethatmakeupthewireusedforeachturn.Theseparalleledstrandsactasonewireanddon'tcountasindividualturns.
Forthissupply,threeparallelconnectedstrandsof14gwiremakeupthewirethat'susedfortheprimarywindings.
AuxSupplyOption1:
Using4turnsforeachofthetwoauxiliarywindings.Onewindingwillhaveit'sendsinpointsAandC.Theotherwillhave
it'sendsinpointsBandD.Thiswillgiveanoutputofrailvoltageplus~B+voltage.Thevoltagewillbeequaltotherail
voltageplus(theB+supplyvoltage*numberofturns/4).
AuxSupplyOption2:
UsingtwowindingsandhavingoneendoftheauxwindingsinthesecondarycentertapandtheotherendinCandD,the
outputwillbeplus/minusB+voltage*numberofturns/4.
AuxSupplyOption3:
HavingonlyasinglewindingandusingonlyCandD,theoutputvoltagewillbeB+*thenumberofwindings/4.
HeatsinkGround:
Agroundisprovidedfortheheatsink.Thiswillhelpshuntanynoisefromthesinktochassisground.Itisdesignednotto
burnwhentheheatsinkisshortedto12v(whichsometimeshappensifthepowerconnectionsaremadewhiletheB+wire
hasvoltageonit).
GateResistors:
Ithasseparatedriveresistorsforturnonandturnoffresistors(forthegatesofthepowersupplyFETs).Thisallowsyouto
finetunethevalueoftheresistorstogetthecleanestsquarewaveonthepowersupplyprimarywindings.
Snubbers:
Snubbers(RCnetworks)ontheprimarywindingshelpdampanyremainingringingontheprimarywaveform.
SecondaryGroundIsolation:
Thepowersupplyhasanisolatedsecondarywhichsimplifiesthedesignofthepoweramplifier.Virtuallyallcaraudiopower
amplifiersneedisolationfromchassisgroundfortheirRCAshieldground.Thesimplestwaytodothisistohaveanisolated
secondaryground.Itcanalsobedonebyusinganoisecancellingorabalancedinputcircuit.Thesearenotdifficultto
designbutaddtothecomplexityofanamplifier.

BackToTheTop

LinearPowersuppliesvsSwitchingPowerSupplies
Switchingvs.Linear:
OntheAmplifierClassespage(youshouldgoreadthat(short)pagenowifyouhaven'tdoneso),Istatedthatyoucouldusethe
simpleanalogyofsomeoneholdingaweightatanaverageheighttosimulatethetwotypesofsystems(switching/linear).Ifyou
toldtwopeopletoholdaweightatanaverageheightof5feetabovetheground,onemightholditstraightoutfromtheirbodyat
aconstantheight.Theotherperson(amoreefficientperson)mightholdtheweightwiththeirarmstraightdownhalfofthetime
andstraightuptheotherhalfofthetime.Thiswouldaverageapproximately5feetabovetheground.Thepersonholdingthe
weightstraightoutconstantlywouldgetfatigued/tiredmuchmorequicklythanthepersonholdingtheweightwiththeirarm
straightuporstraightdown.Thepersonholdingtheweightstraightoutwouldbeanalogoustoa'linear'powersupply(ormaybe
moreaccurately,alinearvoltageregulator).Thepersonholdingtheweightupordownwouldbeanalogoustoa'switching'
powersupply.Forthispartofthetutorial(wherewe'llgointomorespecifics),weneedtomaketheanalogyabitmorecomplex.
Thereasonsfortheaddedcomplexitywillbecomeapparentasthetutorialprogresses.
Youcanthinkofthefatigueaslossorstressonthesystem.Intheworldofelectronics,thislossistypicallyintheformofheat
anditreducestheefficiencyofthesystemasawhole.
'System'Requirements:
Forthisexample/analogy,weneedasystemthatcanprovideaconstant,steadystreamofwater.Let'sassumethatit'sasystem
thatisusedtowateradelicateplant.Theonlysourceofwaterisafirehose.Obviously,afirehosecaneasilydeliverenough
force(voltage)andflowofwater(current)todestroythedelicateplant.
Linearsystem:
Ina'linear'systemyouwouldhaveaconstant,steadystreamofwaterflowingdirectlyfromthenozzleonthefirehose.Theflow
wouldberegulatedbythepersonholdingthevalveonthehoseatpreciselythecorrectpositiontodeliverthedesiredflow.After
awhile,thatperson'shandwouldbecomefatigued.Thiswouldbeaverysimple,inexpensivesystembutit'sinefficient.
SwitchingSystem:
Ina'switching'systemyouwouldhavepulsesofwaterdeliveredataratemuchgreaterthanyoucoulduseifthestreamfrom
thesourcewasdelivereddirectly.Sincethepulsingthewateronandoffwouldn'tproduceaconstant,steady,gentlestreamof
water,you'dneedsomesortofreservoir.Here,let'simagineit'sabucketpartiallyfilledwithaspongelikematerialandaholein
thebottomofthebucket.Fortheflowoutofthebuckettobeattheproperrate,thebucketwouldneedtobeapproximatelyhalf
full.Here,you'deitherholdthevalveonthefirehoseeitherfullyopenorreleaseittostoptheflow.Thepulseshavetobetimed
justrightorthebucketwouldbefilledtoofullorwouldrundry.Thiswouldproducemuchlessfatiguethanthe'linear'system.
It'smoreefficientbutit'smorecomplex.
Asyoucanimagine,thepulsesofwaterintothebucketwouldproducelotsofsplashing.Thiswouldbesimilartohighfrequency
'noise'generatedbytheswitchingsystem.You'dhavetomakeanextraeffort(morecomponents)topreventtheareaaround
thebucketfromgettingsplashed.Again,thisaddstothecomplexityandcostoftheswitchingsystem.
LinearPowerSupply:
Above,wesawwateranalogiesofthetwotypesofpowersupplies.Belowisthemostbasiclinearpowersupply(exceptpossibly
forabattery).Inthiscircuit,theoutputofapowertransformerisrectified(whichconvertsittoDC).TherectifiedDC(whichhas
alotofripple)isfilteredbyacapacitor.Manytimes,theloadisconnectedtofiltercapacitorsdirectlywithnoothercomponents
needed.FormoreonRectificationandFiltering,readTHISpage.

Forregulatedlinearpowersupplies,avoltagereferenceofsomesort(oftenaZenerdiode)isusedtodeliveraconstantvoltage
fromanotsoconstantpowersource.Forinstanceswherethecurrentdrawrequirementswillbesignificant,atransistorisused
toboostthecurrent(abovewhattheZenerreferencecircuitcoulddeliver).Incaramps,therailvoltage(thepowersupplyfor
thepoweramplifiercircuitry)oftenhasalotofvariation.Thisvariation/rippleiscausedbyvaryingcurrentdemandbythepower
amplifierdrivingthespeakersandalsofromvaryingsupplyvoltagefromthevehicle.Theripplecancausenoiseorinstability
issuesinsomecircuits(that'swhytheregulatorisneeded).Theoutputoftheregulatortransistorisoftendirectlyconnectedto
theloadbeingpoweredbytheregulatedpowersupply.OneexampleofthisistheregulatorthatusesaZenershuntregulatorto
feedthebaseofacurrentboostingtransistor.Alinearpowersupplyissimple,requiresfewpartsandproducesacleanoutput
voltagewithverylittlefilteringneeded(oftenonlyasingle,smallcapacitor).Theproblemwithlinearpowersuppliesand
regulatorsisthatthey'renotefficientwhichmeanstheywastealotofenergyandcanproducesignificantheat.
Thefollowingshowstwotypicalpowersupplyvoltageregulators(oneforpositiveregulatedvoltageandonefornegative
regulatedvoltage).Asyoucansee,theyrequireonlyafewparts.Theseareusedinallsortsofequipment.Foraudioamplifiers,
they'retypicallyusedtosupplypowertothepreampcomponents(whichcan'twithstandthefullrailvoltageintheamplifier)or
othercircuitsthatrequirearelativelynoisefreevoltagesource.Inarealcircuit,theemitteroftheoutputtransistorwouldbe
connectedtoacapacitor.Theotherterminalofthecapacitorwouldbeconnectedtoground.

Thereareseveraltypesofswitchingregulators.Theswitchingregulatormostlikethelinearregulatoraboveisthe'buck'
regulator.Thebuckregulatorisusedtoproduceanoutputvoltagelessthantheinputvoltage.The'boost'regulatorisusedwhen
theoutputvoltageneedstobegreaterthantheinputvoltage.There'salsoabuck/boostregulatorthatcanproducevoltage
greaterthanorlessthantheinputvoltage.Forswitchingregulators,ingeneral,theoutputtransistorisswitchedonandoffat
highfrequency(25,000Hzormore,typically).Theoutputtransistorcan'tdrivetheloaddirectly(inmostcases)duetothehigh
frequency'noise'thatisgeneratedbytheswitchingofthetransistor.Tofilterthenoise,theoutputtransistordrivesaninductor.
Theoutputoftheinductorgoestoacapacitorthathasit'sotherterminalconnectedtoground.Thecapacitorbypasses/shunts

virtuallyallofthenoise/rippletogroundsothatnoneispassedtotheloadbeingdriven/poweredbythesupply/regulator.Fora
switchingregulatorwiththissimplefiltering,theloadisconnectedtothepointwheretheinductorconnectstothecapacitor.The
inductorandcapacitoractasthe'bucketandsponge'describedpreviously.Theyhelpconvertthepulsestoconstant,smooth,
steadyvoltage.Thisproducethesametypeofoutputasalinearsupplybutthedrivecircuitrequiredtoswitchthetransistoron
andoffattheproperrateandthe(relativelyexpensive)inductormakethistypeofsystemmuchmorecomplex.Itis,however,
muchmoreefficientandsometimesefficiencyismoreimportantthanthecomplexityofthecircuit.
Switchingpowersuppliesareverycommon.Thecomputeryou'reusingrightnowhasaswitchingpowersupplywithseveral
outputvoltages(+12,12,+5,5,and+3.3v,atleast).Theseoutputsaretakenbythemotherboardand,insomeinstances,
regulateddownevenfurther.Forexample,the12voutputisoftenregulateddowntowellbelow1.5vtosupplypowertothe
microprocessor.Thephotobelowshowstheswitchingregulatorcomponentsonacomputermotherboard.Thegreenarrowspoint
toA:transistors,B:capacitors,C:inductors.

Ifamoderncomputerusedalinearpowersupplytoconvert12vdownto~1.3v(approximatelywhat'spresentlyusedbymany
CPUs),itwouldproduceatremendousamountofheat.Manymicroprocessorscandrawmorethan100ampsofcurrent.CPUs
(microprocessors)aredesignedtooperateatrelativelylowvoltagesotheprocessorcanoperatemoreefficientlyandtherefore
producelessheat.
Now,backtothe12vto1.3vregulator...
IfyourememberOhmsLaw(actuallyJoule'sLaw),thepowerdissipationisthevoltageacrossadevicemultipliedbythecurrent
passingthroughthatdevice(P=E*IP:powerE:voltageI:current).Ifthemotherboardusedalinearregulator,thepower
dissipationbytheregulatortransistor(s)wouldbethevoltagedropfrom12v(supplyvoltage)to1.3v(outputvoltage)timesthe
current(100amps).That'sover1000watts.Theregulatorwouldproducenearlyasmuchheatasablowdryer(typeusedtodry
yourhair)setonthehighestsetting.ThiswouldbeinefficientandwouldmakeitVERYdifficulttokeepthecomputercasecool.
Theswitchingregulatorsusedincomputerscanprovideregulationwhiledissipatingonlyatinyfractionofthepowerofalinear
regulator.Ifyou'reinterestedinlearningmoreaboutlinearvoltageregulators,THISpagehasanexampleofavariableregulator
thatcanbeusedforallsortsofprojects.

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BasicComponents
OverallView:
Thisisthesamebasicsupplyyousawatthetopofthispage.Withouttheheatsink,youcanseeallofthepowersemiconductors
alongtheedgesoftheboard.Duringnormaloperation(whenthesupplyisproducingsignificantoutputcurrent),thesepower
semiconductorsmustbeclampedtightlytotheheatsink.Withouttheheatsinktosoakuptheheatthattheyproduce/dissipate,
theywouldfailwithinseconds.Usingthissupply,youwillbeshownthevariouscircuits.Someofthebasicdesigncalculations
willbeincludedlaterinthispartofthetutorial.it'spossiblethatthecircuitboardsandheatsinkswillbemadeavailableatalater
datebutthatdependsonthedemandforthem.

Note:
Onthispage,you'llseeseveraldifferentversionsofthesamplepowersupply.Allareessentiallythesameandperformthesame
basicfunctions.
SchematicDiagram:
Thefollowingisaschematicdiagramforthispowersupply.Asthistutorialprogresses,eachofthesubcircuitsthatmakeupthe
powersupply(asawhole)willbecoveredinmoredetail.


ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

PowerTransformer:
Inthenextphoto,thegreenarrowpointstothetransformerasawhole.Theredarrowpointstothetoroidal(round)core.Other
coreshapesarecommonbutonlythetoroidalcorewillbecoveredonthispage.

ToroidalCore:
It'snotobviousbutthematerialthatmakesupthecoreisveryimportantandhastobechosenbasedontheintendeduse.Many
peoplemakethemistakeoftryingtobuildpowertransformerswithcoressalvagedfromcomputer(orother)switchingpower
supplies.Incomputerpowersupplies,thetoroidsaretypicallyusedforoutputfilterinductorsandaremadeofaverydifferent
materialthanthecoresusedforpowertransformers.Thetwotypesofcoresaretypicallynotinterchangeable(eventhoughthey
mayappeartobeidentical).Usingthewrongtypeofcorecausesalotofbeginnerstogiveupontryingtobuildasupplywhen
theycan'tgetittoworkproperly.FromtheemailI'vereceived,thisisthemostcommonproblemwhenpeoplehavetroublewith
overheatingFETsorexcessivecurrentdrawwithnoloadonthesupply.Forpowertransformers,you'lltypicallyuse'ferrite'
cores.Forinductors,you'lltypicallyuse'powder'cores.Powdercoresincludemolypermalloycores,sendustcores,Koolmucores
andhighfluxcores.Ferritecoresusedforpowertransformerstypicallyhaveamuchhigher'permeability'(tobecoveredabit
later),comparedtothecoresusedforinductors.Oneinstancewhereyoumayuseferritecoresforinductorsiswhenyouhavea
commonmodeinductor/chokebutformostotherinductors,you'llusepowdercores.
Thetoroidalcoreisonlyoneofmanythatcanbeusedfortransformersorinductors.EIandETDcoresaremorecommonin
equipmentmanufacturedinlargequantitiesorwherethenumberofturnsissignificantlyhigher(asinpowertransformers

operatedoffofthemainsinyourhome).Formoreinformationonthevariouscoreshapes,clickHERE.
Forpowertransformers,mycorematerialofchoiceis'P'material.'F'materialalsoworkswell.Thecoreinthesamplesupplyisa
ZP44916TC.Ithinkit'sbeensupercededbytheZP44920TC.'Z'isthecoating.'P'isthematerialfromwhichthecoreismade.
Thenumbersroughlygivethedimension(veryroughly).'TC'indicatesthatit'satoroidalcore.Forinductors,Iprefertouse
molypermalloycoresbutthey'resignificantlymoreexpensivethancoresmadeofothermaterial.
Capacitors:
Inthepowersupplywe'reusingasanexample,thereareseveralrelativelylargecylindricalcapacitors.Theseare'electrolytic'
capacitorsandareusedforfiltering.Electrolyticcapacitorsarealmostalwaysusedwheresignificantcapacitanceisrequired.
Therearealsoseveralsmallerorange/browncapacitors.Theseare'film'capacitors.Mostofthetime,the'film'usedtomakethe
capacitorisMylar(polyester)sotheseareoftenreferredtoasMylarcapacitors.MylarisDupont'stradenameforthepolyester
material.
Rectifiers:
RectifiersareusedtoconverttheACoutputvoltagefromthepowertransformertopositiveandnegativeDCvoltage.Insome
amplifiersandpowersupplies,you'llfinddualrectifiers.Theyaregenerally3leggeddevices.Thereisonepositiverectifier
(positiveoutputoncenterleg)andonenegativerectifier(negativeoutputoncenterleg).Here,thereare4individualrectifiers.

LCFilter:
Inthisphoto,thegreenarrowpointstoaninductor.Thisinductorandthefiltercapacitorsworktogether(rememberthebucket
andspongefromearlieronthispage)tofilterthepulsesfromtherectifiers.Theredarrowsindicatethefiltercapacitorsthatare
workingwiththeinductortoperformthefilteringduties.Thecapacitorsindicatedbytheyellowarrowsareessentiallyinparallel
withthe'red'capacitorsbutdon'tperformanyrealfilteringduetotheirsize(whichisswampedoutbythelargeelectrolyticfilter
capacitors).Theyaresimplytheretokeepthesupplystablewhen/iftherailfuses(blue,15amp)open/blow.The100uF
capacitorsareomittedinthenextversionoftheboard(rev.3)sincetheoutputfiltercapacitorsareconnectedtotheinputsideof
thefuseinsteadoftheoutputsideofthefuse.Fortheinductorinthissupply,therearetwostackedcores.Thisessentially
doublestheinductancepernumberofturns.ThecoresusedherearetheCM270125.TheywerepurchasedfromCWSBytemark.

Previously,itwasstatedthatthissupplycouldbeoperatedwithorwithoutregulation.This'regulation'istheregulationofthe
voltageonthemainsupplyrails(theonesthatwilldrivethepoweramplifier'soutputtransistors).Forunregulatedpower
supplies,thedeadtimebetweenthepulsesofthepowersupplyissoshortthatafilterinductorisn'tneeded.Sincethissupply
wasdesignedtoallowregulatedoperation,theinductorisusedintheoutputfilter.Whenusingregulation,thedeadtimebetween
pulsesissignificant.Ifthereisexcessivecurrentdrawandsignificantdeadtime,thefiltercapacitorscouldbestressedwhich
couldcausethemtooverheatandfail.Theinductorstoresandreleasesenergytohelpreducethestressonthecapacitors.
ControlIC:
VirtuallyallswitchingpowersupplieshaveadedicatedcontrolIC(yellowarrow).TheICstypicallyusedincaramplifiersarethe
TL494,TL594andtheSG3525.TheTL494andtheTL594areessentiallyidenticalandwillbereferredtoastheTLx94orTL594
IC.TheseICshavevariousinputsthatdeterminethedutycycleoftheoutputpulses.Someinputsareusedtoshutdownthe
supplyifthereisaproblem.OtherinputsallowtheICtoregulatetheoutputvoltageofthepowersupply.TheICslikethe
SG3525andSG3526candrivethepowersupplyFETsdirectlybutinhighpowersupplies,theydriveanemitterfollowerpair
(twoemitterfollowerpairsindicatedbythegreenarrows).ICsliketheTL494andTL594arerarelyeveryusedtodrivethe
powersupplyFETsdirectlyandwillalmostalwayshaveaPNPdrivertransistor(halfofanemitterfollowerpair)todrivethe
powersupplyFETs.

Above,itwasstatedthatmostpowersupplieshadadedicatedcontrolIC.Inolder(orsimpler)switchingpowersuppliesthere
wasnocontrolIC.Thesepowersupplieswereselfoscillating.Theytypicallyhadextrawindingsonthepowertransformerthat
wereusedtodrivethedrivertransistorswhichinturndrovethepowertransistors(whichdrovethepowertransformer).These
wereusedintheearlyRockfordPunch45s,75sand150s.TheywerealsousedintheearlyLinearPoweramplifiers.
ItwasalsostatedabovethattheTLx94andtheSG352xICswerethemostcommonlyuseddriverICs.Thereareafewamplifiers
(specifically,Stetsomamplifiers)thatuseaPICmicrocontrollertodrivethepowersupplyandtoprocesstheprotectioncircuit
logic.Thesewon'tbecoveredherebutifyou'reinterestedinpowersupplydesign,youshouldbeawarethatthistypeofdrive
circuitexists.
ResistorsonEmitterFollowerPair:
ThereareseveralresistorsconnectedtotheemitterfollowerpairsusedtodrivethepowersupplyFETs.Therearetwo330ohm
1/4wattresistors.Theseareusedaspulldownresistors.TheoutputoftheTL594hasverylittleabilitytopullthevoltagedown
onitsoutputpins(pins9and10forthissupply).The330ohmresistorspullthevoltagedownquicklytoensurethattheoutput
drivevoltageisaslowaspossiblebeforetheotheroutputswitcheson.Ifbothoutputsareonatthesametime,thepowersupply
FETswouldfail.Ifthedesignofthecircuitismarginal,theFETsmaybeonatthesametimeforatinyfractionofasecond.This
won'tleadtoinstantaneousdestructionoftheFETsbutitwillmakethemoperateatrelativelyhightemperatures(evenwhenthe
supplyhasnoexternalload).HavingbothbanksofFETsonatthesametimeiscalled'shootthrough'.It'snotgenerallya
problemwithpowersupplyFETsbutifyoueverdesignaclassDamp,you'llhavetotrytominimizedeadtimeandwilllikelyhave
shootthroughasyouoptimizetheswitchingoftheoutputFETs.

The330ohmresistorsareonlypartofthedrivecircuit.Inmostpowersupplies,therearegateresistors.Thesearetheresistors
connectedtothegatesofthepowersupplyFETs.Thissupplyhasthenormalgateresistorsbuttoallowtweaking,individual
resistorsareconnectedtotheoutputofeachofthetransistorsoftheemitterfollowerpairs.Thisallowsyoutochangeasingle
resistorforeachemitterfollowerpairtotweaktheswitchingofthepowersupplyFETs.Thistweakingmaybenecessaryifyou
useanyFETotherthantheIRF3205susedintheprototype.Tweakingthevaluesallowsyoutominimizeturnonandturnoff
transientsonthedrainsoftheFETs.Thiscanbeimportantifyou'reusingthesupplyforanaudioamplifierandaretryingto
measuretheTHD+noiseoftheamp.Theswitchingtransientswillrarelycauseaudiblenoisebutitcanbeaproblemwhen
measuringnoisewithsensitivetestequipment.
Whenusingthesupplywithoutputregulationandyou'reexperimentingwithvariousvaluesforthedrivecircuitresistors,it's
importantthatyoueitherdefeattheregulationorreducetheinputvoltagefarenoughtoforcethesupplytogotofulldutycycle.
Thisisimportantbecauseyoumayhavevaluesthatallowthesupplytooperateproperlyatlowdutycyclesbutwhenatfullduty
cycle,theFETsmaynotbeswitchedofffullyallowingshootthrough.Withoutforcingthesupplytofulldutycycleundernoload
conditions,youmayneverknowthere'saproblem.Theeasiestwaytocheckthisistonotetheidlecurrentwhenthedutycycle
islowandthenagainwhenatfulldutycycle.Ifthecurrentishigheratfulldutycycle,thereisaproblem.Thisassumesthatthe
outputvoltageofthesupplyhasn'texceededtheratedworkingvoltageofthefiltercapacitors.Whendoingthistest,loweringthe
inputvoltagetoforcethedutycyclehigheristhebestmethodoftesting.
Ifyoudon'tneedtotweakthevaluesforturnon/offoftheFETs,youcanreplacetheresistorsontheemittersofthefollower
pairswithwirejumpersandusetheappropriateresistorforthegateresistors.FortheIRF3205s,a47ohmgateresistorworks
well.
MinimumComponentSet:
AlthoughtheIChasmanymorecomponentsconnectedtoit,onlyafewarerequiredfortheICtoproduceoutputpulses.They
areshownbelow.Ofcourse,theICneedsapowersource.TheB+powersupplyconnectionfortheICispin12.Theground
terminalfortheICispin7.Whenthere'smorethan~6.5vacrosspins12and7,theICwillpowerupandproduce5vonpin14.
TomaketheICoscillateatthecorrectfrequency,youhavetohavethetimingcomponents.Thesearetheresistorandcapacitor
onpins5and6oftheIC.OneterminalofeachconnectstotheIC.Theotherendofthetimingresistorandcapacitorconnectsto
ground.Withonlythosecomponentsconnected,theIC'soscillatorwillproduceasawtoothwaveformonpin5.Thefrequencyof
thewaveformcanbecalculatedbytheformulaf=1.1/RC.Thefrequencygivenbytheformulaistwicethatoftheoutput
frequencyofthewaveformsseenonpins9and10(typicallyusedastheoutputpins).Itypicallyuse0.001uFforthetiming
capacitoranda20kohmresistorforthetimingresistor.Thisproducesanoutputfrequencyofapproximately30kHz.Ifyouwant
toensurethattheoscillatorfrequencydoesn'tdriftsignificantlywithchangesintemperature,youneedtouseacapacitorwitha
0temperaturecoefficient.Thismeansthatthevalueofthecapacitorwon'tbeaffectedbyachangeintemperature.Forthereto
bedrive/outputpulsesonpins9and10,youneedtohavesupplyvoltageonpins8and11.Manytimes,theseareconnected
directlytopin12.Theerrorampinputpins1,2,15and16(moreonthoselater)needtobeconnectedasshowntoensure
properoperationwhenthey'renotbeingused.

PowerSupplyFETs:
ThepowersupplyFETs(FieldEffectTransistors)drivethe'primary'windingsofthepowersupplytransformer.TheIRFZ44and
IRF3205are(atthistime)populartransistorsforswitchingpowersupplies.ThissupplywasdesignedtouseIRF3205sbutcan
beusedwithvirtuallyanyFETthatcanwithstandthecurrentdemandscreatedbythecurrentdrawfromtheoutputofthepower
supply.ThesepowersupplyFETsaredrivenbytheemitterfollowerpairsshowninthepreviousphotothatshowedthecontrolIC.

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InverterCircuit

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DefinitionsandMiscellaneousInformation
Topology:
Therearemanytypesofswitchingpowersupplies.Theonewe'reworkingwithhereisa'pushpull'powersupply.Thisiswhat's
usedformostcaraudiopoweramplifiersandlikelytheonlytypethatwillbecoveredonthispage.Inthemostcommontypeof
pushpullsupplies,thecentertapoftheprimarywinding(s)ofthepowersupplyisconnectedtotheB+supply(thebattery).The
powersupplytransistorsareintwobanks(groups).Onlyonebankis'on'atatime.Onebankdrivesoneendoftheprimary
winding.Theotherbankdrivestheotherendoftheprimarywinding.Theydriveeachendoftheprimarywindingtogroundto
produceasquarewaveontheprimarywindings.Inthefollowingimage,youcanseethetransformer,theFETsandthesolder
padswherethewindingssolderintotheboard.Thewhiteandvioletcoloredareasaretwoofthemanycopperconductorsonthe
board.ThewhiteareaconnectsoneprimarywindingstoonebankofFETs.Thevioletareaconnectstheotherendoftheprimary
windingstotheotherbankofFETs.TheyellowareaconnectstheB+powerterminaltothecentertapofthepowertransformer's
primarywindings.

Thisimageallowsyoutobetterseetheconnectionsforthetransformer.Asyoucansee,therearethreestrandsofwirethat
makeuptheprimarywindings.Thereare6connectionsatthecentertapbecausetherearethreestrandsforeachhalfofthe
primarywinding.Onehalfoftheprimarywindinggoesfromthewhiteareatotheyellowarea.Theotherprimarywindinggoes
fromthevioletareatotheyellowarea.Ifyoudon'talreadyknowtheterms'primary'and'secondary'readTHIS(short)page.

Intheinteractivedemobelow,youcanseetwowindings(primaryandsecondary).Theprimarywinding'scenterisat12vand
whenit'snotbeingdriven,theendsofthewinding(s)arealsoatthatsamevoltage(12v,orangeline).Thesecondary's
centertapisatgroundandwhentheprimaryisn'tbeingdriven(whenthepowersupplyisoffnoremotevoltageapplied),the
endsofthewinding(s)arealsoatground(0v,blackline).WhentheFETsaredriven'on'(makingthemconduct)bythe
drivecircuit(aTL594andtransistorsconnectedastwoemitterfollowerpairs,onlyavailableontheamplifierrepairDVD,forthis
powersupply),theendsoftheprimaryarealternatelydriventoground.Thisproducesanalternatingmagneticfield.Sincethe
primaryandsecondarywindingsareintertwined,thesecondarywindingsaredrivenbythisalternatingmagneticfield.Ifyou're
havingtroubleunderstandinghowthewindingscanbedrivenwithoutanydirectconnection,lookatitastheitemsinawashing
machine.Theitemsontheoutsideperimeterofthebasketaren'ttouchingtheagitatorbutthey'restillbeingthrashedaroundby
it.Thewaterinthewashingmachineisanalogoustothemagneticfieldsurroundingtheprimaryandsecondarywindings.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Inthedemoabove,youcanseethattherearetwosetsofsquarewaves.Squarewavesareeitherhighorlow,unlikesinewaves
whichgraduallytransitionfromthelowesttohighestvoltage.Imaginethattheendsofthewindingsabovearedrawingalineon
asurfacemovinglefttorightbehindthewindings.Youcanseethattheywoulddrawasquarewaveasisshownintheimage.
Theprimarywoulddrawawaveformthatwouldswingplusorminus12vwiththe12vbatteryvoltageasthe'pivot'point(the
centertapisat12v).Itswingsplus/minus12vbecauseit'sat12vatrestandoneendisgroundedwhenoneoftheFETs

switcheson(that'sthe'minus'partoftheswing).Sincebothhalvesoftheprimarywindingsareofequallength,theendthat's
NOTbeingdriventogroundswingsasfarabovethepivotpointastheotherendispulledbelowthepivotpoint.
Thesameprocessishappeningonthesecondarywindingsbutthey'rebeingdrivenbythealternatingmagneticfieldthat'sbeing
producedbytheprimarywindings.Insteadofswingingplus/minus12v(asisdonebytheprimarywinding),theyswingto
whatevervoltagethewindingratioproduces.Iftheprimaryisswingingplus/minus12vandtheprimarytosecondarywinding
ratiois1:1.6,thesecondarywillswingplus/minus12v*1.6(plus/minus19.2v).Thevoltageonthesecondarywindingsis
proportionaltotheratioofprimarytosecondarywindings(10primarywindingsto16secondarywindingsforthistransformer).
Inthenextgraphic,thesquarewavesfromeachhalfofthesecondarywindingsareshownintwocolors.Theareaabovethe
blackline(0v,ground)ispositiveoutput.Theareabelowtheblacklineisnegative.Eachhalfofthewaveformpassesthrough
differentdiodes.Forhalfofthecycle(onepositiveandonenegativepulseofthewaveform),thesecondarywindingchargesthe
positiverailcapacitor.Fortheotherhalfofthecycle,thesecondarychargesthenegativerailcapacitor.Withtherectifiedsquare
waveoutputfromthetransformer,thereisonlyatinyfractionofasecondwheretherailvoltageisn'tbeingproduced(whenthe
supplyisoperatingatfulldutycycle).Thisiswhyyouneedmuchlesscapacitance(comparedtoamainspower
supply/transformerwithasinewaveoutput)andwhyaddingcapacitorsinsideofacaramplifierdoesn'tsignificantlyincrease
thefullpoweroutputoftheamplifier.Inamainspoweredamplifierwherethepowersupplytransformerisdrivenbyalow
frequency(50or60Hz)sinewave,additionalcapacitancecanhelpincreasethemaximumoutputoftheamplifierbecausethe
peakrectifiedvoltage(equaltothatofthenoloadDCvoltageontherailcapacitors)isonlypresentforatinyfractionofa
second.Fortherestofthetime,thevoltageissignificantlylessthanthepeakvoltageandthecapacitorsarerequiredtofillthose
gaps.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Intheabovegraphic,iftheredandyellowwaveformisswinging19.2vaboveandbelowthereference(blackline,0v,ground)
likethepreviousexample,theoutput/railvoltagewillbeapproximatelypositiveandnegative19v.Therailvoltagewillbeslightly
lessthanthevoltageswingonthesecondarybecausethereisaslightlossofvoltageacrosstherectifiers.Thelossistypically
0.20.7v.
WaveformsThatYou'llFindinPowerSupplies:
A'waveform'canbeanACvoltageorapulsedDCvoltage(asyou'llfindinthepowersupplydrivecircuitsofmostamplifiers).
Youuseanoscilloscopetoviewwaveforms.Thewaveformscanbesimpleorcomplex.Thefollowingimagesshowafewdifferent
typesofwaveforms.Thefirstisthesquarewave.Therisingandfallingedgesofthewaveformareessentiallyvertical.Thetops
andbottomsofthewaveformsareessentiallyhorizontal.Notallsquarewavesareperfectlysquarebutaregenerallyofthisform.
Squarewavestypicallyswingfromthelowestvoltagetothehighestvoltageavailable.Thisistypicallydoneforefficiency.When
efficiencyisn'timportant,you'llsometimesseethemswingtojustafractionofthetotalavailablepowersupplyvoltage.When
describingsquarewaves,you'llneedtobeabletoexpresstheamountoftimethewaveformishighandthetimethatit'slow.
Sinceitwouldbetimeconsumingtheprovidetheexacttimeonandoff,you'dexpressthisas'dutycycle'.A20%dutycycle
squarewaveison(high)20%ofthetime.It'soff(low)80%ofthetime.A50%dutycyclesquarewaveisonfor50%ofthe
time.Whenworkingwithswitchingpowersupplies(thetypesusedtoproducethevoltagefortheaudiosectioninanamplifier),
thedutycyclewillalwaysbelessthan50%.IntheaudiosectionofclassDamps,thedutycyclecanbefrom0%to100%.

Inthenextimage,youseetwo'sawtooth'waves.Thesawtoothiscommonlyfoundintimingcircuits.Mostswitchingpower
suppliesuseacontrolICthatswitchesonandoffintimetoasawtoothwave.Mostsawtoothwaveformsaregeneratedby
chargingacapacitorslowly(ramp)andthendischargingitVERYquickly(verticalline).Ifyoufollowedthelinktothecapacitor
page,yousawhowthevoltageonachargingcapacitorisnotgenerallyastraightline.Tochargeacapacitorlinearly(straightline
ramp),youhavetochargeitwithaconstantcurrentsource(tobecoveredlater).Simplychargingitwitharesistorwillresultin
thecurvedchargingofthesecondwaveform.

Thewaveformaboveisatrianglewave.It'scommonlyfoundinclassDamps(tobecoveredlater).Theseareoftengeneratedby
drivingasquarewavewitha50%dutycycleintoanopampsetupasanintegrator(tobecoveredlater).
FormoreinformationonsinewavesandusingvaryingdutycyclestogeneratearelativelylowfrequencyorDCvoltage,read
throughthefollowingpages:
QuantifyingACVoltages
AmplifierClasses
PWMPulseWidthModulation:
ThetermPWMorPulseWidthModulationisoftenmisused.PWMbasicallymeansthatthepulsewidthofthesquarewaveis
adjustedinrelationtooneormorefeedbacksignals.SwitchingpowersuppliesthatarenotregulatedarenotPWM.Theyare
simplyswitchingpowersupplies.
B+,ChassisGroundandRemote:
WhenB+ismentioned,itgenerallyreferstothepositivelinefromthe12vpowersource(battery).TheB+terminalofthe
switchingpowersupplyiswhereyouconnectthepositive12vwirefromthepowersource.Ifyouaskforhelp,I'lllikelytellyou
toinsertaparticularsizefuseintheB+line.Thismeansthatyou'llplaceitinthesupplylinebetweenthepositiveterminalofthe
12vpowersupplyandtheswitchingpowersupply'sB+inputterminal.
Chassisgroundisthemaingroundfortheswitchingpowersupply.Thechassisgroundterminalistheterminalthatyouconnect
tothechassis/body/frameofthevehicletogroundthepowersupply.Ifyou'reinstructedtousethechassisgroundterminalas
thereference,you'dplacetheblackmeterprobeonchassisground.Manytimes,aswitchingpowersupply(orampwitha
switchingpowersupply)willhaveagroundwirethatconnectsfromtheheatsinktothecircuitboard.'Sometimes'thiswireis
directlyconnectedtochassisgroundbutmanytimes,it'sconnectedviaacapacitororviaaresistorandcapacitorinparallel.
Don'tusethiswireforthereferencewhentakingvoltageorresistancemeasurements.
Theremoteterminalistheterminalusedtoswitchthepowersupplyon(remotevoltagehighnear12v)oroff(remotevoltage
lownearground).
GatePad:
IfyouemailmeaskingmeforhelpandItellyoutomeasurethevoltageonthe'gatepad',Imeanthesolderpad(examples
below)wherethegateoftheFETssolderintothecircuitboard.ThegateoftheFET(forpowertransistors)isthefirstlegofthe
transistor(whenlookingatthesidewiththepartnumberandthelegsfacingtothefloor).

CircuitBoardTrace:
Thetracesaretheareasofcopperfoilthatarebondedtothefiberglass/CEMcircuitboardsubstrate.Theyareessentiallyflat
wiresthatareusedtoconnecttwo(ormore)pointstogether.Intheimageabove,youcanseethatthereare4yellowarrows
markingpointsalongoneindividualtrace.IfyouweretouseanohmmetertomeasuretheresistancefrompadAtopadD,you
wouldreadessentially0ohmsofresistance.Ifyoumeasuremorethanafractionofanohminresistance,thetracewouldbe
brokenatsomepointbetweenthepads.Ifyouscrapedoffthegreensoldermasktoexposethecopperunderneath(atpointsB,C
oranyotherpointalongthetrace),youwouldmeasure0ohmsfromthatpointtoeitherpadAorD.Ifyoumeasuredthe
resistancefromthistracetoanothertrace,youwouldeitherreadanopencircuit(noconnection,infiniteresistance)oryou
wouldreadtheresistanceofthecomponentsconnectedfromthistracetotheothertrace.

Above,itwasstatedthatthetraceswereessentiallyflatwires.Earlyschematicsreferredtotheboardsasprintedwiringboards
(PWB).
DriversorDriverTransistors:
Inmostamplifiers,you'llfindgroupsofpowertransistorsthatrequireafairlysignificantdrivecurrenttocontrolthem.The
requiredcurrentissignificantlylessthanthecurrentpassingthroughthegroupbutismorethanthecontrolcircuitcansupply.
Asabuffer,drivertransistorsareused.Theyaregenerallysmalltomediumdutytransistors.Theymayormaynotbemountedto
theheatsink.Inthispowersupply,thedrivertransistorsforthepowersupplytransistorsareemitterfollowerpairs.Insome
powersupplies,driverICsareused.
ParallelComponents:
Parallelcomponentsarethosethatperformpreciselythesamedutyandaredirectlyconnectedorareconnectedbylowvalue
resistors.Youwillfindparallelgroupsofcomponentsusedwhereasinglecomponentcannothandletheload.Powersupply
transistorsandaudiooutputtransistorsarecommonlyusedinparallelgroups.Thefollowingimageshowsparallelcomponentsas
theyareusedintheaudiooutputsectionofanaudiopoweramplifier.Whenonetransistorofaparallelgroupfails,ALLinparallel
MUSTbereplaced.Thisgoesforpowersupplytransistorsaswellasaudiooutputtransistors.Youwillseemoreonthislaterin
thetutorial.

RailVoltage:
RailvoltageistheDCvoltageproducedbyrectifyingtheoutputofthepowertransformer.RailvoltageinanamplifieristheDC
voltagethatfeedstheoutputtransistors(whichdrivethevoltagetothespeakerterminals).Generally,thebestplacetocheck
railvoltageisattherectifiers.Rectifierscanproducepositivevoltage,negativevoltage,orpositiveANDnegativevoltage(inthe
caseofdualdioderectifiers).Manytimes,theoutputdependsonthewaytherectifiersareconnectedinthecircuit.Thefollowing
graphicshowsthepointswhereyouwillfindtheoutputvoltageonvariousrectifiers.TherectifiermarkedMUR820isthetype
usedinthispowersupply.Whenthetransformerwindingisconnectedtotherightlegoftherectifier,positiveDCvoltageis
producedontheleftleg.Whenthetransformerwindingisconnectedtotheleftleg,negativeDCvoltageisproducedontheright
leg.

NeedHelp?
Iftherewasanythingintheprevioussectionthatwasnotclearlyexplained(eitherinthetextoronthelinked
pages)orifyouhavequestionsaboutsomethingcoveredabove,emailme.

BackToTheTop

TheTL594PWMDriverIC
Beforewegetintospecifics...MostPWMdriverICshaveanonboardoscillatorandanonboard5vregulator.WhentheICis
poweredupandisoperating,youwillbeabletofindboththe5voutputandthesawtoothoutputoftheoscillator.Insomecases,
therewillbenooutputpulsestotheFETsbecausetheampisinprotect(ortheICoutputisbeingshutdownforsomereason).If
youhavethe5vandthesawtoothoutput,theICislikelyOK.Ifyoudon'thaveeither(orbothareabsent)andtheIChaspower
ontheB+inputpins(andagoodground),theICislikelydefective.
TheTL594isaPulseWidthModulated(PWM)controlIC.Itcanbeusedforbothregulatedandunregulatedpowersupplies.For
unregulatedpowersupplies,thepulsewidthtypicallyoperatesatitsmaximumpossiblevalue(~48%foreachdriveoutputin
pushpullswitchingpowersuppliesthetypeusedincaraudioamplifiers).TheTLx94hasatotalof6pinsthatcontrolits
output.4ofthepins(1,2,15,16)areinputstoerroramplifiers.One(pin4)isadeadtimecontrolinput.One(pin3)isa
comparatoroutputandcanbeusedinseveralways.The594has2outputpins(9and10)thatcandriveFETs(MOSFETs)
directly.Iftherearemorethan2FETstobedriven,you'llgenerallyseeemitterfollowerpairs(tobecoveredshortly)between
theICandtheFETs.TheIChasanaccurate(1%)5voltregulatoronboard(pin14).Theregulated5voltoutputiscommonly
usedasareferencewhentheerroramplifiersareusedascomparators.The594usesacapacitorandaresistortocontrolthe
oscillatorfrequency(theseconnecttopins5and6).Ithasanoutputcontrolpin(pin13)thattellstheICwhetherit'sgoingto
beusedinpushpullorcommonoutputmode.And,ofcourse,ithas+Bandgroundconnections(pins12and7respectively).
Above,Istatedthatpins9and10areusedastheoutputpinstodrivethepowersupplyFETs(eitherdirectlyorviaother
components).Onsomeamplifiers(manyMTXandsomeSonyandXtant),pins8and11areusedasthedriveoutputs.I'llcover
thedifferencesinthetypesofpowersupplieslater.

DetailedFunctionofEachPin

Pin1:

Thisisthepositive(noninverting)inputoferroramplifier1.Ifthevoltageonthispinislowerthanthevoltageonpin2,the
outputoftheerroramplifier1willbelow.Ifthevoltageonthispinishigherthanthevoltageonpin2,theoutputoferroramp1
willbehigh.Theoutputessentiallyfollowsthepositiveinputwithpin2asareference.Thefunctionoftheerrorampswillbe
coveredinmoredetaillater(includinganinteractivedemo).

Pin2:

Thisisthenegative(inverting)inputoferroramplifier1.Ifthispinishigherthanpin1,theoutputoferroramp1(EA1)willbe
low.Itthevoltageonthispinislowerthanthevoltageonpinone,theoutputofEA1willbehigh.Thefollowingimageshowsthe
pinlayoutforEA1.

Note:EA1isoftenusedaspartoftheamplifier'svoltageregulatorforthemainrailvoltage.Therailvoltageisconnectedtopins1
and2viaavoltagedivider.Wheneverythingisworkingproperly,thevoltageonpins1and2willbethesame(ifEA1isbeing
usedasaregulator).Whenthevoltageonthepinsarenotthesame,thepulsewidthoftheoutputoftheICchangestobringthe
railvoltagebacktoitstargetvoltage.Forampsthatonlymonitorthepositiverailvoltageitisverycommonforthevoltageon
thesepinstobe1/2oftheregulated/referencevoltage(5volts).Forampsthatmonitorboththepositiveandnegativerails,the
voltageonthesepinswilltypicallybebetween2and3volts.

Pin3:

Pin3isconnectedtotheoutputofbotherroramplifiersviadiodes.IftheoutputeitherEAgoeshigh,thevoltageonpin3goes
high.Thehighoutputhaspriorityhere.Whenthisoutputgoesabove~3.3volts,thepulsewidthshutsoff(0%dutycycle).
Whenthevoltageonpin3isatornear0volts,thepulsewidthisatitsmaximumvalue.Inbetween0and3.3volts,thepulse
widthwillbebetween50%and0%(foreachpulsewidthdriveroutputoftheICpins9and10inmostamps).Ifneeded,pin3
canbeusedasaninputorcanbeusedtoprovidedampingtotherateofchangeofthepulsewidth.Ifthevoltageonthispinis
high(>~3.5volts),there'snowayforthepowersupplytorun(thepulsesfromtheICwillbeshutdown).Thisisimportant
whentroubleshootinganampthatwillnotpowerup.

Pin4:

Pin4isdesignatedasthedeadtimecontrol.ThispinistobeusedtocontrolthemaximumpossiblepulsewidthfortheIC.Ifthe
voltageonthispinis0,theoutputwillbeabletogofromtheminimumpossiblepulsewidthtothemaximumpossiblepulsewidth
(ascontrolledbytheotherinputpins).Ifthispinissettoabout1.5volts,theoutputpulsewidthwillbelimitedtoabout50%of
itsmaximumpulsewidth(or~25%dutycycleforapushpulldesignpowersupply).Ideally,thispinisgrounded.Ifthevoltage
onthispinishigh(>~3.5volts),there'snowayforthepowersupplytorun.Onmanyamplifiers,you'llseethispinconnected
directlytoground.
Note:ForthisIC,thinkofanacceleratorinacarwhenyouthinkofpins3and4.Whenthey'rebothdown(near0volts),theIC
isrunningashardasitcan(justasacarwouldwithitsacceleratorsmashedtothefloor).Whenthevoltageishigher,thepower
supplyisrunningatlessthan100%dutycycle(asifyou'dletupoffoftheaccelerator).

Important!
FromthequestionsI'vereceived,it'sclearthatit'snotunderstoodthatthepowersupply
cannotpossiblyproducetherequiredvoltageifthedriverIC(TLx94,KA7500,SG352x)is
notproducingdrivepulses.FortheTLx94andtheKA7500,pins3AND4mustbebelow
~3.3v.Ifpins3and4arenear5v,theICwillNOTproducepulseswhichmeanstherewill
benooutputvoltagefromthepowersupply.Ifeitherofthesepinsareabove~3.3v,the
ampislikelyinprotectmodeandyoumustfindthefaultthat'scausingtheprotectmode
tobetriggered.Virtuallyeverythingyouneedtoknowaboutthetroubleshooting
procedurewillbecoveredonthisandotherpages.
Pin5:

Pin5isthetimingcapacitor(Ct)terminal.Acapacitorisconnectedfromthispintoground.Thevaluestypicallyarefrom.01ufto
.001uf.ChangesinthevalueofthiscomponentwillmeanchangesintheoscillatorfrequencyoftheIC.Typically,highquality
capacitorswithverylowtemperaturecoefficients(verylittlechangeincapacitancewithachangeintemperature)areusedhere.
Thisisthesignalonpin5.Thescopewassetto1volt/division.

ThewaveformaboveisareferencefortheswitchingcircuitinsidethedriverIC.Generallythetopofthiswaveformisnear3.3v.
FortheTLx94andtheKA7500,theoutputoftheICwillbeturnedoffwhenpins3and4areabovethetopofthiswaveform.You
willseeinteractivedemoslateronthispagetohelpyoubetterunderstandhowtheICswork.

Pin6:

Thispinisforthetimingresistor(Rt).Thetimingresistorisconnectedfromthispintoground.Thecombinationofthisresistor
andthecapacitoronpin5determinetheoscillatorfrequency.Theoscillatoroperatesattwicetheoutputfrequencyonpin9or
10.

Theoscillatorfrequency=1.1/(Rt*Ct)
Pin7:

ThisisthegroundterminalfortheIC.WhenmeasuringvoltageontheIC,thisisthepinonwhichyouwanttheblackmeterlead.
Youcanalsousethegroundterminaloftheampbutslightdifferencesinvoltagebetweenpin7andthegroundterminalcanlead
toerroneousconclusionswhenmakingcriticalmeasurements.

Pin8:

OnthisIC,thereare2NPNtransistorsthatareusedtodrivetheoutputterminals.ThisisthecollectorforQ1(transistor1).This
istypicallyconnectedtoaconstantsourceofpower(12volts).However,onsomeamplifiers,thispinwillbeusedasanoutput
andyouwillseethesquarewaveonthispin(andpin11).

Pin9:

ThispinistheemitterofQ1.Thisoutputdrivesonehalfofthepowersupplytransistors(FETsinmostcases)ofapushpull
powersupply.ItcandrivetheFETsdirectlybuttherearegenerallydriverstransistorsbetweenthispinandtheFETs.I'llshow
exampleslater.Thefollowingimageshowstheinternallayoutofthedrivertransistors.Thebaseofthedriversisdrivenfromthe
logicoutputoftheIC(internally).

Pin10:

ThispinistheemitterofQ2.Pin10doesthesamethingaspin9butisoutofphasewithpin9.Whenpin9ishigh,pin10islow.
Whenpin10ishigh,pin9islow.Thisimage(below)showstheoutputpulsesfrompin10(pin9looksthesame).It'shardto
seetheverticalpartofthetracebutit'sthere.It'smuchlessintensethanthetopandbottomofthewaveformbecauseit's
transition(fromlowtohigh)issofast.Inmostamps,theFETs(theonesthatdrivethepowertransformer)aredrivenONwhen
thepulseishigh(above~3.5v,norelationtothe3.3vwecoveredearlier).

Note:
Thedrivertransistors(Q1andQ2)onthisICcanbeusedwiththecollectorsastheoutputorwiththeemittersastheoutput.In
mostswitchingpowersupplies,theoutputissetupsothattheemittersaretheoutput.Thereare,howeverexceptionswherethe
collectorsaretheoutput(mostMTXandsomeSonyamplifiers).Ifyoufindasmalldrivertransformerinthecircuitbetweenthis
ICandtheFETs,theoutputisVERYlikelytobetakenfrompins8and11.Thefollowingtwoimagesshowwhatthedriver
transformerslooklike.

Pin11:

ThisisthecollectorforQ2(transistor2).Thisistypicallyconnectedtoaconstantsourceofpower(12volts)butinsome
amplifiers,thispinhasswitchedpoweronit(notconstantpoweronlypoweredwhenremotevoltageisapplied).

Pin12:

ThispinismarkedVCC.ItisthepowersupplyfortheIC'sinternalcircuitry.Pin12istypicallyconnectedtoaswitchedpower
source.Manyamplifiersusethispintoswitchthepowersupply(andamplifier)onandoff.Ifthispinhas12voltsonitandpin7
isgrounded,theIC'soscillator(waveformseenonpin5)willrunandthe5voltregulatorwillhave,well...5voltsoutput.

Pin13:

Thisistheoutputcontrolpin.Ifit'sconnectedto5volts(mostcommon),theoutputpins(typicallypins9and10)willoperateas
describedinthe'Pin9'sectionabove.Ifit'sconnectedtoground,bothoutputpins(9and10)willhavethesamedriveoutput
(cannotusedforpushpullpowersuppliesincaramplifiers).

Pin14:

Thisisthe5voltregulatoroutputpin.Theoutputistightlyregulated(generallyto~1%).Thispincannotsupplymorethan
~1/10ofanampofcurrentbutthat'splentyforuseasavoltagereference(itsmostcommonuse).Ifthevoltageisnot5volts
DC1%,theoutputcouldbedrivenhighorlowbyexternalsources.Ifthat'snotthecase,theICisdefective.Sometimes,it's
necessarytopullthispinoutofthecircuittodetermineifit'sbeingloadeddownordrivenhighexternally(hencethenote
above).

Pin15:

Thispinoperatespreciselyasdoespin2.Inmanyamplifiers,erroramplifier2isnotusedsopin15issimplyconnectedtopin14
(the5voltreference).

Pin16:

Thispinoperatesasdoespin1.ItiscommonlytiedtogroundwhenEA2isn'tbeingused.Withpin15connectedto5voltsand
pin16connectedtoground,theoutputofEA2islowandthereforehasnoeffectontheIC'soutput.

ThefollowingdemowillhelpyouunderstandthebasicoperationoftheTL594andit'sinputs.Thedeadtimeinputhasbasically
thesamefunctionasthecompinput(pin3).Ifthevoltageonpin4wasinsteadonpin3,theICwouldchangeitsoutputinthe
sameway.Tomovethethreesliders,clickontheirhandleandmovethecursorupanddown.Clickagaintolockit.

ClickHEREtomakethisappletfillthiswindow.

BackToTheTop

MoreDetailsabouttheFeaturesofthisPowerSupply
FanControllerCircuit:
Ifyouhaven'treadtheDiodespageyetandarenotfamiliarwithZenerdiodes,youshouldreadthatpagenow.Ifyoudon't
understandhowseriesconnectedresistorsdividetheappliedvoltage,youshouldreadtheResistorspage.Aswas
mentionedearlier,thefancontrollerinthispowersupplyissimple.TheZenerdiodeprovidesaconstantvoltage(sothefan
speeddoesn'tvarywiththebatteryvoltage).Thethermistorandtheresistorformavoltagedividerthatdrivesthegateof
theFET.Whenthethermistorheatsup,itsresistancedrops(it'sanNTCNegativeTemperatureCoefficientthermistor)
andthevoltageonthegateincreases.WhenthegatevoltagereachesthethresholdvoltageoftheFET(~3.3vformany
FETs),theFETstartstoconduct.Asthevoltageincreases,theFETconductsmoreandthefanrunsfaster.Whenthevoltage
onthegatereaches~5v,theFETisfullyonandthefanrunsatfullspeed.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Notes:
Sincethisisasimplecontroller,thetemperatureatwhichthefanstartsdependsonseveralvariables(thefanbeing
usedwiththecircuit,theFETthresholdvoltageandthethermistor'sresistance/temperaturecurve).Thisisn't
generallyaproblembecauseit'snotimportantthatthefanstartatanyspecifictemperature.It'ssimplyusedtostart
thefanwhenthethermistorisheatedaboveacertain(noncritical)pointtokeepthepowersupplyandits
componentscool.
Asyoucanseeinthecircuitdiagramabove,theFETisconnectedtothenegativeterminalofthefan.Switchingto
ground,insteadofswitchingthe12vsource,iscommonincontrolcircuitsandoftensimplifiesthelayoutbecausethe
groundisavailablethroughouttheboardwhilethepositivesideisn'talwaysasavailable.Thecontroloutputtransistor
isalsolesslikelytobedamaged.Ifyouweretohaveatransistorswitchingthe12vsideandtheoutputwasallowedto
contactagroundpoint(inthevehicle,whenit'sbeinginstalled),thetransistormayfail.Iftheswitchedgroundoutput
makescontactwithchassisground(whichismuchmorelikelythanmakingcontactwitha12vwire),nodamage
occurs.Worstcasescenarioisthatthefanrunsallofthetime.
Ifyou'reusingafanthatdrawssignificantcurrent,theFETthatdrivesthefanwillgethot(andcouldfail)ifit'snot
clampedtightlytotheheatsink.Forthisreason,youshouldunplugthefanfromtheboardwhentestingthesupplyout
ofthesink.Ofcourse,thisappliestoallofthesemiconductorsbutatidle,mostoftheothercomponentswillruncool
forafewminutes(ifeverythingisworkingproperly).
Ifyouwantthefantobegintorunearlierorlater,youcanchangethevalueoftheresistorthat'sinserieswiththe
thermistor.Lowervalueswillmakethefancomeonlater(athighertemperatures).Ifyouwantittorunatfullspeed
atalltimes,installajumperwireinplaceofthethermistor.
Ichosea50kohmthermistor(50kohmsatroomtemperature).Ifyouweretousealowervaluethermistoranda
lowervalueseriesresistor,the1kresistormaynothavebeensufficienttokeepthevoltageontheZenerattheZener
voltage(thelowervalueofthermistorandseriesresistormayhavedraggedthevoltageonthereferencepointbelow
theZenervoltage).
ThiscircuitissimplifiedbythefactthattheFETthatdrivesthefanessentiallydrawsnoDCcurrentthroughitsgate
terminal.Ifyouwereusingabipolartransistor,thecalculationswouldhavebeenmuchmorecomplex.Don'ttakethis
tomeanthatanFETisinfinitelyeasytocontrol.ThisonlyappliestoDCcontrol.Ifyoueverhavetodesignacircuitto
controlthegatevoltageofanFETdrivenathighfrequencies(asyouhaveinaswitchingregulatororswitchingpower

supply),thecapacitivenatureofthegateterminalbecomessignificantandyouhavetouseadrivecircuitthatcan
supplysufficientcurrent/chargetoproperlycontrolthegatedrivevoltage.
PreRegulatorCircuit:
Below,youcanseethepreregulatorcircuit.ItconsistsofapairofZenershuntregulatorsthatfeedthegatesofthetwo
FETs.TheFETsmakethecircuitcapableofpassingmuchmorecurrentthanacircuitwiththeZenershuntregulatorsalone.
InacircuitwithonlytheZenershunt,alloftheoutputcurrentmustpassthroughthecurrentlimitingresistor.Sincethe
resistorhastobearelativelyhighvalue(topreventoverheatingtheZener),thecurrentfromtheshuntcircuitaloneis
relativelylimited.WhenusingtheFET,theFETpassesalloftheloadcurrentanddissipatesalloftheheat.Thiscircuit
functionsmuchlikethefanregulatorexceptthatthevoltagefeedingthegateoftheFETshereisconstant.Inthiscircuit,
theFETisactingasa'follower'.Thismeansthattheoutput(onthesourcelegleg3oftheFET)followsthevoltageonthe
input(thegatelegleg1oftheFET).Aswithanyfollower(usingbipolartransistorsorFETs),thevoltageontheoutputof
thefollower(theemitterforbipolartransistors,thesourceforFETs)islowerthantheinput(thebaseforthebipolar
transistors,thegateforFETs).Forbipolartransistors,thedropisapproximately0.7v.ForFETs,thedropfromgatetosource
isapproximately3.54v.Asisindicatedintheimage,theoutputisapproximately20vwhenthegatevoltageis
approximately24v.Whenthiscircuitisloaded,thevoltageontheoutputofthefollowerwillnotbeabsolutelyconstant.As
theloadincreases(whichincreasescurrentthroughthetransistor),thevoltagewilldropslightly.Thisistypicallynota
problem.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Earlier,itwasstatedthattheseregulatorscanproducequiteabitofheat.TocalculatethepowerdissipationbytheFET,you
needtoknowthecurrentflowthroughtheFETandthevoltagedropacrosstheFET.ThevoltagedropacrosstheFETis
simplythedifferencebetweenthevoltageonthedrainoftheFET(leg2)andthesourceoftheFET(leg3).Ifyouhavea
railvoltageof40vandapreregulatoroutputvoltageof20v,thevoltageacrossthetransistoris20v.Ifyouhavea
maximumcurrentdrawof8ampsthroughtheFET,thepowerdissipationwouldbe8*20(160w).Thisislikelyabitmore
thanthetransistorcanreliablywithstand.TheIRF3415thatwasusedintheprototypeisratedtowithstand200wattsbut
that'sat25C.Sinceyouwon'tbeabletokeepthisat25C,thepowerhandlingisreduced.Youcanreducethepower
dissipationinseveralways.Reducingthecurrentdrawfromtheregulatorisonewaybutifyou'need'8ampsforthecircuit
it'spowering,that'snotsomethingyoucanchange.Youcouldalsoreducepowerdissipationbyreducingthevoltageacross
theFET.Thiscouldbedonebyincreasingtheoutputvoltagebutifyou'reusingtheregulatortolimitthevoltageto20v,
that'snotanoption.Theonlyotherwaytoreducethedissipationistoreducethevoltagefeedingthetransistor.Reducing
therailvoltagefrom40to35vwouldreducethedissipationfrom160wto120w.Whilethat'sstillaconsiderableamount
ofpowerdissipation(andaLOTofheat),it'ssomethingthattheFETcanlikelysurvive.
Note:
Above,IusedthetermsFETandtransistorinterchangeably.Don'tletitconfuseyou.Remember,theFETisaFieldEffect
Transistor.
120wattsmaynotseemlikealotofpowerdissipationbutifyouweretousetheseregulatorsinacircuitthatrequireda
constant120wofdissipation,aheatsinkthesizeoftheheatsinkshownatthetopofthispagewouldgettoohottotouch
withinafewminutesunlessitwasfancooledbyahighvelocitystreamofair(ahighpowerfan).Fortunately,formusic,
thepowerdissipationisn'tconstantso,whiletheheatsinkwillhavetobefancooled,it'snotgoingtoneedasmuchairflow
asitwouldiftheregulatorswereusedtodissipateaconstant120weach.
Torelatethetextabovetothepreviousanalogyofholdingaweight,increasingthevoltageacrossthetransistorwouldbe
likeincreasingthedistanceawayfromyourbodywhereyouwereholdingtheweight.Youcanseethatholdingtheweight
onlyafewinchesawayfromyourbody(lessvoltagedropacrossthetransistor)wouldbeeasierthanholdingitatarm's
lengthawayfromyourbody.Thecurrentflowwouldbeanalogoustotheweightoftheitemyou'reholding.

ICVoltageRegulators:
Thereareonlyafewthingsyouneedtoconsiderwhenchoosingthese.The7815andthe7915aretheregulatorsthatmost
peoplewillusefortheirpreamppowersupply.Youcouldusealowervoltageregulatorbutthatprovideslessheadroom.You
couldusethe7x18regulatorsbutthattendstomaketheopampsrunhotandisneartheirabsolutemaximumvoltage
ratingwhichcouldleadtorandomfailuresforweakopamps.
ThereisalsoachoiceofstandardregulatorsorLowDropoutRegulators(LDOregulators).Standardregulatorscan't
generallyproduceanoutputvoltagethat'sequaltothesupplyvoltageminus2.5v.Thismeansthatyouneedatleast2.5v
moresupplyvoltagethantheoutputvoltage.Fora15vregulator,you'dneedapproximately17.5vtoensurethatthe
regulatorcouldmaintainthe15voutputrating.Insomeinstances,thisisaproblembecausethesupplyvoltageisveryclose
totheregulatedoutputvoltage.Inthoseinstances,youmaychooseanLDOtyperegulator.That'snotgenerallyaproblem
forsomeoneusingthispowersupply.ItmayseemlikechoosinganLDOregulatorwouldbeanobrainerbutthereare
drawbacks.TheLDOregulatortendstobelessstablethanastandardregulator.Thismeansthattheoutputoftheregulator
couldringoroscillateundercertainconditions.SomethingassimpleaschoosingacapacitorwithlowESR(commonly
chosenwhenthedesigneristryingtousethehighestqualitycomponents)cancauseinstability.Forthissupply,I'd
recommendthestandardregulators.THISapplicationnotehasmoreinformationonthisifyou'reinterestedinlearning
more.
RemoteTurnOnCircuit:
Thefollowingdiagramistheremoteturnoncircuit.Thepurposeofthiscircuitistoallowaswitchedvoltage(witha
relativelywiderangeofvoltage>7vormore)tocontrolthepowersource(B+)feedingthecontrolterminaloftheTL594.
WhileitwouldbepossibletohavetheremoteturnonvoltagefeedtheTL594directly,itdoesn'tworkwellbecausethere's
noguaranteethatthevoltagewillalwaysbesufficient.Usingthefollowingcircuit,youalwaysknowthatthevoltage
feedingtheTL594isessentiallyidenticalthetotheB+voltageeveniftheremoteturnonvoltageissignificantlyless.This
resultsinmuchmorereliableoperation.Forthispowersupplyturnoncircuit,theremoteturnoncontrolsignalturnson
Q101whichturnsonQ102whichsendsvoltagetotheTL594powersupplycontrolIC.Thereareafewextracomponents.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Thefirstofseveralseriesconnectedcomponentsisadiode.Thisdiode(D101)preventsnegativevoltagefrom
enteringthecircuit.It'sraretohavenegativevoltagebutifthecontrolsignal'ssourceistiedtoalargerelayor
solenoidcoil,therecouldbesignificantnegativevoltagewhentheremotevoltageisremovedfromthecircuitandthe
coildumpsit'sstoredenergyintothecircuit.Thiscircuitwouldworkwithoutitbutit'slikelytobemorereliablewithit.
Whilethisdiodeisnotabsolutelynecessaryforthiscircuit,whendesigningtheinputsforothercircuits,adiodeused
inthiswaycanbeveryimportant.Someintegratedcircuitsareverysensitivetoreversevoltage(particularlyvoltage
thatgoeswellbelowthenegativesupplyfortheIC).Whendesigningcircuitsthatwillhaveaninputfromasource
thatdoesn'thaveaverywellcontrolledvoltage,it'simportanttomakesurethatonlysafevoltagecangettothecircuit
(integratedorordiscrete).Youalsohavetolookatthevariousmistakesthatcouldbemadebythepersoninstalling
theamporpowersupply.Forexample,iftheremoteturnonterminalisnexttoaspeakerterminal,youhavetodesign
thecircuittowithstandthemaximumpositiveornegativevoltagethatcouldbeappliedtotheremoteterminalifthe
speakerterminalwasshortedtotheremoteterminal(byastraystrandofwire,etc.).
TheZenerdiodeistopreventthecircuitfrombeingtriggeredbyanythinglessthantheZenervoltage.Togetany
voltagetothebaseofQ101,theremoteturnoninputvoltagewouldhavetobegreaterthanthe6.2voftheZenerplus
theapproximate0.6vofthediode.Asyoucanseefromthevoltagesonthediagram,D101isactuallydropping0.64v
andthe6.2vZenerisonlydropping6v.Thevoltagesofvariouscomponentslikethesevariesslightlywithcurrentand
italsovariesabitfromonecomponenttoanother.Whendesigningsimplecircuits,youuseapproximatevalues.For
noncriticalcircuits,it'snotnecessarytoexcessivelyanalyzethecircuit.
Sincetheremotevoltageisrelativelyclosetothebatteryvoltage,inmostinstances,thisalsoservesasacrudelow
voltageshutdown.Ifthebatteryvoltagedropstobelowthevoltagerequiredtoovercomethevoltagedropsofthetwo
diodesandthetransistorthreshold,thesupplywillshutdown.
TheresistorinseriesbetweentheZenerandthebaseofQ101issimplyacurrentlimitingresistor.Again,it'svalue

isn'tcritical.Anythingbetweena1kanda10kohmresistorwouldhaveworkedaboutaswell.4.7kohmsissomething
Ioftenuseinthistypeofcircuit.Ifyoubegintodothistypeofwork,you'llhavevaluesthatyouprefertouse.
The4.7kresistorbetweenthebaseofQ101andgroundissimplytoensurethatthetransistorturnsoffquicklyand
completelywhentheremotevoltageisremoved.
WhenthevoltageonthebaseofQ101ispulleduptoapproximately0.6vabovethevoltageonthetransistor'semitter
(whichisat0vinthiscircuit),itbeginstoconductandpullsthevoltageonitscollectortowards0v(ground=0v).To
clarify,thetransistorwouldlikelybegintoconductbelow0.6vbutwhendesigningcircuits,0.6visusedinthebasic
calculations.
The4.7kohmresistorbetweenthecollectorofQ101andthebaseofQ102istheretolimitthecurrentandtoallowa
safevoltagedrop.Withoutit(ifQ101'scollectorweredirectlyconnectedtoQ102'sbase),thebaseofQ102wouldbe
burnedopenbecausetoomuchcurrentwouldbedrawnfromit.Withtheresistor,thevoltageonthebaseispulled
downandcurrentflowsfromQ102'sbasebutthecurrentislimitedbytheresistanceoftheresistor.Ifyouneedmore
informationaboutprotectingthebase,readthroughthe'BipolarTransistor'page.It'sashortpageandwilltakeonlya
fewminutestoread.
WhenthebaseofQ102ispulleddown~0.6vfromthetheQ102'semittervoltage,Q102beginstoconductandcurrent
flowsthroughit.SinceQ102is'saturated'(fullyon),virtually100%ofthevoltageonitsemitterissenttoitscollector
andthentopin12oftheTL594.ThisswitchestheTL594on.
ComponentSelectionforSimpleCircuits:
Above,itwasstatedthatit'softennotnecessarytooveranalyzeacircuit.Ifyoudidwanttoanalyzethecircuitaboveabit
more,thesewouldbeafewofyourconcerns.
D101:
ForD101,youmaybeconcernedaboutit'sabilitytowithstandthecurrentthatwillpassthroughit.Here,youwould
lookatthemaximumappliedvoltagetotheremoteterminal(15v,likely)andthevoltagedropacrosstheseries
connectedcomponents.Again,youtakeapproximatevoltages.D101willdrop0.6v.ZD101willdrop6.2v.When
voltageisapplied,thebaseemitterjunctionofthetransistorwilldropapproximately0.6v.That'satotalof7.4v.Since
youknowthatthevoltagedropacrosstheresistorwillbetheremainingvoltage,thevoltageacrosstheresistoris15v
7.4v.Thevoltageacrosstheresistorwillbe7.6v.UsingoneoftheOhm'sLawformulas,youknowthatthecurrent
throughtheresistoristhevoltagedividedbytheresistance(I=V/R).Thismeansthatthecurrentthroughthe4.7k
ohmresistoris1.6ma(0.0016amps).D101,whichisa1N4148,isratedtohandle300maofDCcurrentsoit'seasily
capableofhandlingthe1.6mathat'sgoingtopassthroughitinthiscircuit.Althoughpowerdissipationisn'tsignificant,
youcancalculateitbyusingtheformulaP=I*E.Powerdissipationisonly960microwatts(0.000960watts)whichis
absolutelyinsignificant.
ZD101:
ForZD101,thepowerdissipationwillbesomewhathigherbutstillinsignificant.ThevoltagedropacrossZD101is6.2v
(it'sa6.2vZenerdiode)andthecurrentthroughitisthesameasitisforD101.Thepowerdissipationisonly10
milliwatts.SincetheZenerisratedtodissipate500mw,thisisagaininsignificant.
CurrentLimitingResistor:
Tocalculatethepowerdissipationbythecurrentlimitingresistor,youcouldusethevoltageandcurrentsincethey're
knownorusethevoltageandresistance.Again,usingoneoftheOhm'sLawformulas,P=E^2/R(voltagesquared
dividedbytheresistance).Thepowerdissipationwouldbe7.6*7.6/4700sothepowerdissipationwouldbe12.3mw.
Therateddissipationfortheresistorsintheresistornetworkis200mweachso,again,thisisinsignificant.
ThecurrentlimitingresistorisimportanttoprotectthebaseofQ101.Ifitwerereplacedbyawireandthevoltageon
theremoteterminalwentabovethevoltageforcombinedvoltagesacrossthebaseemitterjunctionANDthevoltage
dropacrosstheZenerdiodeANDthevoltagedropacrossD101(totalof7.4v),thecurrentthroughthecircuitwould
increaseSIGNIFICANTLYandit'slikelythatthetransistorwouldbeirreparablydamaged.Theresistorlimitsthe
currentandprotectsallcomponentsinthecircuitfromdamageduetoexcessvoltage(withinlimits).
Q101:
Thistransistor'sonlypurposeistoswitchonQ102.Thiscouldbeaccomplishedwithawiderangeofresistorsonits
baseandcollector.Let'slookatthebaseresistorfirst.I'llassumethatyou'vealreadyreadthroughtheBipolar
Transistorpageassuggestedearlierandnow,tofullyunderstandthis,youshouldnowreadTHISpage.Youknowthat
thetransistorhas'DCgain'Thismeansthatthecurrentthroughthebaseneedstobeonlyafractionofthecurrent
thatpassesthroughthetransistor'scollector/emitter.Let'sassumethatthegainforthistransistoris100.Thismeans
thatthecurrentintothebaseofQ101needstobeonly1/100ofthecurrentthatwillneedtopassthroughthe
collector/emitter(whichareessentially,butnotexactly,thesame).Inthiscircuit,Q101reallyonlyneedstopassa
smallamountofcurrenttomakeQ102switchonbutthatcouldleaveasignificantvoltagedropacrossthecollector
andemitterofQ101.Abettersolutionisto'saturate'Q101.Asaturatedtransistorisessentiallyfullyon.Whena
transistor(workinginacircuitit'swellsuitedto)issaturated,thereisessentiallynovoltagedrop/differencebetween
thecollectorandemitter.Thismeansthattherewillbeessentiallynopowerdissipationacrossitanditwilloperateat
thelowesttemperaturepossible.Ifyouremembertheearlierimagewherethevoltageswerelisted,thevoltage
betweenthecollectorandemitterwasonly0.017v.
TransistorSaturation:
Earlier,itwasstatedthatthetransistorsweredriventosaturationbecausethereisessentially0vacrossthecollectorand
emitterofthetransistor.Forthiscircuit,thetransistorisoperatingasifit'ssaturated.Technically,forthetransistortobe
saturated,itwouldhavetohaveenoughbasecurrenttoallowthefullcurrentratingofthetransistortopassthroughthe
transistor.ForQ101,whichisanMPSA06,thecurrentratingis500ma.IftheDCbeta(HFE)is100,thebasecurrentwould
havetobeatleast5ma(thisiscoveredontheBipolarTransistorpagementionedearlier).Sincethebasecurrentis
significantlylessthanthat,thetransistor,technically,isn'tsaturated.
EfficientPowerControl:
TheuseofQ101andQ102abovereallyhavenothingtodowiththe'switching'partofthisswitchingpowersupplybutthe
waytheyareusedissimilar.TheFETsweredrivenuntiltheywerefully'on'tomaximizeefficiencyandpowertransfer

(particularlyforQ102).Youwillseethesameconceptinthehighpowersectionofthispowersupply.Thepowersupply
FETswillbedrivenintosaturation(fullyon)tomaximizeefficiency.
ThermalShutdownCircuit:
ThisisthecircuitthatshutsdownthepowersupplyICwhenthethermistor(nottheoneforthefan)indicatesthatthe
temperatureistoohigh.Althoughthiscircuithasonlyafewcomponents,it'ssomewhatmorecomplexthantheprevious
circuits.Thisismainlyduetothefactthatyouhavetounderstandmoretypesofcircuits.Thetwocircuitsbelowarethe
same.Theoneontherightisthestandardschematicversion.Theoneontheleftisasit'sconnectedtotheTL594IC.Pin
14isthe5voutputoftheTL594.Pin15isthe'inverting'input.Pin16isthe'noninverting'input.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Important:
Ifyouhaven'tdonesoyet,youneedtoreadthe'OperationalAmplifiers'page.Itcoversopamptermsandcomparators,
whichyou'llneedtobefamiliarwithtounderstandtherestofthissection.
Likethefancontrolcircuit,thiscircuitusesathermistorandaresistortoformavoltagedivider.Asthetemperature
increases,thethermistor'sresistancedecreasesandpullsthevoltageupatthepointwherethethermistorandtheresistor
connect.Thisisthesameasinthefancontroller.Inadditiontothatvoltagedivider,thereisasecond,fixedvoltagedivider
(voltagedoesn'tchangeasthetemperaturechanges).Thissecondvoltagedividerproducesareferencevoltagethat's
exactly1/2ofthevoltagefedintothetopofthevoltagedivider.Forthiscircuit,the5vreferenceoftheTL594isthesupply
forbothofthesevoltagedividers.Thefixedvoltagedividerproduces2.5vatthepointwherethetworesistorsconnect.The
thermistor/resistorvoltagedividerproduceslessthanthe2.5vreferencevoltageuntiltheampreachesthethermal
shutdowntemperature.Atthethermalshutdowntemperature,theresistanceofthethermistorisapproximately6.8kohms.
Thefollowingdemoshowsthebasicoperationofacomparator.Whenyoumovetheyelloworgreensliderhandlesupor
down,youcanseethattheoutputswingsfromoneextremetotheotherdependingonthetwoinputvalues.FortheTL594,
ifpin3or4isabove~3.4v,theICwillproducenooutput.Pins15and16aretheinputstotheerroramp(beingusedasa
comparator).Pin3istied(viaaninternaldiode)totheoutputofthaterroramp.Whenthethermistorpullsthenon
invertinginput(pin16)abovetheinvertinginput(pin15),theoutputoftheerroramppullspin3highandshutsthe
pulses(thatdrivethepowersupplyFETs)downsothesupplycannolongerproduceanyoutputvoltage.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Hysteresis:
Forthecircuitabove,thethermistorvoltagedividershutsthesupplydownwhenthevoltageonthedividergoesjustatiny
fractionofavoltabovethevoltageonthereferencevoltagedivider(pin15).Whenitcoolsslightly,thevoltagedropsand
theamppowersbackup.Thethermalmassoftheheatsinkwillreducetherateatwhichthethermistorcan
increase/decreasethevoltageonthethermistorvoltagedivider(pin16).Thispreventsthepowersupplyfromswitching
on/offquickly/repeatedlybutit'snotgoodtorelyonthatbecausethatrequiresthatthethermistorbewellmated,thermally
totheheatsink.Topreventthesupplyfromswitchingon/offquickly/repeatedly(incasethethermistorisn'tproperlymated
totheheatsink),aresistoranddiodeareusedtoprovideHysteresis.Whenthesupplygoesintothermalshutdown,the
voltageonpin3goesup.Ifyouremember,thevoltagegoinguponpin16(fromthethermistor)iswhatcausesthesupply
toshutdown.Theresistoranddiodedriveabitmorevoltageintopin16toraisethevoltageabitmore.Asthethermistor
cools,itsresistancemustincreasetomorethanthepointwhereitshutdownthesupplybecausetheresistoranddiodeare
tryingtoholdthevoltagehigh.Whenitfinallycoolsenoughtobringthepowersupplyoutofthermalprotection,the
temperatureiswellbelowthepointwherethesupplyshutdown.Thiskeepsitfromswitchingon/offquickly/repeatedly.
Locationofthethermistor:
Althoughthethermistorwillprotectthepowersupplyifit'sclampedtotheheatsinkwhereit'slocatedontheboard,itcan
betterprotectthesupplyiftheleadsareextendedandlocatedwherethemostheatwillbeproducedbythesemiconductors
thatareclampedtotheheatsink.Ifthepreregulatorsarebeingusedtopoweraudioamplifiercircuits,thepreregulator
FETswillproducemoreheatthananyotherpowersemiconductors.Thismeansthatthethermistorshouldbeclampedto
theheatsinknearthoseFETs.Ifthepreregulatorsarenotusedortheyareonlyusedtoreducethesupplyvoltagefeeding
theL7x15regulators,thethermistorshouldbeclampedtotheheatsinknearthepowersupplyFETs.
Themostcommonmethodofclampingthethermistoristosandwichitbetweentheboardandthesink.Insertapieceof
opencellsiliconefoamrubberorsimilarsoftspongymaterialbetweentheboardandthethermistor.Thiswillkeepthe
thermistorincontactwiththeheatsinkandwillpreventcoolairfromkeepingitcoolerthantheheatsink(ifafanisusedto
coolthepowersupply).Applyingheatsinkcompoundbetweenthethermistorandtheheatsinkwillincreasetheheat
transferbetweenthethermistorandthesink.Theheatsinkcompoundisnotabsolutelynecessarybutifthefoammaterial
youusedoesn'tmakeagood,airtightsealaroundthethermistor,youshouldusealarger,thickerpieceoffoamorusethe
heatsinkcompound.Tokeepthethermistorinplace,youcanuseapieceoftape(Kaptontapewithasiliconeadhesiveis
recommended)acrossthewireleads.Thiswillpreventitfrommovingoffofthefoam(beforetheboardisinplaceand
clampeddown).
Whenyouextendtheleadsofthethermistor,useheatshrinktubingtoinsulatethebarewireleadsallofthewayuptothe
headofthethermistor.Whenyouinsertthewireleadsforthethermistor(neartheTL594),you'lldosofromthebottomof
thecircuitboard.
PWMVoltageRegulatorCircuit:
Thevoltageregulatorforthemainrailvoltageusesthefirsterroramp(pins1and2)oftheTL594.Thisagainusesvoltage
dividersliketheonesusedinthethermalprotectioncircuit.It'snecessaryherebecausedirectrailvoltageinputwould
exceedthemaximumvoltagethattheerrorampinputscanwithstand.ThedatasheetfortheTL594statesthattheinput
rangeisbetween0vandVcc(pin12)voltageminus2v.Formostregulatedpowersupplies,youwillseethatthedesignerof
thecircuitusesinputvoltagesthatvarybetween0and5vfortheinputstotheerrorampwhenit'susedforvoltage
regulation.
Note:
Thefirsterrorampisusedforthevoltageregulatorinthispowersupplywhiletheseconderrorampisusedforthethermal
shutdowncircuit.Theseweremychoices.Therolesofthetwoerrorampscouldbereversed.Don'tthinkthatoneparticular
erroramphastobeusedforvoltageregulationandtheothermustbeusedforthermalprotection.Theycouldbeusedfor
entirelydifferentpurposes.
FortheTL594(andtheTL494andtheKA7500,whichareessentiallyidentical),whenthevoltageonpin3isat0v
(ground),thepulsewidthoutputonpins9and10(pins9and10areusedasoutputsfromtheICformostamps)isatthe
maximumpulsewidth.PulsewidthwascoveredontheAmplifierClassespage.Therewasalinkprovidedwhichyoushould
havefollowedearlieronthispage.Ifyoudon'tunderstandwhat'pulsewidth'is,pleasegoreadthatpagenow.
Whenthevoltageonpin3oftheTL594isapproximately3.3v(variesslightlyfromoneICtoanother),thepulsewidthwill
beapproachingtheminimum.Ifit'saboveapproximately3.6v,thepulseswillgenerallybecompletelyoff.Youknow(ifyou
readthethermalprotectioncircuitsection)thatthevoltageonpin3willswinghigh(towards5v)whenthevoltageonthe
noninvertinginput(pin1)isabovethevoltageontheinvertinginput(pin2).Youshouldunderstandthisclearly.Ifyou
don't,gobackuptothecomparatordemoanduseituntilyouunderstandhowcomparatorswork.There'snopointintaking
timetoreadanyfurtherifyoudon'tunderstandwhatyou'rereading.Sincethevoltageonpin1varieswiththerailvoltage
andhigherrailvoltageproduceshighervoltageonpin1,thevoltageontherails(inputtothevoltagedivideronpin1)
causesthevoltageonpin3toswinghigh/lowdependingontherailvoltagebeingproducedbythepowersupply.Withthe
thermalprotectioncircuit,thevoltageswingwassignificantasthesupplywentintoorcameoutofthermalprotection.For
theregulatorcircuit,thevoltageswingismuchmoregradualandisdirectlyrelatedtothecurrentdemandfromthecircuit
drawingpowerfromthesupply.It'salsorelatedtothe12vpowersource.Eitherofthesecancausetherailvoltageto
fluctuatesotheregulatorcompensatestohelpmaintainthetargetvoltage.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Intheexampleabove,thetwocircuitsontheleftarethesimplesttypeofpulsewidth/voltageregulator.Thereference
voltageissetbythetwoequalvalueresistorsconnectedinseriesbetweenground(0v)andtheregulated5vreferencefor
theTL594(pin14).Likeinthethermalprotectioncircuit,thissetsthereferenceat2.5v.Thisreferencevoltageis
connectedtopin2(theinvertinginput)oftheTL594.Thevoltagedividerfortheinputtopin1issetbytwounequalvalue
resistors.Theonlytimethatthey'dbeequalisifthedesiredrailvoltagecalledforthemtobeequal.Thiswouldonlyhappen
withverylowrailvoltage(5vforthiscircuit)andisn'tcommonforpowersuppliesusedforaudioamplifiers.Tomakethe
calculationssimple,theresistorbetweentheinputpinandgroundis1kohms.Thesimplestwaytocalculatethevalueisto
determinetheresistorvaluethatwillhavethedesiredrailvoltageminusthe2.5vacrossitwith2.5maflowingthroughit.
Rememberthatthe1kresistorwillhave2.5vacrossitwhen2.5maisflowingthroughit.Sincetheseresistorsareinseries,
thesamecurrentwillflowthroughbothofthem.ThisiscoveredontheSeries/ParallelBasicspage.Goreaditnowifyou
don'tunderstandwhythecurrentflowingthroughtwoseriesconnectedresistorswillbethesame.
Above,thereferencevoltagewassetto1/2ofthereferencevoltagewithtwoequalvalueresistors.It'snotnecessarythat
thevoltagebesetto1/2oftheregulatedvoltage.Iftherewasareasontosetithigherorlower,youwouldusewhatever
resistorsneededtosetitwhereyouwantedit.Also,thevalueoftheresistorsisn'tsignificantbutyoudon'twantthevalues
tobetoohighortoolow.Theregulated5voutoftheTL594hasaverylimitedcurrentcapacitysoyoudon'twantto
overloadit.Youalsowanttoavoidusingveryhighvalueresistors.Incaraudioequipment,dustandmoisturearecommon
problems.Themoisturefromcondensationaloneisn'taproblembecausepurewaterdoesn'tconductbutwhentheboard
hascontaminantslikedust,thecombinationcanbeconductive.Ifyouhaveextremelyhighvalueresistorsandthereis
slightconductionduetocondensation,thefunctionofthecircuitcanbeimpaired.Thevaluesoftheresistorsyouseeused
onthispageprovideagoodbalancebetweencurrentdemandsandreliableoperation.Forsomeofthecalculations,1kohm
resistorsareusedbutinpractice,the4.7kohmresistorsareprobablyaslightlybetterchoice.Theystillprovidestable
voltagebutdon'tdrawexcessivecurrent.
Let'ssaythatwewantaregulatedvoltageof22voltsusingthesimpleregulatorcircuitthatmonitorsonlythepositiverail.
Weknowthattherearetwoseriesconnectedresistorsandthetotalvoltageacrossthemwillbe22v.Thismeansthatthe
voltageacrossthesecondresistorwillbetherailvoltageminusthevoltageacrossthe1kresistor.222.5vis19.5v.Using
oneoftheOhm'sLawformulas(R=V/I),weknowthattheresistorwillbe7.8kohms.Tocheckit,youcanaddthevalueof
thetworesistorsandusetheknowncurrentflowtoseeifthevoltageacrossthetworesistorsisthedesiredrailvoltage.
7.8kplus1kis8.8k.UsingtheOhm'sLawformulaV=IR,weseethatthevoltageis22volts.Youcanusethecalculator
belowtocheckyourmath.


ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Above,thecircuitonlymonitoredthepositiverailbutthisdoesn'tmeanthatthenegativerailwillnotberegulated.Inmost
cases,theabsolutevoltageinthepositiveandnegativerailswillcloselytrackeachothereveniftheregulatoronlymonitors
thevoltageononerail.However,thisdoesn'tmeanthatmonitoringasinglerailwillbesufficientforalltypesofcircuits.For
circuitswhereyouneedbetterregulation,thefollowingcircuit(thecircuitusedforthesupplyinthistutorial)isabetter
choice.
Thenextsectioncanbeskippedbymostpeople.It'sonlyforthosewhowanttoknowhowtocalculatethevaluesforthe
regulatorcircuitthatmonitorsbothrails.Ifyourmathskillsaregood,you'llsailthroughit.Ifthey'relikemymathskills
(poor),itwilllikelyonlyservetoputyoutosleep.

VoltageDividerRule:
Beforewecancoverthemorecomplexregulatorcircuit,weneedtocovertheVoltageDividerRule.Intheformulain
thenextdiagram,youcanseethatthevoltageacrosseitherresistor(Rx)canbecalculatedeasily.Thevoltageacross
theresistorwouldnormallybecalculatedbycalculatingthecurrentthroughtheseriesconnectedresistorsandthen
usingthatvaluewiththeresistor'svaluetocalculatethevoltageacrosstheresistor.Thisworksforeitherresistor.
SimplyinsertitsvalueinplaceofRx.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

UsingthevoltagedividerruleyoucanseethatwesolvedforR2inthefollowinggraphic.Noticethattheimageonthe
leftisthesimpleregulator.Wewillusethesamebasicformulaforthepositivesideoftheregulatorcircuitbutthe
negativesideoftheregulatorwillmakethingsabitmoredifficult.It'snotreferencedto0v(ground).It'sreferenced
tothe5vregulator.Toaddtothefun,youhavetoaddthe5vofthereferenceregulatorbecausethenegativerail
voltageplusthe5vfromthereferenceregulator(pin14oftheTL594)isacrossthetwoseriesconnectedresistors.On
theright,youcanseethatIsolvedforR4.Itriedthevaluesonanactualpowersupplyandtheywerewellwithin1v
withthecalculatedresistorvalues.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Ifyoudon'twanttwoidenticalresistorvaluesfortheregulator,youcancalculatethepositiveandnegativeresistor
valuesfora2.5vreferenceandusethose(nonidentical)valueresistorsfortheregulator.Ifyouwantidentical
resistorsforthepositiveandnegativerails,you'llneedtoreadthenextsection.
Thepreviouscalculationsweren'ttoodifficult(simplealgebra)buttosolveforthetwoidenticalresistorvalueswhen
youdon'thavethe'known'referencevalueof2.5v,youhavetothinkaboutwhatyouhave.Youknowthat,whenthe
powersupplyreachestheregulatedvoltage,thecomparatorwillholdtherailvoltageconstantatpreciselythepoint
wherethevoltageonthetwoinputsoftheerrorampmatch.Youdon'tknowthevoltageatwhichthey'llmatchbut
youdoknowthatthevoltagesmatch.Thatmeansthatthetwoequations(positivesideandnegativeside)areequal
values.Tosolvefortheunknownresistorvalues,yousimplyputanequalsignbetweenthemandsolveforRx.Again,
it'ssimplealgebra,justalotmoreofit.Ifyou'recareful,youwillhavenoproblemwithit.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Forthosewhowantthevaluesbutarenotinterestedindoingthemath(orthosewhowanttochecktheirmath),use
thefollowingcalculator.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

EmitterFollowerPairs:
TheTL594doesn'tdriveFETswellwithoutabitofhelp.Thispowersupply(andmanyotherpowersupplies)usesanemitter
followerpairasabufferbetweentheoutputofthedriverICandthegateresistorsoftheFETs.Theemitterfollowerpairacts
asacurrentamplifier.Itbooststhecurrentcapabilityofthedrivesignal.Forasquarewavesignal(thetypeproducedby
theTL594driverIC),theoutputoftheemitterfollowerpairisessentiallythesameastheinputtothepair.Theamplitudeof
theoutputsignalislessbyapproximately1.2vbutotherwiseit'sthesame.Thecircuitbelowisabasicemitterfollowerpair.
TheNPNtransistorhasitscollectorconnectedtoasourceofpositivevoltage.ThecollectorofthePNPtransistortypically
hasitscollectorconnectedtoground.

Thefollowingimageshowstheemitterfollowerpairs(highlighted).Youcanseethatthey'redrivenbypins9and10ofthe
TL594andtheiremitters(theoutputoftheemitterfollowerpairs)driveresistorsthatultimatelydrivetheFETs.

Forclarity...The'emitter'partof'emitterfollowerpair'referstotheemitterofthetransistor.The'follower'of'emitter
followerpair'referstothefactthattheoutputofthepair(theemitter)followstheinput.Theinputtothepairisdriveninto
thebaseofthetransistor.
OptoCouplerFeedback:
Ingeneral,caraudioamplifiersuseeitherbalancedaudioinputsorhaveanisolatedsecondarytoprovideanisolatedaudio
ground(isolatedfromchassisground).MostofthepowersuppliesI'vebuiltwereforamplifierswithbalancedinputsforthe
signal.Thismeantthattherewasnoisolationforthetransformer'ssecondarywindings.Thesecondarycentertapwas
directlyconnectedtotheamplifier'sprimaryground.
Thissupplywasdesignedtobeauniversalpowersupplythatcouldbeusedforthemostcommonaudioamplifiers(those
thatrelyonanisolatedsecondarytopreventgroundloopnoise).Tohavearegulatedsupplywithanisolatedsecondary,you
typicallyneedtouseanoptocouplertomonitortherailvoltageonthesecondarysideofthesupply.Theoptocoupler
providesisolatedfeedbackforthePWMdriverIC.ThefeedbacksignalessentiallytellsthePWMIChowmuchvoltageis
presentonthesecondaryrailsandthePWMICadjuststhepulsewidthtomaintainthedesiredrailvoltage.Thissupplyhad
verylittlespareroomonthecircuitboardsousingtheoptocoupler(forfeedbacktothePWMIC)andtheassociated
circuitryneededforstableregulation,wasn'taviableoption.Standard,directfeedbackwasused(aswouldbeusedfor
supplieswithoutanisolatedsecondary).Tohelppreventproblemsduetothesecondarygroundbeingshiftedwellaboveor
belowthechassis/primaryground,anoptocouplerwasusedbutinadifferentway(whichrequiredonlytheoptocoupler
andasingleadditionalresistor).Theoptocouplerhereisonlyusedtoshutthesupplydownifthesecondarygroundis
shiftedaboveorbelowtheprimaryground.
OptoCouplerProtection:
Normally,ifthesecondarygroundwereshiftedupordownbyhavingeitheranoutputoraspeakerwirecontactingground,
itcouldcausetheregulationtofail.ThiscouldcauseextensivedamagetoICsalreadyoperatingatthemaximumsafe
voltage.There'salsothepossibilitythatthepowersupplyICcouldmalfunctionifexcessivevoltage(particularly,negative
voltage)weredrivenintoit'serrorampinputs.ThismalfunctionsometimescausesthepowersupplyFETstofail(lotsof
smokeandflames).ThisisanissuewiththeICthathastobedealtwithifthere'sapossibilitythatdangerousvoltages
couldbedrivenintotheIC.Thisoptocouplerwillshutthesupplydownifthesecondarygroundshiftsforsomereason.
Thereisa1kohmresistorthatkeepsthesecondaryatthesamepotential(voltage)astheprimaryground.Ifthesecondary
shiftsupordownbymorethan~1v,thesupplywillshutdown.
TheoptocouplerusedherehastwoLEDs(connectedinreverseparallel)andisdesignedtoswitchonwitheitherpositive
voltageornegativevoltageapplied.They'resometimescalledACoptocouplers.TheoutputisonlydesignedtopassDCin
onedirection.Itisusedtogroundthemidpointofthereferencevoltagedividerforthethermalprotectioncircuit.This
makesitseemlikethepowerisinthermalprotectionandthesupplyisshutdown.
ThermalProtectionfortheAudioAmplifier:
Sincethisisdesigned,primarily,tosupplypowertoanaudioamplifier,thereisaprovisiontoallowthesupplytoshutdown
iftheamplifier(theoneconnectedtothepowersupply)becomestoohot.ItreliesonaNormallyOpenswitchwithdry
contacts(novoltageonthemandnoconnectiontoanythingelse).Theconnectionfortheswitchismarkedontheboard.
AuxiliaryShutdown:
Thiscanalsobeusedtoprotectthepowersupplycapacitorsnearthepower/ground/remoteterminals.Ifthesupplyis
driventoohard,thesecapacitorscangetquitehot.Insertingathermalswitch(liketheoneontheright,HERE)betweenthe

capacitors,protectsthemfromfailureandthereforeprotectsthepowersupply.Ifathermalswitchisusedtodetectthe
temperatureofthecapacitors,theareabetweenthecapacitorswillhavetobefilledwithheatsinkcompoundordielectric
greaseandthethermalswitchinsertedinthegrease.Ifthisisnotdone,thefanwillkeepairflowingaroundthethermal
switchandtheswitchwillbekeptconsiderablycoolerthanthecapacitors.Onthenextrevision,therearetwosetsofsolder
pads,onefortheamplifierthermalswitchandoneforthecapacitorthermalswitch.Onthislayout,thereisonlyonesetof
solderpads.

PrimaryFilterCapacitors:
Aswasmentionedabove,thesixprimaryfiltercapacitorscanoperateathightemperaturesifthesupplyisabused.The
heatingofthecapacitorscanbeminimizedbyusinglowimpedancecapacitors.Inthepast,I'veusedPanasonicFC
capacitorsandtheyhavebeenveryreliable.Inthisprototype,NichiconHEseriescapswereused.Theyhavebetterspecs
thantheFCcapacitorsbutI'veseensomanyNichiconcapacitorsleakthatI'mnotconfidentintheirlongtermreliability.
Thecapacitorsinthissupplyarestressedabitmorethaninotheramps/suppliesbecauseofthecompactlayout.Usingan
inductoronthepositiveinputwouldreducethestressbutthere'sreallynospacefortheappropriateinductor.Thecompact
layoutalsocontributestoheatingbecausethereisverylittleinductanceorresistanceinthecopperbetweenthecapacitors
andthetransformer/FETs.Ifthereweremoredistancebetweenthecapsandtheothercomponents,theinductanceand
resistanceofthecircuitboardtraceswouldreducethestressonthecapacitors.Aslongasthesupplyisnotabusedandfan
cooledwhenusedattheupperendofitsratings,thecapacitorswillnotbeindangeroffailing.
OutputFilterInductor:
Aswasmentionedpreviously,thispowersupplyusestwostackedmolypermalloycores(CWSBytemarkCM270125).This
inductormayinitiallyappeartobeacommonmodechokebecauseithastwowindingsonthesamecorebutit'sa
differentialmodechoke.Incommonmodechokes,thewindingsareconnectedtothecircuitsothatthemagneticfieldsare
cancelledoutandthereforenotlikelytocauseacoretosaturate.Commonmodechokescanuseferritecoreswhichhave
relativelyhighpermeabilityandthereforecanproducesignificantinductancewithonlyafewwindings(importantwhenthe
DCresistanceneedstobekeptlowtominimizecopperlosses).Onlyafewamplifiers(thatI'veseen)usecommonmode
chokesforthepowersupply.TheyaretypicallyontheB+andgroundsupplyline.Differentialchokescanhaveoneormore
windingsonthesamecore(orstackofcores).Aswasmentionedbefore,thecoresfordifferentialchokesaretypicallyMPP,
HighFlux,KoolMu/SendustorironPowdercores.
Notes:
Theterm'choke'isusedthroughoutthispage.Thetermsinductorandchokearegenerallyinterchangeablebuttheterm
chokeisgenerallyusedwhentherewillbeDCbiasingontheinductor.
Copperlosseswerementionedabove.Copperlossisthelossofefficiencyduetotheresistanceofthewireusedforthe
inductorortransformer.Largerwirereducestheresistanceandthereforethecopperlossesbutitincreasescostand
mayrequirealarger,moreexpensivecore.Thistypeoflosscancausesignificantheatingoftheinductor/transformer
andcouldcausereliabilityproblems.Thereisanothertypeoflossinvolvedwithinductorsandtransformers.That'score

loss.Thistypeoflosscausesheatingofthecore.Thelossisvirtuallyconstant(doesn'tincreasesignificantlyastheload
ontheinductorincreases).Aninductorwithalotofcorelosswilloperateathightemperaturesevenwiththepower
supplyatidle.Wirelossesareverylowwhentheinductorisn'theavilyloadedandincreaseastheloadcurrent
increases.Generally,whendesigninganinductor,youaimforabalancebetweencorelossandwireloss.Forexample,
youcanreducecorelossbyincreasingthenumberofturns.Thiswillincreasecopperlossesifthewiresizeremains
constantbutmayresultinaninductorthatwilloperateatalowertemperature,overall.
Thevarioustypesofcorematerialhavedifferentadvantages.Ontheextremes,theMPPisthehighestquality(overall)
butisalsosignificantlymoreexpensivethantheothercorematerials.Ironpowderistheleastexpensivebuthasthe
highestlosses.Ifcostisthemostimportantfactorandthereissufficientspaceforalargercore,theironpowdercores
canbeagoodoption.Ifyouneedlowlossandasmall,stablecore,theMPPcoresareabetterchoice.Theothertwo
typesofcores(sendustandhighflux)fallsomewhereinbetweentheothers.Whenyouchooseacoreyouhaveto
decidewhat'sthebestforthegivenapplication.IgenerallyuseMPPcoresbutit'sbecausemyknowledgeand
experiencearesomewhatlackinginthisfieldandit'saneasychoice.
Snubbers:
Aswaspreviouslymentioned,snubbersareusedtodampringingonthetransformerwindings(ormoreaccurately,onthe
waveformsonthetransformer'swindings).Theyconsistofaresistor(greenarrows)andacapacitor(yellowarrows)for
mostswitchingpowersupplies.Thesnubbersarealmostalwaysconnectedacrosseachoftheprimarywindings.Sometimes
therearesnubbersacrossthesecondarywindingsalso.A0.1uFcapacitoranda10ohmresistoraregenerallyusedforthe
primarysnubbers.It'spossibletocalculatethepropervaluesbutit'srelativelycomplextodoaccuratelysomostamateurs
(myselfincluded)startwiththetypicalvaluesandchangethevaluestogetthedesiredresults.It'simportanttogetthe
valuesright.Youwantenoughcapacitancetodampanyringingbutnotsomuchastocauseexcessiveheatingofthe
snubberresistor.Theresistorshouldbehighqualityandratedtohandlethepowerdissipation.Sinceitcanbedifficultto
calculatetherequiredpowerratingfortheresistor,it'ssometimeseasiertomeasurethevoltageacrosstheresistor.You'll
needtouseagoodqualitymeterthanhasenoughbandwidthtoaccuratelymeasuretheACvoltageacrosstheresistor.This
needstobedonewhenthepowersupplyisbeingdriventofullpower.Thecapacitorwillalmostalwaysbea'film'capacitor
(generallyMylar/polyester).

Rectifiers:
RectifiersareusedinvirtuallyanypowersupplythatconvertsACtoDC.Forsuppliesoperatedoffoflowfrequencysine
wavesupplies(liketheACmainsinhomes),aslongasthediodecancarrythenecessarycurrentandcanwithstandthe
appliedvoltage,they'resuitableforthepowersupply.Forswitchingpowersupplies,astandarddiodecan'tcarrythesame
currentasitwouldbeabletodoinasupplydrivenbyasinewavebecausethereverserecoverytimeisn'tquickenough(it
can'tswitchoffquicklyenough).Thiswillcausetherectifierdiodetooverheatwhendrivennearitsratedcurrent.For
switchingpowersupplies,yougenerallyuseultrafastrecoveryrectifiers.Inthissupply,theMUR820isused.Ifyou'dwant
touseadualdiodepackage,theFEP16DTandFEP16DTAareagoodchoice.FortheMUR820,youuse4identicaldiodes.

They'reconnectedinthecircuitsothattwopasspositivevoltagetothepositiverailcapacitorsandtwopassnegative
voltagetothenegativerailcapacitors.FortheFEPtyperectifiers,theFEP16DThasitscenterlegconnectedtothepositive
railcapacitor.TheFEP16DTAhasitscenterlegconnectedtothenegativerailcapacitor.
Manypeopletendtousecomponentswiththehighestvoltageandcurrentratingforthegivenpackage(TO220inthis
case).Thisisn'talwaysagooddecision.ThehighervoltagediodesliketheMUR840(8ampsand400vvs8ampsand200v
fortheMUR820)havealowerrecoveryandcanrunhotter.Theycanalsohaveahigherforwardvoltage(thevoltagelost
acrossthediodewhenit'sconducting)whichwillalsotendtomakeitrunhotter.TheMUR820isaverygooddiodeforthis
typeofpowersupply.
HeatsinkGround:
Theheatsinkgroundontheboardisdesignedtoshunthighfrequencynoisetothechassis(mainpowersupply)ground.
Manyampshavegroundedheatsink.Somesimplyconnectitdirectly.Othersuseresistors,capacitorsorboth.Thispower
supplyusesaresistorandcapacitorinparallel.Thedirectconnectionworkswellbutifa12vpowersourcehitstheheatsink,
itcanburntraces.Thisoftenhappenswhenaninstallershortsascrewdrivertotheheatsinkwhenremoving/insertingthe
powerwireandhasfailedtoremovethefuse.Itcanalsoburntracesifthepowersupply(oramplifier)heatsinkisdirectly
mountedtothechassisofthevehicleandthemaingroundislost.Thisisbecausetheampwilltrytogroundthroughthe
tracesthatconnecttheheatsinktothecircuitboard.Usingacapacitoraloneworksbutitcanallowtheheatsinktocharge
duetocapacitiveleakagefromthecomponentstothesink.Usingtheresistorandcapacitorinparallelworksbest,inmy
opinion.ThecapacitorshuntsthehighfrequencynoisetogroundandtheresistorensuresthatnoDCisallowedtobuildon
theheatsink.Whenusingthiscombination,youneedtousearesistorthatwon'tburnifa12vpowersourcecontactsthe
sink.A10kohm,1/8wisusedinthissupply.Ifyoudecidetouseadifferentvalueonasupplyyoudesign,youcanusethe
formulaP=E^2/Rtodetermineiftheresistoryouchoosewillwithstand12vifit'sshortedtotheheatsink.Forthecapacitor,
youshouldprobablyusea0.1uFfilmcapacitor.Thisvalueiscommonlyusedforthisapplication.

NeedHelp?
Iftherewasanythingintheprevioussectionthatwasnotclearlyexplained(eitherinthetextoronthelinked
pages)orifyouhavequestionsaboutsomethingcoveredabove,emailme.

BackToTheTop

BasicTransformerDesign
Foreword(ormaybeitshouldbeforewarning):
Theproperdesignofmagneticcomponentsis,inmyopinion,muchmoredifficultthanthatofelectroniccircuits.Ithinkthemost
difficultpartofitisthefactthatnothingseemstoremainconstant.Usingtheresistorasanexample...aresistor'svaluewill
remainrelativelyconstantaslongasit'susedwithinit'sdesignparameters.Therewillbeminorvariationsinitsresistanceat
varioustemperaturesbutthechangewillbewithinapproximately23%ofit'sratedvalue.Withmagneticcomponents,many
differentparameterschangesignificantlywithchangesintemperature,frequencyandthe'load'placedonthematerialthat
makesupthecoreofthemagneticdevice.
Asyouprobablyknow,theresistanceofanincandescentlampisverylowwhenthefilamenthasnovoltageapplied.Forsome
12vlamps(brakelampfilamentforaSylvania2057lamp),it'saslowas1ohmcold.Ifthiswerearesistor,andyouapplied13v
toit,thecurrentdrawwouldbe13amps.Sincetheeffectiveresistanceofthefilamentincreaseswithitstemperature,thelamp
onlydrawsapproximately2.25ampsofcurrentwith13vapplied.Ifyouweretotrytodeterminethecurrentatlowervoltage
(wherethefilamentwouldn'tbequiteashot),youwouldeitherhavetomeasureitorlookupthecurrentdrawonagraph.This
issimilartothewaymagneticmaterialsfunctionwhichmeansthatgraphswillbeusedextensivelyforanynewdesign.Here,I'll
attempttoshowthebasiccalculationsbutI'llalsogiveyouthecomponentsyoucanuseforvariousbasicdesigns.Since
magneticsisn'tastrongpointforme,pleaseletmeknowifyoufinderrors.
Onemorething...Don'tgetdiscouraged.Withnocalculationsorcharts,therewillbeenoughinformationprovidedtoproducea
powerful,reliablepowersupply.
WindingLayout:
Thefollowinggraphicshowsabasic,simplewindingsschemeforapushpulltransformerliketheoneusedinthepowersupply
ofmanyamplifiers.Youcanseethetwohalvesoftheprimarywindings.Whenwindingtransformers,it'simportanttoevenly
distributethewindings.Ithelpspromotebettercouplingbetweentheprimaryandsecondarywindingswhichhelpsreduce
leakageinductance.Leakageinductanceisresponsibleformuchofthespikingthatyou'llseeonthewindingsofthetransformer
wheretheprimarywindingsconnecttothedrainsofFETs.


ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.


ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Ifyoufollowedthelinktothe'Transformer'pageofthesite,youknowthattheratioofprimaryturnstosecondaryturns
determinesthesecondaryvoltage(andthereforetheoutputvoltageofthepowersupply).Itwasalsostatedearlierthatthe
windingratioshouldn'tbemorethan20%overtherationeededtoproducethedesiredoutput.Havingahigherratiowillallow
thesupplytoproducethetargetoutputvoltagewithlowerinputvoltagebutitwillreduceefficiencyandcanmakethesupply
noisier(highfrequencynoise,mainlyaboveaudibilitybutcancauseproblems).I'dsuggestwindingittoaratiothatwillproduce
thedesiredoutputvoltagewithaninputvoltageofapproximately11v.Ifyouneedasecondaryvoltageof30vandyouuse11v
astheinputvoltage,youwillneedaratioofapproximately1:2.7.Iftheamplifieryou'reusingwiththesupplyhasamaximum
safesupplyvoltageof30vandtheinputvoltageforthepowersupplywillbemorethan11v(it'slikelytobeashighas14.5v),
youwouldthenusethepowersupplyregulationtolimittheoutputtoplus/minus30v.Ifindaratioof1:3themostuseful.The
windingslaydownnicelywiththe3strandsofprimarywindingsandyoucanget~750800wattsdrivingabridgedampinto2
ohms.750wattsofrealpower(nottheimaginarypowerthatisusedtoratesomeamplifiers)isenoughformostpeople.Youcan
usethefollowingcalculatortocalculatethenumberofwindings.

Thetransformerbelowiswoundwitha1:3ratio(countthewindings)buttheprimaryhasthreestrandsofwireforeachturn.As
youcansee,thesecondarywindingsareinterlacedbetweentheprimarywindings.Therearevacantareasonthecorebutit's

besttohavethewindingsascloseaspossible.Thisproducesthebestcouplingbetweenwindingsandhelpsreduceinductance
leakage.Sincethewindingsfortheprimaryandsecondarydonotwraparoundthecoreatthesamerate,it'snotpossibletoget
thewindingsintertwinedonthebottomofthecoreasshownhere.Whenwindingthetransformer,simplydoyourbesttogetthe
windingsontopofeachother.Inthedemobelow,clickthelinksintheboxinthelowerleftcorner.Theywillturnthewindings
onandofftoletyoubetterseethem.

Thefollowingimageshowsacorewiththeprimarywindings(only)woundontoit.Aspaceisleftbetweenthewindingssothat
thesecondarycanbewoundbetweenthem.IprefertowindtheseonestrandatatimebecauseIcanwindthemmoretightly.
Noticetherubberband.It'susedtopreventthewindingsfromshiftingwhenaddingtheotherwindings.Itmakesitmucheasier,
inmyopinion.Whenthetransformeriscompletedandinstalled,itwillberemoved.Notethebluelines.Thesearereference
lines.Theyare90apart.Thisgivesthepointwhereeachinitialprimarywindingwilllayonthecore.Thismakesitmucheasier
togetthewindingslaiddownproperly.

Whenyouinsertthewindingsintotheboard,it'simportantthatyoudosoproperly.Theimagebelowshowsthecorrectlayout.
Whileit'snotaproblemifyoumixuponeofthesamecolorwindingsinaparallelgroup,itisaseriousproblemifyoumixared
withagreen(lookingatthetextcolorsbelow).Sincemostpeopleusethesamecolorwireforallwindings,it'simportantthat
youuseamultimetertocheckforcontinuityforeachwindingbeforethey'reinsertedintotheboard.YoucanNOTcheckafter
they'reintheboard.Whenchecking,youwillcheckforcontinuitybetweenthetwowiresthatwillgointothetwothroughholes
markedP1.Youshouldread0ohmsbetweenthetwowiresthatgointotheP1holes.Thesamefortherestoftheholes.Ifthe
windingsaren'trigidlyheldinplace,youneedtobecarefulthatthewiresdon'tgetshuffledbetweenthetimeyouconfirm
continuityandthetimethey'reinsertedintotheboard.Wrappingarubberbandverytightlyaroundtheoutsideofthewindings
willhelppreventthemfrombeingshuffledwhileyou'recheckingcontinuityforeachwinding.Thismaynotseemimportantbutif
yougetaredandgreencrossedorapurpleandorangecrossed,thepowersupplywillNOTwork.It'sprobablybestifyoudon't
cuttheexcesswirefromthetransformerleadsuntilAFTERyouconfirmthatitproducesoutput.Ifyoucuttheleadsandyouhave
onecrossed,it'sVERYlikelythatyou'llhavetowindanewtransformer.Evenifyouleavetheleadslongenoughtogettheleads
intheproperlocation,it'slikelythatitwon'tbeeasyandit'sVERYlikelythatyou'lldoseriousdamagetotheboardwhentrying
toremoveit.Ifyou'recareful,youcaninstallthetransformer,makesuretheindividualwindingsarenottouchingandpowerup
thesupply.You'llneedtopushthewindingsagainstthesidesofthethroughholestomakesurethatthey'remakingcontact
withtheboard.Ifyouhavetoremoveatransformerbecauseit'simproperlyinstalled,it'sbesttocuttheleadsattheboardwitha
sharppairofflushcuttingpliersthenremovethestubsofthewindingsindividually.Thiswillhelpsavetheboardfromdamage.
IfyouhatewindingtransformersasmuchasIdo,you'lldoeverythingpossibletogetitinstalledproperly.

WireSelection:
Tominimizelossesathighcurrentflow,youneedtohaveaslittleDCresistanceintheprimarywindingsaspossible.Thismeans
youneedtheshortestlengthofwirepossible(foranygivendiameterofwire).Formostpowersupplytransformers,
approximately8turnsareusedfortheprimaryina4+4configuration.A4+4windingconfigurationmeansthatthereare4turns
ofwirearoundthecorethatareareconnectedbetweenthe12vpowersourceandthedrainsofthepowersupplyFET(s).TheDC
resistanceisatinyfractionofoneohm.Theinductance(withnocoreoraverylowpermeabilitycore)wouldbeminimaland
you'dhavetodriveitatVERYhighfrequenciestopreventexcessiveidlecurrentandtransistorheating(itwouldn'tbepracticalto
dowithoutthecore).Whenusingacorewithhighpermeability,theinductanceissignificantlygreatersoalowerfrequency
(20kHz30kHz)canbeused.Thelowerfrequencymakesitmucheasiertodesignapowersupplywithlowloss(verylittle
energywasted).
Thisparticulartransformeriswoundwithrelativelylargewirestrands.Somepeopleliketousemorestrandsofsmallerwire
(Litzwire)insteadoffewerstrandsoflargerwire.WhiletheLitzisbetter(moreefficient,lesslossintheformofheat)forvery
highfrequencyapplications,it'snotrequiredforsuppliesthatoperateatthefrequenciesofthissupply(~30kHz).Therewillbe
somelossat30kHzwith14gstrandsbutthelossisworthittomefortheincreasedeaseofwindingandstrippingwhenusing
hightemperaturewire.
Thesizeofthewire(ormoreaccurately,thetotalcrosssectionalareaofthecopperconductors)dependsontheamountof
currentthatwillflowthroughthewindings.Thereisn'tonespecificwiresizethatwillbeusedwithagivenamountofcurrent
flow.Theamountofcopper(crosssectionalarea)usedisdeterminedbyseveralparameters.Let'sstartwith500circularmils
peramp.Ifyoudon'tunderstandtheterm'circularmilsperamp',readthe'Wire'pagenow.Iftheprimarywindingsarerequired
topass2ampsandyouhavea'standard'thatrequires500cm/A,youwouldneed1000circularmilsofcopper.Thiscouldbeone
strandof20gwireor10strandsof30gwire(oranyothercombinationthatgivesyou1000circularmils).The500cm/Amaybe
consideredconservativebysomeandnotenoughbyothers.Thechoiceforthewireusedisuptothedesigner.Oneofthe
determiningfactorsinchoosingwiresizeisthetemperaturerise.Lesscopper(fewercm/A)willhavemoreresistancesothe

windingswillgeneratemoreheat.Morecopperwillruncoolerbutmaymakeitdifficulttogetthewindingsonthecore.Ifyou
wantedtouselesscopperandwerenotconcernedaboutthehigheroperatingtemperature,youmayhavetouseawirewithan
insulatingcoatingthat'sratedtooperateathighertemperature.The'normal'operationmaynotpushthewiretemperatureto
extremesbutyouhaveto(orshould)allowforextremeoperatingconditions(especiallywhenworkingwithcaramplifiers).With
caramplifiers,theownerswilldrivetheampintolowerimpedanceloadsthantheyshouldandwillhavetheampinthetrunkof
thevehiclewheretemperatureswillgetto150orhigherinthesummer.Thiscancausethetransformertorunhotterthan
normal.Allofthishastobeconsideredwhendesigningthetransformer.
WireInsulation:
Therearetwobasictypesofinsulationusedontransformersandinductors.Thetypemostcommonlyusedhasa'solder
strippable'coating.Thisallowsthecoatingtobestrippedwhentheterminalwindings(thewindingsthatconnecttothecircuit
board)areimmersedinmoltensolder.Thiswiremakesproductionlessexpensivebutcanfailifthewiregetstoohot.Thefact
thattheinsulationcanbestrippedmeansthathightemperaturescancausetheinsulationtobedegradedorburnedoff
completely.Wirewithinsulationthat'smadetowithstandhighertemperaturesisavailablebutitrequiresmoretimetoprepareit
tobesoldered.Thistypeofwireiscommonlyusedinenvironmentswherethereareextremeconditions(likeinsideofelectric
motors).Tostripthistypeofinsulation,youtypicallyusearotarystripperorahandheldscraper.Therotarystripperisquickbut
relativelyexpensive(~$1000).Thehandheldstripperisinexpensivebutittakespatiencetogetthewirestrippedproperly.You
canreadmoreaboutthevarioustypesofinsulationsHERE.
CoreSelection:
Coreselectionisimportantwhendesigningatransformer.Therearemanyvariablesthatplayapartintheselection.Asyou
know,wirehasresistance.Whenyoupasscurrentthroughthatresistance(throughthewire),thewirewilldissipateheat
(Joule'sLawP=I^2*R).Thegreaterthecurrent,thegreatertheheat.Toreducetheheat(willalsoreduceslossandtherefore
increasesefficiency),youincreasethecrosssectionofthecopperconductor(youusealargerconductorormoreconductorsin
parallel).Todeterminetheamountofcopperyouneed,youcanusethenumbercircularmilsofcopperperampofcurrent
(explainedonthe'Wire'pageofthesite).Therearealotoffactorsthatgointodeterminingthecircularmilsperamp.Ifthe
transformerisgoingtobewoundinmultiplelayerssothatsomelayersofwireareburiedunderothersandwon'tbeexposed
directly(sotheycan'tbecooledbyfreeair),you'llneedtousemorecm/A.Ifthewireyou'reusinghasalowtemperature
insulation,youneedtousemorecm/Athanyouwouldiftheinsulationisratedforhightemperatures.Ifthetransformerwill
continuouslybecooledbyforcedair(fancooled),thatreducesthenumberofcm/Athatyouneed.
Thenyouhavetoconsiderthedutycycleofthepowersupplyasawhole.ThisisnotthedutycycleofthePWMdrivewaveform.
Thisrelatestotheamountoftimethatthepowersupplyisdriventofullpoweroutput.Apowersupplythatcontinuouslydrives
itsoutputintosomethinglikeadummyloadresistor,wouldbeoperatingat100%dutycycle.Apowersupplydrivinganaudio
amplifierwouldbeoperatingatsomethingclosertoa50%dutycycle.Ifthatampwasdrivenintohardclippingforextended
periodsoftime,theeffectivedutycyclemaybenearer75or80%.
Sinceit'snotpracticaltobuildapowersupplyfor100%dutycycleifit'stobeusedforanaudioamplifier,youcanchoosethe
wiresizethat'sneededtosafelypass5075%ofthecurrentyou'dexpectatthemaximumcurrentdraw.Let'suse,asan
example,apowersupplythat'sdesignedtodeliverplus/minus50vofrailvoltagetotheaudioamplifierdrivinga2ohmload.
Thiswouldmeanthattheamplifierwouldhaveapeakoutputofapproximately1250watts.Ifthepowersupplyisapproximately
85%efficient,you'llhavetodrawapproximately1470wattsfromthe12vsupply.That'sapproximately123ampsofcurrent.If
youwantedtouse300cm/A,thatwouldrequireapproximately36,750circularmilsofcopper(approximatelyequaltoa4g
wire).That'ssimplynotpracticalforanaudioamplifier.Ifyouuseonly50%ofthat(foranampthat'sgoingtoloadthesupplyto
approximatelya50%dutycycle),thecopperwouldonlyneedtobeapproximately17,000circularmils.Thissupplyuses
approximately12,000circularmilsofcopper.Thismaybeabitbelowthe300cm/Athatyou'dnormallyusebutitwasdesigned
tobea600wattpowersupply(butcanandwillproducemore),thewireusedcanwithstandgreaterheatthanthesolder
strippablewire,thewireisgenerallywellexposedtotheair(notburiedunderotherlayersofwire)andIrecommendusing
forcedaircooling.Alloftheseallowthethreestrandsof14gwiretobesufficientandreliable.
OK,nowthatyoubasicallyknowhowmuchcopperyouneed(consideringthedutycycle,maximumpowerandcurrentdraw),
youhavetohaveacorethatcanholdtheprimaryandsecondarywindings.Manytimes,theprimaryandsecondarywillhave
approximatelythesameamountofcopperontheprimaryasonthesecondary.Ifyouhaveatransformerwitha1:3ratio,the
lengthofwireforthesecondarywillbethreetimesaslongasthewireontheprimarybutthecurrentpassingthroughitwillbe
1/3asmuchsothecircularmilsofthesecondarywillbe1/3thatoftheprimary.Forthissupply,thesecondaryusesasingle
14gwirewheretheprimaryusesthreeparallel14gconductors.Whatthismeansisthatthecorewillhavetoholdapproximately
doublethecopperusedfortheprimaryalone.Fortoroidalcores,the'windingfactor'isgenerally0.2(20%ofthewindowarea
filledwithcopper).Itcanbemoreorlessbutthisistypicallywhat'susedinthevariouscalculations.
Thewindoworwindingareaistheareainsidethetoroidalcore.Theformulaisshownbelow.Thisdimensionisgenerallygiven
asmm^2butyou'llsometimesseeitgivenincircularmils.

Ifweusethedimensionsofthe44916coreusedintheprototype,you'llfindthatithasawindowareaof1,774,224circular
mils.Theinsidediameterofthecoreis1.332inches.1.332inchesis1332mils.1332milsx1332milsis1,774,224circular
mils.Thistransformerhasatotaloffiftyfour14gstrandspassingthroughthecenterofthecore.14gwirehas4121circular
mils.4121*54=225,534.225,534/1,774,224=0.125.That'sawindingfactorofonly12.5%.Thatmeansthecoreisabitlarger
thanitneedstobe.Thisisn'tamajorconcernhere.Ifthiswasacommercialdesignwherethebeancounterswerelookingfor
thecheapestpossiblesolution,thenyou'dlikelyselectaslightlysmaller(andlessexpensive)core.Aswaspreviouslymentioned,
a'ferrite'(akapowerferrite)materialisthetypetypicallypreferredfor'pushpull'powersupplies.Themostcommonlyused
materialshavean'initialpermeability'of2000to3000(typically).Ipreferthe'Pmaterial'coresbutoftenusethe'Fmaterial'
becausethey'reeasiertofind.Thesearethematerialdesignationsusedby'MagneticsIncorporated'.Othercoremanufacturers
usenumbersdesignators(like77materialproducedbyFairRite).
Above,theterm'permeability'wasused.Thisvalueisanindicationoftherelativeamountofinductancethatyou'llgetwhenyou
usethematerialasacoreinacoilofwire(moreinductance/turn).Initialpermeabilityisthepermeabilitythatthematerialwill
havewhenalowlevelsignal(lowfluxdensity)isusedtodeterminethepermeability.Whenthecoreissubjectedtoastronger
magneticfield,thepermeabilitydrops.
Below,youcanseethedatasheetforthe'P'material.Ifyoulookatthecorelossvstemperaturecurve,youcanseewhyIprefer
thismaterial.Youmaywanttodesignyourpowertransformerstooperateinthetemperaturerangewherethelossisthelowest.
Fmaterialisgoodbutthelosstendstoincreaseinthisrangewhichcanmaketheproblemworse.Thismeansthatthe
transformermustbedesignedabitmoreconservatively(morecoppertoreducecopperlosses,lowerfluxdensitytoreducecore
losses...).

FETSelection:
FETselectionisanotheritemthatdependsonalotofvariables.ThereisnearlyaninfinitenumberofchoicesforFET.Ipreferthe
IRF3205s.They'reruggedandrelativelyeasytodrive.Thereareothersratedformuchhighercurrentbutthey'remuchmore
difficulttodrive.Ifyouwanttoexperimentwiththem,that'sfinebutI'dstronglysuggestthatyougetitworkingwiththe
IRF3205sandwhenyouhaveaworking,reliablepowersupply,thenyoucanexperimentwithotherFETs.
Ifyou'regoingtobuildyourownsupplyanddesignyourownboard,whenusingtheIRF3205sI'dsuggestthatyouusefour
FETstotalfor400wattsorless.Eventhough2wouldprobablybeenough,it'sbeenmyexperiencethatusingonly2FETsmakes

thesupplylessreliablethanusingfourFETs(evenifthetotalcurrentratingisapproximatelythesame).Forevery200watts
more,usetwomoreIRF3205s.Thiswillproduceareliablesupplyifthey'redrivenproperly.
OnevariablethatwillrequiremoreFETsistheheatsinkandtheinsulator.IgenerallyuseheatsinksthatallowtheFETstobe
clampeddirectlytotheheatsinkwithoutaninsulator.Theheatsinksareheavilyanodizedsotheanodizing(whichisan
aluminumoxide,aninsulator)actsasanelectricalinsulatorbuttransfersheatveryefficiently.Ifyouusesomethinglikesilicone
rubberinsulatorpads,thereareevenmorevariables.Thesilpadthermalefficiencyvariesbyitscomposition.Italsovariesby
theclampingforce(morepressure=betterheattransfer).Micainsulatorswiththermalcompound(whitegrease)isagood
insulatorasisKaptonfilm(alsowithheatsinkcompound).IftheheatsinkhasalotofmassdirectlyundertheFETs,theheatsink
willtransfertheheatratherquicklytothefins.Ifthealuminumisrelativelythin(lessmass)behindthetransistor,theheatsink
willhaveagreaterthermalresistanceandwon'ttransfertheheattothefinsasefficientlywhichwillmeanthattheFETswillrun
hotter.Sincethecurrentratingdropsasthetemperatureincreases,theheatsinkwiththegreatermassbehindthetransistors
willtypicallyproduceamorereliablesupply(allelsebeingequal).

Whatdowehavesofar?...
Coresize:
Abovethe44916or44920corewasrecommended.It'seasilyusableforpowersuppliesinthe600800wattrange.For
powersuppliesuptoapproximately400watts,youcanusethe44615core.Ifyouthesearenotavailabletoyou,Lookupthe
dimensionsofthecoresonTHISdatasheetanduseaferritecoreofsimilarsizewithaninitialpermeabilityofatleast2000
andasaturationfluxdensityof40005000.
Corematerial:
Pmaterialis,inmyopinion,thebestoverallchoicebutFmaterialand77materialarealsoOK.
OscillationFrequency:
Earlyinthetutorial,itwassuggestedthatyouuseanoscillationfrequencyof30kHz.FortheTL594,a20kohmtimingresistor
anda1000pfcapacitorwillgiveyouapproximately30kHz.TheGoldenMaxcapacitorsfromDigiKeyarethecapacitorsI
generallyuse.TheyhaveanNPO/COGtemperaturecoefficientwhichmeansthattheyhaveessentiallynodriftinvalueasthe
temperaturechanges.Ifyouuseacapacitorthathasahightemperaturecoefficientandthesupplydesignismarginal(where
thetransformerisclosetosaturation),asignificantchangeintemperaturecouldcausethesupplytofail.
WireSize:
Wecoveredwiresizeanditwasstatedthatthissupplyuses3strandsof14gfortheprimary.Ifyoubuildasupplyfor
approximately600wattsandthewireisratedforhightemperatures(200c)andthereisairflowoverthetransformer,this
amountofcopperwillproduceareliabletransformer.For400watts,twoparallelstrandsof14gwillbesufficient.Again,ifyou
wanttobuildthesupplyabitmoreconservatively,youcanusemorecopper.Ifyou'redesigningit,youcanuseasmuch
copperasyouwant.
Rectifiers:
Inthissupply,fourMUR820sarebeingused.Thiscanbeusedforanysupplyupto800wattsandbereliable.Ifyouneed400
wattsorless,theFEP16DTandFEP16DTAwillbesufficient.
FETs:
I'drecommendtheIRF3205s.For600800watts,atotalofeightIRF3205swillbesufficientifyou'reusinggoodquality
insulatorsandagoodheatsink.Forupto600watts,atotalofsixIRF3205swillbesufficient.For400wattsorless,atotalof
fourIRF3205swillbesufficient.
DriverTransistorsfortheEmitterFollowerPairs:
Inthissupply,theBD139andBD140areused.Thecurrentcapacityoftheseismuchgreaterthanwhat'sneededtodrivefour
FETs(eachpairdriveshalfofthetotalFETs).Ifyou'rebuildingasupply,youcouldusetheBD139/140oryoucoulduse
somethingliketheMPSA06andMPSA56.TheA06/56willeasilydrivefourIRF3205s.
GateResistors:
Thissupplyhastwostagesofgateresistors.IfyouwanttosimplifythesupplyandareusingIRF3205s,youcanusejumpers
inplaceoftheresistorsconnecteddirectlytotheemittersoftheemitterfollowerpairsanduse47ohmresistors(inthe
locationsadjacenttothepowersupplyFETs).
SaturationFluxDensity:
Whendesigningatransformer,youhavetolookupthe'saturationfluxdensity'parameterofthecorematerial.Thistellsyouthe
maximumfluxdensitythatthematerialcanwithstand.Youhavetowindthecoresothatthefluxdensitywillnotreachthe
saturationfluxdensity.Generally,thefluxdensityislimitedtoapproximately1/2ofthesaturationfluxdensity.Thatensures
thatthecorewillneverreachsaturation.Ifthecorereachessaturation,there'saverygoodchancethatthepowersupplywillgo
upinflames.ForPmaterial,thesaturationfluxdensityis5000gauss.Windingittoproduceamaximumfluxdensityof2500
gausswillpreventitfromeversaturating.Tocalculatethenumberofturnsrequiredtokeepthesaturationfluxdensityto~2500
gauss,wewillneedthe'effectivecrosssectionalarea'ofthecore.Thefollowinggraphicshowshowit'scalculated.It'salso
availableonthedatasheetforthecorebeingused.
CoreDimensionalProperties:
Muchofthefollowinginformationisprovidedinthedatasheetsforvariouscoresbutifyoudon'thavethedatasheet,the
followinginformationmaybehelpful.
EffectiveCrossSectionalArea:
Thecalculationsfromthemeasureddimensionswillbeslightlygreaterthantheactualeffectiveareaduetotheradiibutthiswill
getyoucloseenoughformostcalculations.Theeffectivecrosssectionalareaforthe44916coreusedinthispowersupplyis
1.16cm2.

MagneticPathLength:
Themagneticpathlengthisthelengththroughthecenterofthetoroidalcore.

FluxDensity:

Theformulatocalculatethefluxdensityisshowninthefollowinggraphic.Forthisexample,theZP44916TCfromMagInc
(MagneticsIncorporated)willbeused.Thiscorehasaneffectivecrosssectionalareaof1.16cm2.Thepowersupplyhasan
operatingfrequencyof30kHz.Thetransformerhasatotalof8primaryturns.Theappliedvoltageis24v(twicethecharging
systemvoltage).Youcanuse2*13or2*14ifyou'dlikesincethatwilllikelybeclosertotheactualchargingsystemvoltage.If
youdon'tunderstandhowyougettwicethechargingsystemvoltage,gobackuptothedemothatshowedtheprimaryand
secondarywindingsbeingdriven.

Basicmathdictatesthatincreasinganythingonthebottomofthefractionreducesthemagneticfluxdensity.Increasinganything
onthetopofthefractionincreasesthemagneticfluxdensity.Usingthissimplerelationship,youcaneasilyseehowallofthe
variablesarerelated.Let'ssayyouhadaworkingpowersupplydesignedfor12vbutyouwantedtouseiton18v.Ifthe
transformerwasVERYconservativelydesigned,youmaybeabletosimplyuseiton18vwithnoseriousproblems.Thecore
wouldhavemoreloss(wouldoperateathighertemperatures)butitmaynotcauseanyproblems(otherthanthesecondary
outputvoltagebeingtoohigh).Ifthetransformerdesignwasnotsoconservative,youwouldhavetomakeafewchanges.
Changingtheoperatingfrequencywouldhelpbutyou'dlikelyhavetochangethevalueofthegateresistorstoensurethatthe
FETsweredrivenproperly.Increasingthenumberofprimaryturnswouldrequireadifferenttransformerbutitwouldreducethe
fluxdensity.Thenumberofturnsonthesecondarywouldalsoneedtobechangedtokeepthesecondaryvoltagefrom
increasing.Replacing/rewindingthetransformerisprobablythebestoption.
Althoughitprobablywouldn'thavebeenaproblemwhenoperatingthepowersupplyfroma18vpowersource,theFETscould
possiblybedamagediftheactualchargingsystemvoltagewouldhavebeen20+vwiththeenginerunning.Thegatesofthe
typesofFETsusedinmostpowersuppliesaresusceptibletodamageiftheyaredrivenwithmorethan20v(withrespecttothe
sourceterminaloftheFET).Lossesinthetransistorsinthedrivecircuitwouldprobablyhavebeensufficienttopreventdamage
fromexcessivevoltageonthegatesbutthisissomethingyouhavetothinkaboutwhendesigningsuppliesthatwillbeusedwith
morethanthe12vthat'susedinmostautomobiles.
Onemorenote...It'softendesirabletolimitthegatedrivevoltageto~10v.Thereisnorealadvantageofusingmorethan10v
anditmalesitmoredifficulttodrivethegatewhengreatervoltageisused.
CoreSize:
Don'tselectanoverlylargecore.Ifthecoreistoolarge,thereislikelytobepoorcouplingbetweentheprimaryandsecondary
windings.Whenthereispoorcouplingbetweenthewindings,you'relikelygoingtoseelargespikesonthedrainsofthepower
supplyFETs,particularlywhenthepowersupplyisdrivenhard.Whilethisisn'tgoingtocausethesupplytofail,itisasourceof
RFI/EMIandneedstobewellcontrolled.Ifyoucanreducetheleakageinductanceasmuchaspossible,itwillbeeasierto
controlthespikes.

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SelectingtheRequiredCircuits
Noteveryonewillneedallofthefeaturesonthisboard.Somepeoplewillonlyneedanunregulatedpowersupplytoproducerail
voltage.ThismeansthattheywillnotneedtoinstallthecomponentsfortheICregulators,thepreregulatorsorthegreater
thanrailsupplies.Asanexample,thefollowingimageshowsthebasiccomponentsneededforbasicoperation.Thiswouldbean
unregulatedpowersupplywiththermalprotection.Theimagequalityappearstobelowbutifyouzoomin(rightclick),youwill
beabletoseetheimageathigherresolution.Theschematicforthesimplifiedversionisjustbelowtheboardlayoutimage.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Thefollowingimageshowsthepowersupplyasabovebutthisoneincludesthecomponentsforregulationofthemainrails.If
youlookattheheatsinkmountedcomponents,you'llseethattherearenoneontheupperrightcorneroftheboard.Sincethe
heatsinkmountedcomponents,tosomedegree,providesupportfortheboard,youshouldinstallatransistorinthenegativepre
regulatorlocationevenifthey'renotbeingused.Thiswillhelptakethestressoffoftheleadsofothercomponents(specifically,

therectifiers)andincreasereliability.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

Theimagebelowshowsallofthecomponents.Thisiswhatthosewhoareusingchipampswilllikelybuildorampswithpreamp
circuitswillbuild.

ClickHEREtoopenthisinanewwindow.RightclicktoZoomin.Leftclicktoscroll.

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Changesontherev.3Boards
THISistheEagleboardfilefortherev.3boards(notfullytested).DownloadCadsoftEagletoviewthefile.Youcanhavethis
boardprodducedbyaboardhouseusingthisfiletogeneratethegerberandexcelonfilesfortheboardhouse.Sendmephotosof
thecompletedboardsifyoubuildit.THISisapartslist.
ActiveClamp:
SometransformersmayhaveleakageinductancewhichwillproducevoltagespikesasthepowersupplyFETsswitchoff.This
canoftenbereducedbywindingthetransformertoproducebettercouplingbetweentheprimary/secondarywindingsorby
tweakingthevalueofthegateresistors.Ifthatdoesn'tsufficientlyreducethespikes,thepowersupplyFETscanbeturnedon
brieflytoclampit.ThisisdonebyusingaZenerdiodetodrivetheFETson.TheZenerhastohaveavoltageratingthat'sat
leasttwicethemaximumpossibleB+voltage.AsthevoltageontheprimarywindingsspikesabovetheZenervoltage(plusa
fewvoltstoovercomethethresholdofdiodesandtransistors),theZenerbeginstoconductwhichturnstheFETsonandthey
clampthevoltage.
14gJumpers:
Whenthesupplyisdriventoabove700wattsforextendedperiodsoftime,thecoppertracesthatfeedtheprimarycentertap
onthepowertransformerwouldgethotterthantheyshould.This,amongotherthings,causedheatingofthefiltercapacitors
(whichweresittingabovethetrace).Two14gjumperswereaddedtohelpreducethevoltagedroppingacrossthetraceand
thereforereducetheheatingofthefiltercapacitors.Thesearen'tneededunlessthesupplywillneedtoprovidemorethan

600watts.Theyaretobeinstalledonthebottomoftheboard.Thesoldermaskhasbeeneliminatedunderthetracessothat
youcansolderthemtotheboardforthelengthofthejumper.Thiswillfurtherreducethevoltagedroppingonthistrace.
TerminalBlockJumpers:
Theterminalblocksonthissupplyaremarginalforuseatornear800wattscontinuous(audio).Tohelpreducethelossand
heatingintheblock'slargeterminals,wirejumpersareprovidedtoconnecttheterminalstothecircuitboard.Theoriginal
jumpersweresmall(22g).Thenewthroughholesallowyoutousewireaslargeas14g.
Onanamplifier(oranycommerciallyavailableproduct),thereareendplatestosupporttheterminalblocks.Onthissupply,
therewon'tbeanysupportunlessyoumakethem.Aswellasincreasingthecurrentcapacityoftheblocks,thejumpersalso
providessupportforthelongterminals.Thiswillpreventtheboardfrombeingdamagedevenifthewiresareconnectedand
disconnectedmanytimes.
CircuitChangeonFuse:
Aswasmentionedearlier,thefuseswereinitiallyconnectedbeforetheoutputfiltercapacitors.Thiswasdonetomaximizethe
efficiencyofthecapacitorsontheoutput.It,however,puttheoutputcapacitorsatriskofblowingorbeingdamagedifoneof
thefusesblewandtheloadwasconnecteddirectlyacrossthetworails(versesconnectedbetweentherailandground).On
therev.3boards,thefuseswillbeafterthefiltercapstoprotectthem.
PrimarySnubbers:
Onearlierboards,theprimarysnubberresistorwasa3w.Thesnubbercapacitorwasrelativelysmall.Toallowbuildersmore
flexibilityinthesnubberdesign,thesizeoftheresistorsandcapacitorswereincreased.Thisallowsthebuildertousea
snubberthatcanbetterdamptheringing.Theresistorsweremovedinparallelwiththeheatsinktoallowtheresistorstobe
cooledbytheheatsinkifdesired.Thebuilderwouldusethermalgappad(likethatusedforvideocards)topromoteheat
transferfromtheresistortothesink.
SecondarySnubber:
Onpreviousboards,therewasnosnubberacrossthesecondarywindings.Therev.3boardincludesasecondarysnubber.
CoolingFanConnector:
Thepreviousversionsoftheboardhadthesameterminalsasthefuseholders.TheseweretobeusedwithStaKon
connectors.Thisprovedtobeimpracticalsotheconnectorwaschangedtoallowtheuseofcomputerfanswith3terminal
connectors(verycommonandveryinexpensive).
FeedbackTapforPWMRegulation:
Thefeedbacktakeoffpointsweremovedtothefiltercapacitorsideofthefilterinductor.Thisprovidesamorestableregulator
whentheregulatedvoltageissignificantlylessthanthenonregulatedoutputvoltage.
Silkscreen:
Thesilkscreenforthenamesofthecomponentshasbeencompletelyredone.Theoriginalsilkscreensimplyhadsequential
numbers.thismadeitdifficulttoinsertcomponentswithoutrenumbering.Sinceit'sbettertohavecomponentsforagiven
circuitwithnumbersthatweresimilar,adifferentnamingschemewasused.Thenamesofthecomponentsindicatetheiruse
inthecircuit.Forexample,CPR1CPR9arecapacitorsontheprimarysideofthepowersupply.CSEC1CSEC4areonthe
secondarysideofthepowersupply.
SecondSetofShutdownPads:
Therev.3boardsallowforasecondthermalswitchtoshutdownthepowersupply.Thiswilltypicallybeusedforprotectionof
theprimaryfiltercapacitors.
FilmCapacitorAdded:
Ontherev.2board,therewasonlya1kohmresistorbetweentheprimaryandsecondarygrounds.Thiswasinsufficientto
shunthighfrequencynoisefromthesecondaryground.A0.1uFcapacitorwasaddedtobettercoupletheprimaryand
secondarygrounds.Tobeclear,thenoisewasonlyanannoyance.Therewasn'tanynoisewhenyouproperlygroundedthe
scopetothesecondaryground.Thecapsimplyallowsyoutousetheprimarygroundalonewhenusingyourscopetoviewthe
variouspointsonthesecondary.
PadsAddedforPreRegulatorOutput:
Forthosewhodon'tneedtheL7815/7915voltageregulatorsbutneedthepreregulatoroutputandwanttousethe
terminals,asetofsolderpadshavebeenadded.Youwilluse14gwiretomaketheconnectionbetweenthepreregulator
outputandtheterminalblock.It'sEXTREMELYimportantthatyoudon'tmakethisconnectioniftheL7x15regulatorsare
installed.
AdditionalLowVoltageProtection:
AsecondZenerdiodehasbeenaddedtotheremoteturnoncircuit.ThisoneasbeenaddedbetweenthecollectorofQR1and
thebaseofQR2.IftheB+voltagedropstoolow,QR2willswitchoffandthePWMICwillloseitspowersource.Thisistohelp
protecttheswitchingpowersupplyiftheB+voltagefeedingthepowersupplydropstoolow.Insomeinstances,thiscan
causealatchupoftheFETsandcausethemtofail.

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AssemblyNotes
ComponentPolarity:
Resistorsandfilmcapacitorshavenopolarityandcanthereforebeinstalled'eitherway'.However,ifyouhavemultiple
resistorsofthesamevaluethatarephysicallyparallelontheboard,itmaylookabitbettertoinstallthemwiththeir
markingsaligned.
Diodes(includingLEDsLightEmittingDiodes)andelectrolyticcapacitorsmustbeinstalledcorrectly.Ifyouinstall
electrolyticcapacitorswithreversedpolarity(backwards),theywilleitheroverheatandvent(sprayingboiledelectrolyte,
whichiscorrosive)ortheywillexplode.Ifswitchingdiodes(likethoseintheremoteturnoncircuitareinstalledwith
reversepolarity,itwillgenerallysimplymakethecircuitinoperative.Ifrectifierdiodesareinstalledwithreversepolarity,
theycancausethepolarizedcapacitorstobereversepolarizedandfail.ForZenerdiodes,installingthemreversedcan
causeexcessivecurrentdraw.IfLEDsareinstalledwithreversepolarity,theywillnotilluminateandcouldpossiblybe
damaged.
Wheninstallingelectrolyticcapacitors(oranypolarizedcapacitor),thepositiveterminalgoesinthethroughholewiththe
squarepad.
Wheninstallingdiodes,thesquaresolderpadisthecathodeendofthediode(thestripedendforZeners,switchingdiodes
andrectifierdiodes).
FortransistorsandICs,thesquarepadispin1.TheimageintheTL594sectionshowsthebasicnumberingschemethat
appliestomostallICs.
CleaningSolderConnections:
Whenassemblingorrepairingelectronics,thesolderwillleavefluxontheboard.Thefluxisnecessarytogetagood
connectionbut,dependingonthesolder/fluxbeingused,thefluxwillneedtoberemoved.Someofitisslightlycorrosive
(evenrosinfluxcanbecorrosiveintime).Manytimes,you'llwanttocleanthefluxsimplytoallowyoutoinspectthe
connections.There'snoneedtouseexpensive,specialtyfluxremovers.Acetoneisanexcellentsolventforremovingtheflux.
It'sinexpensive,evaporatesquicklyandreadilycutsthroughtheflux.Toapplyittolargerareas,atoothbrush(oneNOTmade
oftransparentplastic)doesagoodjob.Forsmallerareas,itcanbeappliedwithcottonswab.
Whenusingacetone,it'simportantthatyoudosoinanareawithadequateventilation.It'salsoimportantthatyoureadand
adheretothewarnings/instructionsonthelabel.It'saveryusefulsolventandcompletelysafeifusedproperly.
Soldering:
Whensoldering,you'llneedgoodtoolstodoagoodjob.Forsoldering,it'sdifficulttobeattheWellerWES51.Ithasawide
rangeofavailabletipsandhasenoughpowertosoldervirtuallyanythingonaprojectlikethis.Ifyouwillhavetopurchase
solder,Kester44isagreatchoice.Thefluxisnoncorrosivesoitdoesn'thavetoberemoved.Ifyou'veneverusedagood
solderingiron(RadioShackironsarenotgoodirons,sodon'tusethemasareference),you'llbepleasantlysurprisedathow
mucheasieritistoassemblealargeprojectwhenyoursolderingironworksasitshould.
TipCleaning:
Manypeopleusethesponge(wet)thatcomeswithasolderingirontocleanthetipofthesolderingiron.Ididitatonetime
anditseemedthatthetipsdidn'tlastaslongastheydonow.Inowcleanthetiponacopperwoolpad(the'pure'copperpot
scrubbersworkwellandarereadilyavailable).
Whenthesurfaceofthetiphasbeendamaged(duetocontactwithplasticorfromage),theRadioShacktipcleanerworks
well.Turntheirontemperaturedownthepointwhereitjustbarelymeltsthecleaneranditwillworkbest.Ifthetipistoo
hot,thecleanerwillboiloffrapidlyandwillnotcleanaswell.
Desoldering:
Whendoingassemblywork,youWILLneedtoremovesolderfromconnectionsforvariousreasons.Therearetwotoolsthat
makethiseasier.Thefirstisagooddesolderingpump.TheEdsynDS017isthebestbangforthebuckthatI'vefound.The
othertoolisdesolderingbraid.It'simportantthatyouusegoodqualitybraidthat'simpregnatedwithflux.Don'tbuybraid
fromanyplacethathasalowturnover.Braidthat'soldwillhaveoxidizedandwillnotreadilywickthesolder.Ifyoudofind
thatyourbraidhasoxidized,youcanuseitwithpasteorliquidfluxtomakeitmoreefficientlywickthesolderfromtheboard.
TransformerInstallation:
Whenstrippingtheleadsofthetransformer,it'sveryimportantthatyouremove100%oftheinsulationfromtheterminals.
Leavingevenatinytraceoftheinsulationcancausethesolderconnectiontooverheatandfailduetotheincreased
resistanceofthesolderconnection.Thisisespeciallyimportantontheprimarywindingswherehighcurrentflowcancause
significantheattobeproducedinasolderconnectionthathastoomuchresistance.Ifthereisanyinsulationonthewire
(whereitneedstobesoldered),it'svirtuallyimpossibletoremoveitaftersolderhasbeenapplied.Ifyoudon'tremoveit
andtheconnectionsoverheat,itcancausetheboardtobeirreparablydamaged.
Donotstriptheleadsuntilyou'rereadytoinstallthetransformer.Thecopperwilloxidizerelativelyquickly,makingitmore
difficulttogetthesoldertoflowreadilyontothecopper.
Wheninsertingtheleadsintotheboard,youwillwanttobeabletoseeatleast1/16"ofcleanlystrippedcopperonthetop
(components)sideoftheboard.
Whensolderingtheleads,itmaybeeasiertogetthesoldertoflowproperlyifyouuseadditionalsolderflux.Brushitonto
theleadsbeforeinsertingthemintotheboard.Tosoldertheleadsproperly,youwilllikelyneedatleasta50wattsoldering
iron.Thetypicalcheapsolderingironprobablywon'twork.Youwillalmostcertainlyneedagoodqualityironwithagood
(preferablynew)tip.Ifyoudon'thaveagoodqualitysolderingironbutyouhaveseveralcheaperirons,youcanuse
multiplesolderingironstoheatthesolderconnections.Whensoldering,ifyouhavesufficientheat,thesolderwillreadily
flow(likewater)aroundtheleads,intothethroughholesandontothetopofthecircuitboard(whereitwillreadilyflow
ontothecopperwireonthetopoftheboard).Aftersolderingtheleads,cleanallofthefluxfromaroundtheleads(topand
bottom)andinspectthesolderconnectionswithalightedmagnifyingglass.Ifthereisanyleadthat'snotproperlysoldered,
applymorefluxandresoldertheconnection.
InstallationofSnubberResistors:
Thesnubberresistorscanrunhot.Topreventdamagefromlongtermheatingofthecircuitboard,youshouldinstallthemso

thatthey'reisatleast1/2"clearancebetweentheresistorbodyandthecircuitboard.Thiswillmaketheleadslongerand
theywillnotbeabletoconducttheheattothesolderpads.
ProtectionResistors:
ResistorsRB1RB3(refertoschematicdiagram)are1ohm1/4wresistors.Theironlypurposeistoactasafuseifthereisa
shortinthecircuitthey'reprotecting.Ihaven'ttriedmanydifferent1ohmresistorsbutthestandardcarbonfilmandmetal
filmresistorsIhaveopencleanlywithoutburning(noevidenceofoverheating,nosmoke...).Youmaywanttoopenonethat
youhavetoseeifitburnscleanly.Connectittoyour12vpowersupply(powersupplyoff).Placeitinaglasscontaineror
othernonconductive,nonflammablecontainerandturnthepowersupplyon.Itshouldopenwithoutsmoking.Ifitdoesn't,
youshouldprobablyorderaflameproofresistororusea1amppicofuseintheirplace.Theseresistors(orfuses,ifyoudecide
tousethem)willsavealotoftimeforpeoplewholiketoexperimentwithdifferentconfigurationsbecausetheywillopenand
protectmoreexpensivecomponentsthatwilltypicallybemoretimeconsumingtoreplace.

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Testing
InitialTesting:
Whenassemblingthispowersupply,youshouldnotinstallthepowersupplyFETsuntilyou'vetestedthedrivecircuit.Withall
ofthepowersupplydrivecomponentsinstalledandthesupplypoweredup,youshouldreadapproximately5vDConthegate
solderpadforeachofthepowersupplyFETs.The5visn'tDCbutthat'swhatmostmultimeterswillreadwhensettoDC
voltageandthesignalisa50%dutycyclesquarewavewithanamplitudeofapproximately10v.ThetwoLEDsnearthe
emitterfollowerpairsshouldalsobelit.ThiswillindicatethatthedrivesignalisanACsignalandnotstraightDC.Tohelp
protectthepowersupplyboardwhenyoupoweritupforthefirsttime,youshouldhavea3ampATC/ATOfuseintheB+line.
Ifa3ampATC/ATOfuseblows,thereisaproblemthatneedstoberesolved.
ClampingtheSemiconductorstotheHeatsink:
AfterthepowersupplyFETsareinstalledinthecircuit,youshouldalwayshaveALLheatsinkmountedsemiconductors
clampedtightlytotheheatsinkwhenthepowersupplyispoweredup.EvenifyouhaveacurrentlimiterorafuseintheB+
line,thepowersemiconductorscanfailifthey'renottightlyclampedtotheheatsink.UnlessyoulikereplacingFETsforno
goodreason,clampthesemiconductorstotheheatsink.Withagoodheatsink,ittakesonlyaminutetoclamp/unclampthe
semiconductorsifyouneedtomakeachangeinacomponentvalue.
TestingwiththePowerSupplyFETsintheCircuit:
AfterinstallingthepowersupplyFETs,thefirsttimeyouapplypoweryoushouldhaveacurrentlimiterintheB+linefeeding
thepowersupply.A2ohm,50wattresistorisagoodcurrentlimiter.YoucanalsouseaheadlampliketheSylvaniaH6054.If
youdon'thaveacurrentlimiter,youshouldhavea10ampATC/ATOfuseintheB+line.Thiswillhelpprotectthepower
supplyFETsifthereisaproblem.
LEDIndicators:
Thegreen(orwhatevercoloryouchose)'remote'LEDshouldilluminateifyouhavethepowersupplyfullypoweredup
(includingremotevoltage).TheLEDsneartheoutputterminalsfortherailvoltagewillilluminatewhenthepowersupplyis
fullypoweredupandthefusesarenotblown.TheLEDsneartheterminalsfortheregulatedoutputvoltagewillonly
illuminateiftheL7815/7915regulatorsareinstalled(noteveryonewillneedthemsosomepeoplewon'tinstallthe
regulators).

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PerryBabin2000Present
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