Switching regulator
Switching regulators as a term in electrical engineering or electronics denotes techniques for voltage and / or current conversion as the basis for powering electrical devices and assemblies with the aid of a periodically operating electronic switch and at least one energy storage device.
The switching regulators include:
- Buck converter or buck converter (engl. Buck regulator / converter ) generates at the output a lower DC voltage as at the entrance.
- Up-converter or boost converter (engl. Boost regulator / converter ) generates at the output a higher DC voltage than at the input.
- Inverse converter (Buck-Boost): Can generate a higher or lower DC voltage at the output than at the input, but this is inverted.
- SEPIC converter : A circuit combination of step-down and step-up converter , characterized by a capacitor as an additional energy store.
- Ćuk converter : circuit combination of step-down and step-up converter, inverting, characterized by a capacitor as an additional energy store.
- Switching power supplies (SMPS for short, from switched-mode power supply ) as a generic term for clocked power supply assemblies from the mains voltage .
- DC chopper : not galvanically isolated DC voltage converters, often without feedback / regulation
- DC-DC converter (engl. DC / DC converter ) generate preamble for both potential-isolating and non potential-isolating assemblies consisting of a (variable) DC voltage to another.
Also charge controllers for batteries , for example in alternators and laptops , are usually switching regulator to enable high efficiency. However, the requirements for control accuracy and speed are considerably lower.