Circuits & Schematics Supply

The key part of any electronic device is the power supply. Any instability or malfunction of the power supply part causes the device to stop working or demonstrate weird behavior. In this article, I introduced an AC/DC flyback switching power ...

Using a blue LED can pose problems when available power-supply voltages don't meet or exceed the LED's 3 V forward-voltage drop. This Design Idea shows how to drive a blue LED from a 3 V battery or another power supply. The circuit in ...

AC loads are everywhere around us because at least home appliances are supplied with the mains power. Therefore, we always face the situations that we want to have full control (dimming) over an AC load such as a lamp, a motor, vacuum cleaner etc. ...

The challenge of improving analog/digital accuracy by preventing amplifier saturation in systems supplied with only a single logic-level power rail has been receiving a lot of activity and design creativity recently. Voltage inverters generating ...

In electrical heating applications, resistive heaters are powered through phase angle-controlled SCR/triac circuits to vary the applied voltage/power to maintain the required temperature. Phase angle control produces a lot of harmonics leading to ...

Although adequate for undemanding applications, the circuit suffers from several drawbacks which may limit its suitability. The Darlington’s current gain (which can vary considerably from device to device and with temperature) plays a ...

A previous Design Idea [ 1 ] outlined a relatively simple circuit in which a momentary pushbutton could be made to function like a latching, mechanical switch. The article generated a good deal of reader feedback. Amongst other comments, readers ...

Capacitor type charge pumps are a well-known, simple, efficient, cost-effective (and therefore popular!) method for inverting and multiplying voltage supply rails. Perhaps less well known, however, is that they also work just as well for dividing ...

The Power Integrations TOPSwitch family of integrated flyback-regulator ICs provides exceptional performance in small, low-pin-count packages. For the lowest-pin-count packages, the multifunction, or M, pin serves multiple purposes, including ...

As the latest generation of new LEDs achieves higher levels of power and efficiency, use of these devices extends to new areas, such as flashlights and vehicular applications. High-power LEDs are finding use even in ambient lighting, long the sole ...