Voltage Regulator

Also forgot to add that I looked at a Zener diode method. I found a Zener whos break down was 60VDC, however, this was only at 5W max power.

Hi, Matt. The simplest way to do this would be to use your zener diode with resistor, and tie the reference voltage to the base of a darlington resistor, like this (view in fixed font or M$ Notepad):

| | Q1 | .---o----o---- ---o---------. | | | | \\ ^ |10 ohm | | | | | --- .-. | | | | '--- | | | | | | | \\ ^ | | | | +| | --- '-' | | --- | ___ | | R(L) .-. | - '---|___|-o | | | | 72V | R1 | +| 10uF | | | | /-/ ---100V '-' | | Vz1 ^ --- | | | | | | | '-------------o-----o---------' | (created by AACircuit v1.28.6 beta 04/19/05

Vz1 can be 2 ea. 1N4745 and 2 ea. 1N47441 watt zener diodes in series (2 X 16V + 2 X 15V = 62V for a Vo of 60V), with an R1 of 470 ohms. You could use a MJ10016 NPN darlington for Q1. This high gain 120V darlington will ensure you will only need 10mA or so maximum base current (and probably much less) from the 64V zener regulator to give you the 60V at 1.5A to 2.0A you need at the output.

This setup is just about the most basic one, though it will work. In order to deterrmine whether it's the best solution, you'd have to know the answer to a few more questions, like:

• Do you need short circuit or overload protection (the above will smoke up quite nicely in case of a short circuit) (by the way, this is called short circuit/overcurrent protection)

• How much does the 72VDC vary? And what kind of voltage regulation do you need for that varying of the input power supply? (line regulation)

• How much does your load current vary? And how much are you willing to allow the output voltage to vary for that change in load? (load regulation)

• What kind of response do you need to rapidly changing loads (transient regulation)

• Is there a chance a higher voltage will be applied to the output of this power supply? If that happens, what do you want to have happen? (overvoltage protection)

The above circuit will have poor load regulation if the input voltage varies by more than a volt or so. It may vary a half volt over the load range of 0.5A to 2A. It doesn't have overvoltage protection, and the transient response isn't going to be that great (the 10uF cap in series with the 10 ohm power resistor is a good idea for rolling off response to prevent oscillations, but it also slows things down a bit).

If this circuit doesn't do it for you, feel free to post back with more information. There are a variety of ways to solve your problem, including some one-IC solutions.

Good luck Chris

Forgot something -- try this (view in fixed font or M$ Notepad)

| | Q1 | .---o----o---- -----o-----o---------. | | | | \\ ^ | |10 ohm | | | | | --- | .-. | | | | '--- | | | | | | | | \\ ^ | | | | | +| | --- | '-' | | --- | ___ | ___ | | R(L) .-. | - '---|___|-o-|___|-' | | | | 72V | R1 | 1K +| 10uF | | | | /-/ ---100V '-' | | Vz1 ^ --- | | | | | | | '-------------o-------------o---------' | (created by AACircuit v1.28.6 beta 04/19/05

Cheers Chris

A simple way to do it is on the pages here:

It involves using a pass transistor. Page 2 shows the basic circuit - you would need to change the transistor and zener and the 1K load resistor. You could use a TIP33 xsistor with your 60V zener. Change the 1K load resistor to 10K, 1/2 watt.

At 100 watts and 60 volts, current will be about 1.7 amps. With 70 volts in, the TIP33 will need to dissipate ~ 20 watts, so it needs to be on a good heatsink.

If you need better regulation, you could use the circuit shown on page 3. You will need to change the values as before - the circuit shown is for low voltage. The 2N3904 is too low - you could use a 2N5550 for it and the TIP33 for the 2N3055. The zener is once again your 60V zener, and R2 and R3 are changed to 10K 1/2 watt.

Ed

there is no generic best way. in some cases 72V may be close enough - then doing nothing would be the best way...

yeah that's one limitation of resistive dividers.

a 12V 15W zener ? (this relies on the stability of the 72V supply - if it has a 2V ripple so will the 60V output.

but seriously somethin based around a three terminal pass regulator may be the way to go...

iN4002 +---------|

Thank you guys a bunch. Im gonna give all of your designs a shot and see which one provides the best results.

Thanks again!

Matt

Try LM317, positive voltage regulator. Input voltage is not limited as long as is Vi - Vo < 40V, and it can stand 2 amps easily with good heatsink. Basic circut can be find in datasheet.

Actually I came across a better solution, the LM150. It can produce the