What Are Power Supplies?
Power Supplies are components or devices that supply electrical energy.
Examples include electrical outlets, computer batteries, and dry cell batteries. Electronic circuits, motors, processors, and other electronic components that are responsible for the operation of electrical products cannot operate without a defined supply of electrical energy (voltage or current) from power supplies.
Such components that consume electrical energy are called load devices. On the other hand, a device that converts the electrical energy supplied by the Power Supplies into the appropriate voltage or current required by the load device is called a power supply device.
Power Supplies ICs
Power Supplies ICs are power supply devices that control the exchange of power between the power supply and the load device.
A load device cannot operate unless it receives a specified supply of electrical energy. For example, if the required voltage of a load device is 5[V] and the power supply is 12[V] or 1.5[V], these voltages must be converted to 5[V] and supplied. Power supply ICs are responsible for converting electrical energy in this way.
1. AC/DC Converter
Most of the time when you plug an electrical device into an outlet, you connect a cord with an AC adapter. Normally, an AC voltage is output from the outlet, but most electronic devices operate on DC voltage and need to be converted from AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current).
2. Charge Control IC
Controls charging of lithium-ion batteries.
3. DC/DC Converter
A DC/DC converter is inserted in front of each component to convert the voltage, since each component (CPU, display, storage, etc.) must be supplied with the corresponding voltage. Increasing the voltage is called a step-up and decreasing the voltage is called a step-down.
4. Linear Regulator
Linear regulators are inserted in front of components (e.g., speakers) whose performance is degraded by voltage noise to supply more stable voltage.
Power Supplies Devices
In addition to power supply devices used by users as products, variable and stable power supplies are needed during the R&D phase of products as they are experimented with under various conditions. Some power supplies are also installed in factories and corporate facilities as backup power supplies in case of power outages. Power supplies specifically include the following:
1. Regulated DC Power Supplies
A device that outputs a constant voltage, constant current, or both from an AC voltage input. There are also classifications such as fixed type with constant output and variable type that can freely change the output.
2. AC Regulated Power Supplies
There are those with AC stabilizers that maintain constant voltage and waveforms, and those with frequency converter functions that maintain constant frequency. Some are used as Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) to protect equipment and PCs in the event of power outages due to disasters.