Developing a Regulated Dual Rail Power Supply For FirstWatt Amps

Member
Joined 2011
Paid Member
Yikes! The memory goes bad when the years creep up. Thanks for the heads-up.

I forgot to remember the darlington arrangement around the ring emitter PNP! This adds two components. However the total voltage drop across R1 (below) is only 1.4V, whereas the voltage drop across R5 in post #95 is 4.0-5.0 volts, thanks to the PMOSFET's large threshold voltage. So the minimum required supply voltage for the all-BJT circuit is about (VREF + 1.7V), while the minimum required supply voltage for the BJT+PMOS is about (VREF + 4.3V).

Also the all-BJT circuit's bandwidth is higher because the really big capacitance is driven by a 25 ohm resistor instead of a 500 ohm resistor. Compare the frequencies at which Zout = 0.003 ohms.

_
 

Attachments

  • schema.png
    schema.png
    15.1 KB · Views: 571
  • wiggles.png
    wiggles.png
    40.2 KB · Views: 565
, whereas the voltage drop across R5 in post #95 is 4.0-5.0 volts, thanks to the PMOSFET's large threshold voltage. So the minimum required supply voltage for the all-BJT circuit is about (VREF + 1.7V), while the minimum required supply voltage for the BJT+PMOS is about (VREF + 4.3V).

_


No no. Read again.
With compound pair it's only Vbe of the bipolar.
THAT'S THE GENIUS PART. Haha
 
Sorry Mark
Misunderstanding, I was referring to the Voltage drop between base of bipolar and drain of mosfet.
This is where I got overly excited as Vgs would be normally 4 to 5 Volts for a regular mosfet follower, but I now see Vds is still around 4 volts even though the drop from base to drain is only around 0.6V.
Back to being dumb. Hahaha

Anyway, I think I still prefer the bipolar/mosfet in compound pair arrangement.

I'm busy today but I'll be back later.

I might put it all into a word document.
 
Last edited:
Member
Joined 2011
Paid Member
VREF to VOUT is 1xVBE for an emitter follower or for a complementary feedback pair.

HOWEVER VIN to VREF is a more complicated piece of mathematics; and if you use a 500 volt 40 amp MOSFET with standard Vgs threshold voltage, you will discover that VIN to VREF {or if you prefer, VIN to VOUT a/k/a "dropout voltage"} is revolting, awful, and embarrassingly high for the MOSFET option. Do a side by side comparison and then repeat with me, in unison, "Oh Yuck".
 
compare the models.
Then change the one parameter that has the biggest difference and see if the simulation predictions become similar.

You could gradually work through all the model parameters starting with the biggest differences until the predictions do become identical.
 
Gonna a build an extreme passive supply first as a reference point for the regulated supplies that will be tested later.
I'm a fan of the cave man approach to electronics. Haha

The big screw terminal caps tend to have much higher ripple current capacity and much lower esr. Also they go to much higher capacitance levels than snap-ins. The ones I purchased are 220,000uF each.
 
Last edited: