I'm looking at building an all-tube version of Steve Bench's regulator shown below:
For the single diode that serves as the peak detector, would a better tube substitute be power rectifier or a high-perveance detector type? TIA
The full page is here: Tube Based Voltage Regulators - Part 1
For the single diode that serves as the peak detector, would a better tube substitute be power rectifier or a high-perveance detector type? TIA
The full page is here: Tube Based Voltage Regulators - Part 1
Please stay on topic. I didn't ask for a regulator recommendation. It's perfect for what I want, which is a non-audio application.
Please call things by their names, in order to avoid confusion.
The common term for a voltage regulator is understanded as a voltage stabilizer, that keeps an output voltage on some level that is (ideally) independent on a voltage supply.
The common term for a voltage regulator is understanded as a voltage stabilizer, that keeps an output voltage on some level that is (ideally) independent on a voltage supply.
If you want to hollow state that peak detector, your best bet would be 6AL5s. You could parallel both sections here. A power type might have a higher forward voltage, nor do you need the plate dissipation capability since it's a small signal app anyway.
To Wavebourn: Stop threadjacking me. Go and read Steve Bench's page (to remind yourself that you are no Steve Bench) and then move on.
Sorry, I can't. Both you and Steve Bench use a different meaning for the known term, so I took responsibility to warn about that, since it is a forum where people learn.
That is correct, but it is also correct that the circuit is not a regulator.
A regulator has a reference which is compared to a fraction of the output and then the error is used to 'regulate' (there's that word again 😉 ) the output.
It's an interesting circuit though; on the face of it I wonder what it does to the ripple? Does it decrease it in the same ratio of the output divider? Hmmm.
jd
Look, he qualifies exactly why he call them regulators.
"Part 1 - One Tube Regulators.
One tube regulators provide a form of electronic filtering, and some "load" regulation; that is, the output voltage remains fairly constant as the load on the regulator changes.
Since these simple regulators do not have a "reference", they can not provide "line" regulation. That is, as the AC "mains" voltage changes, the output voltage will change as well. The lack of line regulation has one odd advantage: at low line voltages, the output drops along with the line, so the voltage drop across the tube doesn't drastically change. In part 2, when we introduce a reference, this effect will become more apparent, since the output wants to remain constant even at low line voltages. The consequence of that additional regulation is the possibility of the voltage across the tube becoming too low to regulate. These one tube regulator circuits do not have that problem."
for lower current (ie, preamp/headphone amp), I've used this "one tube" regulator in the past
A One-Tube Regulator Article By Mike Vans Evers Sound Practices Magazine Online
A One-Tube Regulator Article By Mike Vans Evers Sound Practices Magazine Online
Even a choke input offers some form of regulation.
What wavebourn and janneman refer to are "voltage stabilizers" not "voltage regulators". Voltage can also be regulated in reference to the B+, e.g. using a zener or gas diode to drop the voltage a certain amount for the screen. (but it is one that varies with the B+ level and to a lesser extend with the amount drawn through the zener / gas diode).
I've seen this one tube regulator also referred to as "an electronic choke" or (somewhere else) a "relative regulator" (the Emperor's amplifier by Norman Koren).
peace
AM
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I've seen it referred as a "Catode Follower", with filtered grid bias voltage source. I would call it an active power supply filter. But if grid bias voltage source is sbalilized, it would be what is usually called a "Voltage Regulator", that is already a synonim of "Voltage Sbabilizer".
PS: if somebody wrote something on his/her website that does not mean everyone have to follow and use new definitions instead of well established ones, or a new language, or whatever. For example, a term "VR Tube" was accepted a long time ago, let's follow it. Do you know why Babylon Tower collapsed? 😉
Peace Profound!
Strictly, Wavebourn is right (if a little pedantic). All circuits which control the output voltage in the face of input or load variations, are called stabilizers. They only become regulators when they use global negative feedback.
A simple shunt zener for example, is only a stabilizer, not a regulator. Likewise a capacitor multiplier.
Nowadays people lazily refer to pretty much everything as a regulator, regardless, and the distinction is no doubt confused by old terms like "transformer regulation", which is really just a measure of impedance!
It is perhaps worth nothing that the terms are used more strictly in mainland Europe than in the English-speaking world. Good for them!
A simple shunt zener for example, is only a stabilizer, not a regulator. Likewise a capacitor multiplier.
Nowadays people lazily refer to pretty much everything as a regulator, regardless, and the distinction is no doubt confused by old terms like "transformer regulation", which is really just a measure of impedance!
It is perhaps worth nothing that the terms are used more strictly in mainland Europe than in the English-speaking world. Good for them!
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