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In electrical engineering, a DC to DC converter is a circuit which converts DC power from one voltage to a another. It is a special class of power converter.DC to DC converters are important in mobile devices such as cellular phones and laptop computers, which are supplied with power from batteries. Often space limitations in a device do not allow multiple batteries to supply different parts of the device.
One simple method of DC to DC conversion is a circuit known as a voltage divider, which should be familiar to electrical engineers. This technique involves inserting a resistor in series with the voltage supply to lower the voltage. However, this method suffers serious drawbacks:
- Requires knowledge of the resistance of the load
- Provides poor voltage regulation
- Extremely poor efficiency, which also leads to excess heat
- Impossible to generate voltages higher than the supply voltage
- Impossible to generate negative voltages
Recently, specialized devices have become available which convert from one DC voltage to another. These devices generally perform the conversion by the following steps:
- Convert DC to AC, for example an oscillator (some devices instead use a switched-mode power supplyA switched-mode power supply or SMPS, is an electronic power supply unit (PSU) that incorporates a switching regulator an internal control circuit that switches the load current rapidly on and off in order to stabilise the output voltage. Switching regula)
- Change voltage at AC, using a transformerThe word Transformer can also mean: The Transformers toys, and the related comics and animated television series which have run from the 1980s onwards. A glam rock album by Lou Reed, named Transformer . Transformers ''Typical electrical configurations See or diodeA diode functions as the electronic version of a one-way valve. By restricting the direction of movement of charge carriers, it allows an electric current to flow in one direction, but blocks it in the opposite direction. Applications Radio demodulation T voltage multiplierElectrical circuits A voltage multiplier is an electrical circuit that converts DC electrical power from a low voltage to a higher voltage. Although the DC to DC converter performs a similar function, the term voltage multiplier is reserved for circuits t
- Convert back to DC, using a rectifierA rectifier is one or more diodes arranged for converting alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). When just one diode is used to rectify AC (by omitting the negative portion of the waveform) the difference between the term diode and the term rect (and usually provide voltage regulation)
DC to DC converters are available in a wide variety of input and output voltages. Commonly used converters include 3V to 5V, 12V to 5V, and +10V to -10V. As of 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, efficiency upwards of 85% is not uncommon.
DC to DC converters used to be somewhat large for use in devices such as cell phones; however, with the advent of hybrid circuit s, they are now available as single package, even surface mountSurface mount technology (SMT) is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs). In industry it has largely replaced the previous construction method of fitting, devices.
ElectronicsElectronics is the study and use of electrical devices that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. The pure study of such devices is considered as a bra
