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| Specialising in power supplies, battery chargers, laptop adaptors, mobile phone chargers and computer power supplies. |
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| Specialising in power supplies, battery chargers, laptop adaptors, mobile phone chargers and computer power supplies. |
Linear vs Switch Mode
Suitability is down to your application and personal preferances; below we detail the diferances between linear and switched mode to enable you to make the best decision for your particular equipment and environment.
Linear
Linear power supplies are generally designed using a step down transformer, they can simply be used to reduce the voltage to a lower AC voltage, or more commonly the AC voltage is rectified to provide a DC voltage, which could be unregulated or regulated depending on the application requirements.
Unregulated power supplies have an output that varies with the input and load.
Regulated power supplies have a stable output voltage under varying load and input conditions.
Linear power supplies tend to be large in both size and weight and struggle to disperse heat due to the inefficiency of the transformer. The component count however is very small which has the potential to provide higher reliability and lower cost.
Linear power supplies are very popular in audio applications due to the lack of electrical noise (RFI).
A switch mode power supply also referred to as “SMPS” or “switchers” is different from linear power supplies. The technology involved is far superior to that of a linear, and utilises high frequency components. This results in a more compact and lightweight power supply.
The advanced design coupled with high quality components produce a power supply that has the ability to offer a wider input voltage range (90VAC to 264VAC). This also allows for stable regulation with rapidly changing loads, this makes a SMPS the ideal power source for international applications with variable loads.
Last Amendment: 01/12/2006 10:51:57
