Power Supply Comparisons

Difference Between Linear and Switching Power Supply

	Switching Regulated Power Supplies	Linear Regulated Power Supplies	Unregulated Power Supplies
Circuit Design	complex	moderately complex	simple
Part Count	high	medium	low
Load Regulation	0.05% to 0.5%	.005% to 0.2%	+10% (1/2 load to No Load (NL)) -10% (1/2 load to Full Load (FL))
Line Regulation	0.05% to 0.2%	0.005% to 0.05%	directly proportional to AC input change
Ripple (RMS)	10 mv to 25 mv	0.25 mv to 1.5 mv	0.5 v to 5 v
Transient Recovery	300 microseconds (1/2L to FL)	50-100 microseconds (NL to FL)	N/A
Efficiency	70-85%	40-60%	90-95%
Hold-up Time	15-30 milliseconds	1-2 milliseconds
EMI	high	very low	very low
Leakage	high	low	very low
Size (power density)	small size (high power density)	large size (low power density)	medium size (medium power density)
Weight (Power to Weight Ratio)	light (high)	heaviest (low)	heavy (low)
Power Factor	0.6 - 0.7 without PFC >0.95 with PFC	0.6 - 0.7	0.6 - 0.7
Cooling	convection or fan	convection or fan	convection
Isolation	yes	yes	yes
Input Voltage Range	90 - 132 VAC (without PFC) and/or 180 - 264 VAC (without PFC) ----------------- 90 - 264 VAC (with PFC)	105 - 125 VAC and/or 210 - 250 VAC	0 - 125 VAC 0 - 250 VAC Output directly proportional to input
Values in chart above are for comparison purposes only.