| Switching Regulated | Linear Regulated | Unregulated | |
| 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 | 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. | |||
Switching Regulated Power Supply
A Switching regulated power supply regulates the output voltage by the use
of a complex high frequency switching technique. They have moderately good
load and line regulation, but significantly higher ripple and output noise
than linear regulated power supplies. They also have slow transient response,
but high efficiency.
Typical applications
Linear Regulated Power Supply
A linear regulated power supply regulates the output voltage by dropping
excess voltage in a series dissipative component. They use a moderately
complex regulator circuit to achieve very low load and line regulation.
They also have very little ripple and very little output noise.
Typical applications
General purpose use - including, but not limited to:
Unregulated Power Supply
An unregulated power supply does not contain any form of regulating circuitry.
Output load ‘regulation’ is determined by the inherent transformer
impedance and circuit resistance. Output line ‘regulation’ is
directly proportional to the AC input change. Unregulated power supplies
are adequate for non-critical loads such as relays, solenoids, and lamps
and are a lower cost alternative to regulated supplies.
Typical applications
General purpose use - including, but not limited to: