Power supply is a broad term but this article is restricted to discussion of circuits that generate a fixed or controllable magnitude dc voltage from the available form of input voltage. Integrated circuit (IC) chips used in the electronic circuits need standard dc voltage of fixed magnitude. Many of these circuits need well-regulated dc supply for their proper operation. In majority of the cases the required voltages are of magnitudes varying between -18 to +18 volts. Some equipment may need multiple output power supplies. For example, in a Personal Computer one may need 3.3 volt, ±5 volt and ±12 volt power supplies. The digital ICs may need 3.3 Volt supply and the hard disk driver or the floppy driver may need ±5 and ±12 volts supplies. The individual output voltages from the multiple output power supply may have different current ratings and different voltage regulation requirements. Almost invariably these outputs are isolated dc voltages where the dc output is ohmically isolated from the input supply. In case of multiple output supplies ohmic isolation between two or more outputs may be desired. The input connection to these power supplies is often taken from the standard utility power plug point (ac voltage of 115V / 60Hz or 230V / 50Hz). It may not be unusual, though, to have a power supply working from any other voltage level which could be of either ac or dc type.
Figure: Regulated dc power supply
There are two broad categories of power supplies:
In some cases one may use a combination of switched mode and linear power supplies to gain some desired advantages of both the types.
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