Hi folks,
I generally keep LM317s or LM350Ts in my bench stock k to avoid having a load of different 78 series regs.
Granted they need a couple of additional components but they also work well as current sources so on balance I think they are well worth having on hand.
Having said that just recently I have been looking at circuits that need a big input voltage range and even for relatively small currents a single linear regulator dropping from 30V to 5V is going to dissipate enough power to need a sizeable heat sink.
Add to that the fact that a 317 will only accept about 36V and I am left wondering if there is a better solution.
Do any of you know of an adjustable switching or PWM based monolithic regulator that would accept a wide input voltage, preferably well above 36v and down to 5V whilst still being easy to deploy with a minimum of external components?
If the answer is yes and magnetics are going to be required where would I go looking for them or should I be thinking about winding them?
Almost all my projects now, large and small, are aimed at alternative energy so I guess I should be going for the efficient switching supply option anyway but I am not finding it an easy field to tackle.
Looking forward to your comments.
Al
I generally keep LM317s or LM350Ts in my bench stock k to avoid having a load of different 78 series regs.
Granted they need a couple of additional components but they also work well as current sources so on balance I think they are well worth having on hand.
Having said that just recently I have been looking at circuits that need a big input voltage range and even for relatively small currents a single linear regulator dropping from 30V to 5V is going to dissipate enough power to need a sizeable heat sink.
Add to that the fact that a 317 will only accept about 36V and I am left wondering if there is a better solution.
Do any of you know of an adjustable switching or PWM based monolithic regulator that would accept a wide input voltage, preferably well above 36v and down to 5V whilst still being easy to deploy with a minimum of external components?
If the answer is yes and magnetics are going to be required where would I go looking for them or should I be thinking about winding them?
Almost all my projects now, large and small, are aimed at alternative energy so I guess I should be going for the efficient switching supply option anyway but I am not finding it an easy field to tackle.
Looking forward to your comments.
Al
