Dear all Hello,

I want to post question which may seem naive to most of you.

Does a linear voltage regulator needs to be physically grounded? I believe not. I am putting pictures from TI technical documents






I know that this is not the case for op amps.

many thanks for your time

Doros

 

Hi Doros,
By asking physically grounded do you mean Earth ground.?
E

 

Yes connected to earth

 

No, it just means the ground on the power supply or battery negative.

 

The word "ground" can be confusing.
In some cases it means earth ground, but in electronic circuits it typically means circuit common (which is generally the power supply common.
So virtually all sub-circuits need to be connected to the circuit common ("ground") but you usually only have to connect to earth ground if there is some safety issue involved.

 

I have seen SMPS earth grounded (and the negative tied to that) and others not. I was wondering what the difference would be

 

@Dodgydave, the ground on power supply means earth grounded

 

the ground on power supply means earth grounded

There is a bit of a difference between European terminology and N.A.
Ground here can mean anything from circuit common to Earth Ground, including Any circuit common which is indicated by a Earth GND symbol, whether it actually is earthed or not..
When I practiced in the UK, I was accustomed to using the term 'Earth' for a ground wire or connection and using the appropriate symbol.
Can be a cause for confusion!
Max.
.

 

Thanks every body for your help.

I know it is a confussion, that's why I was somehow puzzled. Earth ground-Physically ground is the following.



I will stay with what @crutschow said

"So virtually all sub-circuits need to be connected to the circuit common ("ground") but you usually only have to connect to earth ground if there is some safety issue involved"

Thanks everybody