Tuesday 11 November 2014

LM317T based Voltage Regulator with Pass Transistor circuit


Here is the circuit diagram for LM 317 T voltage regulator with pass transistor .

1 comment:

  1. The bypass circuits are very tricky ones..!! I will explain the above circuit because I think it is wrong somehow...!! (Not all the components..)
    First , the most important thing is the sensing resistor R2 .!
    How do we calculate this.!
    Well , the TIP2955 and not 2n2955 ( I prefer TIP2955 because is more resistant than 2n2955) is a silicon power transistor and it is contacting after 0,7 or 0,6volts on Vbe. So after this voltage the current should pass inside the 2955 transistor. We calculate the ampere we want to pass through the regulator as follows ...lets say that we want a hundred of mA to pass through the regulator and of course to operate without a sink if possible..!! So 0,7volt/10Ω = 0.07Amp = 70mA.! This is the current that will pass through the regulator and above this current will pass through 2955 transistor. Lets calculate the watt of this sensing resistor R2 -> P = (0,7volt)^2 / 10Ω = 0,14Watt max , so a 10Ω 0,5Watt resistor is more than adequate. In your case you are using a 0,7Ω resistor so the current through regulator is 0,7volt/0.7Ω = 1Amp ..!! Well 1 Ampere is so much to pass through your regulator because you are pushing it to it limits plus you need a good hit sink for your regulator..!! be smart when designing.. The R1 resistor is good about it's value but if the current you want on the output is 5Amp then the watts are wrong....!You will fry the resistor for good.! Because P on R1 = 5Amp ^2 x 0.3Ω = 25Amp x 0,3Ω = 7,5Watt , so you need at least a R1 of 0,3Ω / 10Watt. I strongly suggest to change the R1 resistor to a 0,1Ω / 3Watt resistor is fine for 5 Amp output.! Now the 2955 transistor can deliver 15Amps so if you want a 10Amp output of your power supply an R1 of 0,1Ω /10Watt Resistor would be fine ..
    One more tip...If you want to draw a current above 10Amp then you can put another transistor 2955 in parallel with 2 R1 0,1Ω /5 watts now because the current will split among your 2 parallel transistors so you reduce the watts of the R1 resistors...put more in parallel and you will be more than fine..!! You got the idea..!! Please p.m. if you find my info useful ..!! Have a nice day and good luck.!

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