Lab 5 : Voltage Regulator

EE2301: Electronic Devices and Circuits Lab

October 23, 2020

Date Performed: October 16, 2020

Performed by: Mansi Nanavati (EE119BTECH11036)
Instructor: Dr. Oves Mohammed Hussein Badami

1 Introduction: Voltage Regulator

A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage level. A voltage regulator may
use a simple feed-forward design or may include negative feedback. Some of its applications are:
a. Used in all power supplies to electronic gadgets to regulate voltage and save the device from damage.
b. Used with the alternator of internal combustion engines to regulate the alternator output.
c. Used for electronics circuits to supply a precise amount of voltage

Figure 1: Voltage Regulator circuit using bridge rectifier

2 Aim
To use NGSpice and perform the following experiments regarding Rectifiers:
a. Write NgSPICE script to simulate bridge rectifier with an Low pass filter and Zener voltage regulator with the
input signal frequency of 50 Hz. Select the values of RS and CF appropriately such that the Zener diode, DZ ,
always remains in the break down regime.
b. Perform a transient analysis for the above circuit. Run the circuit with and without Zener diode and clearly show
the impact on the output voltage.
c. Briefly explain the working of the circuit by plotting input, filtered and regulated voltage.

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3 Procedure
a. Firstly, to simulate, we must replicate the circuit shown in Figure 1 in terms of NGSpice script, and plot the
input, filtered and regulated signals against defined set of time. The following code achieves the same:
1 Voltage Regulator using bridge rectifier
2
3 * Input signal of 12V and 50Hz is supplied from nodes 1 and 3
4 Vin 1 3 sin(0 12 50)
5
6 * Diode D1 lies between nodes 1 and 1 in forward-bias
7 D1 1 2 diode
8 * Diode D2 lies between nodes 3 and 2 in forward-bias
9 D2 3 2 diode
10 * Diode D3 lies between nodes 0 (gnd) and 3 in forward-bias
11 D3 0 3 diode
12 * Diode D4 lies between nodes 0 (gnd) and 1 in forward-bias
13 D4 0 1 diode
14 * Zener diode DZ lies between nodes 0 (gnd) and 4 in forward-bias
15 DZ 0 4 zener
16 * Capacitor of value 80uF lies between nodes 2 and 0 (gnd)
17 C1 2 0 80u
18 * Resistor R1/R_S of value 200 ohms lies between nodes 2 and 4
19 R1 2 4 200
20 * Resistor R2/R_L of value 2k ohms lies between nodes 4 and 0 (gnd)
21 R2 4 0 2k
22
23 * The model of regular and zener diodes are defined as diode and zener respectively
24 .model diode D
25 .model zener d BV 9
26
27 * Defining the time duration of the program
28 .tran 0.25ms 50ms
29
30 * To plot the input, filtered and regulated signals
31 .control
32 set color1 = white
33 set color2 = green
34 set color3 = yellow
35 set color4 = red
36 run
37 plot v(1,3) v(2) v(4)
38 .endc
39 .end

b. Figure 2 is observed on running the previous code with RS = 200Ω and CF = 80µF . To observe the difference
in outputs, we vary the values of RS and CF . The following table displays the figure numbers which correspond
to the values of RS and CF .

RS CF Figure number
200Ω 80µF 2
1kΩ 100µF 3
100Ω 10µF 4
100Ω 1mF 5

c. To observe the output without Zener diode, remove the lines in code containing Zener diode. On running the
simulation, Figure 6 is observed.

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Figure 2: Input (green), filtered (yellow), and regulated (red) signals when RS = 200Ω and CF = 80µF

Figure 3: Input (green), filtered (yellow), and regulated (red) signals when RS = 1kΩ and CF = 100µF

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Figure 4: Input (green), filtered (yellow), and regulated (red) signals when RS = 100Ω and CF = 10µF

Figure 5: Input (green), filtered (yellow), and regulated (red) signals when RS = 100Ω and CF = 1mF

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Figure 6: Input (green), filtered (yellow), and output (red) signals without Zener diode when RS = 200Ω and CF =
80µF

4 Justification
a. Picking RS resistor: To pick the suitable resistor, first the voltage VRS across RS resistor must be found and
the relation between VRS , breakdown voltage VZ (9V), and rectified voltage Vrect must be established using
KVL.
VRS < Vrect − VZ (1)
The equation for VRS is given as follows by KCL, assuming that the current through Zener diode is 0.

VRS VZ RS V Z RS × 9
= =⇒ VRS = = (2)
RS RL RL 2000
From the last experiment, we concluded that the output peak voltage of full-wave bridge rectifier circuit will be
1.4V less than input peak voltage. So the value of Vrect is given as Vin − 1.4V where Vin is 12V. Hence Vrect
is 10.6V. Now,
RS × 9 2000 × 1.6
< 10.6V − 9V =⇒ RS < =⇒ RS < 355.56Ω (3)
2000 9
The value of RS must be below 355Ω, hence here I have chosen 200Ω for Figure 2.
b. Picking CF capacitor: To pick the suitable capacitor, we need to find the relation between voltage across
capacitor VCF and breakdown voltage VZ .

CF dVCF
Current across capacitor is given as, ICF = (4)
dt
VCF − VZ
Applying KCL, ICF = − (5)
RS
dVCF dt
=⇒ = (6)
VZ − VCF CF RS
To derive this relation we will observe the nature of the potential across the capacitor when it discharges in the
filtered signal. The least potential of the discharged capacitor should never be less than the breakdown voltage
to facilitate voltage regulation. Hence Vrect − ∆V > VZ . Keeping that in mind, we integrate on both sides with
following limits. The limits for VCF will range from Vrect to Vrect − ∆V where ∆V is the small amount of

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 voltage drop observed when capacitor discharges in filtered output. Here we will assume ∆V to be 0.1V. The
limits for time will be some variables T1 and T2 .
Z Vrect −∆V Z T2
dVCF dt
= (7)
Vrect VZ − VCF T1 CF RS
 
Vrect − ∆V − VZ T2 − T1
=⇒ − ln = (8)
Vrect − VZ CF RS
To determine the values of T1 and T2 , we know that at T2 the value of rectified peak voltage is the same as Vrect
while at T1 the value of rectified peak voltage is Vrect − ∆V . Hence it is given by:

Vrect sin (2π × 50 × T2 ) = Vrect =⇒ T2 = 5ms (9)

10.6 − 0.1
Vrect sin (2π × 50 × T1 ) = Vrect − ∆V =⇒ sin (2π × 50 × T1 ) = =⇒ T1 = 4.02ms (10)
10.6
Substituting these values in equation 8 gives the following:
 
10.6 − 0.1 − 9 5m − 4.02m
− ln = =⇒ CF = 76µF (11)
10.6 − 9 CF × 200

Here the value of capacitor taken is 80µF for Figure 2.

5 Results and Discussion

5.1 Working of the Circuit
From the last experiment, we observed that the output of a full-wave bridge rectifier gives an absolute value of the
input sine function with the peak voltage about 1.4V less than that of input. When this signal is passed through
capacitor, a filtered signal is observed. The capacitor charges when the rectified signal is increasing and discharges
when decreasing. As the capacitor discharges slower than the decreasing rate of the rectified signal, capacitor starts
charging as soon as it hits the increasing side of the function. Hence we notice a ripple in the filtered signal. The ripple
varies based on the capacitance taken.
The filtered signal is passed through RS resistor and Zener diode with RL load. The Zener diode ensures a fixed
voltage across the load as long as the filtered signal crosses its breakdown voltage. This is called voltage regulation.
RS helps in maintaining the voltage regulation as we observed in the Justification.

5.2 Without Zener Diode

In Figure 6, it is clearly observed that the voltage is not regulated as there are ripples in the output (red) signal. When
Zener diode is in the circuit, the output signal (in Figure 2) is a straight line at the breakdown voltage. It implies that
the Zener diode creates a limit for the output resulting in a regulated signal. Without the Zener diode, there is no
limiting voltage, hence the output is similar to the filtered signal with lesser voltage values due to the impedance by
the RS and RL resistors. The potential across RL without Zener diode can be given as:

Vrect = VRS + VRL (12)

VRS RS VRL RS
And, = =⇒ VRS = (13)
VRL RL RL
Vrect RL
From the previous equations, we get, VRL = (14)
RL + RS
Hence the output signal is proportional to the filtered signal and there is no voltage regulation without Zener diode.

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5.3 Different RS and CF values
In Figure 2, the values for RS and CF are chosen based on a proper justification given earlier. Hence the plot for the
circuit is as required. Whereas in Figures 3, 4 and 5, we can notice a lot of difference compared to Figure 2.
In Figure 3, RS value is taken outside the range defined for it (given in equation 3) resulting in an output signal with
voltage lesser than breakdown voltage. This occurs due to high impedance caused by 1kΩ RS resistor.
In Figure 4, the capacitor value is chosen much less than the desired value resulting in non-regulated output signal.
This occurs because during discharging in the filtered signal, the signal voltage goes below the breakdown voltage.
The high time constant value due to small capacitance is the reason for steep discharge. Since the filtered signal voltage
went below breakdown voltage, the output is not regulated.
In Figure 5, a very high capacitance is taken resulting in almost no discharge in filtered signal. The low time constant
due to high capacitance is the reason for no discharge. Here even the filtered signal looks regulated. Higher capacitors
perform voltage regulation perfectly but they are very expensive, hence the minimum value of capacitance (80µF )is
chosen for economical purposes.

6 Conclusion
Most of the points are covered in the Justification and Results & Discussion sections, here is a summary:
a. The voltage regulator shows a transient output which heavily depends on the RS and CF values.
b. We derived ranges for RS and CF values, which were verified by certain experiments with different values in
Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5. RS values below 355Ω and CF values above 80µF are suitable for voltage regulation.
c. The voltage regulation involves a filtered signal and a regulated signal. The conversion from filtered to regulated
was explored in Working of the Circuit sub-section.
d. When the Zener diode is removed from the circuit, the voltage regulation was not observed, instead the output
signal is proportional to the filtered signal.

7 References
a. About Voltage Regulator
b. Applications of Voltage Regulator