Guide for Tech Beginners - Voltage Regulators

A voltage regulator generates a fixed output voltage of a preset magnitude that remains constant regardless of changes to its input voltage or load conditions. There are two types of voltage regulators:  Linear Switching The linear regulator's power dissipation is directly proportional to its output current for a given input and output voltage, so typical efficiencies can be 50% or even lower. Using the optimum components, a switching regulator can achieve efficiencies in the 90% range. However, the noise output from a linear regulator is much lower than a switching regulator with the same output voltage and current requirements. Typically,...