Timeline for Best voltage regulator for high current application?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Sep 20 at 15:01 | history | bumped | CommunityBot | This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed. | |
| May 12 at 23:07 | history | bumped | CommunityBot | This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed. | |
| Jul 11, 2022 at 5:03 | answer | added | PStechPaul | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jul 11, 2022 at 2:16 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 25, 2022 at 3:02 | |||||
| Jul 11, 2022 at 0:24 | comment | added | DKNguyen | I haven't though much about the circuit tbh. You might find something searching around. | |
| Jul 11, 2022 at 0:19 | comment | added | Wilhelm | Thanks, DKNguyen! Yes, I don't think there are any appropriately sized Zeners. I very much like your idea of using power transistors. Would a circuit like this, connected in parallel to my device, work: [Transistor Source-Drain path] parallel to [series of (2.5V Zener and Transistor Source-Gate path)]? I assume that would guarantee no significant current below 2.5V, but above 2.5V it will be a bit murky how much current goes through where, dependent on the transistor gate voltage to source-drain current characteristics. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 23:45 | comment | added | DKNguyen | Can you find a 25W 2.5V zener? Bolt to a heatsink with fan. I can't though. May need to wire a zener to a 25W power transistor and heatsink that. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 23:43 | comment | added | Wilhelm | At 10A, the nominal voltage of a device varies between 1.8V and whatever the voltage limit is. Usually, it's below 2.2V. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 23:30 | comment | added | Wilhelm | For these devices, it is possible that the voltage would climb indefinitely, equivalent to an open circuit condition (if the electrochemical electrodes fail in a way that they become disconnected) - eventually it would be limited by the power supply, but at that point all other devices would be affected. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 23:23 | comment | added | DKNguyen | Hmmm. To me it seems like this approach is fundamentally complicated. What is the load voltage expected to climb to at 10A if left unchecked? | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 22:38 | comment | added | Wilhelm | 2.5V doesn't need to be very accurate. But it would be nice if I could know that for <2.4V the current passing through the device is >99% of what the power supply is set to. Using a Zener would be nice, but it looks like low-voltage Zeners can't handle these high currents (~25W would have to be dissipated). | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 22:29 | comment | added | pipe | How accurate does the 2.5 volt have to be? | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 22:23 | comment | added | winny | For a one-off setup for research, Zener diodes should do the job for you. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:55 | history | edited | Wilhelm | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:48 | comment | added | Wilhelm | I was hoping not to complicate the problem with too many details. These are electrochemical cells in which water gets split to oxygen and hydrogen. These cells die over time, so I try different chemistries to see which one is most efficient or degrades the least. A good cell generates lots of gas (proportional to the current) at a small voltage drop. The circuit supports this electrochemistry research. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:43 | comment | added | Transistor | Your edit still doesn't explain what the problem is that you're trying to solve. What are devices A and B? | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:42 | history | edited | Wilhelm | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:10 | answer | added | Transistor | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:07 | comment | added | DKNguyen | "The power supply is set to a 10A current limit and a 2.5V voltage limit. So, if the voltage drop across my device at 10A exceeds 2.5V, the device will be held at 2.5V instead and the current is reduced accordingly." 99.99% chance that this sentence is not correct. What you describe is how a voltage-limiting current source works, but there is a 99.99% chance what you have is a current-limiting voltage source. What happens there is the voltage is held at 2.5V as long as the current is below 10A. if the current exceeds 10A then the voltage is reduced to keep the current at 10A. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:05 | comment | added | winny | Sounds XY problem. Is your CC/CV power supply not stable for very low voltages? What’s your end goal? | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:04 | comment | added | Transistor | Your Zener diodes are drawn backwards for the effect you are trying to achieve. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 21:01 | history | edited | toolic | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Jul 10, 2022 at 20:55 | review | First questions | |||
| Jul 11, 2022 at 1:56 | |||||
| S Jul 10, 2022 at 20:55 | history | asked | Wilhelm | CC BY-SA 4.0 |