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SMPS and Linear IC regulators.

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lord loh.

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Reading textbooks on linear ICs and Switching power supplies, I am confused which one is better as far as the quality of the output is concerned regardless of efficiency etc.

The book mentioned that certain applications cannot accept current in bursts as the Switching power supplies deliver...

However, I guess the output is satisfactory with high frequencies and a proper low pass filter.

However a computer running at a few GHz might not be able to tolerate ripples in it's power supply....(my guess)...But all computers have SMPS....What is the trick here.

Is SMPS a compromise between quality and efficiency? or does it have an absolute edge over linear regulators?
 
lord loh. said:
Reading textbooks on linear ICs and Switching power supplies, I am confused which one is better as far as the quality of the output is concerned regardless of efficiency etc.

The book mentioned that certain applications cannot accept current in bursts as the Switching power supplies deliver...

However, I guess the output is satisfactory with high frequencies and a proper low pass filter.

However a computer running at a few GHz might not be able to tolerate ripples in it's power supply....(my guess)...But all computers have SMPS....What is the trick here.

Is SMPS a compromise between quality and efficiency? or does it have an absolute edge over linear regulators?

SMPS is mostly a tradeoff between size, noise & efficiency.

With regard to efficiency, SMPS will always be better than linear.

With regard to noise, linear regulators will usually be better.

GHz PC question does not compute. Most PC circuits are indeed tolerable to much ripple on supply voltages. Processor core does not come directly for the SMPS, it is re-derived from probably 3.3V
 
the voltage that is suppleid the CPU core come from flyback converters and their voltage ripple is pretty low
 
And switchmodes can suply much biger powers since they are more eficent and therfore the heating problem is solved.
 
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