DC-DC conversion - Chopper and switching supplies

DC/DC converters are also known as Switching Regulators. The circuits will change the level voltage available from a DC source such as a battery, solar cell, or a fuel cell to another DC level, either to supply a DC load or to be used as an intermediate voltage for an adjacent power electronic conversion such as DC/AC converter. Coupled together with AC/DC converters enable the use of high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission that has been adopted in transmission lines throughout the world. To cover this category, two main trainers have been developed by De Lorenzo’s Engineers, choppers and switching-mode power supplies. The chopper is a basically static power electronics device which converts fixed DC voltage/power to variable DC voltage or power; it can increase or decrease the DC voltage at its opposite side and it is also known as DC transformer. The devices used in Choppers are IGBT, Power MOSFET, etc. (for lower power application) and SCR or Thyristor (for high power application). They are of two types: Step-down chopper or Buck converter and Step-up chopper or Boost converter. The switching-mode power supply is an electronic power supply that uses a switching regulator in order to control the conversion of electrical power in a highly efficient manner (thus lower heat dissipation). In short, switching regulators are used as replacements for the linear regulators when higher efficiency, smaller size or lighter weight is required. In this trainer, the students can analyze the properties of the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control with the use of special circuits such as flyback and forward converters. They are dedicated to high schools and first years of university.