Power supply noise

Array readout noise Is minimized by reducing the switch junction capacitance to approximately 1-2 picofarads (this value can be higher on certain commercial self-scanned arrays) and by closely regulating the -5 volt power supply. Noise measurements on experimental array detectors Indicate a readout noise (peak to peak) of approximately 4x10 au for T 0.5 sec. Since reverse optic... 

COMPRESSOR WILL NOT START 1. Power supply failure. 2. Switchgear or starting panel. 3. Low oil pressure shut down switch. 4. Controi panel. NOISE IN CYLINDER 1. Loose piston. 2. Piston hitting outer head or frame end of cylinder. 3. Loose crosshead lock nut. 

The linear power supply finds a very strong niehe within applieations where its ineffieieney is not important. These inelude wall-powered, ground-base equipment where foreed air eooling is not a problem and also those applieations in whieh the instrument is so sensitive to eleetrieal noise that it requires an eleetrieally quiet power supply—these produets might inelude audio and video amplifiers, RF reeeivers, and so forth. Linear regulators are also popular as loeal, board-level regulators. Here only a few watts are needed by the board, so the few watts of loss ean be aeeommodated by a simple heatsink. If dielee-trie isolation is desired from an ae input power souree it is provided by an ae transformer or bulk power supply. 

Controlling high frequency noise generation and radiation is the blackest of the black box art in switching power supply and product-system design. It is a subject that warrants a book all to itself and it is the final area that will interfere with the release of your product into the market. This appendix cannot adequately cover the subject, but will overview the major considerations involved with product design. 

Another major source of noise is the loop consisting of the output rectifiers, the output filter capacitor, and the transformer secondary windings. Once again, high-peak valued trapezoidal current waveforms flow between these components. The output Alter capacitor and rectifier also want to be located as physically close to the transformer as possible to minimize the radiated noise. This source also generates common-mode conducted noise mainly on the output lines of the power supply. 

The purpose of an input conducted EMI filter is to keep the high-frequency conducted noise inside the case. The main noise source is the switching power supply. Filtering on any of the input/output (I/O) lines is also important to keep noise from any internal circuit, like microprocessors, inside the case. 

A reasonable beginning is that one needs about 24 dB of attenuation at the switehing frequency of the switching power supply. This, of course, should be modified in response to the actual conducted noise spectral shape. One determines the corner frequency of the filter by... 

The addition of this stage of filtering will bring the very high-frequeney attenuation under eontrol and further attenuate any differential-mode noise on the earth ground lead. It will also produee a eombined attenuation of -36 dB at the switehing frequency of the power supply. 

Power Supply Cookbook, Second Edition has been updated with the latest advances in the field of efficient power conversion. Efficiencies of between 80 to 95 percent are now possible using these new techniques. The major losses within the switching power supply and the modern techniques to reduce them are discussed at length. These include synchronous rectification, lossless snubbers, and active clamps. The information on methods of control, noise control, and optimum printed circuit board layout has also been updated. 

Even if the receptor by itself has high accuracy, the sensor may be unable to execute the measurement in a defined place. Quality and total accuracy depend on the combination of receptor, the converter for measured values, and mechanical protection. Mechanical protection can take the form of pockets in water and fluid and also assembly boxes which protect against pollution, humidity, and temperature in the surroundings or against electromagnetic transmissions and noise from power-supplied pipes and cables. 

Account must also be taken of small alternating currents which may be diverted from the sheath of a power supply cable by a bond connected to nearby buried structures. Such currents may be sustained for long periods and if they are diverted to the sheaths of telecommunication cables noise may be induced in the telephone circuits. 

Ultimately, the power supply is only part of a larger system. Therefore, besides being concerned about the effect of noise and ripple on the converter itself, we need to worry about its effect on the rest of the system. The good news is that if the system were excessively noise sensitive, no one would have touched switchers with a ten-foot pole (or a lOdB zero) in the first place. They would have been using those low-noise, power-guzzling LDOs (linear regulators) instead ... 

The overall ability of a power supply to attenuate disturbances at its input is expressed as its PSRR (power supply rejection ratio). In graphs, PSRR is usually plotted as a function of frequency. We will invariably find that the rejection ratio is very low at higher frequencies. One reason for this is that the Bode plot cannot really help because the open-loop gain is very small at these frequencies. The other reason is, even a tiny stray parasitic capacitance (e.g., across the power switch and inductor) presents such a low impedance to noise frequencies (whatever their origin) that almost all the noise present at the input migrates to the output unimpeded. In other words, the power stage attenuation (which we had earlier declared to be Vo/Rin) is also nonexistent for noise (and maybe even ripple) frequencies. The only noise attenuation comes from the LC filter (hopefully). 

Question 9 Is there some interaction with nearby circuitry Yes, you could be picking up fields from nearby circuits, but that shouldn t affect a typical switcher, simply because it produces enough noise and fields of its own. However, it is a good idea to do the reverse-peel here. If I find the converter is on a larger system board, I immediately and carefully first cut off all the traces leading from its output and divert them to my predictable electronic load. I also cut the input traces and divert them to my bench power supply. If the problem is gone, it is an interaction problem. 

As you can see, we started off with a discussion on efficiency, but ended up touching noise and efficiency issues. Isn t that typical of power supply design ... 

Figure 11-1 One Possible Way of Conducting a Noise and Ripple Measurement for an AC-DC Power Supply... 

We had gotten roughly the same empirical level of improvement when we tried a ferrite sleeve as shown in the lower arrangement of Figure 11-4. But the sleeve works mainly by increasing the impedance on both lines to the common mode noise coming out of the power supply via conduction. Ferrite sleeves made specifically for EMI suppression purposes also... 

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