This circuit was developed to power an AVR microcontroller from a 12 V lead-acid battery. The regulator itself draws only 14 µA. Of course, there are dedicated ICs, for example from Linear Technology or Maxim, which can be used, but these can be very hard to get hold of and are frequently only available in SMD packages these days. These difficulties are simply and quickly avoided using this discrete circuit.
Circuit diagram :
Micropower Voltage Regulator Circuit Diagram
The series regulator component is the widely-available type BS170 FET. When power is applied it is driven on via R1. When the output voltage reaches 5.1 V, T2 starts to conduct and limits any further rise in the output voltage by pulling down the voltage on the gate of T1. The output voltage can be calculated as follows:
UOUT = (ULED + UBE) × (R4 + R2) / R4
where we can set ULED at 1.6 V and UBE at 0.5 V. The temperature coefficients of ULED and UBE can also be incorporated into the formula. The circuit is so simple that of course someone has thought of it before. The author’s efforts have turned up an example in a collection of reference circuits dating from 1967: the example is very similar to this circuit, although it used germanium transistors and of course there was no FET. The voltage reference was a Zener diode, and the circuit was designed for currents of up to 10 A. Perhaps our readers will be able to find even earlier examples of two-transistor regulators using this principle?
Author : Reinhold Oesterhaus - Copyright : Elektor
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