Hardware Secrets
Home | Audio | Case | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
First Look
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Forums
Gabriel's Blog
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search




Recommended Book
Power Supply Cookbook (EDN Series for Design Engineers) (EDN Series for Design Engineers)
By Marty Brown
Newnes
Price: $35.10

Home » Power
Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Tutorials Last Updated: October 25, 2006
Page: 5 of 10
$ Check REAL-TIME pricing for OCZ600SXS 600-Watt Power Supply Products $
Dell: $80.99 Circuit City: $93.95
Dell: $71.39 Amazon: $85.50

Voltage Doubler and Primary Rectifier

On power supplies without active PCF circuit you will find a voltage doubler. The voltage doubler uses two big electrolytic capacitors. So the bigger capacitors found on the power supply belongs to this stage. Like we mentioned before, the voltage doubler is only used if you are connecting your power supply to a 127 V power grid.

Voltage Doubler
click to enlarge
Figure 13: Electrolytic capacitors from the voltage doubler.

Electrolytic Capacitors
click to enlarge
Figure 14: Electrolytic capacitors from the voltage doubler removed from the power supply.

Next to the two electrolytic capacitors you will find a rectifying bridge. This bridge can be made by four diodes or by a single component, see Figure 15. On high-performance power supplies this rectifying bridge is connected to a heatsink.

Rectifying Bridge
click to enlarge
Figure 15: Rectifying bridge.

On the primary you will also find a NTC thermistor, which is a resistor that changes its resistance according to the temperature. It is used to reconfigure the power supply after it is used for a while and it is hot. NTC stands for Negative Temperature Coefficient. This component resembles a ceramic disc capacitor and is usually olive green.

Pages (10): « 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 7 8 9 10 »
Print Version | Send to Friend | | Bookmark Article | Comments (14)

Related Content
  • Corsair TX750W Power Supply Review
  • Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology
  • Antec EarthWatts 500 W Power Supply Review
  • Huntkey Green Star 450 W Power Supply Review
  • SilverStone Strider ST50F 500 W Power Supply Review

  • Compare Prices for PC Power SupplyPowered by Shopping.com
    Pc Power and Cooling (S47D) 470-Watt Power Supply
    Power: 470 Watt
    Read full description...
    $78 - $78 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling Pc Power & Cooling Silencer 610 Eps12v Power Supply (S61EPS)
    For: EPS12
    Read full description...
    $111 - $120 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling SILENCER® 470 (S47ATX) 470-Watt Power Supply
    For: ATX 12V, Power: 470 Watt
    Read full description...
    $65 - $65 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling PSU|S75CF 750W RT 750-Watt Power Supply
    Power: 750 Watt
    Read full description...
    $160 - $163 Compare Prices
    Shuttle (PC40) 250-Watt Power Supply
    For: ATX 12V, Power: 250 Watt, Single Fan
    Read full description...
    $68 - $68 Compare Prices

    RSSLatest News
    Transcend Releases aXeRam DDR3-1800
    July 4, 2008 - 2:06 PM
    Leadtek Launches WinFast PX9800 GTX+
    July 4, 2008 - 11:44 AM
    MSI Launches Factory-Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 Graphics Card
    July 4, 2008 - 9:22 AM
    Arctic Cooling Launches Accelero TWIN TURBO
    July 3, 2008 - 11:27 AM
    Cooler Mater V8 CPU Cooler
    July 3, 2008 - 10:59 AM
    New DDR3 Intel Extreme Memory Series From OCZ
    July 2, 2008 - 2:59 PM
    New AMD Phenom Processors
    July 2, 2008 - 2:21 PM
    OCZ Announces Core Series SATA-300 2.5" SSD
    July 2, 2008 - 6:45 AM
    Lian Li Launches PC-A77 Case
    July 1, 2008 - 11:48 AM
    BFG Announces Factory-Overclocked GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Cards
    July 1, 2008 - 7:48 AM
    .:: More News ::.

    RSSLatest Content
    Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?
    DirectX Versions
    All Phenom Models
    Everything You Need to Know About Serial ATA
    Sapphire HD 4850 Video Card Review
    How Things Are Around Here
    Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L Motherboard
    Zalman FPSGun FG1000 Mouse Review
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    Amazon Kindle Review
    Tagan A+ Black Pearl Case Review
    Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS Hard Disk Drive Review
    The new GeForce 9800 GTX+ and PhysX
    Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table

    Our Most Popular Articles
    Maximum CPU Temperature
    723,351 views
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    451,915 views
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    406,822 views
    ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
    401,773 views
    ATI Radeon X1600 XT Review
    396,686 views
    How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model
    347,837 views
    Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable
    317,746 views
    How To Correctly Apply Thermal Grease
    302,219 views
    Sempron vs. Athlon XP
    271,919 views
    Sempron 3400+ Review
    261,725 views

    Latest Threads in Our Forums
    Transcend Releases aXeRam DDR3-1800
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Leadtek Launches WinFast PX9800 GTX+
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Urgent, Asus My Logo killed my Mobo
    by Viper Masse
    Modding a PSU for hobby purposes, combining rails?
    by Vantskruv
    MSI Launches Factory-Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 Graphics Card
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    P5q Deluxe
    by BedCommando
    Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?
    by Cheetos
    Nu Build
    by Cheetos
    Arctic Cooling Launches Accelero TWIN TURBO
    by Cheetos
    Cooler Mater V8 CPU Cooler
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    .:: Visit Our Forums ::.

    © 2004-8, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)