About Booster Regulators

The boost converters or regulators are DC-to-DC power converters that come with an output voltage greater than its input voltage. It is designed with a class of switched mode power supply that contains two semiconductors, a diode and a transistor. Along with this, it also contains storage element, capacitor and inductor and sometimes both in combinatory. The machine is also integrated with filters that are made of capacitors added to the output of the converter to ensure reduction of output voltage ripple. The power for the boost regulators can come from any suitable DC source, including batteries, rectifiers, DC generators and even solar panels. Also known as the DC-to-DC converter with the output voltage more than the source voltage, these are also known as the step up regulators, where in the voltage is stepped up from the source. Since power is always conserved, the output current is lower than the source current.

For improved efficiency, the SMPS switch needs to be turned on and off rapidly, so that there are low losses. Only when the commercial semiconductor switch was discovered in the 1950s, that such SMPSs as the booster regulator became a possibility. All the major DC-to-DC converters were developed during the 1960s where the semiconductor switches were available easily in the market. The aerospace industry needed small, lightweight and efficient power converters which further increased the manufacturing and development of these devices.

The switched systems such as the SMPS model greatly depends on whether the switch is open or close, making its designing process a complex one. It was in 1977, that R. D. Middlebrook from Caltech publicized his models for DC-to-DC converters that are still used today. He averaged the circuit configurations for each switch state in a technique called the state space averaging. This simplified process reduced the two systems into one and this model further propelled the design equation forwarding the growth of SMPS.

Applications of boost converters
The battery powered systems often stack cells over one another to increase the voltage; however, the process becomes inapplicable due to space constraints. The boost converters or regulators comes into play as they can maximize the voltage while reducing the number of cells. Two places where boost regulators are extensively used are the lighting systems and the hybrid electric vehicles. These devices steps up the voltage for example in a lighting system needing 3.3V to emit light, the 1.5V from a single alkaline cell is boosted up and light the lamp.

Delton Group is pioneer suppliers and dealers of different types of SMC Booster Regulator, Cylinders, Pressure & Air Regulators, and many more. Call DeltonGroup if you are looking for branded boost converters.