what is meant by regulated power supply?

Question

In general, for a particular electrical/electronic system, what is meant by regulation?
What is meant by regulated power supply?
clear explanation expected plz..

Answer 1

Regulation usually refers to the output voltage of a power supply.

If a power supply is regulated, that means that no matter what the current output (which depends on the load) the voltage will remain the same (up to the limit of the maximum current it can produce).

In an unregulated power supply, the higher the load current, the lower the output voltage drops.

A car battery is one example of an unregulated supply. At no load the terminal voltage is actually about 14 volts (fully charged), but it drops to about 9 volts when you connect it to a starter motor. A regulated power supply would remain at 14 volts whether there was no load, or high load (starter motor).

.

Answer 2

regualtion is when the line voltage is taken and modified to suit the appliance. Like 120 V A.C line voltage has to be suited to a 12 V radio. So

1. 120 V is stepped doen to abt 20 Volt A,C
2. The 20 Volt AC is rectified to abt 17 volt D.C. the loss is due to the inherent nature of the different systems (ac and dc)
3. The 20 V D.C is the 'smoothed' to make it more even
4. This is passed thru an IC like the 7812 to make a super clean/straight 12 V dc.
5. The extra voltage (20-12 = 8) comes as heat and is wasted.

That is the process of regulation. A Regulated power supple does the above job .. Like that which is present in a computer.

Answer 3

the voltage source has internal resistance. the voltage go down when the current drawn is increased. the fluctuation of voltage is not good to some electronic equipment.

the power supply is regulated means the changes of current flow will be compensated and provided with minimum fluctuation of voltage output.