This post discusses a topic I’ve shared quite a long time ago on a few other forums, I’ve decided to post it here on the blog just in case it will become unavailable on these forums at some point, as it is a fairly old post. I don’t have the original schematics anymore, so bare with the lower res images I’m copying over from my original post.
Many voltage regulators use the capacitance multiplier as a method of increasing the effective capacitance seen by a load. Some use it as a complete voltage “regulator” (although its more of a filter in that case than it is a regulator), while others use it as a low-pass-filter (LPF) for the error amplifier at the core of the regulator. The basic idea is to use a BJT transistor as a follower to amplify the capacitor current by ~hfe (small signal current gain) of the transistor, making the capacitor appear as if it was ~hfe larger in value. This simple structure is shown in Fig. 1.
Continue reading “Effective Use of the Capacitance Multiplier for Voltage Regulators”
