ABSTRACT
A simple diagram (see Figure 10.1) provides the best way to demonstrate the actual makeup of a power supply. A basic power supply consists of four sections: a transformer (see Chapter 11), a rectifier, a smoothing section, and a load. The transformer converts the 120-V a-c to a lower a-c voltage. The choice of this a-c depends on the final level of d-c required. The rectifier section is used to convert the a-x input to d-c. Unfortunately, the d-c produced is not smooth d-c but instead is pulsating d-c. The smoothing, or conditioning section, functions to take the pulsating d-c and convert it to a pure d-c with as little a-c ripple as possible. The smoothed d-c is then applied to the load.
