Switch Mode Power Supply
Switchmode Power Supply (SMPS). This has gained enormous
penetration of charger markets in the past 15 years, and is now the
predominant mode of operation in the telecomms and computer markets. It
is lightweight in comparison to Thyristor systems.
It consists of fully controllable switching power devices like
MOSFETs and IGBTs, and can thus operate at frequiencies much higher than
the grid frequency. These devices can be fully turned on and off at
any instant in time alllowing for precise control of the charger
output.
A typical SMPS consists of a front end AC-DC rectifier to generate an
unregulated DC input voltage, a high frequency chopper that chops the
input DC voltage and an output filtering stage to generate a smooth,
very low rippple output volage.