Subject: Liner Integrated Circuits

Topic: Special Purpose Integrated Circuits

Difficulty: Low

LM317 as adjustable voltage regulator

The LM317 is an adjustable 3-terminal positive voltage regulator capable of supplying different DC voltage outputs other than the fixed voltage power supply of +5 or +12 volts, or as a variable output voltage from a few volts up to some maximum value all with currents of about 1.5A

By using the ratio of two resistances, one of a fixed value and the other variable (or both fixed), we can set the output voltage to the desired level with a corresponding input voltage being anywhere between 3 and 40 volts.

The LM317 variable voltage regulator also has built in current limiting and thermal shut down capabilities which makes it short-circuit proof and ideal for any low voltage or home made bench power supply.

The output voltage of the LM317 is determined by ratio of the two feedback resistors R1 and R2 which form a potential divider network across the output terminal.

The voltage across the feedback resistor R1 is a constant 1.25V reference voltage, Vref produced between the “output” and “adjustment” terminal. The adjustment terminal current is a constant current of 100uA. Since the reference voltage across resistor R1 is constant, a constant current i will flow through the other resistor R2, resulting in an output voltage of:

V_O = V_REF (1 + R2/R1) + I_ADJ R2

Then whatever current flows through resistor R1 also flows through resistor R2 (ignoring the very small adjustment terminal current), with the sum of the voltage drops across R1 and R2 being equal to the output voltage, Vout. Obviously the input voltage, Vin must be at least 2.5 volts greater than the required output voltage to power the regulator.

Also, the LM317 has very good load regulation providing that the minimum load current is greater than 10mA. So to maintain a constant reference voltage of 1.25V, the minimum value of feedback resistor R1 needs to be 1.25V/10mA = 120 Ohm and this value can range anywhere from 120 ohms to 1,000 ohms with typical values of R1 being about 220Ω’s to 240Ω’s for good stability.

The LM317 variable voltage regulator also has built in current limiting and thermal shut down capabilities which makes it short-circuit proof.