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Design dual polarity DC power supply from single polarity DC power supply

iamgauravg , 08-11-2023, 12:15 AM
I have been thinking what good approaches can be taken to provide dual polarity power supplies to the analog circuits (eg dual supply opamps) if we only have one unregulated supply from a battery or USB (as used in the course).

LDO approach requires to already have two unregulated dual polarity power supplies:

The LT3032 is a dual, low noise, positive and negative low dropout voltage linear regulator. Each regulator delivers up to 150mA with a typical 300mV dropout voltage. Each regulator’s quiescent current is low (30μA operating and Another key feature of the LT3032 is low output noise. Adding an external 10nF bypass capacitor to each regulator reduces

Linear regulator integrated circuits (ICs) step a voltage down from a higher voltage to a lower voltage without the need of an inductor. The low dropout (LDO) linear regulator is a special type of linear regulator in which the dropout voltage—the differential between the input-to-output voltage needed to maintain regulation—is typically below 400 m



Can the following switching converters could be used to generate the dual supply for analog circuits?

In this tutorial we will learn how to build a simple low current dual 5V Power Supply Circuit that can be powered from our USB ports.

In this guide I’ll show you how to build a +5V -5V dual power supply from a standard USB outlet, using just four components.


I will appreciate learning about industry best practices for generating dual polarity power supplies from single polarity DC power supply.
qdrives , 08-11-2023, 01:34 PM
All linear regulator are unable to generate a higher or negative supply.
That leaves you with switching ones. They can be either using inductors (like the TI link) or capacitors.
For capacitors it is mostly a "voltage doubler" or negative of... And there is just about the limit of it (2x or -1x), whereas for inductive you can go beyond that.
And do not think that is truly doubles, it will be more like 1.8x and -0.8x the input value.

So if you want +5.0V and +5.0V from a USB powered device, you best go with a inductor based design.
If it is low current and you can live with -4...4V then the capacitive will be the cheapest.
Paul van Avesaath , 08-15-2023, 03:50 PM
i once used a couple of diodes to create a new floating GND point getting a -1.4 and a 3.6V from a single 5V supply.. but i do not think that is what you need. usually you add the negative voltage with a seperate device. but there are some other options too

IntroductionMany applications require the power supply to provide a negative voltage, such as LCD displays, gate drivers, embedded applications, op-amp circuits, etc,. This application note explains how to generate a negative output voltage from a positive input voltage using the MAX17291 boost converter IC.The MAX17291 is a low quiescent current b

iamgauravg , 08-17-2023, 11:46 AM
Thank you qdrives and Paul for your suggestions. I will try them out.

Does it help if you use the switching regulator to generate the negative supply and then filter the noise to use for analog supply?
Alternatively, can we use switching regulator to generate negative supply and then use LDO to generate supply for analog?

This will increase the number of components/cost but maybe ok for certain sensitive analog applications?
qdrives , 08-17-2023, 01:28 PM
One thing is very simple, you will need a switching solution if you want to go from 0...+5V to -5...+5V.
It is possible add secondary 'filters' and LDO's, but it is not the simplest. For LDO's you need to look at the PSRR at the switching frequency. The high the dB, the better.
One of the better and in part easier solutions is to go from 0...5V to -7 and +7 switching and then filter/LDO/"capacitance multiplier" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wopmEyZKnYo) to -5...+5V.
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