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Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

Gen. Luna Cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila

College of Engineering and Technology

Electronics Engineering Department

ECE 0212.1-3 – ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS LAB

Experiment No.09
Shunt Type Voltage Regulator

NAME IG GG TG

ALACAPA, Gabrielle Elijah K.

AQUINO, Deserie P.

CORREA, Jorrel R.

DE GUZMAN, George P.

LAMPA, Mohammad Y.

LOPOS, Maria Paulifel B.

MANGAHAS, Charles Ruiz A.

PENALVER, Alan Joseph I.

OLIDAN, Trisha Mae F.

Fernando Victor V. de Vera, ECE, M.Tech

Professor

Date of Performance: 4 January 2023

Date of Submission: 24 January 2023
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Experiment No. 09: Shunt Type Voltage Regulator

1.0 Objectives
1.1 Demonstrate the operation of a simple shunt-type transistor
voltage regulator.
1.2 Determine the line voltage regulation properties of a simple
shunt transistor voltage regulator.
1.3 Determine the load voltage regulation of a shunt transistor
regulator.

2.0 Theoretical Background

A voltage regulator is a device that is used to maintain the output voltage

at a constant value despite the variation in load current or input voltage.
Its presence in electrical and electronic circuits is necessary as it tries to
sustain the dc output voltage within a specified range irrespective of the
variation in input voltage or load current.

A voltage regulator is an integrated circuit (IC) that maintains a constant

fixed output voltage regardless of load or input voltage changes A linear
voltage regulator operates by automatically adjusting the resistance
through a feedback loop, accounting for changes in both load and input
while maintaining a constant output voltage.

Shunt Voltage Regulator

The shunt voltage regulator provides a conduit for the supplied voltage to
go to the ground by using variable resistance. redirected the current away
from the weight and toward the ground. Simply said, this voltage
regulator can absorb current and is less efficient than a series voltage
regulator. Applications for this technology include voltage monitoring,
error amplifiers, and precision current limiters.

Discrete Transistor Shunt Voltage Regulator

In this instance, the current is redirected away from the load. The
controller will shunt a portion of the total current produced by the
unregulated input and provided to the load. Voltage is regulated across
the load.

The comparator circuit in this situation will send a control signal to the
controller each time the output voltage changes as a result of the
fluctuation in load. The controller will shunt the excess current from the
load in order to produce a sustained voltage as the output.

Zener Controlled Transistor Shunt Voltage Regulator

In this instance, the unregulated voltage is directly proportional to
the voltage drop that takes place in the series resistance. The voltage drop
is affected by the current fed to the load. The output voltage is influenced
by the Zener diode and the transistor base emitter voltage (VBE).
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Shunt regulator with feedback loop

As expected, this type of shunt regulator performs well enough for many
applications, but much higher levels of performance can be obtained by
using feedback based on the shunt voltage regulator's output voltage and
feeding this information back into the system to guarantee that the
required output voltage is accurately maintained.

The output voltage is measured and the voltage is compared to a

reference using the shunt voltage regulator with feedback as depicted
above. The output voltage is then raised to the necessary level by
changing the shunt current's level.

In cases involving high current, shunt voltage regulators are not

particularly productive or efficient. When used as a low current voltage
reference, the straightforward Zener diode voltage regulator is frequently
utilized, and its inefficiency is acceptable given the low current. Shunt
regulators are frequently utilized as voltage reference sources for driving
series regulators with substantially larger currents.

Line and Load Regulation

Line Regulation: the change in output voltage due to a specified change
in input voltage; normally quoted in microvolts per volt.
Load Regulation: a similar change due to a change in load current,
expressed either in percent for a given current change or as dynamic
resistance in ohms. It should, but does not always, include self-heating
effects due to dissipation change.

3.0 Materials and Equipment

Power Source 0-20Vdc, 200mA
VOM (2)
C 10µA Electrolytic
Q NPN Transistor 2N2222A
R1 47 Ω, 1W
R2 5k Ω, 1W
R3 100 Ω, 1W
R4 1 KΩ, 2W Potentiometer
VR1 Zener Diode, 1N4732A, 1W
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4.0 Procedures, Data and Results

4.A Objective A
4.A.a. Connect the shunt transistor regulator circuit.

Figure No. 1: Shunt transistor regulator circuit (with meter)

4.A.b. Adjust R4 for maximum load resistance. Do not short

the output of this regulator circuit. Transistor Q1 was not
intended to handle the full short circuit current and could
easily be destroyed.

Figure No. 2: Adjusting R4

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4.A.c. Adjust the power supply voltage to 15Vdc.

Figure No. 3: 15 Vdc power supply voltage

4.A.d. Measure and record the voltage across VR1.

EVR1 = 9.6295 Vdc

4.A.e. Measure and record the output voltage across load

resistor R3
and R4.

Eo = 5.3705 Vdc

4.A.f. Calculate the emitter-base voltage drop of Q1.

Assuming the value of Ez in Vdc is 4.65596:

EBE = Eo – Ez
EBE = 5.3705 - 4.65596
EBE = 0.71454 Vdc
EBE = 714.54 mVdc

4.A.g. Reduce the power supply voltage to zero.

Ein = 0 Vdc
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4.B Objective B
4.B.a Change your circuit.

Figure No. 4: Circuit (without meter)

4.B.b Check that R4 is adjusted for maximum load

resistance.

Figure No. 5: R4 in maximum load resistance

4.B.c Adjust the power supply voltage to 11Vdc.

Figure No. 6: 11 Vdc power supply voltage

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4.B.d Measure the output voltage Eo, Zener current Iz, and
load current IL. Record these in Table 1.

Figure No. 7: Measuring Eo, Iz and IL

4.B.e Repeat the action of (c) and (d) for each value of Ein
listed in Table 1.

Table No. 1: Record of Eo, Iz and IL

Ein (Vdc) Eo (Vdc) Iz (mA) IL (mA)
11 5.3300 1.2495 4.8454
12 5.3418 1.4853 4.8562
13 5.3523 1.7237 4.8657
14 5.3618 1.9645 4.8743
15 5.3705 2.2077 4.8822
16 5.3785 2.4533 4.8895
17 5.3860 2.7012 4.8964
18 5.3931 2.9514 4.9028

4.B.f Reduce the input voltage to zero.

Ein = 0 Vdc

4.B.g Calculate the line voltage regulation.

𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑎𝑥𝐸𝑖𝑛)−𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐸𝑖𝑛)
%𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑥100%
𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐸𝑖𝑛)

5.3931−5.3300
%𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑥100%
5.3300
%Regulation = 1.184%
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4.C Objective C
4.C.a Adjust the input voltage to 15 Vdc.

Figure No. 8: 15 Vdc input voltage

4.C.b. Adjust R4 for 10mA of load current.

Figure No. 9: Adjusting R4 for IL = 10mA

4.C.c. Measure output voltage Eo and record it in Table 2.

Record Iz also.

Figure No. 10: Measuring 𝐸𝑜 and 𝐼𝑍

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4.C.d. Repeat the action of (b) and (c) for the remaining
values of IL in Table 2. For IL = 0, disconnect the ground
side of the load resistor R4 to make your measurement.

Table No. 2: Record of 𝐼𝐿 , 𝐸𝑜 , 𝐼𝑍

IL (mA) Eo (Vdc) Iz, (mA)

0 5.3705 2.2077
10 5.3684 2.1490
15 5.3664 2.0917
20 5.3644 2.0346
25 5.3623 1.9776
30 5.3601 1.9207
35 5.3579 1.8640
40 5.3557 1.8074

4.C.e. Reduce the power supply voltage to zero.

Figure No. 11: Zero power supply voltage

4.C.f. Calculate the load voltage regulation.

𝐸𝑜(𝑁𝑂 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷) − 𝐸𝑜(𝐹𝑈𝐿𝐿 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷)

%𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = χ 100%
𝐸𝑜(𝐹𝑈𝐿𝐿 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷)

5.3705−5.3494
= χ 100%
5.3494

= 0.394%
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5.0 Observations, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Observations
The experiment was divided into three objectives, A, B and
C. It was performed using the Multisim software.
In Objective A, the simple shunt transistor voltage regulator
circuit, with 15 Vdc power supply voltage and R4 in max load
resistance, was operated to find the values of the voltage across
R1, the output voltage Eo across R3 and R4 and the emmiter-
base voltage drop of Q1.
In Objective B, the circuit in the Figure No. 4 with adjusted
power supply voltage of 11 Vdc, was used to measure the values
of the output voltage Eo, the Zener current Iz, and the load
current IL, with increasing Ein, and were recorded in Table
No.1. After that, the line voltage regulation was calculated using
the formula provided in Objective B, %𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑎𝑥𝐸𝑖𝑛)−𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐸𝑖𝑛)
𝑥100%.
𝐸𝑜(𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐸𝑖𝑛)
In Objective C, the input voltage was changed back to 15 Vdc.
The R4 was then adjusted to achieve the target load current. By
doing so, the values of Eo and Iz can now be measured and
recorded in the Table No.2. Lastly, the load voltage regulation
was calculated using the formula %𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝐸𝑜(𝑁𝑂 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷) − 𝐸𝑜(𝐹𝑈𝐿𝐿 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷)
χ 100% . The calculated percentage was
𝐸𝑜
(𝐹𝑈𝐿𝐿 𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐷)
compared to the shunt transistor voltage regulator with typical
value of 1.5%.

5.2 Conclusion
The aim of this experiment was to demonstrate the operation
of a simple shunt-type transistor voltage regulator and
determine the load voltage regulation and the line voltage
regulation properties of a simple shunt transistor voltage
regulator.
In this experiment, the voltage regulator is composed of 11-
18 Vdc power supply voltage, 10-uF capacitor, NPN MJ15024G
transistor, 4.7-volt 1N4732A, R1, R2, R3 and R4, where the
output voltage is kept constant when the input voltage (the
independent variable in Table No.1) or load current (the
independent variable in Table No.2) varies.
In Objective A, the value of the voltage obtained in measuring
R1 is 9.6295 Vdc and the output voltage across R3 and R4 is
5.3705 Vdc. Subracting Ez from Eo, EBE becomes approximately
0.7 Vdc or 700 mVdc.
In Objective B, Eo and IL are constant with varying Ein. In
addition, Iz increases as Ein increases. The line voltage
regulation is 1.184% which means that the regulation is good.
In Objective C, the load resistor R4 is adjusted to get the
target load currents. As IL increases, Iz decreases with constant
Eo. The load voltage regulation is 0.394% which is better than
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the other shunt transistor voltage regulator with typical value

of 1.5%.
Finally, the researchers were able to show how the simple
shunt-type transistor voltage regulator operates through the
analysis of the data recorded in the tables. The efficiency of the
shunt voltage regulators can be determined through the
calculation of the line and load voltage regulation.

5.3 Recommendations
It is better to conduct this kind of experiment in the actual
laboratory. For the future groups who will conduct this, it will
be a little harder when using a simulation rather than
performing the experiment in actual and with the actual
required tools that can help them to get familiarized more with
the equipments. The downside of using a simulation is that
sometimes for the groups to perform the experiment
completely with the use of all the equipments, it is requiring
them to have a premium access on the said simulation.

6.0 Questions and Answers

Objective A
6.1 Is the result in (f) approximately equal to 0.6V?
No. EBE is approximately equal to 0.7 V. Nonetheless, 0.7 V
is close to 0.6 V.

Objective B
6.2 Look at Table 1. Does IL remain constant for all values of
Ein?
Yes, IL can be considered as constant despite the minimal
differences in values which is insignificant.
6.3 Does Eo remain constant?
Yes, Eo can be considered as constant despite the minimal
differences in values which is insignificant. The Eo
throughout the eight varying Ein is ≈ 5.3 Vdc.
6.4 Is Iz constant for all values of Ein? Explain.
No. The Zener current Iz is not constant for all values of Ein.
This is how the Zener diodes work – regulating the voltage
for a wide range of currents.

Objective C
6.5 Look at Table 2. Is Eo constant for all values of IL?
Yes, Eo does remain constant for all IL values.
6.6 Does Iz remain constant as IL increases?
No, Iz decreases slightly as IL increases.
6.7 Compared to the typical value of 1.5% for this type of
regulator, does your shunt regulator provide good
regulation?
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Yes, it does and in fact, it is even better since 0.394% is

closer to zero (the ideal percentage) which is more stable and
capable of providing better regulation. Comparatively
speaking, it offers more control. The shunt voltage regulator
with 0.394% load voltage regulation is hence more effective.

7.0 References

Wilson, P. (2012). The Circuit Designer's Companion. Elsevier.

Jhon. (2018). Voltage Regulators,Circuits,Types,Working principle,

Design, Applications. Circuits Today.
https://www.circuitstoday.com

Electronic Notes. (n.d.). Shunt Voltage Regulator & Power Supply

https://www.electronics-
notes.com/articles/analogue_circuits/power-supply-
electronics/linear-psu-shunt-regulator-circuit.php

8.0 Member’s Participation

Members Contribution

ALACAPA, Gabrielle Elijah 4.0 Procedure – Objective B

6.2-6.4

AQUINO, Deserie 4.0 Procedure – Objective C

6.5-6.7
5.1 Observations
5.2 Conclusion

CORREA, Jorrel Objective A

6.1

DE GUZMAN, George ---

LAMPA, Mohammad 4.0 Procedure – Objective B

6.2-6.4

LOPOS, Maria Paulifel 4.0 Procedure – Objective C

6.5

MANGAHAS, Charles Ruiz ---

PENALVER, Alan Joseph 2.0 Theoretical Background

5.3 Recommendation

OLIDAN, Trisha 2.0 Theoretical Background