Linear regulator

In electronics, a linear regulator is a voltage regulator used to maintain a steady voltage. The resistance of the regulator varies in accordance with both the input voltage and the load, resulting in a constant voltage output. The regulating circuit varies its resistance, continuously adjusting a voltage divider network to maintain a constant output voltage and continually dissipating the difference between the input and regulated voltages as waste heat. By contrast, a switching regulator uses an active device that switches on and off to maintain an average value of output. Because the regulated voltage of a linear regulator must always be lower than input voltage, efficiency is limited and the input voltage must be high enough to always allow the active device to reduce the voltage by some amount.

Linear regulators may place the regulating device in parallel with the load (shunt regulator) or may place the regulating device between the source and the regulated load (a series regulator). Simple linear regulators may only contain as little as a Zener diode and a series resistor; more complicated regulators include separate stages of voltage reference, error amplifier and power pass element. Because a linear voltage regulator is a common element of many devices, single-chip regulators ICs are very common. Linear regulators may also be made up of assemblies of discrete solid-state or vacuum tube components.

Despite their name, linear regulators are non-linear circuits because they contain non-linear components (such as Zener diodes, as shown below in the simple shunt regulator) and because the output voltage is ideally constant (and a circuit with a constant output that does not depend on its input is a non-linear circuit).