A Pulsewidth-Modulated Dc-to-Dc Converter That Utilizes a Small Number of Components

In general, circuit reliability can be enhanced by either incorporating redundancy or by minimizing a circuits component count. Conventional nonregulating converters generally require two active devices, whereas in regulating converters or switching regulators as many as 10 transistors, either integrated or discrete, is not uncommon. A regulating dc-to-dc converter which provides useful regulation and which can be constructed with either two or three transistors is described.