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High efficiency is particularly relevant in systems that can operate from batteries. Inefficiency may require weighing the cost either of the wasted energy, or of the required power supply, against the cost of attaining greater efficiency. Efficiency can usually be improved by choosing different components or by redesigning the system.
In contrast, a linear power supply regulates the output voltage by continually dissipating power in the pass transistor. The switched-mode power supply's higher electrical efficiency is an important advantage. Switched-mode power supplies can also be substantially smaller and lighter than a linear supply because the transformer can be much smaller.
The red curve shows the power in the load, normalized relative to its maximum possible. The dark blue curve shows the efficiency η. The efficiency η is the ratio of the power dissipated by the load resistance R L to the total power dissipated by the circuit (which includes the voltage source's resistance of R S as well as R L):
It is a class of switched-mode power supply. Switching converters (such as buck converters) provide much greater power efficiency as DC-to-DC converters than linear regulators, which are simpler circuits that dissipate power as heat, but do not step up output current. [1]
The efficiency of a computer power supply is its output power divided by its input power; the remaining input power is converted to heat as expected under conservation of energy. For instance, a 600 W power supply with 60% efficiency running at full load would draw 1000 W from the mains and waste 400 W as heat.
For example, a 900-watt power supply with the 80 Plus Silver efficiency rating (which means that such a power supply is designed to be at least 85% efficient for loads above 180 W) may only be 73% efficient when the load is lower than 100 W, which is a typical idle power for a desktop computer. Thus, for a 100 W load, losses for this supply ...
In a symmetric three-phase power supply system, three conductors each carry an alternating current of the same frequency and voltage amplitude relative to a common reference, but with a phase difference of one third of a cycle (i.e., 120 degrees out of phase) between each. The common reference is usually connected to ground and often to a ...
Efficiency of power plants, world total, 2008. Energy conversion efficiency (η) is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The input, as well as the useful output may be chemical, electric power, mechanical work, light (radiation), or heat.