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Opamps are very useful. But one of their major drawbacks is the
requirement of a dual supply. This seriously limits their
applications in fields where a dual supply is not affordable or
not practicable.
This circuit solves the problem to a certain extent. It provides a
negative voltage from a single positive supply. This negative
voltage together with the positive supply can be used to power the
opamps and other circuits requiring a dual supply.
The circuits operation can be explained as follows:
The 555 IC is operating as an astable multivibrator with a
frequency of about 1kHz. A square wave is obtained at the pin 3 of
the IC . When the output is positive, the 22uF capacitor charges
through the diode D1. When the output at pin 3 is ground, the 22uF
discharges through the diode D2 and charges the 100uF capacitor is
charged. The output is taken across the 100uF capacitor as shown
in the figure.
A disadvantage of this circuit is its poor voltage regulation and
current limit. The max. current that can be drawn from this
circuit is about 40mA. If you draw more current, the regulation
will be lost.
Also the output negative voltage will be a little less than the
positive supply due to the diode drops. For example if the voltage
is +9V then the output voltage will be about 7.5 V.
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