Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Comments on Soft-start circuit behaviour

Post

Soft-start circuit behaviour

+5
−0

Let's take a soft-start circuit that looks like this: Soft-start circuit schematic

To my understanding, the function can be described as follows:

  • C1 charges to open the gate. Value of C1 will dictate the soft-start delay.
  • R2 and R1 form a divider that establishes a bias on the gate voltage once the FET opens.
  • R1 also dictates startup time and serves to discharge C1 after input voltage is removed.

This circuit works in simulation and in the real world. LTSpice simulation results

Here, $V_{in}$ in the input voltage, $V_{out}$ the output, and $V_{n001}$ in the gate voltage of the FET. $V_{n001}-V_{in}$ is then the gate-source voltage.

The capacitor starts charging and at a certain point a sufficient $V_{gs}$ is reached after which the FET will begin to open. This is clearly seen on the simulation. However, I am not certain why the R2/R1 divider is at all necessary since the soft-start fucntionality is achieved through the R1/C1 circuit.

Therefore the question: what is the point of using R2 in this circuit?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

1 comment thread

Unknown phrase (1 comment)
Unknown phrase
Andy aka‭ wrote about 1 year ago

What does this mean --> open the gate