Reservoir Valley Margin Cross-Scan - Electronic Circuits XIII: Power, Rectification, and Regulation Step by Step

Capacitance controls whether the ripple valley reaches the regulator minimum. Exact arithmetic here means exact results for the stated model inputs; measured inputs still carry uncertainty and significant-figure limits.

highlighted = computed this step

Reservoir valley is peak minus ripple before the gate

The checked source has ripple two volts, so a ten-volt peak leaves an eight-volt valley. That exactly reaches the required minimum.

10\ \text{V}\mathbin{-}2\ \text{V}=8\ \text{V}\ge8\ \text{V}

Capacitance decides whether the same minimum is reached

The source peak, current, interval, and required minimum stay fixed. Only capacitance changes the ripple and therefore the valley gate.

\begin{array}{c|c|c|c|c}C&\Delta V&V_{\text{valley}}&V_{\min}&\text{gate}\\2\ \text{F}&3\ \text{V}&7\ \text{V}&8\ \text{V}&\text{fail}\\3\ \text{F}&2\ \text{V}&8\ \text{V}&8\ \text{V}&\text{pass}\\6\ \text{F}&1\ \text{V}&9\ \text{V}&8\ \text{V}&\text{pass}\\\end{array}