oh yes. The LM4040 family. I like to think of them as an active zener diode. I use them to power up low power micro controllers. They can regulate about 15mA. More then enough to many application. Great device to have in your tool box.
Mark Hennessy has a nice long article on using these, "Statistical DVM Reference", easily google-able. He bought a stack of them at 2.5V, then selected them to stack as closely as possible in steps of 2.5V up to 12.5V as a selectable voltage reference box. LM4040's claim to fame is probably just being *the* most jellybean shunt reference around, maybe slightly better than the TL431. If you just need some decent Vref but don't need the bee's knees, grab a LM4040.
There is an adjustable version called the LM4041. The NSC datasheet shows a block diagram. I've used these as small shunt regulators, especially with an external pass transistor in the feedback loop. A very handy part!
That's a pretty neat datasheet from TI. It's interesting that they have 2.5v, 3v, 5v and 10v versions. But also 2.048v, 4.096v and 8.192v versions. They must be good for A-D and stuff 👍
interestingly enough, that tc1 part tester might be using an lm4040 or tl431 for voltage reference. the original design they're based on uses an lt1004 which are kind of expensive in comparison.
You've probably gone over this already, but how easy is it to blow up your part in the curve tracer? Or put it another way, is it idiot proof. I'm asking for a friend. :/
Absolutely not idiot proof. it will output 10 amps or 1500 volts your choice on how you want to release the magic smoke. and can kill idiots at the same time. be careful.
If you don't already have a video on building a linear power supply from a reference, pass transistor, etc - this would be a fun part to use for such a video. It would very effectively demonstrate that you need much more than a nice reference to build a good power supply
Ya, these are on my list for me next order, cheaper than Microchip voltage references, seams. Section 7 shows a simplified schematic. 4 npn/pnp transistors, an opamp configured as comparator and some current sources (and current limiter?) and unmarked resistors, seams like a pretty cool circuit to set the thresholds on the comparator. There is also a LM4040-N datasheet.
@@IMSAIGuy Thnx, added these to datasheet collection, the 4030 seems the ultra high precision variant, the 4040 in the mid and the 4050 on the 3rd spot so far i could see from the datasheet comparing the 2.5 models, unfortunately the data format differs in the datasheets if you compare 4040 and 4050.
@@IMSAIGuy It's easy or somewhat easy to computer control a variable output voltage using a mosfet for bench power supply but what is need to "computer" control it's current?
@@AnalogDude_ I did a five part video on a simple supply. you get get the basic ideas from this. replace the voltage and current control pots with two D/A converters.
