Introduction to High and Low Voltage Power Supplies

The definition of high and low voltages is not univocal, and In case used in a location with magnetic fields PMT’s have to
the usage of these expressions in the research community be shielded by a layer of mu-metal (nickel-iron alloy with
and in the electro technical industry may differ significantly. very high , i.e. magnetic permeability).
The International Electrotechnical Commission and its PMT Power Supply Requirements
national counterparts (IEE in the UK, VDE in Germany, etc.) Typical Voltage 1 – 3 kV
classify high and low voltage circuits as follows: Typical Current 0.1 …3mA
AC DC Polarity Positive or Negative (common)
High Voltage (HV) > 1000 V > 1500 V
Low Voltage (LV) 50 – 1000 V 120 – 1500V Photodiode
Extra Low Voltage (ELV) < 50 V < 120 V A photodiode is a semiconductor diode that functions as a
Safety ELV (SELV) 25V 60V photo detector. When light of sufficient photon energy
strikes the diode, it excites an electron thereby creating a
In the United States 2005 National Electrical Code (NEC), mobile electron and a positively charged electron hole. If the
high voltage is any voltage over 600 V (article 490.2). absorption occurs in the junction's depletion region, or one
In the scientific community and in the spin-off industry the diffusion length away from it, these carriers are swept from
difference between low and high voltage is sometimes the junction by the built-in field of the depletion region,
related to the application. producing a photocurrent.

For example, “high voltage” is used in many particle In zero bias mode, light falling on the diode causes a current
detectors to create an electric field that allows to amplify across the device, leading to forward bias which in turn
particle signals and therefore to detect particles. Therefore, induces "dark current" in the opposite direction to the
a high voltage unit could be the 3kV power supply for a photocurrent. This is called the photovoltaic effect, and is the
photomultiplier as well as the high precision 100V power basis for solar cells.
supply for the bias of a semiconductor detector. On the Reverse bias induces only little currents (known as saturation
other hand, low voltage is used to feed the analog and or back currents) along its direction. But a more important
digital electronics integrated in the detectors or into other effect of reverse bias is widening of the depletion layer
applications. (Therefore expanding the reaction volume) and
All Wiener power supplies are DC power supplies with the strengthening the photocurrent. Circuits based on this effect
following properties: are more sensitive to light than ones based on the
photovoltaic effect.
Modular design
High degree of reliability Photo Diode Power Supply Requirements
Robust construction Typical Voltage 5V to 100V
Sophisticated hardware protection against over Typical Current 1 uA to 10 mA
currents, over/under voltage, shorts Polarity Positive or Negative
Availability of remote controlling and monitoring
Avalanche Photodiode
Power Supplies for Particle Detection Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are photo detectors with high
internal gain, a semiconductor analog to photomultipliers. By
Photomultiplier applying a reverse bias voltage (typically 100-200 V in
silicon), APDs show an internal current gain effect (typically
Photomultiplier tubes (PMT’s) are extremely sensitive around 100) due to impact ionization. Some silicon APDs
detectors of light in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared employ alternative doping and beveling techniques that allow
spectrum. Using the photoelectric effect, electrons are greater voltage to be applied (> 1500 V) before breakdown
produced which are then multiplied in the electric field of is reached and hence a greater operating gain (> 1000). In
electrodes (dynodes) with increasing high voltage. The signal general, the higher the reverse voltage the higher the gain.
is taken off the Anode. PMT’s multiply the signal produced by Since APD gain varies strongly with the applied reverse bias
incident light by as much as 108, allowing single photon and temperature, the reverse voltage should be stable and
detection. monitored in order to keep a stable gain. Power supplies with
high monitoring and setting resolution are often necessary,.
If very high gain is needed (105 to 106), certain APDs can be
operated with a reverse voltage above the APDs breakdown
voltage. In this case, the APD needs to have its signal
current limited and quickly diminished, for example through
active or passive current quenching. APDs in high-gain
regime operate in Geiger mode. This mode is particularly
useful for single photon detection provided that the dark
count event rate is sufficiently low.
Scintillating detector with Photomultiplier

PMT’s typically require 1000V to 3000V operation voltage for

APD Power Supply Requirements
proper operation. Negative high voltage supplies are usually
preferred. The high voltages are divided and distributed to Typical Voltage 50 – 2000 V
the dynodes by a passive resistive or active voltage divider in Typical Current (Anode) 1 – 10 mA
the PMT socket. Polarity Positive or Negative
While powered, photomultipliers must be shielded from
ambient light to prevent their destruction through over Silicon PMT
excitation. Silicon photomultipliers are new, semiconductor photon
sensitive devices build from an avalanche photodiode matrix
on common silicium substrate.

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The dimension of each single APD micro-cell can vary from An accurate calibration procedures is necessary.
20 to 100 microns with a possible density of up to 1000 per Ge Detectors Power Supply Requirements
mm2. Every micro-cell APD operates in Geiger mode and is Typical Voltage (bias) Up to 4500 V
decoupled from the others by a polysilicon quenching
Typical Current (bias) 0,1 – 1 mA
resistor. A parallel readout of all micro-cells results in a large
Typical Voltage (electronics) 2 – 5V
dynamic range from a single photon up to 1000 photons per
mm2. The supply voltage depends on junction type and Typical Current (electronics) 40 to 500 mA
varies from a minimum of about 30V up to 70V. Polarity Positive or Negative
The total quantum efficiency of 20% as well as the gain of
about 106 are very similar to a traditional PMT’s, however the Wire Chambers
G/V curve is linear and not exponential like for a PMT. Silicon A wire chamber is a detector for particles of ionizing
PMT’s have a fast time response of about 100ps for single radiation which constitutes a further development of the
photo electron. The small, light and compact design as well Geiger counter and of the proportional counter.
as it’s independence of magnetic fields is a big advantage for A wire carrying a high voltage passes through a metal tube
detector applications. or cavity whose walls are held at ground potential. Any
Silicon PMT Power Supply Requirements ionizing particle that passes through the tube causes a
Typical Voltage 25V to 70V current to flow. This allows the experimenter to count
Typical Current 10 to 30 mA particles and, in the case of proportional counter operation
Typical Voltage (electronics) 5V mode, to determine their energy. Further developments of
the wire chambers are drift chambers and time projection
Typical Current (electronics) 40 to 100 mA
chambers, where the timing of the currents are used to infer
Polarity Positive or Negative the minimum distance of the particle trajectory from the
wire.
Silicon Strips and Silicon Pixel Detector Modern wire chamber need a wide range of voltages: 0,5 to
With semiconductor detectors it is also possible to detect 10 kV for the high voltage wires, and 0 to 1 kV for
charged particles. Narrow (usually around 100 micrometres monitoring the gas purity and the conditions of the
wide) strips of doped silicon work as diodes, which can be electrodes. This monitoring is very important for maintaining
reverse biased in order to enlarge the depletion zone and a high efficiency throughout the operation, where the
therefore achieve a higher sensitivity. The thicker the strip is, chamber is exposed to high beam intensity. This monitoring
the higher is the bias voltage required to obtain full typically involves running voltage plateau curves in many
depletion. As charged particles pass through these strips, voltage steps, and an accuracy of 0,5 V is often necessary.
they cause small ionization currents which can be detected
and measured. Arranging thousands of these detectors
around a collision point in a particle accelerator can give an
accurate picture of what paths particles take. Silicon
detectors have a much higher resolution in tracking charged
particles than older technologies such as cloud chambers or
wire chambers. The drawback is that silicon detectors are
much more expensive than these older technologies and
require sophisticated cooling to reduce leakage currents
(noise source) as well as suffer degradation over time from
radiation.
Silicon micro-strip detectors frequently operate in high
radiation environments and require a bias voltage which Wire chamber with cathod plates (P), wires (W), preamp (A) and crossing
should be adjustable on a wide range, typically from 0 to particle (T)
500V, with a remote monitoring and controlling system for
voltages and currents, in order to guarantee a constant gain
over time.
High precision is also required as current trips should be set Wire Chambers Power Supply Requirements
for each channel and range from some nA up to some uA Typical Voltage 0,5 – 10 kV
and calibration procedures must be executed with high Typical Current 1 – 30 mA/ch
accuracy in order to avoid breakdown. Polarity Positive (common) or Negative

Si Detectors Power Supply Requirements Resistive Plate Chamber

Typical Voltage (bias) 50 – 500 V Resistive plate chambers (RPCs) are gaseous parallel plate
Typical Current (bias) 1 mA detectors that combines the spatial resolution of the wire
Typical Voltage (electronics) 2 – 5V chambers with the good time resolution typical of a
Typical Current (electronics) 40 to 500 mA scintillation counter. It is therefore well suited for fast space-
time particle tracking as required by many trigger circuits in
Polarity Positive or Negative
particle and nuclear physics. RPCs do not use wires, are very
simple to manufacture and commercially available. RPCs
Germanium detector usually operate with voltage differences between 9 and 12
Germanium detectors are mostly used for detecting gammas, kV, which may also be achieved using both positive and
especially for spectroscopy in nuclear physics. While silicon negative high voltage power supplies.
detectors cannot be thicker than a few millimiters,
germanium can have a depleted, sensitive thickness of
centimeters, and therefore can be used as a total absorption
detector for gamma rays up to few MeV.

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 Power supply requirements depend on the application and
can cover a large voltage range between a few 100V up to
hundreds of kilo volts. Typically only low currents are
needed. In some case bipolar high voltage may be needed
to allow changing polarity of the electrostatic lenses.
Electrostatic Lenses Power Supply Requirements
Typical Voltage 0 to 100 kV (may vary)
Typical Current 1 uA .. 10 mA
Polarity Positive and Negative, Bipolar

Low Voltage Power Supplies

Resistive plate chamber

RPC Detectors Power Supply Requirements Powering Analog and Digital Front End Electronics
Typical Voltage 9 – 12 kV In the last decades, thanks to the miniaturization trend in
Typical Current 1 uA / m2 microelectronics, it has been possible to integrate more and
Polarity Positive and Negative more electronic components into particle detectors, in order
to achieve significant noise reduction and faster processing.
GEMs Every detector with built in electronics needs stable low
The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) is a proven gas detector voltages for ananlog and digital circuits. Multichannel silicon
technique that can be used for detecting in position ionizing strip detectors, PMTs, wire chambers, RPCs may require low
radiations such as charged particles, photons, X-rays and voltages, and since each detector type has its own geometry
neutrons, and has therefore a wide range of application, and space constraints, the cable length to the power supply
from healthcare to instrumentation for high energy physics. may range from centimeters to several hundreds of meters.
Wiener offers approaches to all LV installation challenges:
It uses a thin sheet of plastic coated with metal on both
power supplies which are able to maintain a constant voltage
sides and chemically pierced by a regular array of holes a over long distances, magnetic and radiation tolerant power
fraction of a millimetre across and apart. Applying a voltage
supplies which must operate very close to detectors,
across the GEM (300 – 500 V typically), the resulting high multichannel HV/LV integrated power supplies, high power
electric field in the holes makes an avalanche of ions and
devices.
electrons pour through each. The electrons are collected by a
suitable device, here a pickup electrode with x- and y- LV Power Supply Requirements
readout. Typical Voltage 1.5 – 60 V
Typical Current 1 – 200 A
Multichannel HV/LV power supplies are the best choise for
Polarity Positive or Negative
GEMs.
Power Supplies for Magnets
Power supplies for conventional magnets are usually low or
medium voltage, high current units. Depending on the size
and coil design of the magnet DC power of a few Watt to
hundred of kilo watts can be needed.
Power supplies for quadrupole magnets are typically in the 1
to 6kW class, with maximum currents of 10 to 50A and
voltages below 100V. Since most standard magnets have
inductances of ten Henries or less, already 10V across the
magnet will produce a minimum charge rate of up to 1A/s.
Gas electron multiplier Common slew rate requirements are 1A/s up to 50A/s. The
resistive load of the magnet coil is often below a few Ohms.
GEM Detectors Power Supply Requirements
Typical Voltage 300 – 500 V Depending on the application either a true bipolar current
Typical Current 1 – 10 mA output, i.e. a power supply that is able to ramp continuously
Polarity Positive or Negative from full negative current to full positive current, or a polarity
switching at zero crossing may be needed.
In order to achieve high precision magnet operation there
are extremely high requirements for the resolution of current
Electrostatic lenses
setting and measurement, in particular the stability and
Electrostatic lenses are often used for beam line steering and reproducibility. Typically a smooth continuous operation with
diagnostics as well as in a wide variety of applications like high setting resolution and low drift over time of 100ppm or
time-of-flight and mass spectrometry, ion traps, ionization less is required. Changing currents has to be possible with
experiments, … . adjustable slew rate and should run without overshooting or
ringing upon reaching the new operating current. Correction
and hysteresis cycles require a defined reproducibility.
Magnet power supplies should have low noise DC outputs,
especially in the low frequency range. Due to the large
impedance of the magnet, the high frequency noise of the
power supply is often less important than the stability, or
long term drift of the current.

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For integration in the beam control system remote control the voltage back down. In this way, the output voltage is
and monitoring of the power supply in addition to local held roughly constant. The control loop must be carefully
operation is often required. designed to produce the desired tradeoff between stability
Wiener is developing high precision FET current controlled and speed of response.
bipolar power supplies that will be launched in the near
future. Primary powered with a high efficient low noise Linear Regulated Power Supplies
switching power supply the full bridge bipolar FET current Linear regulated power supplies consist of a big transformer
regulator is feed only with minimum necessary voltage. That operating at the mains frequency of 50/60 Hz that produces
keeps the unit cool and dimensions low. the low voltage, a rectifier that lets the current flow in one
direction only, a regulating device (FET or bipolar transistor
operated in its linear region, Zener diode operated in the
breakdown region) that keeps the voltage constant and
many capacitators.
The regulating device is made to act like a variable resistor,
continuously adjusting a voltage divider network to maintain
a constant output voltage.
Linear regulated power supplies have the advantage of very
"clean" output with little noise introduced into their DC
output.

Switching Mode Power Supplies

A switching mode power supply is an electronic power supply
unit that incorporates an input rectifier and filter, an
Simulation of operation of a bipolar power supply (source electronic switch (chopper) whose AC output at typical
diagramm) frequencies of 50 kHz to 1 MHz is connected to the primary
winding of a high frequency transformer, an output rectifier
and output filter and a feedback circuit for the regulation
that stabilizes the voltage by controlling the timing of the
chopper.
Switching regulators are used as replacements for the linear
regulators when higher efficiency, smaller size or lighter
weight are required. They are, however, more complicated
and their switching currents can cause high frequency noise
problems if not carefully suppressed.

Comparing linear vs. switching power supplies

In order to determine whether a linear or a switching power
supply should be choosen for an application, some facts
must be taken into consideration:
Linear power supplies are best when low output noise is
required
Linear power supplies are best when a fast response to
input and output disturbances is required
Switching power supplies are best when power
efficiency is critical
Switching power supplies are required when only DC is
available as input and a higher output voltage is
required
The low frequency transformer of a linear power supply
Simulation of operation of a bipolar current controlled power is several times larger and heavier than a corresponding
supply (voltage and current vs time)
transformer in a switching power supply
Switching power supplies operating with AC input from
the main require a Power Factor Corrector (PFC) in
Introduction to power supplies and regulation many countries
A voltage regulator is an electrical regulator designed to Switching power supplies produce radio frequency noise
automatically maintain a constant voltage level.
In many cases either one would work.
Most active voltage regulators operate by comparing the
actual output voltage to some internal fixed reference
Voltage Loss on Cables
voltage. Any difference is amplified and used to control the
regulation element. This forms a negative feedback servo Voltage drop is the reduction in voltage in an electrical circuit
control loop. If the output voltage is too low, the regulation between the source and load. This voltage reduction may be
element is commanded to produce a higher voltage. For neglected when the impedance of the interconnecting
some regulators if the output voltage is too high, the conductors is small relative to the other components of the
regulation element is commanded to produce a lower circuit. Excessive voltage drop will result in unsatisfactory
voltage; however, many just stop sourcing current and operation of electrical equipment.
depend on the current draw of whatever it is driving to pull

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In electronic design, various techniques are used to Material Resistivity ( m) at 20°C
compensate for the effect of voltage drop on long circuits or 8
Silver 1.47×10
where voltage levels must be accurately maintained.
8
Copper 1.72×10
Voltage drop can be reduced with large cable sections, but
8
the drawbacks are higher costs and larger cable capacitance. Gold 2.44×10
The general formula to calculate voltage drop is Aluminum 2.82×10 8

8
V~ IL/ Tungsten 5.6×10
7
Brass 0.8×10
where is the conductor resistivity, I is the current, L is the
7
length of the cables and is the cables section. Assuming Iron 1.0×10
constant resistivity (although resistivity may depend strongly Platinum 1.1×10 7
on temperature and purity), it is possible to draw tables of
7
voltage drop’s dependency on the other three variables. Lead 2.2×10

Power Supplies over Long Distances

Voltage drop table for 10 A over 100 m of copper wire
(in red cells the cable section is not allowed for 10A) Long cables are often required to keep power supplies away
mm mm
2
AWG
1
/m V
from hostile environments or to meet particular requirements
0.81 0.52 20 0.352 3.52 35.2
with space constraints.
Then main challenge that is faced when powering low
1.04 0.85 18 0.207 2.07 20.7
voltage lines (as low as 1.6 - 2V) over long distances is to
1.26 1.25 16 0.141 1.41 14.1
get a stable voltage at the load without increaing cable
1.60 2 14 0.0879 0.879 8.79
sections too much. The voltage drop along the cables is
1.95 3 12 0.0586 0.586 5.86
often considerably higher than the voltage required by the
2.52 5 10 0.0352 0.352 3.52
load. In order to determine whether a particular setup will
3.19 8 8 0.0220 0.22 2.20
actually provide a stablity that satisfy user requirements,
5.25 20 4 0.00879 0.0879 0.879
many parameters such as cable capacitance, resistance,
voltage regulation time, etc. should be evaluated and
optimized within a simulation.
Voltage drop table for 100 A over 100 m of copper wire Wiener has a long track record of references in successfully
(in red cells the cable section is not allowed for 100A) providing long distance power supply and has simulation
mm mm2 AWG /m V tools to make sure that user requirements are met. The
5.25 20 4 0.00879 0.0879 8.79 example below is a preliminary estimation for a 500 meter
6.68 35 1 0.00502 0.0502 5.02 distant multichannel sink with constraints on cable diameter.
7.98 50 0 0.00352 0.0352 3.52
9.44 70 000 0.00251 0.0251 2.51
11.0 95 0000 0.00185 0.0185 1.85
12.36 120 250kcmil 0.00147 0.0147 1.47

Above: voltage drop as a function of cable length. Below: some materials

resistivities are reported for reference.

1 Simulation for a 500m distant sink. Sensed voltage and current

American Wiring Gauge
versus time for 1,5 ms long current pulses.
p1, p2 - p5 equivalent to C load 50, 100 - 250µF

92
 Magnetic and Radiation Tolerant Power Supplies

In many cases it may be more convenient to operate the

power supplies close to the detector, even in a hostile
environment, rather than using long cables. This makes
sense whenever the power supply is able to withstand the
hostile conditions for a sufficient long time.
While standard Wiener power supplies can work in lower
magnetic fields without further provisions, for higher than
300 G B-fields special screenings for the magnetic sensitive WIENER solutions for radiations and magnetic fields:
parts inside the power box have to be foreseen.
To provide sufficient cooling, even in higher magnetic fields
where motor driven fans are not able to work, a high
efficient water cooling system has been developed.
The PL 5-/PL 6- and MARATON series power supplies can be
divided into:
1. suitable for safe environment only (PL 500 /PL 6-)
2. suitable for moderately hazardous environment
with low B-field and low radiation (PL 5-WC2 / PL 6-
WC)
3. suitable for hazardous environments with up to
1500G B-field and full CERN LHC radiation
spectrum / dose (MARATON, MAgnetism and
RAdiation TOlerant New Power Supply System).

Summary WIENER Low and High Voltage Power Supplies

Voltage
Device Wiener Solution
Range

PMTs 1 – 3 kV Mpod HV

Si PMTs 25 – 70 V Mpod LV

APDs 50 – 2 kV Mpod HV-LV

+/- 5V
Si detectors 50 – 500 V Mpod HV-LV
+/- 2 to 5V
Ge detectors 4,5 kV Mpod HV-LV
+/- 2 to 5V
Wire chambers 0,5 – 10 kV Mpod HV, special HV

RPCs 9 – 12 kV Mpod HV

GEMs 300 – 500V Mpod HV

Special LVs for A/D 1,5 – 60 V PL508, PL512: I > 10A/ch

Special LVs for A/D 1,5 – 60 V Mpod LV, I < 10A/ch.

Mpod for up to 10kV,

Electrostatic Lenses 0 – 100kV Mpod for 0.5 / 3kV bipolar,
ISEG stand alone <100kV

Voltage and current requirements and Wiener solutions (per channel).

2
WC: Water Cooled

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