Question: Why is it important to specifically use a switching voltage regulator rather than a linear one? Using a switching regulator would add many components to my board and would increase cost by about $5.
Answer: It is not ALWAYS important. Switching regulators save power in many cases. That is, they can transform one voltage into another much more efficiently. So-called linear regulators achieve the required output voltage by “slashing” the input one and literally dissipating excess into the air as heat. Switching regulators do it differently, with much less loss. Example:
We have a 5V circuit that consumes 100mA. Actual voltage from the power supply is 12V. When we use linear regulator, consumed current will be 100mA
at 12V. With switching power, consumed current will be 100mA/(12/5)= ~40mA.
To put it another way: switching regulator transforms excess voltage into higher available current on the output. This is very crude and a university
professor would find a lot of faults with this explanation, but it is the easiest we can come up with.
