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A buck converter is a step-down DC to DC converter. Its design is similar to the step-up boost converter, and like the boost converter it is a switched-mode power supply that uses two switches (a transistor and a diode) and an inductor and a capacitor.
The simplest way to reduce a DC voltage is to use a voltage divider circuit, but voltage dividers waste energy, since they operate by bleeding off excess voltage as heat; also, output voltage isn't regulated (varies with input voltage). A buck converter, on the other hand, can be remarkably efficient (easily up to 95% for integrated circuits) and self-regulating, making it useful for tasks such as converting the 12-24V typical battery voltage in a laptop down to the few volts needed by the processor. |
