Regulators Reduce Power Supply Size

The VB409/VB409SP linear voltage regulators claim to sharply reduce both the size and cost of supplying 5 Vdc from a 110 or 220 Vac line by eliminating discrete components associated with typical high-voltage, low-current power supplies. The devices require only a small capacitor and two resistors to supply 5 Vdc at up to 70 mA.
Using a 100 µF capacitor, the regulators can also supply a pre-regulated voltage of about 12V at up to 25 mA. The chips have built-in function blocks that limit output current during a short circuit and shut down the device under a thermal overload condition. The input is also protected against over current. Available in Pentawatt HV (VB409) and surface-mount (VB409SP) packages, pricing is $0.57 each/500K.