the Power Follower
original design by Andrea Ciuffoli - 1999 - 2014

After many years this project, published on my my website and on 3 magazines, is continuing to interest many persons in any country.

see the complete articles on:   www.audiodesignguide.com/doc/index1.html

INTRODUCTION

It seems a silly and common circuit but it has got great differences from any other similar design, that’s why this is unique.

We have a typical source follower (as an emitter follower but with a Mosfet) working in pure class A with a current generator.

Please note that this circuit works only in pure class A, so it requires enough bias current for the requested output power.

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In my design the first feature making a big difference in the sonic results is the negative power supply and the signal ground tied to the drain of source follower.

With this design we achieve:

• The discoupling of the signal current from power supply because the current generator has a huge impedance (an open circuit for the signal, in theory)
   

• The constant current flow from the power supply also during the music peaks that prevent any stress of the power supply.
   

• The simmetric distribution of the power dissipated under static and dynamic conditions both on the current generator and the source follower, so I have used the same type of devices.

The second feature is in the big concern in the power supply design.

Onto a capacitive-input power supply, where there is a diode bridge  connected to a big capacitor, very high current peak are generated on the diodes. Those peaks generate residuals all over the amplifier power band.


So, this circuit adopt a little capacitor after the bridge (only 3300uF for an amplifier working with 3A bias).

This capacitor is followed by a MOSFET voltage regulator, featuring a very low frequency CR filter (220uF/100Kohm) which is based on the Virtual Battery Operation, invented by Technics (something good can be found in the consumer world, too).


CURRENT AMPLIFIER

The 500 Ohm precision trimmer should be set to balance the output fuse voltage to 1/2 of the regulator output.

This single trim could be done after the switch-on, because it just optimizes the output swing to the maximum available.

The 2 x 18V 1W zener are optional and these can be used to prevent crash of the mosfet when it receive bad input signal like a vacuum stage startup (these can decrease the sonic performances).

The quiescent current is set  by the resistence on current generator source pin, and can be changed with the simple formula Iq = 0.7 / R where 0.7 is the BD139 Vbe.

I have implemented on-board a connection for a switch to modify the bias current (2 values) because, since sometimes I listen at music with a low spl in this way I can save power dissipation.

The power supply transformer can be used with different voltages and currents, from 24V to 33V but with 250 VA min.  per channel otherwise you have to reduce the bias current.

With a bias current of 3A you can get about 30 Wrms @ 6 Ohm load.

The power can be increased with the unique drawback of the dissipated power (heat)!

In fact this is a single ended class A, therefore the theoretical efficiency is 25%, with 100 W dissipated power, we have only 25 W available to the load.

The output device, IRFP150, can be substituted by their TO3 equivalents or by other similar MOSFETs like IRF250, IRFP250, IRF240, IRFP240, with a minimal impact.

Download this Excel table to customize your Power Follower (start download).

NEW CIRCUIT & NEW PCB

See Ebay shop to buy pcb

• Mosfet SE class A power follower PCB 2014 version

 

CHASSIE

I have implemented this circuit in a standard rack with side heatsinks, whose dimensions are: 30x42x12 cm. I would suggest to increase its dimensions to 30x42x16 cm, or to choose for a different mechanical layout like a forced air flow tunnel.

 

POWER SUPPLY & OUTPUT CAPACITOR

There are some choices for the power supply capacitors:

• Nichicon Super Through the my first choice
• Jensen Electrolytic  the my second choice
• BHC Slit Foil  the my third choice
• The Mundorf M-Lytic
• Kendeil K01
• Itelcond