Voltage regulator, particularly for automotive use

Voltage regulator, particularly for automotive use, for a dynamo electric generator (A) adapted for operation under variable speed conditions and for connection to a field winding (23) of the generator (A) and control of the energization thereof, comprising

• means (C,12) connected to the generator (A) and furnishing an instantaneous voltage signal representative of the output voltage of the generator:
• a reference source (R,40) providing a reference voltage;
• a differential amplifier (10) having the instantaneous voltage signal and the reference voltage connected thereto;
• a capacitor (13);
• means (16, 35) supplying a charge current to the capacitor;
• means (15) draining discharge current from the capacitor;
• said capacitor charge current supply means (16, 35) and discharge current drain means (15) being connected to and controlled by said difference amplifier (10) in accordance with the relative values of said instantaneous voltage signal and said reference voltage;
• a high-and-low discriminator (17) connected to and controlled by the voltage across said capacitor;
• and means (19, 20, 21, 22) controlling current flow to the field (23) of the dynamo electric generator under control of the output of the discriminator with respect to the relationship of the voltage across the capacitor to threshold levels of the discriminator by controlling the flow of current, or interruption of current, in accordance with the respective voltage levels across the capacitor and the high-and-low response levels of the discriminator, said capacitor (13) thereby simultaneously filtering or smoothing the control operation of the regulator while establishing the voltage levels controlling change-over of response of the discriminator.