The IV-12/11 vfd tubes need 1.2Volt for the filament about 100mA each. In my clock project i'm going to use 6 tubes so the total draw current will be about 600mA which is to much for a linear regulator like LM317. The LM317 can be used, but it will be need a big heat sink to keep it cool. So i designed a step-down converter based on MC34063A, a pulsed regulator, which is also power efficient.
I could have been used a resistor in series with the filament but if any tube filament get burned then the other 5 will draw more current and get burned too. Also i could have been used the AVR to regulate this voltage than using the MC34063A but there wasn't more free space on the chip.
MC34063A Step Down Converter design.
The design is based on the MC34063A's datasheet. In this design i regulate the voltage to 2.5Volt because the tubes want to have a negative voltage about -1volt to get fully powered off. So i have put two diodes in series (with ones kathode connecting to others anode) connecting the negative filament pin to GND. By this, each diode works as a supply voltage providing 0.6V x 2 = 1.2Volt. 2.4V-1.2V = 1.2Volt which is the supply voltage needed for powering the filament.
Protoboard testing
