A buck converter is used to:

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ALP CBT 2 Electrician Previous Paper: Held on 23 Jan 2019 Shift 2

Answer 1

A buck converter (step-down converter) is a DC-to-DC power converter that steps down voltage (while stepping up current) from its input (supply) to its output (load).
It is a class of switched-mode power supply (SMPS) typically containing at least two semiconductors (a diode and a transistor, although modern buck converters frequently replace the diode with a second transistor used for synchronous rectification) and at least one energy storage element in the form of capacitor, inductor, or the two in combination.
To reduce voltage ripple, filters made of capacitors (sometimes in combination with inductors) are normally added to output (load-side filter) and input (supply-side) of this converter.

F2 J.P Madhu 16.03.20 D1

Switching converters (such as buck converters) provide much greater power efficiency for DC-to-DC conversion than linear regulators, which are simpler circuits that lower voltages by dissipating power as heat, but they do not step up output current.
Buck converters can are highly efficient (often higher than 90%), so they are useful for tasks such as converting a computer's main (bulk) supply voltage (often 12 V) down to lower voltages needed by USB, DRAM and the CPU (1.8 V or less).