Patent ID: 8085006

Claim:
A shunt regulator for stepping down an input potential to an output potential, the shunt regulator comprising: an input terminal for applying the input potential between the input terminal and a common fixed potential; an output terminal for tapping off the output potential between the output terminal and the common fixed potential, the output potential being regulated; and a voltage drop circuit comprising at least one transistor having a load path, at least one nonreactive resistor coupled into a current path of the voltage drop circuit, the at least one nonreactive resistor having an adjustable resistance value, wherein the voltage drop circuit is coupled in series between the input terminal and the output terminal, during operation of the shunt regulator, a voltage difference between the input potential and the output potential drops across the voltage drop circuit, and a current flowing through the voltage drop circuit or a limit value of the current flowing through the voltage drop circuit is adjustable.