CAPE PENINSULA

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

PROJECTS 2

Design and implementation of an audio amplifier

for a cellphone

Student:

Kurt Arries

Student no:

213254301

Lecturer:

Dr. W. Fritz

Date:

17/03/2014

I swear that this is the original work of the author(s). All information obtained directly or indirectly from other sources has been fully
acknowledged.
Signed:

Dated:

Table of Contents
Introductioon............................................................................................................ 3
Statement of the problem..........................................................................................4
Methodology............................................................................................................ 5
Results...................................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 10
References.............................................................................................................. 11

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Introduction
The aim of the task is to design and implement a suitable audio amplifier (free of
distortion or noise) which should amplify the input signal from the phone and output
an amplified signal to the loud speaker.
This document will discuss the design procedure and experimental results of a class A
audio amplifier. The technicalities that it will entail are calculations, circuit diagrams
and the input/output waveform.

3 |Audio Amplifier

Statement of the problem

An audio amplifier must be designed that will amplify the input signal from a
cellphone to a loud speaker as output.
As described by Georgia State University, The task of an audio amplifier is to take a
small signal and make it bigger without any changes in it. (Georgia State University)
The following diagram graphically shows the difference between the input signal and
the amplified output signal:

Figure 1: Audio Amplification Waveforms

The audio frequency band ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz this level falls within the
human range for hearing. Frequencies below 20Hz are generally felt more than being
heard. There are many low-powered power amplifier circuit types to use when
designing it. With that being said, there are certain design parameters that need to be
followed as well. They are:
Gain
Distortion
Frequency response

4 |Audio Amplifier

Methodology
The amplifier that has been designed is a class A audio amplifier. The loudspeaker used
is an 8 31W speaker that can be driven by power as low as 70mW.
The amplifier has been designed to use two stages. The first stage is a voltage-divider
biased common emitter stage with a swamping resistor to control the gain of the first
stage and thus also the gain of the second stage. The second stage consists of a
Darlington voltage-follower configuration. The speaker is thus the load.
The reason that 2 stages are needed is primarily that if only one stage was used, there
would be a lot more attenuation instead of gain. Attenuation is a gain less than 1 and is
the exact opposite of amplification. The second stage is driven by the first stage and
provides the gain needed for an amplified signal. The correct resistor and capacitor
values, as well as the correct transistor must be used in the design of this amplifier so
that the distortion is eliminated as much as possible.
The following circuit diagram, similar to Example 7-1 (Floyd), was designed and
simulated with Multisim 11.0:

Figure 2: Circuit Design

5 |Audio Amplifier

Resistor (R5) is the swamping resistor in the first stage and has been chosen to be
300 to ensure that the speaker is designed to play with as little distortion as possible
on maximum volume.
Capacitor (C4) connects the first stage to the second stage. In the simulation, a 2N2222
transistor was used because Multisim didnt have the 2N3503 that was used in the
actual circuit. This 2N2222 has a hfe similar to that of the average hfe of the 2N3503.
Q3 is chosen as a different NPN transistor as Q1 in the second stage because it provide
more gain and a larger output waveform owing to a higher power gain. However, Q3 is
a 2N3904 NPN transistor which can only handle a maximum of 300mA whereas Q1
and Q2 (2N3503) can handle a maximum of 700mA. That is the reason that Q1 is
chosen to be at the output of the second stage because it can handle more current than
the 2N3904 transistor which would instantly melt.
At the emitter of Q3, a 30 5W resistor has been used since it needs to handle a lot of
current and power going through it. As the volume is increased, a higher Alternating
Current (AC) is applied. A signal is a variation between voltage and current.
The circuit is designed to operate between 12-15V. However, a 9V battery applied as
Vcc to the actual circuit.

6 |Audio Amplifier

Results
It is noted that the AC collector resistance of stage 1 (R2) is in parallel with the input
resistance to the second stage (R1 and R7).
R = R2||(R1||R7) = 4.7k||5.6k||22k = 2.29k
c1

Rc1 is the gain of the first stage with the loading of the second stage being taken into
account.
Firstly, the following variables must be calculated: VB, IE, re (Q2).
V B:

R4
. V CC
R3 + R4

VB

10 k
.12
( 56 k+10
k )

IE:

= 1.818V

I E=

V B 0.7 V
R5 + R 6

V 0.7 V
( 1.818
300 +560 )

1.3 mA

re:

r 'e=

25 mV
IE

25 mV
( 1.3
mA )

19.23

The value of re is then used to calculate the voltage gain of the first stage with the
loading of the second stage taken into account.

Av1:

7 |Audio Amplifier

A v 1=

R c1
R 5+ r ' e(Q 3)

k
( 300 2.29
+19.23 )

7.174

The negative sign in front of the voltage gain of the first stage is for the inversion.
Furthermore, the bias resistors that are in parallel with the ac resistance at the base of
Q3, is equal to the total input resistance of the first stage.
The total input resistance of the first stage is therefore:
ac(Q3):
Rin(tot):

ac(Q3) =

50 250

[min hfe = 50; max hfe = 250]

= 111.803
Rin(tot) = R3|| R4|| ac(Q3)(R5+ re(Q3))
= 56k|| 10k||111.803(300+ 19.23)
= 6.855k

Second Stage
The voltage gain of the Darlington pair emitter-follower is approximately equal to 1,
thus, the overall voltage gain of the amplifier is the product of the first and second
stage voltage gains.
Av(tot):

A v (tot )= Av 1 A v2
(7.134)1
7.134

The power gain of the amplifier can be determined as follow:

Ap:

A p= A 2v(tot)

R(tot)
RL

( )

(7.134)

( 6.8558k )

= 43609.759

8 |Audio Amplifier

The following input and output waves were observed in the simulation using Multisim
11.0:

Channel B

(Output)

Channel A (Input)

Figure 3: Amplifier Input / Output waveforms

9 |Audio Amplifier

Conclusion
The amplifier built, provides really good amplification. The input signal is notably
amplified so much so that the measured results agree with the calculated results. There
is no distortion when the amplifier is turned to maximum volume. This is due to the
swamping resistor R5 that has been chosen to be 300 which controls the gain of the
first stage and so too, the gain of the amplifier. The amplifier has this been designed to
operate at maximum volume with no distortion as long as 12V-15V is applied to the
circuit which allows the correct amount of current to flow through the transistors and
to the speaker.

10 |Audio Amplifier

References
1. Davis, U. (2011). Lab 9: Power Amplifiers. Retrieved from Physics Department,
University of California:
http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~cebra/classes/phys116/Lab_09_v2011.pdf
2. Floyd, T. L. (n.d.). Electronic Devices (Conventional Current Version) (Ninth
Edition). New Jersey: Pearson.
3. Georgia State University. (n.d.). Audio Amplifiers. Retrieved March 2014, from
Hyperphysics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html
4. Metha, R. (n.d.). Design BJT Amplifiers For Given Gain & Impedences.
Retrieved May 11, 2013, from Electronics Info Desk:
http://electronicsinfodesk.blogspot.com/

11 |Audio Amplifier