Faculty:

FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Subject

: 2ND YEAR ELECTRONIC

DESIGN LABORATORY

Subject Code

: SKEE 2742

Review
Release Date
Last Amendment
Procedure Number

:1
: 2013
: 2013
: PK-UTM-FKE-(0)-10

SKEE 2742
BASIC ELECTRONICS LAB
EXPERIMENT 1
DIODE

DIODE

LABSHEET -EXPERIMENT 1
BASIC ELECTRONIC LAB (SKEE 2742)

PART 1 ZENER DIODE CHARACTERISTIC

Objective
1. Become familiar with basic electronic instruments.
2. Understand a Zener Diode IV Characteristic.
Materials Required

Zener diode (IN 4742) 12V

Resistor (1k)
Breadboard (Use own breadboard)

Equipment
Oscilloscope, DC power supply, Ammeter, Voltmeter, Multi-meter
Theory
Zener Diode
All diodes experience avalanche breakdown when the reverse voltage becomes large enough. In
the breakdown region, the current may rise rapidly with very little increase in reverse voltage. A
zener diode is designed to experience breakdown at a fixed reverse voltage. Commercial zener
diodes are available for the range from 3.3V to several hundred volts. When forward biased, a
zener diode has the same characteristic as any other forward biased diode.
Figure 1.1 shows the I-V characteristic of a typical zener diode. The reverse breakdown region
can be approximated to a straight line with a slope of 1/rz where rz is the incremental resistance
in this region. rz can be as small as 5. The intercept Vzk is known as the zener knee voltage.

Figure 1.1
Application of zener diode employing reverse biased feature can be found in dc power supply
system functioned as voltage regulator.

LABSHEET -EXPERIMENT 1
BASIC ELECTRONIC LAB (SKEE 2742)

Pre-lab of Zener Diode

Determine the specifications of the zener diode that is provided by the lab for this experiment.
Use MULTISIM or any equivalent simulation software package and use appropriate circuit to
obtain the characteristic graph of the zener diode as provided for this experiment.
(Note: All or any pre-lab works must be completed before coming to the lab and must be
handed-in to the lab instructor during entering the lab and at the beginning of the
lab session)

Procedure
Zener diode I-V characteristics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Connect the circuit in Figure 1.2.

For Vs between 0 to 20V, obtain values for Iz and Vz. (Iz and Vz have negative values).
Complete Table 1-1.
Plot a graph of Iz versus Vz.
From your graph obtain the value of Vzk and estimate Rz.

Figure 1.2
Vs(V)

Vz(V)
Iz(mA)

Table 1.1

LABSHEET -EXPERIMENT 1
BASIC ELECTRONIC LAB (SKEE 2742)

PART 2 ZENER VOLTAGE REGULATOR

Objective
1. Become familiar with basic electronic instruments.
2. Practice measurements and calculations for a regulated power supply.
Material Required

Transformer, 2.25A/36VA , 15vrms

Zener Diode: 12V
Capacitor: 100F
2 diodes (IN4001)
12V IC regulator (7812)
Resistors: (2x1k, 100k )
Breadboard (Use own breadboard)

Equipment
Digital Voltmeter (DVM)
Oscilloscope

Pre-lab of Zener Voltage Regulator

Use MULTISIM or any software of equivalence to simulate and to produce all relevant
waveforms for the zener voltage regulator circuit as given in Figure 1.3.
Procedure
1. Connect the circuit in Figure 1.3.
2. Observe and sketch the waveform voltage with complete values and labels of V01 (V
across transformer at the secondary), V02 (V across rectifier) and VL.
3. Measure and record the DC voltage of VL with and without load resistor, RL. Calculate the
voltage regulation, Vreg.

Figure 1.3

LABSHEET -EXPERIMENT 1
BASIC ELECTRONIC LAB (SKEE 2742)

6. Replace the Zener diode with a LM7812 voltage regulator as illustrated in Figure 1.4. No
series resistor is needed with the IC regulator.
7. Measure and record in a table the DC voltage across the load with and without load
resistor, RL..
8. Compare the results of the two experimental circuits and state your observation.

Reminding note:
Keep this final circuit connected on the breadboard until all experiments
completed as it is going to be used again for the next two following
experiments.

Figure 1.4