Instructor: Res. Asst. M.

Mustafa ATANAK
TA : Res. Asst. zen YELBAI

ANADOLU UNIVERSITY

DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

ENGINEERING

EEM 328
ELECTRONICS LABORATORY

Experiment 3: Diode Applications

Date : 25.12.2008
Group Name: B
Student: 16169230356 Osman GLERCAN
a)Purpose:

The purpose of this experiment is to study diode applications such as climping, climping and
power supply.

b)Background And Theoretical Discussion:

Clipping And Clamping Operations

Diode clipping circuits separate an input signal at a particular dc level and pass to the output,
without distortion, the desired upper or lower portion of the original waveform. They are used
to eliminate amplitude noise or to fabricate new waveforms from an existing signal.

Clamping is a process of setting the positive or negative peaks of an input ac waveform to a

specific dc level, regardless of any variation in those peaks.

Figure 1: A variety of basic limiting circuits

The diode clamp circuit shown here takes a periodic ac signal that oscillates between positive
and negative values and displaces it so that it is either always positive or always negative. The
capacitor charges up to a dc voltage equal to the zero-to-peak value of Vin. The capacitor is
made large enough so that it looks like a short circuit for the ac components of Vin. If, for
example, Vin is a sine wave, Vout will equal the sum of Vin and the dc voltage on the
capacitor. By placing the diode in the opposite position (pointing down), Vout will be
displaced downward so that it is always negative.

Figure2: Diode Clamper Circuit

Ripple Reduction

When using a supply to power sensitive circuits, it is essential to keep the variation in output
voltage as small as possible. For example, when driving digital circuits from a 5-V supply, the
variation in output voltage should be no more than 5 percent, or 0.25 V, if not lower. In fact,
digital logic circuits usually have a minimum 200-mV noise margin around critical logic
levels. Small analog signal circuits can be especially finicky when it comes to output
variations. For example, they may require a variation less than 1 percent to operate properly.

Filter capacitors act to reduce the fluctuations in output by storing charge during the positive-
going rectifier cycle and then releasing charge through the load at a slow enough rate to
maintain a level output voltag during the negative- going rectifier cycle. If the filter capacitor
is too small, it will not be able to store enough charge to maintain the load current and output
voltage during the negative going cycle.

c)Procedure

Fistly, we connected the circuits shown in figures, and applied the voltage (10Vpp sin wave).
Then we sketced the input/output waveforms relationship of the circuit. Secondly, we
construced the clipper circuit which limits input signals to +1V and -1.5V. We measured and
sketched its input/output waveforms too. Finally, we constructed a power supply which was
formed a full-wave rectifier, a capasitor, and zener diode. Then we measured & sketched the
output voltage and zener current for three capasitor values 10, 100, 1000(uF).

16169230356
Osman GLERCAN

Conclusion:

In this experiment we studied the diode applications such as clipper, clamper and power
supply circuits. In the first part of experiment, we implemented two basic clipper circuit.
When the input signal exceeds the VB+BD in negative alternance, the output signal is constant
in this value because the diode starts conducting the current passing through the VB. Another
circuit have two climper circuits which are paralel each other. They limit the input signal if D 1
or D2 is saturated. If the input signal exceeds VD1+VB1 the output signal is remain this voltage
value in positive alternance. If the input signal exceeds -(V D2+VB2) the output signal is remain
this voltage in negative alternance. Secondly, we constructed a power supply with a zener
diode. By using the full-wave rectefier, we converted the AC signal to DC, and this signal was
filtered by capasitor. Connecting a zener diode, we measured a constant zener voltage(~12V)
at the output. To sum up, we learned the some of diode applications and a power supply,,
which were limit the signal and provide lower voltage.