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EE 302 Lab 6 RC and RL Circuits

Pre-Lab:
Remember the #47 light you used in the Prelab1? Well, the brightness is correct, but it reaches its full output much too quickly; your eyes are sensitive at 2:00 a.m., arent they? Add a capacitor across the light bulb to smooth things out. Select its value such that it reaches 63% of its total brightness in five seconds, and use the original circuit you designed in Prelab1. What should the voltage rating of this capacitor be and why? Remember, the #47 bulb drops 6.3 V @ 150 mA. Hint: make sure you take into account the equivalent resistance seen by the bulb when computing the time constant. Draw the entire circuit.

In-Lab:
1. Build the circuit shown below. Use a 10-VP-P square wave and adjust the frequency for a good view of the capacitor charging on an oscilloscope (make certain the frequency isnt too high, or else the voltage will never reach steady-state, giving erroneous results). Sketch two periods of the voltage across the capacitor. Measure the time constant () using the oscilloscope and the 63% rule (ask your lab instructor if you do not know how to do this). Measure the steady-state output voltage.
1 k 0.1 F + Vout
+

1 k V = 10 VP-P

2. Now build the circuit shown below. Use the same input signal, but this time sketch the capacitor current by looking at the voltage drop across the series 1-k resistor. Sketch two periods of the signal and measure the time constant, again using the 63% rule. Is it the same as that found in the previous problem? Why or why not? What is the steady-state output current?
0.1 F + Vout
+

1 k V = 10 VP-P

3,4. Now build the two RL circuits shown below and follow the same procedures given in parts 1,2 above.
1 k 10 mH + Vout
+

V = 10 VP-P

1 k

10 mH + Vout

+
1 k V = 10 VP-P

Post-Lab: 5. Calculate all time constants and steady-state values, and compare to those obtained in the lab. If there are significant differences, what might be the cause?