5

RLC and Bandpass circuits

This lab is based on an experiment in Curtis Meyers Basic Electronics: Carnegie Mellon Lab Manual.

The goals of this lab are to gain familiarity with the frequency response of a simple RLC circuit. In particular, to investigate resonance. build and investigate a band-pass lter. Length: 2 lab sessions

5.1
5.1.1

Background
RLC Filters

RLC circuits play a large role in the modern world. An important use is in receivers, where they select out a particular frequency, the resonant frequency !0 . This frequency is characterized by the p inductance and capacitance of the circuit, !0 = 1/ LC. If we consider a series RLC circuit, there are three possible output voltages. These are just the three voltages across the three components of the circuit.

Figure: The series RLC circuit. We can use an impedance analysis to determine the gain of the circuit. Here the total impedance is Ztot = = 1 R + j !L + j !C !RC R 1 j 1 ! ZX Ztot

!2 !LC

The gain depends on which component is used for the output. GX ( ! ) =

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If we look at the gain to be across the resistor, GR ( ! ) = = The magnitude is given by | GR ( ! ) | = = The phase is given by tan[
R (! )]

R Ztot 1 1 j (!RC /! )(1

2 ). ! 2 /!LC

! /!RC 2 ) 2 ] 1 /2 [(! /!RC )2 + (1 ! 2 /!LC 1 2 /! 2 )2 ]1/2 [1 + (! L/R)2 (1 !0

= =

!RC ! !L

!2 2 !LC

1 !C

5.1.2

Bandpass Filters

As discussed in Sections 3.7 and 3.8 of the textbook, there are many occasions when we need to couple one functional block of circuitry to another. In fact, its hard to think of a situation where this is not necessary! In the case of a high-pass lter connected to a low-pass lter, we create a band-pass lter. Such a circuit will attenuate signal both above and below some characteristic frequency. The new feature is that we need to worry about the input impedance of the second lter relative to the output impedance of the rst lter. In order for the overall gain of the combined circuit to be the product of the two individual gains, we must have that |(Zin )2 | |(Zout )1 |.

See your textbook for a more detailed discussion of this circuit.

5.2

Procedure

Reminder: At the beginning of each section below, enter into your lab notebook a summary of what you are setting out to do. Great lengths of verbiage are not necessary, but some orienting explanation is. This should be standard practice in any lab notebook! Reminder 2: All measured values require uncertainties. Provide a brief explanation of how you determined these uncertainties. This lab is an excellent place to compare theory to your measurements and such comparisons are expected. Your measurements should be compared to quantitative calculations of the expected behavior of the circuits and the results plotted on top of your data.

5.3

Quick check

1. Function generator: Is it set to High-Z? Is the voltage oset set to 0 V ?

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2. Oscilloscope probe: Is it set on the right magnitude (1x, 10x, 100x, . . . )? 3. Oscilloscope channels: Use DC coupling on your oscilloscope. 4. Circuit board and probes: Are all of your grounds connected to the same point?

5.4

RLC lter

Set up the series RLC circuit shown below.

Vin

Vout

Figure: Series RLC circuit. Use an inductor of a few mH, a capacitance on the order of 0.01F, and a resistor of 100. Use a a sine wave of reasonable amplitude (say, 5 Volts) as the input voltage. Take the output across the resistor. Question: Calculate the theoretical resonance frequency of your circuit, !0 . Give this both in rad/sec and cycles/sec. Question: Consider the equation for the gain. What are its values for (a) ! !0 , (b) ! = !0 and (c) ! !0 .? Measure vout and vin over a frequency range that extends at least two decades below and above the calculated resonance frequency. Choose frequencies so that so that your measurements will be roughly equally-spaced on a logarithmic frequency axis. Choose more points near !0 to accurately map the behavior. Set up the scope to display both signals. Use the measure function to measure the amplitudes (you still need to pay attention to uncertainties here). Use the cursors to measure time shift and calculate phase shift. As you take the data, plot the gain, |G(f )| = |vout |/|vin |, on a Bode plot and the phase shift between vout and vin on semi-log scales. Analysis Does your experimental data agree with what is expected theoretically? In addition, provide the following: Create a Bode plot of your data. Write down an expression for the theoretically expected gain of this circuit. Include this theoretical function to your plot. Create a phase response plot of your data. Write down an expression for the theoretically expected phase shift of this circuit. Include this theoretical function to your plot. What are the magnitude and phase of the gain at the resonance frequency?

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5.5

Bandpass lter

Build a bandpass lter by taking the output of a high pass RC lter and putting it into a low pass RC lter with the same characteristic frequency.

Figure: A bandpass lter. The Thevenin equivalent circuit for the source is on the left. The next stage is a high pass lter, with output va . The output va is connected to the low pass lter, with an output of vo . This output is, in turn, connected to a complex load ZLD . For the low pass stage, use approximately a 20k resistor and 0.008F capacitor. Choose the other resistor and capacitor values such that Rhp Chp Rhp Rlp rs Rhp = Rlp Clp

! Rhp > 20rs

! Rlp > 20Rhp .

See section 3.8 in your textbook for how these constraints are determined. Measure the frequency response of your bandpass lter. Use a a sine wave of reasonable amplitude (say, 5 Volts) as the input voltage. Analysis What is the frequency response of your bandpass lter? What are the input and output impedances of each stage of the lter? Create a Bode plot of your data. Create a phase response plot of your data. Calculate and compare the input impedance of the rst stage to the output impedance of the function generator (typically 50). Which is larger? Calculate and compare the output impedance of the rst stage to the input impedance of second stage . Which is larger?

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