ECE 2201 : ELECTRICAL AND

COMPUTER ENGINEERING LAB 1

EXPERIMENT 7 :

INVERTING AMPLIFIERS
DATE OF EXPERIMENT :
6/11/2012

DATE OF SUBMISSION :
20/11/2012

GROUP MEMBERS :
SAJED IMTENANUL HAQUE
MUHAMMAD AFIQ BIN ABDUL
GHANI
AMEERUL HAKEEM BIN MOHD
HAIRON
ABDUL MUIZ BIN IBRAHIM

MATRIC NO : 1025299
MATRIC NO : 1119649
MATRIC NO : 1119483
MATRIC NO : 1112031

OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate the operation of the inverting amplifier.

To demonstrate the effect of resistor faults on the operation of the
inverting amplifier.

THEORY
An operational amplifier or op-amp is an electronic circuit
module (normally built as an integrated circuit) which has a
non-inverting input (+), an inverting input (-) and one output.
The output voltage is the difference between the + and - inputs
multiplied by the open-loop gain: Vout = (V+ V) x Gopenloop.
Since op-amps have uniform parameters and often standardized
packaging as well as standard power supply needs, they help in
designing an application.
An inverting amplifier inverts and scales the input signal.
As long as the op-amp gain is very large, the amplifier gain is
determined by two stable external resistors (the feedback
resistor Rf and the input resistor Rin) and not by op-amp
parameters which are highly temperature dependent. In
particular,
the RinRf resistor
network
acts
as
an
electronic seesaw (i.e., a class-1 lever) where the inverting
(i.e., ) input of the operational amplifier is like a fulcrum about
which the seesaw pivots. That is, because the operational
amplifier is in a negative-feedback configuration, its internal
high gain effectively fixes the inverting (i.e., ) input at the
same 0 V (ground) voltage of the non-inverting (i.e., +) input,
which is similar to the stiff mechanical support provided by the
fulcrum of the seesaw. The figure below shows basic inverting
amplifier configuration.

Continuing the analogy,

Just as the movement of one end of the seesaw is opposite

the movement of the other end of the seesaw, positive
movement away from 0 V at the input of the RinRfnetwork is
matched by negative movement away from 0 V at the output
of the network; thus, the amplifier is said to be inverting.
In
the
seesaw
analogy,
the mechanical
moment or torque from the force on one side of the fulcrum
is balanced exactly by the force on the other side of the
fulcrum; consequently, asymmetric lengths in the seesaw
allow for small forces on one side of the seesaw to generate
large forces on the other side of the seesaw. In the inverting
amplifier, electrical current, like torque, is conserved across
the RinRf network
and
relative
differences
between
the Rin and Rf resistors allow small voltages on one side of the
network to generate large voltages (with opposite sign) on
the other side of the network. Thus, the device amplifies (and
inverts) the input voltage. However, in this analogy, it is
the reciprocals of
the
resistances
(i.e.,
the conductances or admittances) that play the role of
lengths in the seesaw.

Hence, the amplifier output is related to the input as in

So the voltage gain of the amplifier is

where the
negative sign is a convention indicating that the output is
negated. For example, if Rf is 10 k and Rin is 1 k, then the
gain is 10 k/1 k, or 10 (or 10 V/V).[2] Moreover,
the input impedance of the device is
because the
operational amplifier's inverting (i.e., ) input is avirtual
ground.

RESULTS
a) Part 1 : Operation

Rf (k)

Vin, V

Vout ,V

27
39
47
82

1.16
1.16
1.16
1.16

3.00
4.40
5.28
9.40

ACL
(measu
red)
2.59
3.79
4.55
8.10

ACL
(calcula
ted)
2.70
3.90
4.70
8.20

% of
Error
4.1%
2.8%
3.2%
1.2%

Snapshot of the input and output waveforms (for Rf = 10k) are given
below :

b) Part II : Fault Symptoms

Snapshot of the input and output waveforms when Rf is removed from the
circuit is given below:

CALCULATIONS

Calculated close-loop voltage gain of amplifier, ACL :

A CL=

Measured close-loop voltage gain of amplifier, ACL :

A CL=

Value
of Rf,
k

10

27

Rf
Ri

V out
V

Calculated
close-loop
voltage gain
of amplifier,
ACL

Measured
close-loop
voltage gain of
amplifier, ACL

10 k
A CL=
10 k

1.16
A CL=
1.16

27 k
A CL=
10 k
2.7

3.00
A CL=
1.16
2.59

Percentage Error

11 100
1
Error=
0
2.72.59 100
2.7
Error=
4.1

A CL=
39

39 k
10 k

3. 9

A CL=
47

47 k
10 k

4. 7

A CL=
82
8.2

82 k
10 k

A CL=

4.40
1.16

3.7 9

A CL=

5.28
1.16

4. 55

A CL=

9.40
1.16

8.10

3.93.79 100
3.9
Error=
2.8
4.74.55 100
4.7
Error=
3.2
8.28.1 100
8.2
Error=
1.2

DISCUSSION
In this experiment, the inverting operational amplifier is
being investigated. This is known as an inverting amplifier
because the output waveform has a 180 degrees phase shift
from the input waveform. This is achieved by connecting the
input to the negative terminal of the op-amp, while the positive
terminal is grounded. Aside from inversion, the operational
amplifier also amplifies the signal, so the output voltage is also
scaled. The amount of scaling is equal to the ratio of the
impedances from the feedback to the input.
In this experiment, the input resistance and feedback
resistance are both equal to each other: 10 k. This means the
scaling factor is 1, i.e. no scaling. In other words, this can only
demonstrate the inverting property of this operational amplifier.
As calculated, the experimental voltage gain was found to be 1.
The output waveform had a full 180 degrees wave shift,
indicating that it is inverted from the input.
The percentage error of 0% is quite interesting. It is
extremely rare to acquire a percentage error of 0% for any
electrical experiment. This shows that the practical situation in

the experiment was very close to the theorized ideal model.

There may have been differences, such as the resistor values
not being exactly equal to each other, and the op-amp not
being ideal practically, but such sources of error may have
canceled each other out until the overall error was not large
enough to affect the limited sensitivity of the oscilloscope.
The feedback resistor is then replaced with resistors of
other given values. The amplification is calculated and
compared with the theoretical. Here, there are two aspects of
these results that are interesting. The first is that the
percentage error seems to decrease as the resistance value
increases, and the second is that the percentage errors are
quite significant compared to the 0% error of 10 k.
The percentage value decreasing with increasing
resistance can be easily explained. As the feedback resistance
increases, the amplification also increases. The variations
between the theoretical and calculated arent a lot, but with
increased amplification, these errors are a small proportion of
the whole amplification and thus, they have a lower percentage
error with increased resistance. As for why the produced error is
much more significant compared to the original 10 k, its
possibly because the decade resistance box was used instead of
actual resistors, so faults in the accuracy of the resistance box
were all manifested in step H but not step G.
In Step I, a load resistance was added. The value of the
load resistance did not alter the amplification whatsoever. This
shows that in an inverting amplifier, the output voltage is truly
just the ratio of the feedback impedance to the input
impedance and is independent of load impedance. This raises
the issue of power consumption, since increased resistance with
the same voltage would consume more power. Since the output
voltage is independent of load resistance, it means the power
consumed by the load resistor is not obtained from the ac input
signal. Rather, it is supplied by the dc voltage supplied at
terminals 4 and 7 of the operational amplifier. After all, it
doesnt logically make sense for a signal to be amplified without

an extra supply of power, so the DC biasing is essential for the

amplification, even though the shape of the output waveform
and its peak values depend only on the input signal.
This concept can be used to explain the distortion that is
observed in step J. Although the output voltage is a scaled (and
inverted) version of the input voltage, the power supplied to the
load is from the dc supplies. Therefore, as the potentiometers
resistance decreased while the output voltage remained the
same, the power consumed by the potentiometer increased (P
= V2/R). Eventually, the power consumed reached the
maximum power supplied by the dc supply, and so the output
waveform was distorted, and the voltage gain was less, to
reduce the power consumption of the load.
For Step K, the feedback resistor was removed from the
circuit. Since the gap was not bridged, the feedback was
essentially an open circuit, which has infinite resistance. The
amplification is equal to the feedback resistance to the input
resistance, which is infinity in this case. However, the output
voltage is supplied by the dc supplies, as mentioned in the
previous paragraph, and therefore, the output voltage cannot
exceed +12 V or go below -12 V. Therefore, the output is
supposed to be inverted from the input, scaled infinitely, but
clipped at +12 V and -12V. Which resembles a square wave of
step voltages +12 V and -12 V.
For the last step, if the input resistance is removed, then
the output is supposed to be completely independent of the
input, since one terminal of the input is hanging. Therefore, the
output waveform is not amplified. Instead, it merely follows the
dc supplied voltage, and the resulting output waveform is a
square wave with +12V and -12V steps. The signal is also
shown at half frequency, but this is likely to be an error, in
either the human transfer of the value, or the oscilloscopes
display of frequency.
By the end of the experiment, we can see that the value
obtain is not as accurate as the theoretical value. This is due to
some errors such as the additional resistance that exist in the

connecting wire and other electrical devices, and also the

malfunction on devices and apparatus. The reading on
oscilloscope also fluctuated and this harden us to record the
exact value. In order to prevent these errors, we need to reduce
the number of wire used in construction of circuit and also
check for the functionality of each device before starting the
experiment. Repeated readings were also taken to find the
average value.

CONCLUSION
The inverting op-amp was investigated and its
characteristics were identified. It inverts the input voltage (180
degrees phase difference) and scales it with a scaling factor
equal to the ratio of feedback resistance to input resistance.
The output waveform, however, relies on the dc supplies of the
op-amp to receive its power. Therefore, even if the scaling is set
to infinity (by removing the feedback resistance), the output will
still be clipped to the dc values.