ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS: DEVICES AND ANALYSIS

Experiment No. 6

THE VOLTAGE DOUBLER

Objectives
1. To describe the circuit design of voltage multipliers.
2. To compare the behaviours of half wave voltage doubler and full wave voltage doublers.

Introduction

Voltage Multiplier
A voltage multiplier is a specialized rectifier circuit producing an output which is theoretically an
integer times the AC peak input, for example, 2, 3, or 4 times the AC peak input. Thus, it is possible to
get 200 VDC from a 100 Vpeak AC source using a doubler, 400 VDC from a quadrupler. Any load in a
practical circuit will lower these voltages.

A voltage doubler application is a DC power supply capable of using either a 240 VAC or 120 VAC
source. The supply uses a switch selected full-wave bridge to produce about 300 VDC from a 240 VAC
source. The 120 V position of the switch rewires the bridge as a doubler producing about 300 VDC
from the 120 VAC. In both cases, 300 VDC is produced. This is the input to a switching regulator
producing lower voltages for powering, say, a personal computer.

Referring to Figure above (b), C2 charges to 5 V (4.3 V considering the diode drop) on the negative
half cycle of AC input. The right end is grounded by the conducting D2. The left end is charged at the
negative peak of the AC input. This is the operation of the clamper.

During the positive half cycle, the half-wave rectifier comes into play at Figure above (c). Diode D2 is
out of the circuit since it is reverse biased. C2 is now in series with the voltage source. Note the
polarities of the generator and C2, series aiding. Thus, rectifier D1 sees a total of 10 V at the peak of
the sinewave, 5 V from generator and 5 V from C2.

Equipment & Components Required

 1 – Resistor 10k
 5 – Diode 1N4007
 4 – Capacitor 1000F 25V or up
 Toggle Switch
Procedure

Part I: NI MULTISIM Set-up

Open your laptop and run the NI MULTISIM application. Refer to page 12 MULTISIM TUTORIAL.

Part II: Voltage doubler

1. Construct the circuit diagram shown below on NI ELVIS prototyping board

2. Measure the voltage across the capacitors and record in the table below
Vin = 5Vpp
Measured voltages
C1 C2

3. Change the circuit in the NI ELVIS prototyping board with the circuit below
4. Measure the voltage across the capacitors and record in the table below.

Vin = 5Vpp

Measured voltages

C1 C2

5. Use multisim and simulate the following circuits below. Verify the functionality of each

circuit accordingly

a.

b.
Analysis and Discussion

CONCLUSION: