Experiment 6

Zener Diode

Objectives:

You will use an oscilloscope to plot the characteristic curve of a zener diode. Also, you will test
the effect of the source voltage and load resistance on a zener regulator circuit.

Components Needed:

1- Resistors: one 2.2 kΩ, one 1.0 kΩ, one 220 Ω

2- One 12.6V AC transformer.
3- One Zener diode
4- One signal diode
5- Three LED’s with different colors
6- One multimeter
7- Oscilloscope
Experimental Procedure:

Part I: Effect of source voltage on Zener regulator

• Connect the circuit shown in Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1

• Set Vs to each voltage listed in Table 6-1 and measure the output voltage (Vout), write your
results in Table 6-1 below.
Table 6-1

Vs Vout IL VR1 Is IZ
(V) (V) ( mA ) (V) ( mA ) ( mA )
measured computed computed computed computed

2.0 1.818 0.826 0.182 0.8264 0.001

4.0 3.636 1.653 0.364 1.65 -0.003

6.0 5.019 2.281 0.981 4.46 2.179

8.0 5.061 2.3 2.939 13.35 11.05

10.0
5.077 2.308 4.923 22.37 20.06

3. Complete Table 6-1 as follows:

- Apply Ohm’s law to compute the load current IL
- Apply Kirchhoff’s Voltage law to the outer loop to find the voltage across R1 (VR1)
- Apply Ohm’s law to find the current Is, which passes through R1
- Apply Kirchhoff’s current law to find the zener current IZ
Table 6-2
By using these laws, we get same results as in table 1.
By Hand Calculation:

Vs Vout IL VR1 Is IZ
(V) (V) ( mA ) (V) ( mA ) ( mA )
measured computed computed computed computed

2.0 1.818 0.826 0.182 0.8264 0.001

4.0 3.636 1.653 0.364 1.65 -0.003

6.0 5.019 2.281 0.981 4.46 2.179

8.0 5.061 2.3 2.939 13.35 11.05

 10.0 5.077 2.308 4.923 22.37 20.06

4. Show the calculations for the first row of Table 1 as a sample calculation.

5. What happen to the Zener current after the breakdown voltage is reached?

Ans:
The current flow will become very high effectively clamping the voltage across the diode to
the breakdown voltage Zener diode after reaching reverse breakdown voltage. You will
get current flowing through the diode in reverse with voltage being “clamped” to the Zener
breakdown voltage.
6. Line regulation of a Zener regulator is normally expressed as a percentage and is given
by the equation:
∆𝑽𝒐𝒖𝒕
𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
∆𝑽𝒊𝒏
Calculate the line regulation for the circuit in figure 6-3 using the data for the last two
rows of Table 6-1. (Note that VIN in the equation is equivalent to VS in the table.)
Ans:
For Vin = 8V, Vout = 5.061V
5.061
𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 = × 100% = 63.3%
8
For Vin = 10V, Vout = 5.077V
5.077
𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 = × 100% = 50.77%
10
Part III: Effect of load resistance on Zener regulator (Homework… using multisim program)

• Connect the circuit shown in Figure 6-3. The rheostat can be replaced with a resistance box.

Figure 6-3

• Set the power supply to 12 V keep it constant throughout this part. Change the value of RL to
each of the values listed in Table 6-2 and measure the output voltage Vout, write your results in
Table 6-2 below.
Table 6-3

RL Vout IL VR1 Is IZ
() (V) (mA) (V) (mA) (mA)
measured computed computed computed computed

100 3.75 37.50 8.25 37.50 0.1

150 4.86 32.41 7.14 32.44 0.03

 200 4.98 24.8 7.02 31.91 29.43

300 4.99 16.64 7.005 31.84 15.20

400 4.999 12.49 7.0007 31.82 19.33

600 5.003 8.34 6.997 31.80 23.46

800 5.005 6.26 6.995 31.795 25.53

1000 5.006 5.006 6.994 31.791 26.79

7. Complete Table 6-2 as you did in Part I. Show the calculations of the first raw as a sample
calculation.
Ans:

8. From the data Table 6-2, plot the voltage as a function of load resistance. Add labels to
each axis and a title to the plot.
Ans:
9. Based on your results, what is the smallest load resistor that can be used and still
maintain regulation?
Ans:
As we know that to maintain a fixed voltage at output through changing values of RL is
known as regulation.
From above graph it is clear that the horizontal line (parallel to RL) continues till it reaches
400ohm.
Therefore, the smallest load resistor that can be used to maintain regulation is 400ohm.

10. Load regulation of a Zener regulation is normally expressed as a percentage and is

given by the equation:
𝑽𝑵𝑳 − 𝑽𝑭𝑳
𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝑽𝑭𝑳
Use your data in Table 2 to calculate the line regulation for the circuit in Figure 6-4.
(Assume that VNL is Vout for the maximum load resistance, and VFL is Vout for the
minimum load resistance).
Ans:
From table 6.2,
VNL = 5.006V , VFL = 3.75
So,
𝑉𝑁𝐿 − 𝑉𝐹𝐿
Line regulation = × 100%
𝑉𝐹𝐿
5.006 − 3.75
Line regulation = × 100%
3.75
𝑳𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 = 33.49%
Conclusion:
From this experiment, we observed the effect of changing load resistance and source voltage on the
Zener regulator circuit. We find and record values of different parameters (currents and voltages) at
different values of source voltage. We observed that by changing load resistance, output voltage
increases to some limit. But at a point it almost become constant. Moreover, we plot graph between
output voltage and resistance.
Source of error: