LABORATORY

FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - WS 2020/21

SIMULATION EDITION

4nd EXPERIMENT: CHARGE OF CAPACITORS AND

INTRODUCTION ON AC

TASK 1: SCOPING THE CHARGECURVE OF A CAPACITOR

TASK 2: MEASUREMENTS CARRIED OUT ON A RC-NETWORK

NAME (only one name!)

Swapnadeep
MATRICULATION
NUMBER 28921
STUDY COURSE □ Mechanical □ M. Systems □ Industrial Engineering □ Sci. Comm.
DATE

EXPERIMENT
PARTICIPATION
To be filled out

ATTESTATION □ Done □ 1. Rework □ 2. Rework

i
by the

In case of rework, the paper with the remarks of the corrector must be submitted as
well! Otherwise it counts as failed.

Remark: The Experiment consists of TWO tasks.

PRELAB PREPARATION

Before we start, let’s talk for the moment of oscilloscopes. The waveform that you can see on
the simulation program like LTspice is a lookalike of the screen of the oscilloscope.
Understanding the use of this device help you in this task!

The oscilloscope is one of the most fundamental measurement device in electrical

engineering. An oscilloscope is an electronic test instrument that displays electrical signals
graphically, usually as a voltage (vertical or Y axis) versus time (horizontal or X axis) as
shown in figure 1.
Oscilloscopes are also used to measure electrical signals in response to physical stimuli,
such as sound, mechanical stress, pressure, light, or heat. For example, a television
technician can use an oscilloscope to measure signals from a television circuit board while a
medical researcher can use an oscilloscope to measure brain waves.
Oscilloscopes are commonly used for measurement applications such as:
• observing the wave shape of a signal
• measuring the amplitude of a signal
• measuring the frequency of a signal
• measuring the time between two events
• observing whether the signal is direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC)
• observing noise on a signal

An oscilloscope contains various controls that assist in the analysis of waveforms displayed
on a graphical grid called a graticule. The graticule, as shown in figure 1, is divided into
divisions along both the horizontal and vertical axes. These divisions make it easier to
determine key parameters about the waveform. In the case of the TDS1000 Series
oscilloscope, there are 10 divisions horizontally and 8 divisions vertically.
In the lab we have also some improved model of the oscilloscope, the TBS 1000 Series. The
basic operation is the same, the most important difference is the wide-screen color display,
but we have same graticule on the screen.

A diagram of the oscilloscope´s front panel, which is used normally in this Experiment, is
shown in figure 1.
1 14 5 6 8 13

Oscilloscope Display
11 12 3 9 10 4 7
Fig. 1

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This oscilloscope can measure two analog channels at a time. Each channel has its own
independent set of vertical controls, which allows you to position the two signals however you
like on the oscilloscope screen.

1 POWER Turns scope on and off.

2 TRIGGER MENU
What are Trigger Controls?
The triggering system determines when the scope begins displaying data. Modern
oscilloscope triggers are very sophisticated. Today we'll only be looking at the basics of
triggering. The most important trigger control is the trigger level knob.

What Does Trigger Level Mean?

With the basic trigger mode (known as edge triggering), the trigger level determines what
voltage a signal must reach before the oscilloscope will display it.

What Does Triggering Do?

Without triggering, the oscilloscope will acquire and display data arbitrarily. Since there's no
synchronization going on, your signal appears to start at a different voltage each time the
scope displays it. The result is a blurred, flickering waveform on the screen. With triggering,
the oscilloscope starts displaying data at the same point in your signal, every time it updates
the display. The result is an easy-to-view waveform:

Fig.
2

3 & 4 vertical scaling: Adjust the scaling of CH1 and CH2 in volts/DIV. Stretches or shrinks
the signal vertically. What Does Vertical Scale Mean?
Vertical scale is expressed in volts per division. In the example, the scale is set to 500 mV
per division. Because this oscilloscope has 8 vertical divisions, it can fit a signal of up to 4 V
peak-to-peak on the screen in this configuration.

5 & 6 vertical positioning moves the signal up or down the screen.

The two inputs share a common set of horizontal controls. When you change the horizontal
settings, all of the waveforms on screen will move together

7 horizontal scaling. Horizontal scale is expressed in seconds per division. If an

oscilloscope is configured to show 50 ms per division, the entire screen is 10 divisions wide
and can fit 0.5 seconds of data.The horizontal scale control causes the scope to acquire data
for a longer or shorter period of time--which in turn stretches or shrinks the waveform
horizontally.

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8 horizontal position. Turning the horizontal position knob moves the trigger position left or
right. This causes all the waveforms on screen to move left or right together, allowing you to
see earlier or later parts of a signal.

9 INPUT CH I Channel I signal input. Input impedance 1MΩ II 20pF.

10 INPUT CH II CH II signal input. (BNC socket) Input impedance 1MΩ II 20pF.

11 probe comp. A 1 kHz square wave test-output.

12 menu for channel 1 and 2. Most important setting: Setting the coupling mode and
attenuation.
Somehow the input signals must be fed into the scopes BNC connectors. This is usually
done by either using an adapter, which allows to connect simple cables to the BNC input, or
a probe.

The probes we are going to use

have a BNC-connector
(connection to scope),

a ground connection
(alligator) and a lead
connection.

The ground
connector usually is
connected to the circuits
ground. The scope displays
the signal, which is applied to
the lead connection, referred to the
potential on the ground connection.
Fig.
The probes also have a little switch for a 1x and a 10x setting. 3
This gives us the opportunity to use the probe as a 1:1 type or a 1:10 divider, if we want to
measure higher voltages, than the scopes input can handle itself.

Always make sure, that the scope “knows” which type of probe you are using. If it is e.g. a
10x probe (signals are divided by 10), go to the menu (12) and enter the correct attenuation
(10x). If you are using the adapter to connect simple cables to the scope, the setting is -of
course- 1x.

13 default setting
Someone else may have been twiddling knobs and pressing buttons before you.
Fortunately, the oscilloscope settings can be restored to the factory settings. It is a good
practice to reset the oscilloscope to factory settings after it is turned on and before any
measurements are taken. This way you can always begin working with the scope from the
same initial setting.

14 multi-purpose “a” knob

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Oscilloscope Display

The function of an oscilloscope is

extremely simple: it draws a V/t
graph, a graph of voltage against
time, voltage on the vertical or Y-
axis, and time on the horizontal
or X-axis. This picture (4) shows
the very simplified screen. There
are more informations provided
in the “real” screen, like shown in
the next picture (5).

Fig.
4

Fig.
5

Figure 5 shows the typical oscilloscope screen. The elements of the screen are as follows:

1. Waveform baseline icon. Shows the zero volt level of the waveform.
2. Channel indicator.
3. Channel scale factor.
4. Time per division.
5. Trigger slope.
6. Date and time.
7. Trigger level icon.
8. Visual representation of waveform.

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Used Simulation Software
In this experiment we use only the LTspice XVII for simulation of the results.

TASK 1: SCOPING THE CHARGECURVE OF A CAPACITOR

Reflect on the last lectures (capacitor and inductor).
When the capacitor is charged, the voltage across it approaches the final value
exponentially, given by

The same time constant RC describes the rate of charging as well as the rate of discharging.
After a time of one time constant t = RC, the voltage is

That is, the voltage across the capacitor in 0.63 (or 63 %) of its maximum value.
When a square wave AC source is used, the capacitor voltage increases and decreases as
the voltage of the applied signal alternately increases and decreases.

Prepare
1. Calculate the time constants of the following combinations in Table 1 (page 8) and write
them down in the table.
2. Calculate the necessary frequencies of the square wave signal in order to obtain a full
charge/discharge (reflect on the lecture!)
3. Why is it useful to adjust the vertical amplitude until the pattern is exactly 8 divisions
high? (In this case: Why is it useful to adjust the vertical amplitude an applied voltage of 8
Volt?)

Task
Prepare the following circuit in the simulator:

Fig. 1

You can get the labels “input” and “output” with the “label net” command from the menu bar.
Specify these labels with the port type “output” and name them.
The values for the resistor and the capacitor changes in the following instruction (see Table 1
on page 8).

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For the voltage source we must use the
“Advanced” mode:

Please enter the values according to the

screenshot.

The voltage Von should be 8V

(Why is this a clever idea?)

The time values for Tdelay, Trise and

Tfall are not 0. We need to use 1 nano
seconds. The reason is the used solver
in the simulation kernel (modified
trapezoidal method). Otherwise you can
into problems obtaining the waveform out
of the source.

The values of Ton and Tperiod must be calculated on each

combination!

The value on Tperiod is the at least ten times of the

expected time constant.

And the value of Ton = Tperiod /2 - half of the period time.

Run using the transient mode at least for 1 second to be sure.

For getting some detail you should zoom in the results until you see two periods of the
signals.
The output for the first combination should be this pattern below (Fig. 3). If the output doesn’t
reach the input at the end of the waveform – you should inspect your settings for the time
values – or the component values.

Fig .3

From this curve, you can derive the time constant.

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1. Repeat the simulation with R = 4,7 kΩ and R = 22 kΩ (case 2 and 3).
2. Using R = 10 kΩ, repeat further steps with C = 0,047μF and C = 0,22μF (case 4 and 5).
3. Record your findings in Table 1

4. Take the data of the file “Exp_4_task_1.raw” and “Exp_4_task_1.plt”. Import that RAW-file
in LTSpice (make sure to choose “Waveforms” instead of “Schematics” in the file dialog).
These file contains the charge- and discharge- curve of an unknown resistor and the
capacitor 0.1µF. Evaluate from this file the time constant 𝜏 for case 6.
(If you have still an empty page – the PLT-file is missing in the same directory….)

Table 1
R C Time Tperiod Ton (in ms) Time
constant for the for the constant 𝜏
(calculated) simulator simulator (measured)
(ms) (calculated) (calculated)
(in ms)
Case 1 10 kΩ 0,1µF 1 10 5 1
Case 2 4,7 kΩ 0,1µF 4.7
.47 2.35 .47
Case 3 22 kΩ 0,1µF 22
2.2 11 2.2
Case 4 0,047µ
10 kΩ .47
F 4.7 2.35 .47
Case 5 0,22µ
10 kΩ
F 2.2 22 22 2.2
File “Exp_4_task_1.raw” and “Exp_4_task_1.plt” needed for case 6
Case 6 unknown 0,1µF X X X 0.047ms

Elaboration:
What is the value of the unknown resistor?

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TASK 2: MEASUREMENTS CARRIED OUT ON A RC-NETWORK

Construct the simple resistor-capacitor (RC) network shown below in Figure 4 in the
simulator, and set the value of the voltage source to a 2 Volt peak-to-peak sine wave.
For doing so, set the settings on the voltage source using the “Advanced” feature to a SINE
and specify the amplitude to 1V and the frequency to 2kHz. Let the simulation run as a
transient simulation for at least 10ms.

Input

Output

Fig. 4
Ground

Values: R= 1kΩ , C=0,1μF

Again we can use the label tool from the simulation program go get some output on the
screen.

Figure out a way to find the delay (lag, phase-shift) of the output compared to the
input. Take a set of measurements to fill out the table below (next page).

Some helpful notes:

Fig. 9

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Prepare:
Complete the drawing below (left). Calculate the Phase shift, the time delay and the
voltage Uout (Provide the calculations in written form using complex calculations!). Use
the 2 kHz case for these calculations.

100 µs
/DIV

Task:
Simulate the circuit for both input frequencies (2kHz and 5kHz) and fill out the table and
complete the graphs below:

Input frequency Uin amplitude Uout amplitude Time delay Phase shift (in degrees,
(set 2 Vpp) (peak – peak) (output vs. input) output vs. input)

2 kHz 2 1.2 0.08 57.6

5 kHz
2 0.6 0.047 84.6

Elaboration
1. Compare your calculations and drawings.
2. Calculate the phase shift for the 5kHz case. Is it a different value? Why (Calculation
using complex numbers and explanation in your own words)?

2 kHz 5 kHz

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