Experiment - 5

Aim of the Experiment: To study the frequency response of a series LCR circuit.

Apparatus: Function generator, Oscilloscope, Inductor, capacitor, resistor, connecting wires and cables.

Theory of series LCR Circuit: Consider a circuit having inductor , capacitor and resistor in series
that is being driven by a sinusoidal emf ( ) = sin .

The Differential Equation:

1
+ + = sin

1
+ + = sin

+2 + = sin

Where = 1.2 mH
= 47 μF
1 =5Ω
2 = and =
= 1.0 V
[ and are real and positive]
Steady-state solution

= sin( + )

1
=
( − ) + (2 )

−2
= tan
−

( )= = cos( + )= sin( + + /2)

where

1
=
( − ) + (2 )
This shows that the amplitude of sinusoidal current in the circuit and phase difference between applied
voltage & current depend on frequency of the applied voltage. The following figure illustrates the phase
relationships among various signals

Source Voltage
Voltage across L
Voltage across C
Voltage across R
Current

We can readily observe the following:

 Current in the circuit and voltage across resistor are in phase

 Voltage across inductor and capacitor are out of phase (having a phase difference of 180°).

Therefore we can obtain the current in the circuit by measuring the voltage across the resistor.
Observations:

Table 1. Data for current in the circuit at different frequencies

S. No. Frequency (Hz) Amplitude of voltage across Amplitude of current in the circuit

= (mA)

1 10 14.8 mV 2.96
2 50 74 mV 14.80
3 100 149 mV 29.80
4 200 308 mV 61.60
5 400 676 mV 135.20
6 600 976 mV 195.20
7 650 983 mV 196.60
8 675 1.0 V 200.00
9 700 996 mV 199.20
10 800 940 mV 188.00
11 1K 767 mV 153.40
12 1.5 K 482 mV 96.40
13 2K 349 mV 69.80
14 5K 130 mV 26.00
15 10 K 64 mV 12.80
16 20 K 32 mV 6.40
17 50 K 13 mV 2.60

Plot amplitude of the current in the circuit as a function of frequency. Notice that current peaks at certain
frequency. This is resonance frequency of the circuit and the curve is known as resonance curve. From the
graph, find the frequencies on each side of resonance frequency, say and , where current reduces to
1/√2 times the peak current. The difference ∆ = − is called FWHM (Full Width at Half
Maxima) of the resonance curve.

Quality factor of the circuit is defined as

What is the formula for in terms of circuit elements? Compare the theoretically calculated and
experimentally obtained values of .
Table 2. Data for phase difference between current and applied voltage at different frequencies

S. No. Frequency (Hz) Time lag between current and Phase difference between current and
applied voltage applied voltage
∆ = 360 ∆ / (degree)
1 10 24.9 ms 89.6
2 50 4.67 ms 84.1
3 100 2.24 ms 80.6
4 200 0.97 ms 69.8
5 400 0.33 ms 47.5
6 600 62.2 s 13.4
7 650 23.3 s 5.5
8 675 0.0 s 0.0
9 700 -21.0 s -5.3
10 800 -66.1 s -19.0
11 1K -118 s -42.5
12 1.5 K -117 s -63.2
13 2K -97 s -69.8
14 5K -52 s -93.6
15 10 K -26 s -93.6
16 20 K -12 s -86.4
17 50 K -5 s -90.0

Note that time delay of one time period is equivalent to phase delay of 360° or 2 radians.

Plot phase difference between current and applied voltage against frequency. What is the significance of
phase difference?