Experiment No.

DIODE APPLICATIONS

Course: ECE 201A Section: CPE21S3

Group No. 6 Date Performed: 10/11/22

Group Members: Date Submitted:

Sude, John Louie

Saga, Edward Louis Eisen

Cagulang, Alejandro Mikhail

Cuntapay, John Vincent

Reyes, Alexandra Denise

Ventura, John Thaddeus

Instructor: Engr. Valondo, Sheila Carmina

1. Objective(s):

The activity aims to familiarize with the following circuits and circuit operations: (a) diode limiters, (b) dc restorer
or diode clamper.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):

The students shall be able to:

1) Analyze the operation of clipper circuits.
2) Analyze the operation of clamper circuit.

3. Discussion:

Diode circuits, called limiters or clippers, are sometimes used to clip off portions of signal voltages above or
below certain levels. Another type of diode circuit, called a clamper is used to add or restore a dc level to an
electrical signal.

A positive limiter sometimes called clipper, is a circuit that removes positive parts of the signal. The output
voltage has all positive half cycles clipped off part of the input voltage. As the input voltage goes positive, the diode
becomes forward-biased and conducts current. Because the cathode is at ground potential, the anode cannot
exceed the barrier potential. A clamper also known as dc restorer is a variation of the limiter; it adds a dc voltage to
the signal. The operation of this circuit can be seen by considering the first negative half-cycle of the input voltage.
When the input voltage initially goes negative, the diode is forward- biased, allowing the capacitor to charge to near
the peak of the input.
 The Diode Clipper The Diode Clamper

4. Equipment:

1 – Board – 12-305

1 – set of Computer

1 – NI-ELVIS II

3 – BNC connector

1 – Multi-wire

24 – Connecting wires

5. Procedure:
Activity 1 - The Diode Clipper

General Guideline – Place the 12-305 into the NI ELVIS II module

1. Click 12-305 Simulator on your desktop

2. Select the Diode Application icon
3. Select Practical 2 to start the activity
4. Ensure the function generator amplitude control is fully counterclockwise (minimum).
5. Use the "Make Connections" diagram to make the required connections on the hardware.

6. Open the MCM. Channel 1 displays the input voltage peak to peak (pk-pk) to the circuit from the function
generator.
7. Open the Oscilloscope. Channel Y1 displays the input signal from the function generator to the diode clipping
circuit and channel Y2 displays the output signal from the diode clipping circuit.
8. The frequency of the function generator has been set at 500Hz. This can be verified by opening the
frequency counter.
9. Slowly increase the amplitude of the function generator.
10. Notice that the input and output are identical up until approximately 1v pk-pk at which point the output starts
to clip.
11. Set the input to 800mv pk-pk. Print or export to file the oscilloscope display. Plot on Figure 3.2.
12. Set the input to 1.5v, 3v and 5v. Print or export to file the oscilloscope display at each voltage. Note the
oscilloscope scaling will need adjusting for the higher input values.
 13. Plot each waveform on Figure 3.2 and mark their amplitudes.

DOCUMENTATION: Results

800mV pk to pk

1.5V pk to pk
3V pk to pk
5V pk to pk
Activity 2 - The Biased - Diode Clipper

1. Ensure the Positive Variable Power Supply (PVPS) control is fully counter clockwise (minimum).
2. Use the "Make Connections" diagram to make the required connections on the hardware.
3. Open the MCM. Channel 1 displays the current flowing through the resistor. Channel 2 displays the voltage
applied to the circuit and channel 3 displays the output voltage of the circuit.
4. Slowly increase the output from the PVPS.
5. To begin with no current will flow through the resistor. After this point the current will continue to increase as
the supply voltage is increased but the output from the circuit will remain at approximately 5.6v.
6. Set the supply voltage to 8v and calculate the current in the resistor.
7. Plot the waveforms (input and output) on Figure 3.3 and mark their amplitudes.
8V
Activity 3 – DC Restoration

1. Use the "Make Connections" diagram to make the required connections on the hardware.
2. Initially the circuit setup is the one shown on the left in the practical diagrams windows below. Note at present
the diode is not in circuit.
3. The function generator is setup to output a square wave signal of amplitude ±2.5v with an dc offset of +2.5v
at a frequency of 1.5kHz.
4. Open the Oscilloscope. Channel Y1 displays the input from the function generator to the circuit.
5. Select Y2 on. This enables the second channel (Y2) on the oscilloscope. This displays the output from the
circuit.
6. You should be able to see that the DC component of the input waveform has been removed.
7. Plot the waveform on Figure 3.4 and mark the amplitude.
8. Add link 4. This will add the diode to the circuit.
9. The dc should now be restored to the output signal although there will be approximately a 0.6v negative
offset due to the diode.
10. Plot the waveform on Figure 3.5 and mark the amplitude.

11. Remove link wire 4.

 12. Add link wires 9, 10 and 11.
13. Now the 0.6v negative offset should be removed from the output signal, so the output and input should be
the same

5. Discussion of Results:

Activity 1:

- For the first example, we apply 800mV pk to pk, so we input the bisection of the 800mV in the AC current
which is 400mV. As we can see from the results, the graph shows the values of the probes that we put in the
circuit. The first probe has a pk of 400m and the second probe has -400m.
- For the second example, we apply 1.5V pk to pk, so we input the bisection of the 1.5V in the AC current
which is 0.75V. As we can see from the results, the graph shows the values of the probes that we put in the
circuit. We can observe that the graphical presentation of the first probe has its value but when the flow of the
circuit goes through the resistor, it shows that the second probe decrease the value of its graphical
presentation
- For the third example, we apply 3V pk to pk, we will do the same process that we did in the past 2 examples.
We will put the bisection of the 3V in the AC current which is 1.5V. We can see the graphical results, it is just
the same as the second example because the first value of our probe has a high graphical presentation but
the value of the second probe decreases when the flow of the circuit goes through the resistor.
- For the last example, we apply the 5V pk to pk. So, we input the bisection of the 5V in the AC current which
is 2.5V. As we can see from the graphical results, it is the same with the graphical presentation of the second
and the third example. The first probe has a high graphical value but when it reaches through the resistor, the
graphical value changes from the second probe.

Activity 2:

- After constructing the circuit with the following instructions, the results can be seen in the graph. The graph
shows 3 different lines representing the voltages and the current. The broken line represents the current,
while the two lines that sometimes overlap represent the voltages. As seen in the current, there is a peak and
 a limit below the graph. This is because of the diode that was included, which controls where the current is
allowed to move through, this in turn causes there to be a flat line in the bottom of the current whenever the
current is in a counter clockwise direction. The diode also has an effect on both the voltages but it still allows
them to pass through unlike the current. The voltages both overlap and experience a downturn whenever it
travels in a counter clockwise direction, this is because both voltages travel through a diode which acts like a
limiter for currents, but voltages can still move through. There is also a difference that can be seen in the
voltages, this is because the green line represents the voltage before it moves through the resistor. What is
interesting though is that, whenever the voltage flows in a counter clockwise direction, both the voltages are
the same value, this is because there is no resistor that they move through. Overall, the diode really only
hinders the ability of the current to pass through the circuit.

Activity 3 – DC Restoration

For the initial circuit set up wherein the diode is not in the circuit the function generator is set up to output a square wave signal
of amplitude ±2.5v with an dc offset of +2.5v at a frequency of 1.5kHz.When the Oscilloscope is opened, the channel
Y1 displays the input from the function generator to the circuit and the channel Y2 displays the output from the
circuit. As what we can see in the graph the amplitude is 4.2195V and 2.4164v for Y1.
To add the diode we will have it to be connected in the link 4 and this will restore the dc output signal that will be
approximately a 0.6v negative offset due to the diode. When this happens the graph changes and has now different
values. When the diode is connected we can see that the graph suddenly amplifies to 152.40mV and when the
diode is disconnected the 0.6v negative offset is removed from the output signal making the input and output
voltage to be the same as what the first circuit is.
This concludes that when the diode is connected to the circuit the voltage will amplify because it now only flows
from one direction. The diode acts as the brain of which direction the flow of the current should be, that is why it
amplifies the current of the voltage as what we can see on the graph. DC Restoration occurs because of the
changes in the current, when the link 4 is combined the voltage amplifies and when the link 4 is removed the DC is
back to normal. There is only a small change in the circuit

6. Conclusion

Cuntapay: In my conclusion, based on the results of our laboratory experiment 3. I learned that a diode
clipper is utilized to regulate or reduce voltage spikes and is often entered as peak-to-peak volts. As we can
see on the graphs, the peak point of each graph is accurate to each other. Moreover, the clamper is applied
in a circuit to modify the input voltage, where we can bring the volts back to their initial value.
Saga: In conclusion of our laboratory experiment. I have learned more about what a diode clipper is used
for, to limit the flow of currents and to reduce voltage spikes. In the 3 activities done, there were different
applications for clipper diodes and their different behaviors.

Cagulang: Based on the laboratory experiment 3 that we did, I conclude that using clipper diodes helps to
regulate the value of the volts with a peak to peak. From the graphical results, we can see that it shows how
the voltage has been regulated using clippers.

Sude:

In this laboratory activity, we get to analyze the operations of both clipper and clamper circuits. I learned
about the clipper and clamper of circuits. Clipper circuits are meant to "clip" or remove the positive
portions of signal voltages which causes a limit to the voltages while the clamper circuits are used to add
or restore a dc level in the AC signal. We saw in the activities the behaviors of the clippers and clampers.
Clippers and clampers circuits behaved differently in oscilloscopes and they can be used for different
applications depending on their behaviors.

Reyes:

To conclude this laboratory activity, I have learned the difference between clipper and clamper circuits.
Clipper circuits are from the word itself “clipper” to clip or to remove the positive signal voltages which
causes a limit to the voltages. On the other hand the Clamper circuit pertains to adding or restoring a DC
level in an AC signal. In the 3 activities that we have conducted in this laboratory activity we have observed
the different usages and effects of clip and clamper.

Ventura:

I therefore conclude in this laboratory activity that there are significant differences in the clipper and
clamper circuits. They help the circuit to properly flow so there will be no error while doing a different
circuit. The clipper helps by removing the positive portions of signal voltages, hence the name clipper for
this exact reason. This is useful to balance out the positive signal so that there will be no limit in voltages.
For the clamper circuits, this helps in adding or restoring a DC level in a certain Ac Signal. Throughout this
activity this two kinds of circuit is then observe in various activity which helps me led to this conclusion.