P2440664

RLC circuit with Cobra4 Xpert-Link

Physics Electricity & Magnetism Electromagnetic oscillations & waves

   
Difficulty level Group size Preparation time Execution time

hard 2 20 minutes 20 minutes

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10 Tel.: 0551 604 - 0 info@phywe.de

37079 Göttingen Fax: 0551 604 - 107 www.phywe.de
P2440664

General information

Application

An electrical oscillating circuit, also called resonant circuit,

capacitators, coils and resistors on a board
is a resonant electrical circuit consisting of a coil
(inductance L ) and a capacitor (capacitance C ), which can
perform electric current oscillations. A RLC-circuit is an
circiut that also contains a damping resistor (resistance R).
In this LC oscillating circuit, energy is periodically
exchanged between the magnetic field of the coil and the
electric field of the capacitor, resulting in alternating high
current or high voltage. The resonance frequency is
dependend on the inductance and the capacitance included
in the circuit. RLC-circuits are often used as frequency
filters or resonators in electronic devices, e.g. in radio
transmitters and receivers in order to resonate on a
special frequency.

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Other information (1/2)

Prior Basic knowledge of physical quantities such as current, voltage and resistance must
be available. Furthermore basic knowledge about the process of electromagnetical
knowledge
induction as well as the charging and discharging behaviour of a capacitor should be
known. Ideally, previous experience with RC and RL alternating current circuits is
already available.

Combined coils and capacitors in an AC circuit lead to an oscillating current behaviour,

Scientific which shows a resonance behaviour with a resonance frequency f0 , that depends on
principle the inductance L and the capacitance C in the circuit:

1
f0 = −−
−
2π√LC

In an RLC-circuit the resistor induces current damping.

Other information (2/2)

Learning After the successful completion of this experiment you will be able to theoretically
describe the phenomenon of combined inductances and capacitances with respect to
objective alternating currents. You will also be able to experimentally determine the resonant
frequencies in dependence of the connected impedances and capacitances.

Tasks U
Measure the voltage drop over the LC-component and the current through the I
circuit and determine the resonance frequency for both combinations of coil and
capacitor.

Determine the impedance Z of the LC-component for both circuits.

Determine the bandwidth B and Q-factor for both circuits.

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Safety instructions

The general instructions for safe experimentation in science lessons apply to this
experiment.

Theory (1/8)

An RLC-circuit consists of a resistance (R) , an inductance (L) and a capacitance (C ) sometimes it is also
refered to as LC-circuit, because the resistor is only used to simulate the loss-resistance of a real circuit.
The oscillating frequency is only dependend on the inductance and the capacitance. Generally one differs
between two kinds of RLC-circuits, the series- (left) and the parallel-tuned (right) circuit:

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Theory (2/8) - Series circuit

When a fully charged capacitor is discharged through an inductance coil, the discharge current induces a
magnetic field in the coil, which reaches its maximum, when the capacitor is completely discharged. Then,
due to the decreasing current, the change in the magnetic field induces a voltage which according to Lenz's
law charges the capacitor with reversed polarity. Again the current decreases to zero when the capacitor is
completely charged. At this point, the procedure starts again, but with opposite direction of the current.

In absence of any resistance, this charging and discharging processes would oscillate forever – but because
of ohmic resistances, which every real circuit posesses, the oscillation is damped and accordingly the
amplitudes of current and voltage decrease over time. According to Kirchoff's voltage law (mesh rule) the
total voltage in one loop must add to zero or be equal to an external potential:

UL + UC + UR = Uext

   

Theory (3/8) - Series circuit

Differentiating this equation with certain substitutions of the constants one obtains

I¨ + 2δI˙ + ω I = Lω U ⋅ ei ωt
2
0 0
( π
+ /2)


The real part of the solution for the current results in:
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

U /√ R
2
1 1 1
I = I ⋅ cos(ωt − φ)     with     I
0 0 = 0
2
+ (ωL ωC )
−  ,    tan( ) = − φ R (ωL − ωC )
with phase displacement φ. Thereby the resonance point is found at ω2 = ω 2
0
=( LC) −1
. The impedance is
Ueff
defined by Z = Ieff , which leads for the LC-component of the series-tuned circuit to

ZS = ∣∣ωL − ωC ∣∣
1 

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Theory (4/8) - Parallel circuit

In the case of the parallel-tuned RLC-circuit, we apply Kirchhoff's first law (junction rule):

IR + IL + IC = 0
Derivation with respect to time and using the know identities for the voltages of capacitor and coil leads to

Ü + RC U̇ + LC U = 0
1 1

Implementing the approach U (t) = U0 ⋅ eiωt and after discarding the imaginary part one directly obtains the
resonance frequency ω0 = 1/√LC. To determine the impedance for the parallel tuned LC circuit, one simply
−−
−

uses Kirchhoff's first law with IR = I (t) and I (t) = U (t)/Z to obtain

U (t) U (t) + U (t)     ⇒     1 ∣ 1

iωL + iωC∣∣
∣
= =∣
ZP XL XC ZP ∣

Theory (5/8) - Parallel circuit

Kirchhoff's law for the complete circuit (regarding the LC-component as one element) leads to

Uext = UR + UC       ⇒      U ⋅ eiωt = RI + ZLC I

0

( ZLC = ZP ) . Therefore the solution for the current is, after neglecting the imaginary part,
I (t) = I cos(ωt + φ)     with     I = U 0
−−−−−−−−−−−−−
√R
0 0

2
+(
ωL )2
1−ω/ω0

The phase displacement is given by

1
φ
tan( ) =
R ⋅ ( ωL − ωC)
1

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Theory (6/8)

Comparing the calculations from above, the results are the

following. Both circuits (series- and parallel-tuned) have the
same resonance frequency

f0 = 2ωπ0 =
1
−−
−
2π√LC

In the series-tuned case, the impedance tends to zero

when the frequency is approaching the resonance
frequency, which can be seen in the increase of current. In
the parallel-tuned case, the impedance of the LC-
component increases while approaching the resonance
frequency, which can be seen in the decrease of current.
Definition of bandwidth

Theory (7/8)

Another important physical quantity, which describes the

behaviour of a resonating system is the bandwith B and the
quality factor Q. The bandwidth of a resonance curve is
simply defined as the distance between the two points
where the maximum current amplitude Amax = Ares at the
A
resonance drops to a value res , so
√2

B = f2 − f1
The quality factor is thus given by

Q = fBres
Definition of bandwidth

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Theory (8/8)

In the series-tuned circuit, the quality factor is therefore

−−
QS = R1 ⋅ √ CL
which can be derived from the equations above (usuall
B δ δ
= 2 , where is the damping. One can see, that the
resistor is responsible for the shape of the resonance
curve, too. In the parallel-tuned circuit, the quality factor,
expressed through the parameters of the electrical
components, is given by
−−
QP = R ⋅ √ CL
Definition of bandwidth

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Equipment
 
Position Material Item No. Quantity
1 Cobra4 Xpert-Link 12625-99 1
2 Cobra4 Xpert-Link set of cables 12625-10 1
3 PHYWE Digital Function Generator, USB 13654-99 1
4 Connection box 06000-00 1
5 Coil, 900 turns 06512-01 1
6 Capacitor 470nF/250V, G1 39105-20 1
7 Capacitor 100 nF/250V, G1 39105-18 1
8 Resistor 100 Ohm, 1W, G1 39104-63 1
9 Resistor 47 Ohm, 1W, G1 39104-62 1
10 Resistor 470 Ohm, 1W, G1 39104-15 1
11 Capacitor 10nF/ 250V, G1 39105-14 1
12 Capacitor 47nF/ 250V, G1 39105-17 1

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Setup and procedure

Setup (1/3)

Build the electrical circuit according to the shown figure:

Use CH1 (current) and CH3 (voltage) of the Xpert-Link.

Also refer to the circuit diagrams for measuring the

voltage and current in the series- and parallel-tuned
R
circuits below. i denotes the internal resistance of the
digital function generator, which is given in the
R
operational instructions as i = 2Ω.

Experimental setup Series circuit:  Parallel circuit: 

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Setup (2/3)

Start with the series circuit diagram.
Select the combination of the 470 nF
capacitor and the 470Ω resistor. Use the
Xpert-Link CH1 I1 channel for the
measurement of the current and the CH3
U1 channel for voltage measurement.
Connect both the Xpert-Link and the
function generator to your computer.
Start the software “measureLAB”, and
choose the experiment from the start
screen (choose “PHYWE experiments”,
search for “P2440664”, and click on the
folders that contain this experiment).
All necessary presettings will be loaded. To define your
own settings, click on the gear wheel button, choose
“Sensors/Channels”, select “Xpert-Link” Channel CH1.
The measurement range has to be set to 10 mA, and in
order to obtain effective values, “TRMS” needs to be
selected. CH3 has to be set to 10 V and “TRMS” active as
well.

Check if the settings are correct. If not adjust
accordingly:

The frequency range can be narrowed down for
different capacitors in order to shorten measurement
time. Refer to the example measurements in the
evaluation section for suitable boundaries.

Setup (3/3)

Also note that the Xpert-Link current measurement range has to be increased to 100mA when
using smaller resistances, as it is the resistor that will limit the current in the circuit.

For a live measurement of the impedance virtual channels are used. When loading the presettings, a
predefined virtual channel “Impedance” will measure the ratio CH3/CH1 as a function of the
frequency. For measurements including the current and voltage channel click on the Xpert-Link
symbol in the devices bar, and drag and drop the desired channels into the diagram.

α button (hit the info butto for details).

You can define further virtual channels by using the √−


During the experiment, you may wish to remove previous measurements from the diagram. To do
so, click on the “x” symbol next to the measurement name in the diagram caption, or delete all of the
measurements from the diagram by clicking on the “x” symbol in the analysis tools tab in the
diagram. You can export your data by clicking on the “Data pool” symbol, and download your
measurements from the data pool by clicking on the download symbol. 

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Prodedure (1/6)

For the very first measurement, add

current CH1 and voltage CH3 by drag and
drop into the diagram in order to get a
feeling of how the impedances are
calculated.

Start the measurement by clicking the

 “Record” button. The measurement will
stop automatically after the frequency
ramp has finished as predefined. Your
results may look like the diagramm in
the figure and you may wish to use a
logarithmic display of your data (click on
the „display” tab in the diagram and
choose „Log” for the y-axis).

Prodedure (2/6)

LC series circuit:

Repeat the impedance measurement for all the capacitors that are provided with this experiment. You
may wish to create two seperate diagrams: one which only contains the impedances, while the other
only shows the currents. Note down the resulting values for the resonance frequencies in the table in the
evaluation section.

You will need to adjust the frequency ramp to the respective resonance frequencies, as an overall
frequency ramp will be rather time-consuming. Choose an increment of 5 Hz for a coarse overview, and
refer to the example measurement for an estimate for the frequency ramp range. You can then repeat
your measurements at the positions of the resonance peaks derived from the overview, and decrease
the increment for a more detailed scan of a narrower region of interest, thus providing more precise
data for the determination of the resonance frequencies.

Your resulting graphs (only impedances) may look like depicted in these figures:  

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Prodedure (3/6)

Zoom into the data showing the the

current as a function of frequency for
bandwidth evaluation. Your result may
look like the diagramm shown.

Use this measurement to determine the

bandwidth (survey tool) from the current
I I
signal (at = res ), while confirming the
√2
resonance frequency.

In this example data, a bandwidth of

428 Hz corresponds to a resonance
frequency of 1550 Hz (see figure).

Note the values in the table.

Prodedure (4/6)

LC parallel circuit:

Now change your experiment, so that

coil and capacitor at connected in
parallel. Again start with the 
combination C = 470 nF and
R = 470 Ω.
Your result may look like the figure. Use
this measurement to determine both
resonance frequency and bandwidth
(survey tool) from the voltage signal.

Note the values in the respective table.

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Prodedure (5/6)

Now switch the capacitor and repeat the

measurement for all the capacitors that
are provided with this experiment. Your
results (only impedances shown) may look
like shown aside:

Note that the position of the peak shifts for

different capacitances. Since the same
resistance was used in both the series-
circuit and the parallel-circuit experiment,
you can directly compare resonance
frequencies for both experiments.

Again note the resulting resonance

frequencies and the respective bandwidths
in the table in the evaluation section.

Prodedure (6/6)

In the next step the capacitor

(C = 470 nF ) will be kept constant, while
switching through all the resistors that
are provided with this experiment. Your
results may look like exemplary shown in
the figure. Note that the position of the
peak is independent from the resistance.
Resistors are frequency-independent
hardware components. The same result
is found for resistance variation using
the LC series circuit!

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Evaluation (1/3)

f
Note the resulting measured resonance frequencies S for the LC series circuits in the table. Calculate
f f
the theoretical resonance frequencies res for the different capacitors used: res = 1/(2 √
−−
−
) and π LC
compare them. The coil with 900 turns has a nominal inductance of = 24 L mH
. Note the resulting
B Q Q
bandwidths and calculate the experimental ( ) and theoretical ( S ) quality factors.

C [nF ] f kHz
   Series
res [ ]Ci f kHz
     Series
S[ ]    Ci B kHz
   [Series
]        Ci Q
     Series Q
[1]            Ci S [1]
Series Ci 
Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci
470
Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci
100 Exemplary
data:
47 Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci Series Ci

10


Evaluation (2/3)

f
Note the resulting measured resonance frequencies P for the LC parallel circuits in the table. Calculate
f f
the theoretical resonance frequencies res for the different capacitors used: res = 1/(2 √
−−
−
) and π LC
compare them. The coil with 900 turns has a nominal inductance of = 24 L mH
. Note the resulting
B Q Q
bandwidths and calculate the experimental ( ) and theoretical ( P ) quality factors.

C [nF ] f kHz
   Parallel
res [ f kHz
]      Parallel
P[ ]        B [Parallel [1]             QP [1]
kHz]              QParallel Parallel 
Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel
470
Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel Exemplary
100
data:
Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel
47

10


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Evaluation (3/3)

Your data may deviate from the prediction, as the values given for capacitance, inductance and resistance
may not be exact. You can also perform a more precise calculation that accounts for the exact resistance
value of the circuit, considering the different parts which contribute to the total resistance. These are the
ohmic resistor R itself, the real part of the impedance at the resonance point, here simply denoted as RLC ,
which is simply given by RLC = / 2Ω
Ures Ires and the internal resistance of the function generator, which is .
Therefore (here: series connection)
−−
Qth = R1 √ CL    with :    Rtot = R + Ri + RLC = R + Ri + UI res
tot res
When using the 470Ω resistor, it is sufficient to use this value as an approximation, as the other contributions
to the resistance are comparably small. You may wish to repeat this evaluation for other combinations of
components that you measured.

 Show solutions  Retry  Export text

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