4.

Smoothing and filtering

Objectives Equipment Cat. No.

- Representing the ripple voltage on the load Circuit elements:

voltage 1 Resistor 100 /2W 577 32
1 Resistor 1 k/2W 577 44
- The ripple voltage as a function of charging 1 Resistor 10 k/0.5W 577 56
capacitor and load resistor 1 Electrolytic capacitor
10 F/35 V 578 37
- Measuring and calculating the ripple voltage
1 Electrolytic capacitor
- The influence of an RC filter on the ripple 47 F/40 V 578 38
voltage 1 Electrolytic capacitor
100 F/40 V 578 39
4 Si diodes 1N4007 578 51

Measuring devices:
1 Multimeter DMM120 531 172
1 Two channel
oscilloscope 400 575 212

Power supply units:

1 Power supply unit 521 485

Accessories:
1 Plug-in board 297x300 726 50
1 Measuring cable BNC/4mm 575 24
1 Set of bridging plugs 19 mm 501 48
1 Set of connecting leads 501 532
Exercise 1: Representing the ripple voltage on the load voltage

Fig. 5.1

Assemble the circuit as shown in fig. 5.1 and apply an ac voltage of V = 12 V, f = 50 Hz.
Use channel 1 of the oscilloscope to measure the voltage V01 across the load resistor.
Settings on the oscilloscope:
Y1 = 5 volts/div (DC)
t = 5 ms/div.
trigger switch to "line".
Transfer the graphs into diagram fig. 5.2.

Fig. 5.2
The voltage V01 across the load resistor is a pulsating dc voltage, which is made up from a dc and
an ac voltage component. The ac voltage component, which is superpositioned onto the dc voltage
is designated the ripple voltage.
Set channel 1 of the oscilloscope to 0.5 volts/div (AC) and repeat the measurement carried out in
point 2.
Draw the ripple voltage curve Vripple in the diagram in fig. 5.2.

Determine the peak-to-peak value of the ripple voltage from the graph.

Vpp,ripple = 1.2 V

Exercise 2 : The ripple voltage as a function of charging capacitor and

load resistor

Connect an ammeter between terminals 1 and 3 in fig. 5.1 to measure the dc current.
Measure the dc component of the load current IL and the peak-to-peak value of the ripple voltage
Vripple for the combination of charging capacitor and load resistor as given in table 5.1. Enter the
values in lines 1 and 2 of table 5.1.

RL = 1k CL = 100F
CL = 10F CL = 47F CL = 100F RL = 100 RL = 10k
IL
1 (mA) 12.255 14.445 14.494 120.62 1.557
Vripple,pp 7.270 2.380 1.217 6.740 0.133
2
(V)
Vripple,pp
3 18.383 4.610 2.174 18.093 0.234
(V)

Table 5.1
Describe the ripple voltage dependence on the charging capacitor and the load resistor.

The ripple voltage decreases as the capacitance of the capacitor increases because the
capacitor can hold a greater amount of charge and even out the irregularities in the output voltage.
Likewise, an increase in the resistance of the load resistor results in a decrease in the ripple voltage
because it draws less current from the capacitor, enabling the capacitor to charge up to a higher voltage
and maintain a more constant output.

The peak-to-peak value of the ripple voltage can be calculated approximately using the expression
below: (fhum = hum frequency)

Calculate the ripple voltages for the values given in table 5.1 and enter your results into line 3 in
the table.

Calculate the relative error for the largest discrepancy between the calculated and measured
values of the ripple voltage.

Erel = 59.21%

Exercise 3: Measuring and calculating the ripple voltage

The rms value of the ripple voltage can be determined approximately using the expression below:
V
Vripple,rms  ripple ,pp
2  3
Calculate the rms value of the ripple voltage for the circuit given in fig. 5.1.

Vripple = 0.35 V

Measure the ripple voltage with the multimeter and compare the measured value with the
calculated value.

Vripple = 15.973 V

There is a possibility that the measured ripple voltage could be 10 times greater than the
calculated value, which could result from several factors, including errors in measurement, variations
in the circuit, or fluctuations in the power supply. The theoretical calculation of the ripple voltage is
based on certain assumptions and simplifications, which may not accurately reflect the actual
behavior of the circuit. Additionally, there may be other sources of error or uncertainty that are not
taken into account during the calculation.
 Exercise 4: The influence of an RC filter on the ripple voltage

Fig. 5.3

Use channel 1 to measure the ac voltage component vripple1 of V01 and channel 2 to measure the ac
voltage component Vripple2 of V02 in circuit 5.3.0
Settings on the oscilloscope:
Y1 = 0.5 volts/div (AC)
Y2 = 0.5 volts/div (AC)
t = 5 ms/div,
trigger switch to "line"
Zero line from channel 1 to 2. Set the screen grid from above.
Enter the voltage curves of Vripple1 and Vripple2 into the diagram in fig. 5.4.
 Fig. 5.4

Determine the values of Vripple,pp1 and Vripple,pp2 from the diagram.

Vripple,pp1 = 1.078 V

Vripple,pp2 = 0.090 V

The combination of RS and CS is known as an RC filtering element.

Compare the measured values given above and describe the influence of the filtering
element on the ripple voltage across the load resistor.

The two peak-to-peak ripple values, 1.078 and 0.090, demonstrate that the inclusion
of the RC filtering element (RS and CS) has significantly decreased the ripple voltage across
the load resistor. The smaller value of 0.090 suggests that the RC filter has a greater impact
in smoothing out the output voltage than in its absence. The RC filter functions by
suppressing the high-frequency components of the voltage signal and allowing the lower-
frequency components, such as the DC component, to pass through. The filter circuit
achieves this filtering effect through the combination of the resistor and capacitor. The larger
the values of RS and CS, the more effective the filter will be in reducing the ripple voltage.
Therefore, incorporating an RC filter in the circuit makes the output voltage more stable and
suitable for use in electronic devices.

Use the measured values above to calculate the filtering

factor S. S = 0.2415