(AC-2-4) Filters

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(AC-2-4) Filters

Aim of the experiment:

EXPERIMENT 1: verify the operation and characteristics of low pass filter.

EXPERIMENT 2: verify the operation and characteristics of high pass filter.

Apparatus:

CRO – AC function generator – capacitors - resistors

THEORY OF EXPERIMENT

Low-Pass Filter

A low-pass filter is a filter that passes low frequencies well, but attenuates

(or reduces) frequencies higher than the cut-off frequency. The actual

amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is

sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter when used in audio

applications. A high-pass filter is the opposite, and a band pass filter is a

combination of a high-pass and a low-pass.The simplest form of low-pass filter

is shown in Figure 1. It consists of a resistor and capacitor connected in series

across an input voltage (Ei). The output voltage is determined across the

capacitor. Assume that the input voltage Ei has a fixed rms value but that its

frequency can be varied.

Figure 1. RC low-pass filter

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At very low input frequencies, the capacitive reactance will be very high. If

the reactance is high compared to the resistance, most of the input voltage

will appear across the capacitor. At low frequencies then, the circuit offers

very little opposition, and nearly all the input voltage appears at the output. As

the input frequency increases, the capacitive reactance decreases. This means

that less voltage will be dropped across the capacitor and more across the

resistor as the frequency gets higher. For this reason, the output voltage

begins to drop off as frequency is increased. At very high frequencies, the

reactance will be very low. If it is significantly lower than the value of the

resistance, then very little voltage will appear at the output. The frequency

response curve shown in Figure 2 illustrates this effect.

Figure 2 Frequency response of an RC low-pass filter

At the cut-off frequency (f C), the output voltage is equal to approximately

70% of the input voltage or E 0 = 0.707Ei. The cut-off frequency is a function

of the resistor and the capacitor values and is determined by the expression

below:

where R is in ohms and C is in micro farads.

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High-Pass Filter

A high-pass filter is a filter that passes high frequencies well, but attenuates

(or reduces) frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount

of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes

called a low-cut filter; the terms bass-cut filter or rumble filter are also

used in audio applications.

It is useful as a filter to block any unwanted low frequency components of a

complex signal while passing the higher frequencies. Of course, the meanings

of 'low' and 'high' frequencies are relative to the cutoff frequency chosen by

the filter designer.

A simple RC high-pass filter is shown in Figure 3. Like the low-pass filter, it

consists of a resistor and a capacitor connected in series to the input voltage.

In the high-pass filter, however, the output voltage is taken from across the

resistor

Figure 3. RC high-pass filter

At very high input frequencies, the capacitive reactance will be very low. If it

is low compared to the resistance, little voltage will be dropped across it. At

high frequencies then, most of the input voltage will appear across the

resistor. As the frequency decreases, the capacitive reactance increases.

More and more voltage will be dropped across the capacitance and less across

the resistance. Therefore, as the frequency decreases, the output voltage

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will begin to decrease. The decrease is gradual at first, but at the cut-off

frequency, the attenuation becomes more pronounced and the output voltage

drops at a constant rate with decreasing frequency. Figure 4 shows the

frequency response curve of an RC high-pass filter. At the cut-off frequency,

the output voltage is approximately 70% of the input voltage. Below the cut-

off frequency, the attenuation increases and the output voltage drops.

As in the low-pass filter, the cut-off frequency is a function of the resistor

and capacitor values. The same expression used for computing the cut-off

frequency of a low-pass filter applies to the high-pass filter.

where R is in ohms and C is in micro farads.

Procedure:

EXPERIMENT 1:

To verify the operation and characteristics of low-pass RC

1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 1.

2.Set the generator range to the LOW position and vary the frequency each

0.1Hz up to 10Hz and record the corresponding output voltage in each case.

3.Draw a graph between the frequency and output voltage.

4.Using the values of resistance and capacitance compute the cut-off

frequency.

EXPERIMENT 2:

To verify the operation and characteristics of RC high-pass filter

1. Construct the circuit shown in Figure 3.

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2. Set the generator range to the High position and vary the frequency each

10Hz up to 100Hz and record the corresponding output voltage in each case.

3. Draw a graph between the frequency and output voltage.

4.Using the values of resistance and capacitance compute the cut-off

frequency.

Results:
LPF HPF
f- Hz Vout f- Hz Vout f- Hz Vout f- Hz Vout

fc = Hz fc = Hz