LABORATORY

FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 2021 / 22

5th EXPERIMENT: APPLIED ALTERNATING CURRENT

TASK 1: ANALYSIS OF A FULL WAVE BRIDGE RECTIFIER

TASK 2: LOW PASS AND HIGH PASS FILTERS
TASK 3: RESONANCE IN RLC CIRCUITS

NAME

MATRICULATION
NUMBER
STUDY COURSE □ Mechanical □ M. Systems □ Industrial Eng. □ Sci. Comm.
DATE GROUP

EXPERIMENT
To be filled out by the

PARTICIPATION
supervisor only

ATTESTATION □ Done □ 1. Rework □ 2. Rework

Remark: The Experiment consists of THREE tasks.

All of them have to be prepared BEFORE you going to the lab.
TASK 1: ANALYSIS OF A FULL WAVE BRIDGE RECTIFIER

D1

UL

Fig. 1
Prepare:
Explain the voltage and the current for the Resistor RL if we feed the circuit of Fig. 1
with an alternating current (the unknown symbol is a diode – which is basically a
device for letting the current go only in the direction of the arrow – just a “one way
valve”)

Task
Connect the circuit (Fig. 1) to the function generator and set the amplitude to the
maximum (10V). The frequency should be 50 Hz, sinusoid (the same waveform and
frequency, which is supplied by all our electrical outlets, but with reduced amplitude).
The load resistance is 1 kΩ. Use the same diode type for all diodes (1N4007).
Graph UL for the protocol (see grids below).

Now add the circuit with some additional diodes (Fig. 2) of the same type but leave
out the capacitor. Graph now the resulting voltage UL . (without the capacitor)

D1 D3

+
UL

Fig. 2
D2 D4

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Now add a capacitor C to the circuit (parallel to the resistor).
We use different values for the capacitor: 1) 10µF and 2) 100µF.

NOTE: Both are a polarized capacitor. Watch the “+” sign on the component
and the schematic.
Graph UL for the protocol.
Mark the “Zero” Line and note the used settings on the oscilloscope.

One diode Four diodes, without a capacitor

With a 10µF capacitor With a 100µF capacitor

Graph for task 1

TASK 2: LOW PASS AND HIGH PASS FILTERS

Study the characteristics of passive filters by obtaining the frequency response of a Low
Pass RC filter and a High Pass RL filter.

The impedance of an inductor is proportional to frequency and the impedance of a capacitor

is inversely proportional to frequency. These characteristics can be used to select or reject

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certain frequencies of an input signal. This selection and rejection of frequencies is called
filtering, and a circuit which does this is called a filter.

If a filter passes high frequencies and rejects low frequencies, then it is a high-pass filter.
Conversely, if it passes low frequencies and rejects high ones, it is a low-pass filter. Filters,
like most things, aren’t perfect. They don’t absolutely pass some frequencies and absolutely
reject others. A frequency is considered passed if its magnitude (voltage amplitude) is within
70% (or 1/√2, that is called 3dB – “decibel” ) of the maximum amplitude passed and rejected
otherwise. The 70% frequency is called corner frequency, roll-off frequency or half-power
frequency.

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

PREPARE
Calculate the corner frequencies (fC) for the RC and RL filter using the component values
R = 1 kΩ, C = 1μF and L=100mH.

fC,RC= fC,RL=

TASK
RC- Filter:
1. Set up the circuit shown in the Figure 3 with the component values R = 1 kΩ, C = 1μF.
2. Apply a 4 V peak-peak sinusoidal wave as input voltage to the circuit.
3. Start with a low frequency, i.e. 50 Hz and measure the output voltage peak to peak
from the scope screen. It should be same as the signal generator output.
If you are using the measure-function of the used scope you should make sure,
that you have at least a complete waveform on the screen! Otherwise the result is
wrong!
4. Vary the frequency and measure the values Uout= f (f) in the table
5. Measure the output voltage at the calculated corner (cut-off, roll-off) frequency for the
constructed Low Pass RC filter.
RL- Filter:
1. Set up the circuit shown in the Figure 4 with the component values
R = 1 kΩ, L = 100 mH
2. Apply a 4 V peak-peak sinusoidal wave as input voltage to the circuit.
3. Start with a high frequency (10 KHz) and measure the output voltage peak to peak
from the scope screen. It should be (almost) the same as the signal generator output.
4. Vary the frequency and measure the values Uout= f (f) in the table.
5. Measure the output voltage at the calculated corner (cut-off, roll-off) frequency for the
constructed High Pass RL filter.

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For both Filters:
6. Draw the curves Uout= f (f), a function dependent on the frequency of the High Pass
Filter and the Low Pass Filter.

Frequency 50 100 150 200 400 600

(Hz)
𝑈 for R/C
(Fig 3.) (𝑉
𝑈 for R/L
(Fig 4.) 𝑉

Frequency 800 1K 1.5 K 2K 5K 10 K

(Hz)
𝑈 for R/C
(Fig 3.) (𝑉
𝑈 for R/L
(Fig 4.) 𝑉

Graph 2: Uout(f)
Uout[V]

3,5

2,5

1,5

0,5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
f[kHz]

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TASK 3: RESONANCE IN RLC CIRCUITS

A resonant circuit, also called a tuned circuit consists of an inductor and a capacitor together
with a voltage or current source. It is one of the most important circuits used in electronics.
For example, a resonant circuit, in one of its many forms, allows us to select a desired radio
or television signal from the vast number of signals that are around us at any time.
A network is in resonance when the voltage and current at the network input terminals are in
phase and the input impedance of the network is purely resistive:

Fig. 5

Prepare
1. Calculate the resonant frequency (fR)
of the circuit with the values
R = 1 kΩ, C = 1 μF and L = 100 mH. f R=

Task
2. Set up the RLC circuit as shown in Figure 5, with the component values
RV = 220Ω, R = 1 kΩ, C = 1 μF and L = 100 mH.

3. Apply a 4 Vpp sinusoidal wave as input voltage to the circuit. Connect the
Oscilloscope (Ch. 1 input and 2 output) to the circuit.

4. Vary the frequency of the sine-wave generator around the resonant frequency in
small steps, until at a certain frequency the output of the circuit on Channel 2, is
maximum. This gives the resonant frequency of the circuit. Note the results (below).

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 fR(measured)= Uout(@fr)=

5. Make some measurements of the output at different frequency (see the table below).

6. Plot the voltage response of the circuit and obtain the bandwidth (output damping
less than 3 dB ≡ Reduction by √2 )

Frequency 50 100 150 200 400 500

(Hz)
𝑈 (𝑉

Frequency 600 800 1K 1.5 K 2K 5 K (not

(Hz) to graph)
𝑈 (𝑉

Uout[V]
Graph 3: Uout(f)
3

2,5

1,5

0,5

0
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2
f[kHz]

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