Lab 2 Limiting and Clamping Circuits After completing this lab, you should be able to Analyze the operation

n of diode limiters and clampers. Explain how a diode limiter works and determine the clipping level for a given circuit. Explain how a diode clamping circuit works

Diode Limiters
1. What would you expect to see displayed on an oscilloscope connected as shown? Set the time base on the scope to show one and one-half cycles.

Solution The diode is forward-biased and conducts when the input voltage goes below 0.7 V. Thus, a negative limiter with a peak output voltage across RL can be determined by the following equation

The scope will display an output waveform as shown in Figure 2-33.

2. Draw the output waveform if RL is changed to 680 Ohms.

3. The figure below shows a circuit combining a positive-biased limiter with a negativebiased limiter. Determine the output waveform.

Solution. When the voltage at point A reaches + 7.7 V, diode D1 conducts and limits the waveform at +7.7 V. Diode D2 does not conduct until the voltage reaches 7.7 V. Therefore, positive voltages above +7.7 V and negative voltages below 7.7 V are clipped. The resulting output waveform is shown in Figure 2-39. Figure 2-39 Output waveform for Figure 2-38.

4. Draw the output waveform if both dc sources are 10 V and the input has a peak value of 20 V.

Diode Clampers
5. What is the output voltage that you would expect to observe across RL in the clamping circuit below? Assume that RC is large enough to prevent significant capacitor discharge.

Solution Ideally, a negative dc value equal to the input peak less the diode is inserted by the clamping circuit. VDC -(Vp(in) 0.7 V) = -(24 V 0.7 V) = -23.3 V Actually, the capacitor will discharge slightly between peaks, and as a result, the output voltage will have an average value of slightly less than that calculated previously. The output waveform goes to approximately 0.7 V above the ground, as shown below

6. What output voltage would you observe across RL if the polarity of the diode and the polarity of the capacitor were reversed? Discussion Questions 1. Discuss how diode limiters and diode clampers differ in terms of their function. 2. What happens if the diode is reversed in a limiter? 3. To limit the output of a positive limiter to +5V when a +10V peak input is applied, what value must this bias voltage be? 4. What components in a clamper circuit effectively acts as a battery.