Power Amplifiers 1

Power Amplifiers
Power Amplifiers 2
Need for a Power Amplifier
It is the last stage of almost all electronic
systems.
It is the power amplifier that drives the
loudspeakers in an audio system.
Does a power amplifier actually amplifies
power ?
No. It only converts dc power to ac power,
as controlled by the input signal.
Power Amplifiers 3
A Simple Power Amplifier
Power Amplifiers 4
How does a power amplifier differ from a
voltages amplifier ?
It has different design considerations.
It handles large signals.
The effective dc input power is
where,
The total power drain from the dc supply is V
CC
I
CQ
.
The difference of the two powers is wasted as heat
in R
C
and

R
E

Power Amplifiers 5
How to reduce this power loss ? Can we
make R
E
zero ? No as stability will get
effected.
But, we can do something about R
C
. We
can replace it by a choke.
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LC Coupled load
Two advantages :
1. No dc power loss.
2. No dc voltage drop; hence we can use lower
voltage supply, V
CC
.
Still better would be to have transformer
coupled load
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It gives added advantage of impedance matching.
This enables us to make use of Maximum power
transfer theorem.
Power Amplifiers 8
Maximum Power Transfer
Theorem
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Maximum power is transferred when load
resistance is equal to source resistance.
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How much maximum power can be
obtained from a source ?
Transformer impedance matching :
Power Amplifiers 11
Solution :
Power Amplifiers 12
The power loss may occur :
Power Considerations
Power Amplifiers 13
Current-carriers, while crossing the
reverse-biased collector junction, lose
some energy.
This appears as heat.
If not dissipated, it may lead to
thermal runaway.
To increase the heat dissipation
power, the body of the transistor is
attached with heat sink.
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Power Amplifiers 15
The dc power coming from the battery is
Power loss in the transistor is
It shows that P
D
depends upon P
o
.
Worst case is when P
o
reduces to zero.
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Output Circuit Efficiency
It is a measure of how well the power
amplifier converts the dc power from the
battery into useful ac output power.
Note that the greater the output power,
the greater is the efficiency.
Power Amplifiers 17
Analysis of Single-Ended Power
Amplifier
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Let the transistor have = 24, r
in
= 500 ,
and P
D(max)
= 3.5 W.
The dc resistance of the primary is almost
zero, and R
E
is very small (5 ).
The dc load line is almost vertical since R
c
is
almost zero and the slope of dc load line is
inverse of the R
C
+R
E
.
The Q- point should be fixed somewhere in
the middle, and below dissipation curve.
Passing through the Q-point, the ac load line
should be drawn.
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Power Amplifiers 20
The ac load on the collector, as seen looking
into the primary is
2
2
'
1
2
3
8 72
1
L L
N
R R
N
| |
| |
= = = O
|
|
\ .
\ .
First draw any line AB. Then draw the ac load
line CD.
Now, suppose we apply V
i
= 2 V (peak value).
Base current is 2/500 = 4 mA (peak value).
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Power Amplifiers 22
The output power is
Since, I
CQ
= 146 mA,
Thus, the output circuit efficiency is
Power Amplifiers 23
Maximum Theoretical Efficiency
The maximum swing of Q-point takes place
along the ac load line, from point D ( I
B
= 0) to
point C (saturation)
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Power Amplifiers 25
In practice, the efficiency is about 35 %.
Based on the signal obtained at the output,
we have
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Power Amplifiers 27
Note the reduction in efficiency when the
signal is reduced.
Power Amplifiers 28
Class-B Power Amplifier
The transistor is biased just at cutoff.
Thus, V
CEQ
= V
CC
and I
CQ
= 0.
Hence, under no signal condition, P
i(dc)
= 0.
Let V
p
be the peak value of collector voltage
variations.
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Power Amplifiers 30
and
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Solution :
Power Amplifiers 32
Harmonic Distortion in Power
Amplifiers
Due to large signals, this distortion is always
present.
For a given sinusoidal input signal, the output
current is
Power Amplifiers 33
Output ac power due to the fundamental
component only:
This is the useful power at the output. But, the
actual output is
Power Amplifiers 34
The total harmonic distortion (also called
distortion factor) is
Thus,
Suppose a power amplifier gives 10 %
distortion. The total output power is
The increase in power is only 1 %.
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Power Amplifiers 36
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Power Amplifiers 38
Review
Need for a Power Amplifier.
LC or Transformer Coupled load.
Maximum Power Transfer Theorem.
Heat Sink.
Output Circuit Efficiency.
Single-Ended Power Amplifier.
Class-B Power Amplifier.
Harmonic Distortion.
Distortion Factor.