VOLUME III

GENERAL ELECTRONICS
CHAPTER 1-3
OSCILLATORS & AMPLIFIERS

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 AN OSCILLATOR
**An Oscillator is an electronic circuit device for generating AC signal voltage. It
generates a sine wave or a non sine wave. The frequency varies from low valve
to high valve.
**An oscillator is essentially an amplifier with positive feedback that causes it
to generate a signal of its own
**Initial purpose of an oscillator is to generate a given wave form of a constant
peak amplitude and specific frequency and maintain entire operation.

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 OSCILLATORY CIRCUIT
An Oscillatory circuit contains a tunable L and C which produces oscillations Electrical
Oscillations.

An Amplifier amplifies the oscillations generated.

A part of the output of the oscillations generated is fed back to the amplifier as a Positive
Feedback to supply the losses that take place in the oscillatory circuit during the
generation of oscillations.

Since the losses in the LC circuit are continuously compensated, undamped oscillations are
generated continuously

The frequency of oscillations can be controlled by varying L and C

Generally, an oscillator is constructed from an amplifier that has part of the output
supplied by a part of its own output, thereby generating its own input signal without any
external signal input

It can also be thought as a means of inverting DC into AC

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 OPERATION OF AN OSCILLATORY
CIRCUIT
When Switch S is thrown to 1, Capacitor C will charge to
the battery potential so that the plate A be positive and
plate B negative as shown in (a)

When S is thrown to 2 as in (b), the capacitor will discharge

through the coil driving a current through the coil, though at
a slow rate because of the inductance.

Once the capacitor is fully discharged, the energy stored in

the coil will start charging the capacitor, such that the plate
A becomes negative and plate B positive as shown in (c).

When the capacitor is fully charged with reverse polarity,

the energy in the coil would have been completely
expended and the capacitor will drive a current in the
reverse direction through the coil as in (d)

The oscillations thus continue, if an arrangement to

compensate for the losses during each oscillation, is
provided by a feedback arrangement

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 TYPES OF OSCILLATORS
In communication systems, a source of high frequency ac currents and
voltages is needed as in radio transmitters, receivers etc. These high
frequency ac voltages or currents (oscillations) are produced by an
oscillator.

Most oscillators generate sine wave (Harmonic Oscillators) but some

emit square wave, saw tooth or other wave shapes. (Relaxation
Oscillators)

The frequency of an oscillator can be controlled by means of a tuned, or

resonant circuit in the feedback loop. This resonant circuit is usually an
LC (for RF) or RC (for AF) combination

The tuned circuit in an oscillator has low loss at a single frequency, but
high loss at other frequencies. The result is that the oscillation takes
place at a predictable and stable frequency, determined by the
inductance and capacitance, or by the resistance and capacitance

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ARMSTRONG OSCILLATOR
A common emitter or common-source amplifier can be
made to oscillate by feeding the output back to the input
via a transformer.

The signal at the collector or drain is out of phase with

the signal at the base or the gate. So it is necessary to
invert the fed-back signal phase to produce positive
feedback.

This can be done by connecting the secondary of the

transformer backwards

The oscillation frequency is determined by a capacitor

across the primary or the secondary of the Transformer.

The inductance of the secondary winding, along with the

variable capacitance forms a resonant circuit,
 HARTLEY OSCILLATOR
In a Hartley oscillator the oscillation frequency is determined The frequency can be easily varied by varying the
by a tank circuit comprising of two inductors and one inductances which can be done by making the core movable.
Capacitor. Hartley oscillators are commonly used in radio Another method of varying frequency is of varying
frequency (RF) oscillator applications and the recommended capacitance. Hartley oscillator is not suitable for low
Frequency range is from 20KHz to 30MHz. frequency work because at low frequency, the value of
The circuit diagram of a typical Hartley oscillator is shown in inductance required becomes large.
the figure below. OPERATION
Biasing done by voltage divider circuit
The parallel resonance connected in collector.
Transformer secondary connected to base of the
transistor.
R1 & R2 act as a Q point of the base current.
RE gives the thermal stability
CE reduced the negative feedback & R2 and C2
connected in parallel, it give the self bias.
switch ON the collector current flow through the parallel
resonant circuit at the same time current flow to base in
term of L2 generate the emf by mutual inductance from
L1& L2 transformer. The parallel resonance give the
continues damped oscillation F= 1/2(L1+L2) C
L2 produced emf is feedback voltage in between the base
and emitter. Transistor amplifier 180 phase shift the supply
and the feedback transformer also 180 phase shift. Both get
360 for the oscillation. It is a positive feedback loop gain is
greater than one get continuous oscillation.
 COLPITTS OSCILLATOR
The Colpitts oscillator circuit is a superb circuit and
is widely used in commercial signal generators up to 100
MHz. The basic circuit of a Colpitts oscillator is shown in
figure. It basically consists of a single stage inverting
amplifier and an L-C phase shift network, as obvious from
the circuit diagram shown. The two series capacitors C1 and
C2 form the potential divider used for providing the
feedback voltage the voltage developed across capacitor
C2 provides the regenerative feedback required for
sustained oscillations.
Parallel combination of RE and CE along with resistors
R1 and R2 provides the stabilized self bias. The
Collector supply voltage Vcc is applied to the
collector through a radio-frequency choke (RFC)
which permits an easy flow of direct current but at
the same time it offers very high impedance to the
high frequency currents . The radio-Frequency
Energy developed across RFC is capacitive coupled to
the tank circuit through the capacitor Cc. The output
Of the phase-shift L-C network is coupled from the
junction of L and C2 to the amplifier input at base
through coupling capacitor CC, which blocks dc but
provides path to ac.
Transistor itself produces a phase shift of 180 and
Another phase shift of 180 is provided by the
Capacitive feedback. Thus a total phase shift of 360
is obtained which is an essential condition for
Developing oscillations. The output voltage is
derived from a secondary winding L coupled to the
inductance L.
 OSCILLATOR STABILITY

Frequency stability Electronic component values are

commonly affected by changes in the temperature. It is
crucial, in oscillators, that the components maintain constant
values under all anticipated conditions.

Polystyrene Capacitors, followed by Silver-Mica capacitors are

good choices. Air-variable capacitors are also excellent.
Inductors with air cores are more temperature stable. Core-
permeability of ferromagnetic cores are affected by
temperature.

Problems with oscillator frequency have been largely

overcome in the recent years by the evolution of frequency
synthesizers.

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 OSCILLATOR RELIABILITY
The failure of an oscillator can cause an entire communication station to go down.

An oscillator should begin functioning as soon as the power supply is on.

It should keep oscillating under all normal conditions including load changes and
temperature variations.

If two oscillators are built according to the same schematic, with the same component types
and values, one may be stable while the other is not. This is due to the quality or tolerance of
one or more components. Debugging may be necessary to correct such eventualities,

Most oscillators are designed to operate with high load impedances. If the load impedance is
low, the load will try to draw power from the oscillator and the oscillator can become
unstable.

Signal power should be delivered by the amplifier circuit following the oscillator and not by
the amplifier itself.

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 SIGNAL AMPLIFIERS

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 FUNCTIONS OF AN AMPLIFIER

An amplifier amplifies the signal or input fed to

the amplifier in such a way the voltage, current
and power of output is varied with respect to
the signal.
The output may be in phase or out of phase
with the input
Transistors of the Bipolar type or Field effect
type can be used as amplifiers

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 TYPICAL BIPOLAR AMPLIFIER
In the bipolar amplifier, the capacitors
must have values large enough to allow
the AC signal to pass with ease.

But they should not be larger than

necessary for this purpose.

The ideal capacitance values depend on

the design frequency of this amplifier.

In general, as the frequency and/or the

circuit impedance increase, less
capacitance is needed.

Resistor values depend on the input and

output impedances.

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TYPICAL FET AMPLIFIER
A typical N-Channel JFET amplifier is
shown.

Regarding the values of capacitance, the

same considerations apply as for Bipolar
amplifiers.

A JFET has high input impedance as

compared to a transistor, and therefore
the value of the input capacitor can be
relatively small.

If the device is MOSFET, the input

capacitance can still be smaller as the
input impedance is extremely high.

Resistor values depend on the input and

output
 AMPLIFIER CLASSES

Amplifier circuits can be classified as

Class A amplifier
Class AB Amplifier
Class B Amplifier and
Class C Amplifier
Class A Amplifiers are weak-signal amplifiers , such as used in
a microphone preamplifier or in the first stage of a sensitive
radio receiver
Class B Amplifiers are commonly used in audio applications
Class AB Amplifiers are commonly used in RF power amplifier
systems
Class C Amplifiers, if properly operated, can work with high
efficiency and is still used in some broadcast transmitters.

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 CLASS A AMPLIFIER
This type of amplifier is linear. The shape of the
output wave is that of the input but magnified.

In order to obtain Class A operation, the bias

must be such that, at no signal, the device
operates at the middle of the straight-line
portion of the collector current vs. the base
current.

With a JFET or MOSFET the bias must be such

that the device is near the middle of the
straight-line part of the drain current vs. gate
voltage.

Such amplifiers are weak signal amplifiers and

used as preamplifier for microphone or first
stage of a sensitive radio receiver.
.

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 CLASS B AMPLIFIER

The output wave is very different from input and contains

harmonics beside the fundamental frequency.

For Class B operation, the bias is exactly at cutoff. In a

Class B amplifier, there is no collector or drain current at
no signal, resulting in saving of energy.

When there is an input signal, current flows during

exactly half cycle.

To eliminate distortion, Class AB and B amplifiers are

operated in Push-Pull.

Problems of harmonics can be countered by having a

resonant circuit in the output.

Class B amplifiers can be used for RF Power

amplification.

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CLASS C AMPLIFIER
. The Class C amplifier is non-linear.

The bias is beyond cutoff.

The device conducts during part of

the cycle if the device is sufficient to
overcome the bias

The Class C Amplifier can work only if

the amplitude of the signal is
constant.

When properly operated, however, it

can work with high efficiency and is
still used in some broadcast
 CLASS AB AMPLIFIER
The output waveform differs in shape from the input.

But if the signal is modulated, the data impressed on the

signal (modulation envelope) will be undistorted even
though the wave shape itself is distorted.

For Class AB operation, bias is so chosen, that at no-

signal state, the base current becomes zero (cut-off) The
input signal drives the device into the nonlinear part of the
operating curve

In Class AB amplifier, the input signal might cause the

device to go into cutoff for a small part of the cycle
depending on the strength of the input signal.

If a Transistor or FET is never driven to cutoff during any

part of the input signal, it is called Class AB1 amplifier.
If they do go into the cutoff state for any portion of the
input cycle, it is called Class AB2 amplifier.

Commonly used in RF Power amplifiers

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 AMPLIFICATION FACTOR

The extent to which a circuit amplifies is called the amplification

factor and is usually specified in decibels (dB).
Voltage gain If Ein is the rms value of AC input voltage and Eout
is the AC output voltage,

Voltage gain(dB) = 20log(E out/E in)

Similarly,
Current gain(dB) = 20log(I out/I in)
And,
Power gain(dB) = 10log(P out/P in)

the formula holding good whether or not the input and output
impedances are same

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 EFFICIENCY OF AN AMPLIFIER

Efficiency of a Power Amplifier

= P output / P input
Efficiency vs Class of Amplifier
Class A - 25 -40 % depending on the type of signal
and the type of transistor used.
Class AB1 RF PA 35 to 45%
Class AB2 RF PA can reach 60%
Class B 50 65%
Class-C can reach 80%

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A SIMPLE AUDIO AMPLIFIER
AND VOLUME CONTROL
High fidelity (Hi-Fi) Audio amplifiers from a few
hertz up to 100 KHz. Audio amplifiers for voice
communications cover about 300Hz to 3kHz. In
digital communications, audio amplifiers work
over a very narrow range of frequencies. The
volume control is potentiometer R1,

The AC output signal passes through C1 and

appears across R1. The wiper position of the
potentiometer picks off more or less of the AC
output signal.

Capacitor C2 isolates the potentiometer from the

DC bias of the following stage.

Volume control is usually done in a stage where

the audio power level is low.

This allows the use of potentiometer rated for

about 1W.
 TRANSFORMER COUPLING
Coupling refers to the method used to get a signal
from one stage to the next, such as from a low-power
amplifier to a higher-power amplifier.

C1 and C2 keep one end of the transformer primary

and secondary to ground. R1 limits the current
through Q1. R2 and R3 provide the proper base bias
for Q2.

Transformer with correct turns ratio has a good

impedance-matching ability.

Impedance matching means that the input and output

impedances are made equal thereby minimizing
losses and maximising power transfer from one stage
to the next stage of amplifier.

The output impedance of Q1 is perfectly matched to

the input impedance of Q2 by using a transformer
with the correct turns ratio.

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 RF AMPLIFIER-1
WEAK SIGNAL AMPLIFIER
RF spectrum begins at a few kHz and extends to over
300GHz.

At the low frequency end of this range, RF amplifiers

resemble AF amplifiers. As the frequency increases, the
design changes.

The first stage of amplifier requires a more sensitive

amplifier. Sensitivity is determined by gain and noise
factor.

Gain is measured in Decibels. Noise factor is a measure of

how well a circuit can amplify signals without introducing
unwanted noise. In general. FETs produce less noise than
bipolar transistors.

Weak-signal amplifiers (shown in the diagram) always use

resonant circuits. This optimizes the amplification at the
desired frequency, while helping to cut out noises from
unwanted frequencies.

The circuit uses a device called GaAsFET (Gallium

Arsenide FET) and designed for approximately 10MHz.

At higher frequencies, the inductances and capacitances

are smaller: at lower frequencies, the values are larger,.
.
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 RF AMPLIFIER-2
BROADBAND POWER AMPLIFIER

A broadband RF power amplifier does not

require tuning but are less efficient than their
tuned counterparts.

A broadband PA amplifies any signal within the

design range

Oscillations may result causing spurious

emissions.

The amplifying device is an NPN power

transistor. The transformers are a critical part of
this circuit.

They must be designed to function efficiently

over a wide range of frequencies ( 1MHz to
30MHz.)

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 RF AMPLIFIER-3
TUNED POWER AMPLIFIER
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A tuned PA has improved efficiency as compared
with broadband designs. Provides useful power
output at approximately 10MHz
.
Tuning also helps to reduce the probability that
spurious signals will be amplified and transmitted
over the air.
A tuned RF PA can deliver output into circuits or
devices having a wide range of impedances
The tuning control, or resonant circuit adjusts the
output to the operating frequency.. A loading
control optimizes the signal transfer between
amplifier and the load.
The main drawbacks are
-Adjustments can be time-consuming.
-Improper adjustment can damage devices
-If the tuning and/or loading controls are not properly
set, efficiency will be near zero and drain power
input will be high
.
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