Lecture-5

Diode Analysis and Application

(Part-ii)
Martha T/Giorgis
Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Applied Electronics I
ECEG-2131

2019/20AY, Semester-I
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 Overview

Overview

1 Overview

2 Objective
Clipper Circuits
Clamper Circuits
Voltage Doubler
Zener Diodes Application

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 Objective

Lecture Objectives

In this lecture you will learn the following:

The structure and operation of the pn junction
A basic semiconductor structure that implements the diode and
plays a dominant role in semiconductors.

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 Objective

Filters
A power supply filter ideally eliminates the fluctuations in the
output voltage of a half-wave or full-wave rectifier and produces a
constant-level dc voltage.
Filtering is necessary because electronic circuits require a constant
source of dc voltage and current to provide power and biasing for
proper operation.

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 Objective

Figure below illustrates the filtering concept showing a nearly

smooth dc output voltage from the filter.
The small amount of fluctuation in the filter output voltage is
called ripple.

Figure 1: The Ripple is exaggerated.

The capacitor input filter is widely used. A half-wave rectifier and

capacitor-input filter are shown:

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 Objective

Figure 2: Initial charging of the capacitor (diode is forward-biased) happens

only once when power is turned on.

Figure 3: The capacitor discharges through RL after peak of positive

alternation when the diode is reverse-biased. This discharging occurs during
the portion of the input voltage indicated by the solid dark blue curve.
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 Objective

Figure 4: The capacitor charges back to peak of input when the diode becomes
forward-biased. This charging occurs during the portion of the input voltage
indicated by the solid dark blue curve.

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 Objective

Ripple Voltage
The variation in the capacitor voltage due to the charging and
discharging is called the ripple voltage.

Figure 5: Larger ripple (blue) means less effective filtering.

Figure 6: Smaller ripple means more effective filtering. Generally, the larger
the capacitor value, the smaller the ripple for the same input and load.
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 Objective

The period of a full-wave rectified voltage is half that of a

half-wave rectified voltage.
The output frequency of a full-wave rectifier is twice that of a
half-wave rectifier.
This makes a full-wave rectifier easier to filter because of the
shorter time between peaks.

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 Objective

Half-Wave vs. Full Wave

Comparison of ripple voltages for half-wave and full-wave rectified
voltages with the same filter capacitor and load and derived from
the same sinusoidal input voltage.

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 Objective

Ripple Factor
The ripple factor (r) is an indication of the effectiveness of the
filter and is defined as
Vr(pp)
r=
VDC

where;
Vr(pp) is the peak-to-peak ripple voltage
VDC is the dc (average) value of the filter’s output voltage.
The lower the ripple factor, the better the filter. The ripple factor
can be lowered by:
Increasing the value of the filter capacitor or increasing the load
resistance.
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 Objective

Vr(rect) is the unfiltered peak rectified voltage and used to calculate Vr(pp)
and VDC .  
∼ 1
Vr(pp) = Vp(rect)
f RL C
 
∼ 1
VDC = 1 − Vp(rect)
2f RL C
A longer time constant will have less ripple for the same input voltage
and frequency.

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 Objective

Power Supply Regulators

A voltage regulator can furnish nearly constant output with

excellent ripple rejection.
Three-terminal regulators require only external capacitors to
complete the regulation portion of the circuit.

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 Objective

Regulation performance is specified in two ways.

1 Line regulation
specifies how much the dc output changes for a given change in
regulator’s input voltage.
The next formula is based on a dc input voltage change to the
regulator due to a change in the ac line voltage.
 
∆VOU T
Line regulation = 100%
∆VIN
2 Load regulation
specifies how much change occurs in the output voltage for a given
range of load current values, usually from no load (NL) to full load
(FL).  
VN L − VF L
Load regulation = 100%
VF L

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 Objective Clipper Circuits

Diode Limiting (Clipping) Circuits

A diode limiter (clipper) is a circuit that limits (or clips) either
the positive or negative part of the input voltage.
A biased limiter is one that has a bias voltage in series with the
diode, so that a specific voltage level can be selected for limiting.
A positive limiter is shown. RL is normally  R1 to avoid loading
effects.
The output will be clipped when the input voltage overcomes the
bias voltage and the forward voltage of the diode.

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 Objective Clipper Circuits

Figure 7: Limiting of the positive alternation. The diode is forward-biased

during the positive alternation (above 0.7 V)and reverse-biased during the
negative alternation.

Figure 8: Limiting of the negative alternation. The diode is forward-biased

during the negative alternation (below -0.7 V) and reverse-biased during the
positive alternation.
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 Objective Clipper Circuits

Example (2)
What would you expect to see displayed on an oscilloscope connected
across RL in the limiter shown below?

The diode is forward-biased and conducts when the input voltage goes
below So, for the negative limiter, determine the peak output voltage
across RL by the following equation:
   
RL 100kΩ
Vp(out) = Vp(in) = 10V = 9.09V
RL + R1 110kΩ

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 Objective Clipper Circuits

The scope will display an output waveform

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 Objective Clamper Circuits

Diode Clamping Circuits

A clamper (dc restorer) is a circuit that adds a dc level to an ac
signal.
A capacitor is in series with the load.
A positive clamper is shown.
The capacitor is charged to a voltage that is one diode drop less
than the peak voltage of the signal.

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 Objective Clamper Circuits

Positive Clamper Operation

Figure 9: Positive Clamper.

When the input voltage initially goes negative, the diode is

forward-biased, allowing the capacitor to charge to near the peak
of the input.
Just after the negative peak, the diode is reverse-biased.
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 Objective Clamper Circuits

The capacitor can only discharge through the high resistance of

RL .
So, from the peak of one negative half-cycle to the next, the
capacitor discharges very little.
The amount that is discharged depends on the value of RL .
If the RC time constant is 100 times the period, the clamping
action is excellent. An RC time constant of 10 times the period
will have a small amount of distortion.
The net effect of the clamping action is that the capacitor retains
a charge approximately equal to the peak value of the input less
the diode drop (0.7V ).

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 Objective Clamper Circuits

The capacitor voltage acts essentially as a battery in series with

the input voltage.
The dc voltage of the capacitor adds to the input voltage by
superposition.

Figure 10: Negative Clamper.

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 Objective Voltage Doubler

Half-Wave Voltage Doubler

A voltage doubler is a voltage multiplier with a multiplication factor of
two.
During the positive half-cycle of the secondary voltage, diode D1 is
forward-biased and D2 is reverse-biased.
Capacitor C1 is charged to the peak of the secondary voltage (Vp ) less
the diode drop with the polarity shown in part (a).
During the negative half-cycle, diode D2 is forward-biased and D1 is
reverse-biased, as shown in part (b).
Since C1 can’t discharge, the peak voltage on C1 adds to the secondary
voltage to charge C2 to approximately 2Vp .

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 Objective Voltage Doubler

Full-Wave Voltage Doubler

The full-wave voltage doubler works by charging a capacitor to the
positive peak voltage on one cycle of the sine wave and a second
capacitor on the negative peak voltage.
The output is (ideally) doubled by taking it across both capacitors
in series.

Figure 11: Full-Wave Voltage Doubler.

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 Objective Voltage Doubler

A full-wave doubler is shown in figure-19, in the previous slide.

When the secondary voltage is positive, D1 is forward-biased and
C1 charges to approximately Vp , as shown in part (a).
During the negative half-cycle, D2 is forward-biased and C2
charges to approximately Vp , as shown in part (b).
The output voltage, 2Vp , is taken across the two capacitors in
series.

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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

Zener Diodes
The Zener is a diode operated in reverse bias at the Zener Voltage (Vz).

When Vi > VZ
The Zener is on
Voltage across the Zener is
VZ
Zener current: IZ = IR − IRL
The Zener Power: PZ = VZ IZ
When Vi < VZ
The Zener is off
The Zener acts as an open
circuit

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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

If R is too large, the Zener diode cannot conduct because the available
amount of current is less than the minimum current rating, IZK . The
minimum current is given by:

ILmin = IR − IZM

The maximum value of resistance is:

VZ
RLmax =
ILmin
If R is too small, the Zener current exceeds the maximum current rating,
IZM . The maximum current for the circuit is given by:
VL VZ
ILmax = =
RL RLmin
The minimum value of resistance is:
RVZ
RLmin =
Vi − VZ
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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

Example (3)
For the network of Figure below , determine the range of RL and IL
that will result in VRL being maintained at 10 V.Determine the
maximum wattage rating of the diode.

To determine the value of RL that will turn the Zener diode on,

RVZ (1kΩ)(10V ) 10kΩ

RLmin = = = = 250Ω
Vi − VZ 50V − 10V 40
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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

Example (3)
The voltage across the resistor R is then determined by

VR = Vi − VZ = 50V − 10V = 40V

The magnitude of IR :
VR 40V
IR = = = 40mA
R 1kΩ
The minimum level of IL is

ILmin = IR − IZM = 40mA − 32mA = 8mA

The maximum value of RL :

VZ 10V
RLmax = = = 1.25kΩ
ILmin 8mA

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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

Example (3)
A plot of VL versus RL and VL versus IL .

Pmax = VZ IZM = (10V )(32mA) = 320mW

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 Objective Zener Diodes Application

Questions?

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