YEDITEPE UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING FACULTY

ELECTRONICS LABORATORY
EE 232 - INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS
EXPERIMENT

4 : DIODE CLIPPING AND CLAMPING CIRCUITS

Objective:
Waveform limiting and shifting using diode clippers and clamping circuits
Grading:
Quiz
Prelab
Simulation
Result Sheet
Performance

:15%
:10%
:25%
:25%
:25%

Equipment:
Oscilloscope, DC Power Supply, Function Generator
Resistors : to be calculated
Capacitor : 1F
Diodes : 1N4148, 3V and 5V Zener diode
General Information:
Clipping networks are designed to limit the positive and/or negative parts of the
input waveform to a predetermined value. As a result, the shape of the signal at the
output is different than the input.
On the other hand, clamping circuits shift the signal to a predetermined level, while
preserving its original form.
DIODE VOLTAGE CLIPPERS
We are going to use the piecewise linear model (Fig.4.1) of the diode :

(a)

(b)

Figure 4.1
Where V is the cutin voltage (forward voltage drop) of the diode and R D
represents the equivalent dynamic resistance (a linear approximation to the real
curve).
For VD < V diode will be assumed open circuit.
For VD V the equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.4.1.b
Now consider the circuit in Fig.4.2.a. If the diode is replaced by its piecewise linear
model, the circuit in Fig.4.2.b is obtained for Vin(t) VB+V and diode is open-circuit
when Vin(t)<VB+V.

(a)

(b)
Figure 4.2

For Vin(t)<VB+V, it is obvious that Vo(t)=Vin(t)

For Vin(t)VB+V, Vo can be expressed as below :
Vo(t)=VB+V+[Vin(t)-(VB+V)] x RD / (R+RD)
When RD<<R then : Vo=VB+V (for ideal diode Vo=VB)
The transfer characteristic is piecewise linear and continuous and has a corner point
at VB+V. In order to obtain a good clipper, the optimum value of the resistor should
be chosen such that : RS<<R<<RL where RS is the source resistance of the signal
generator and RL is the load resistor.
In Fig.4.3 you can see the transfer characteristics of the clipper and an example
input-output combination (RD=Rf).

Slope=RD/(RD+R)

Figure 4.3

DIODE VOLTAGE CLAMPERS

In a clamping circuit, the input waveform is clamped (shifted) to a reference
voltage when the shape is usually preserved. Clamping circuits have three elements. A
capacitor, a resistor and a diode. R and C are chosen such that the RC time constant is
large enough to ensure that the capacitor voltage remains practically constant during
one period of the input waveform.

Figure 4.4
In Fig.4.4 a negative clamping circuit (positive excursions of the input signal are
brought to the clamping level, the output signal is below the clamping level) is
formed. Assuming an ideal diode and an ideal voltage source, the drop across the
diode is zero when forward biased. Therefore the output can not rise above zero and is
clamped to this level.

Figure 4.5
When the input voltage is positive, the diode is conductive and the diode current
charges the capacitor and generates DC voltage, VR, across the resistor R. The
capacitor voltage input voltage until th positive peak Vm is reached. At this point, the
voltage across the capacitor is equal to the peak value of the input voltage,V m. When
the input falls below Vm, the capacitor voltage exceeds the input voltage and the
diode is OFF. Assuming ideal operation, from this point on, the diode is always
reverse biased and the capacitor maintains its voltage. The output voltage is therefore
just a shifted version of the input to -Vm.
Vo=Vin(t)-VC=Vin(t)-Vm

Prelab :
(You have to make manuel calculations of this part.)
Draw the transfer characteristics (Vin-Vout characteristics) for the circuit below. To
calculate the slopes and the critical values on the graph use the piecewise linear
models for zener diodes as shown below. (rd=50 , rz1=rz2=25)
I
slope=1/rd
-5V

-3V
0.7V

slope=1/rz1
Z2

Z1

(a)

slope=1/rz2
(b)

Figure 4.6
Procedure :
(You have to make simulations of procedure 1 below and all 12 circuits in figure
5.7. In simulation results of circuits, bring total 13 graph. One of them is for
procedure 1 (this must be a transfer characteristic), the rest are for 12 different
circuits. You should draw input voltage and output voltage together in one
graph.)
1. Build the circuit shown in the prelab section. Observe and draw the transfer
characteristics of the circuit after applying a sinewave input with the amplitude of
20 Vpp.
2. Determine a suitable value of the serial resistor R in the clipper circuits of Fig4.7.
Assume that RS=50, RL=1MBuild the circuit #1 of Fig.4.7 using a 1N4148 or
an equivalent diode in series with R, chosen as a standard value. Apply sinewave
of 10VPP to the input with the Function Generator at 1 kHz. Draw the input and
output voltage waveforms on the graph paper using the same time axis. Indicate
the critical voltages of the waveform on your graphs, otherwise information will
be incomplete.
3. Repeat step 2 for clipping circuits 2, 3, 4, 8 using VB=3V.
4. Repeat step 2 for circuit 10.

Figure 4.7