EE 21 EXERCISE NO.

1
DIODE LIMITER







FRANCISCO, PRECIOUS ANN
LOMAAD, JOHANNA GWENN
RIVERA, ADRIAN
TORRES, RYAN RAPHAEL







September 11, 2014




INTRODUCTION
Diodes are one of the basic elements of circuits in electronics and usually used for
rectification. It is often used because of its ability to let current pass in one direction and
block it from the other. Diodes have two terminals which are the cathode(negative) and
the anode(positive). Diodes have three options of operations namely no bias, forward bias
and reverse bias. At no bias no current is passing through the diode. At reverse bias very
small current flows and the diode is assumed to be open while in forward bias is usually
referred as shorted which means that the diode is on. A diode is also used as a clipper due
to its reverse bias capability. A clipper has the ability to limit the voltage level without
affecting the remaining waveform.
In order to fully understand how a limiter diode works, an experiment is done to
observe the effect of diodes and its positioning in a circuit is shown not only to the output
wave shown but also through the change in values of the output wave using a sample
circuit wherein the graph of the input and output is viewed through an oscilloscope.
The objectives of this experiment is for the students to easily visualize the concept
behind the diode and its ability to limit the output of a certain wave input in order to use
it as rectifiers, oscillators, signal limiters, voltage regulators, etc. Also, the experiment let
the students to evaluate various diode limiter circuits and its effect, and familiarize
themselves with electric circuits involving diodes so that they effectively use their
functions.
The equipments and materials used in the experiment were 2 diodes, audio frequency
generator, DC power supply, VOM, oscilloscope, breadboard and W resistors (470,
1k, 10k, 100k).
Using the materials and equipments mentioned above we constructed circuit
number 1 which is a positive limiter.




The circuit voltage input and output were measured. The graph of the circuit was
noted through the use of the oscilloscope. The second circuit which is a negative limiter
was then constructed and its corresponding input and output voltage were also noted.




Circuit 3 is a combined limiter where the positive and negative limiter where put
together into one circuit.
Circuit 3. Combined Limiter Circuit Diagram
Circuit 2. Negative Limiter Circuit Diagram.
Circuit 1. Positive Limiter Circuit Diagram





Lastly, circuit 4 was constructed almost the same as the third one, the only
difference is that one of the diodes is connected to a varying DC source.





Circuit 4. Biased Limiter with DC Source Circuit Diagram
Circuit 2. Combination Limiter Circuit Diagram.
DATA
Constructing the following circuit resulted to the following data.
Table 3-1. Positive Limiter Measured Values.
INPUT OUTPUT
CALCULATED
OUTPUT (MAX)
Max (V) 10 6 5.49
Min (V) -9.6 0.600 -
Peak-to-Peak (V) 20 6.6 -

Table 3-2. Negative Limiter Measured Values.
INPUT OUTPUT
CALCULATED
OUTPUT (MAX)
Max (V) 10.8 .8 .7
Min (V) 9.6 9.6 -
Peak-to-Peak (V) 20 11.2 -

Table 3-3. Combined Limiter Measured Values.
INPUT OUTPUT
CALCULATED
OUTPUT (MAX)
Max (V) 10 .8 1.4
Min (V) 10 .4 -
Peak-to-Peak (V) 20 2 -







Table 3-4. Combined Limiter with DC Source Measured Values
INPUT OUTPUT
1 V 1.5 V 2 V 2.5 V 3V
Meas Calc Meas Calc Meas Calc Meas Calc Meas Calc
Max
(V)
10 1.9 1.7 2.1 2.2 2.5 2.7 3.3 3.2 3.6 3.7
Min
(V)
10 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6
Peak-
to-
Peak
(V)
20 2.7 2.9 3.3 4.1 4.4





Figure 1 : . Positive Limiter Input VS Output Waveform







Figure 2: Negative Limiter Input VS Output Waveform





Figure 3: Combination Limiter Input VS Output Waveform







Figure 4: Example of Biased Limiter with connected DC source. (5V)

ANALYSIS
In the first experimental circuit, Figure 1, the AC voltage source supplied half of
its voltage during its positive half-cycle. The diode, which we assumed to be in 2
nd

approximation, allowed the current to passed through it. Since the diode was parallel to
the resistor where V
out
was needed, the measured voltage across it was equal to the
threshold voltage of the diode. And since the group used a silicon diode,

,the silicon diodes threshold voltage.

On the other case, during its negative half-cycle, the AC voltage source supplied
half of its voltage to the circuit but the current cannot pass through the diode since the
diode was opened due to the concept of higher and lower potential. We can see that the
1k and 100k resistors are in series, and was parallel to the 10k resistor. Thus, to get
the value for V
out
, we get first the total resistance using this equation.

)(

where:
R
T
is the total resistance in the circuit (ohms)
R
1
,R
2
is the resistances in the parallel-connected circuit (ohms)

In this case, R
1
is equal to 10k and R
2
is equal to the sum of the series-
connected resistors 1 k and 100k.

..

( )( )
( ) ( )


After finding R
T
, we need to get the total current using Ohms Law.

where:
is the currentacross the circuit or element (ampere)
is the voltage across the circuit or element (volts)
is the total resistance where the voltage is needed (ohms)



Thus,

.Since we knew that the voltage across the 10k

resistor was just equal to the supplied voltage, we get the current that passed through it
using Equation 3-2, having

.
Using KCL, we get the value of current that passed through the 1k and 100k
resistors:

From this, we get V
out
.

(

)( )

The behavior of the diode during the second experimental circuit, Figure 22, was
almost the same to the 1
st
experiment, its just like it was the other way around.
The current passed through the diode during the negative half-cycle, thus

, the threshold voltage of a silicon diode. While during its positive half-
cycle, the current cannot pass through the diode because it was now opened, leading us to
the same analysis as the negative half-cycle of the 1
st
experimental circuit.

In the combination limiter circuit, Figure 3, the diode let the current passed
through it during its positive and negative half-cycle. This happened because during the
positive half-cycle, one silicon diode let the current pass through it, since it was shorted,
while the other silicon diode do not let current to pass through because the diode was
opened. Thus,

. And during the negative half-cycle, the silicon diode that

let the current pass through it was now opened while the current pass through the other
diode. Thus,

.

In the biased limiter circuit, Figure 4, during its positive half-cycle, the silicon
diode at the left was shorted while the diode at the right was opened. Because of this, the
threshold voltage V
T
of the diode will add up with the DC source V
DC
,. If that is so, V
out
is just equal to the sum of V
T
and V
DC
.
Therefore, the general equation for V
out
is

where:

is the voltage across the 100k resistor (volts)

is the threshold voltage of the silicon diode = 0.70V

is the variable DC source voltage (volts)

During the negative half-cycle, the silicon diode at the left, Figure 4, was opened
and since the current flow from higher to lower potential, the current (in this case) cannot
pass through the DC source since the higher potential is connected to the negative
terminal of the DC source. On the contrary, the silicon diode at the right was now
shorted thus,

, the diodes threshold voltage.

Even if the DC source V
DC
is varied, V
out
will always be equal to 0.70V during the
negative half-cycle since the varying DC source will always be opened due to the concept
of higher and lower potential. Therefore, using previous equation , we get:
for

( )

for

( )

for

( )

for

( )

for

( )

CONCLUSION

Through the exercise the students learned one practical use of a diode which as a limiter.
The input source used in the exercise is an AC voltage that is why it has a positive and a negative
cycle. In a positive limiter circuit, the students noticed that when the current travels in the
positive cycle the diode tends to short and will have a threshold voltage of 0.7V due to 2
nd

approximation hence leaving the 100k resistor parallel to the 0.7V thus having also a 0.7V
output. In the negative cycle of a positive limiter circuit the diode tends to open leaving the
100k resistor series with a resistor and parallel to the input voltage and another resistor. Same
goes with the negative limiter but the negative cycle will be clipped and the positive cycle almost
remains the same. For the combined limiter both positive and negative cycles will tend to open
one diode hence clipping both the positive and negative cycle. Lastly, in the combined limiter
with DC source it can be noticed that the output voltage is just the sum of the threshold voltage
and the DC voltage source. In the end, the students learned to evaluate various diode limiter
circuits.