SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ELECTRONIC FUNDAMENTALS - EC 2122

THE BJT AUDIO AMPLIFIER

EN16544246

W.A.M.Ranasinghe

GROUP - 05
 KEYWORDS

 AC- Alternative Current

 BJT- Bipolar Junction Transistor
 DC- Direct Current
 Hz – hertz
 K- Kilo
 m – mili
 M - Mega

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Design Procedure
 Design Requirements
 Data References
 Analysis Steps
 Simulation results
 Test Results
 Final design
3. Discussion and Conclusion
 1. INTRODUCTION

Audio amplifier which is an electronic amplifier is used for increasing the amplitude of a small
signal in terms of its amplitude to a useful level. The amplifier is a circuit that increases the AC
signal from one level to the other level. It strengthens low power, inaudible electronic audio
signals such as the signal from radio receiver or electric guitar pickup to a level that is strong
enough to drive loudspeakers or headphones.

An amplifier could be designed using either an Op Amp (Operational Amplifier) or a transistor.

Here in for this assignment the required amplifier is assembles using bipolar junction transistors.
The amplifiers which are designed using bipolar junction transistors are commonly used in many
applications like sensor signals amplification, audio amplifiers, instrumentation amplifiers and
automobile and industrial grade amplifiers.

For the implementation of the amplifier following components have been used.

1. Transistors (BC549)
2. Capacitors
3. Resistors
4. DC voltage supply
5. Connecting Wires

A DC biasing circuit is designed using either fixed or voltage divider bias circuit and also the
closest available resistor and capacitor values have been used for the implementation process. A
speaker of 8Ω is used as the load. The amplifier uses an external DC source to amplify the input
signal. A 3mm audio jack was used to provide the input and 8Ω speaker at the output is
connected to complete the circuit.

Here in this report it is described in detail about the implemented audio amplifier.
 2. DESIGN PROCEDURE

2.1 Design Requirements

 The transistor used for the design should be BC457 / BC548 / BC549 type BJT transistor.
 A speaker of 8Ω should be used as the load in the circuit.
 The input should be provided using 3mm audio jack and connect 8Ω speaker at the output
to complete the circuit and to get a considerable amplification.

2.2 Data References

BC 549 DATA SHEET

IC - 100mA

VBE - 0.7V
2.3 Analysis Steps

12V * 0.5
VCC – 12V
6V

5V – from the
data sheet

12V – 6V -
5V= 1V

Using the data sheet,

IC - 100Ma

RC = 6V / 100mA = 60Ω

Assuming IB = 0A;

IE = IC

RE = 1V/100mA = 10Ω

VBE = VB - VE

0.7 = VB – 1V

VB = 1.7V

VR1 = 12 – 1.7 = 10.3V

R1 > 10.3V/1mA = 10.3kΩ

IB = 0

R2 = 1.7V / 1mA = 1.7KΩ

From the above analysis,

R1 = 5kΩ

R2 = 1.5kΩ

RC = 60Ω

RE = 10Ω
2.4 Simulation Results

Used inputs –

Frequency – 1000Hz

Peak to Voltage – 100mV

Obtained outputs –

Channel 1 (Output Voltage) – 100mV * 2.1div

Channel 2 (Input Voltage) – 100mV * 0.2div

Voltage gain – VOUT / VIN = 100mV * 2.1div / 100mV * 0.2div =10.5

2.6 FINAL DESIGN
The required audio amplifier is assembled to get a maximum Voltage gain and a maximum
current gain.

Base resistances (R1 and R2) used in the circuit were 10kΩ and 1.5kΩ respectively. A resistance
of 60Ω was used as the collector resistance and as the emitter resistor a resistor of 10Ω was used.
60Ω resistor and the 10Ω resistor which is used are 1W resistors and the other resistors are 0.5W
resistors. When considering about the capacitors a 100µF capacitor was used as the output
coupling capacitor, a capacitor of 4.7 µF was used as the input coupling capacitor and a capacitor
of 2200µF as the bypass capacitor was used. For the purpose of amplification a BC549 type
bipolar junction transistor was used.

First the circuit was built using on a breadboard to verify its functionality.
Finally all the components are soldered on a copper board. And the required parameters as the
inputs were given by connecting the function generator and the outputs were gained by
connecting to the oscilloscope
 3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSSION

Implementing an audio BJT amplifier helped a lot to get the knowledge on dealing with
transistors. A transistor is specially used for increase the output current as well as the voltage by
increasing the output amplitude. To select the required proper resistor values the AC equivalent
of the DC circuit was required. Therefore the knowledge of calculating the transistor sums
theoretically was gained by this task of preparing the BJT audio amplifier and also the
knowledge of referring to the data sheets when required to get some parameters was also learnt
while completing the task successfully.

Since the theoretical calculations were done considering as the used components are ideal, minor
differences between the theoretical observations and experimental observations were seen and
also these slight differences caused because of the slight errors of readings by the instruments.
Results obtained through simulations too had some slight differences with the values obtained
practically.

As an outcome of this project it can be stated that, a lot on the importance of team work was
learnt. A lot of qualities like the values of working with a team, Expressing our likes and dislikes
for the implementation as ideas and suggestions, tolerating others views were learnt throughout
the work of building the audio amplifier. Also lot was learnt in terms of assembling circuits,
referring datasheets and selecting the right components most suited for the purpose.