Using Diodes as Clippers or Clampers | Intermediate Electronics
Summary
TLDRIn this educational video, the presenter explores the concepts of clippers and clampers in electronics, using a simple circuit setup with a waveform generator and oscilloscope. They demonstrate various types of clippers, including negative and positive series clippers, and how they clip the input signal differently. The video also covers biased series clippers and their behavior with DC offsets. Parallel clippers are shown, highlighting the diode's role in determining the load voltage. Finally, a clamper circuit is explained, illustrating how it shifts the entire waveform's voltage. The presenter encourages hands-on learning and refers viewers to a detailed written tutorial by Harold for further understanding.
Takeaways
- 🔬 The tutorial focuses on demonstrating clippers and clampers in electronic circuits.
- 📚 Harold's written tutorial on CircaBred.com is recommended for detailed mathematical explanations.
- 🔌 The setup includes a simple circuit connected to a waveform generator and an oscilloscope.
- 📈 The oscilloscope displays the output of the generator and the effect across the load with different circuits.
- ⚡ A negative series clipper is shown first, which clips the positive part of the input signal, similar to a half-wave rectifier.
- 🔄 Flipping the diode demonstrates a positive series clipper, which clips the negative part of the input signal.
- 🔌 Biased series clippers are shown with a DC offset, affecting the clipping level of the input signal.
- 🔗 Parallel clippers are introduced, where the diode is in parallel with the load, affecting the voltage across the load based on diode bias.
- 🔋 A clamper circuit is demonstrated, which uses a capacitor and a diode to shift the entire waveform up or down in voltage.
- 🎥 The video emphasizes the importance of hands-on experience and practical demonstration for better understanding of these concepts.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the tutorial video?
-The main topic of the tutorial video is about clippers and clampers in electronic circuits.
Who created the written tutorial mentioned in the video?
-Harold created the written tutorial on clippers and clampers.
What is the purpose of using a waveform generator and an oscilloscope in the demonstration?
-The purpose of using a waveform generator and an oscilloscope is to show the output of the generator and what happens across the load with different circuits.
What is a negative series clipper and how is it demonstrated in the video?
-A negative series clipper is a circuit that clips the positive part of an input signal, leaving only the negative part. It is demonstrated by showing the output on an oscilloscope after the signal passes through a diode.
How does a positive series clipper differ from a negative series clipper?
-A positive series clipper is set up by reversing the diode in the circuit, which results in clipping the negative part of the input signal, leaving only the positive part.
What is the effect of bias on a series clipper circuit?
-Biasing a series clipper circuit shifts the entire waveform up or down. A positive bias shifts the waveform up, clipping less of the negative part, while a negative bias shifts it down, clipping less of the positive part.
What is the role of the diode in a parallel clipper circuit?
-In a parallel clipper circuit, the diode allows current to flow through the load only when it is reverse-biased, effectively clipping the signal when the diode is forward-biased.
How does the bias affect the output of a parallel clipper?
-Biasing a parallel clipper affects the output by shifting the point at which the diode starts to conduct. A positive bias reduces the voltage across the load during forward bias, while a negative bias increases it.
What is a clamper circuit and how does it differ from a clipper?
-A clamper circuit is designed to shift the entire waveform up or down without clipping it. It differs from a clipper in that it does not remove parts of the waveform but rather shifts the entire waveform to a new voltage level.
What components are typically used in a clamper circuit?
-A clamper circuit typically uses a diode, a capacitor, and a resistor. The capacitor is in series with the diode, and the resistor is in parallel with them.
Why does the clamper circuit not provide a free increase in voltage?
-The clamper circuit does not provide a free increase in voltage because it shifts the entire waveform up or down without adding or removing energy from the circuit; it merely redistributes the existing voltage levels.
Outlines
🔬 Introduction to Clippers and Clampers
This paragraph introduces the topic of clippers and clampers in electronics, with a focus on a tutorial created by Harold. The tutorial is available on Circa Bred Calm and is highly recommended for its detailed explanations involving math. The video aims to demonstrate the practical application of the clippers described in the written tutorial. The setup includes a simple circuit connected to a waveform generator and an oscilloscope, which is used to display the output of the generator and the effect across the load with different circuits. The oscilloscope shows two channels, one for the generator's output and another for the load's output. The video begins with a negative series clipper, which clips the incoming signal, demonstrated with a 60 Hertz input at 10 volts. The oscilloscope displays a flatline when the input is turned off, and the clipper is compared to a half-wave rectifier. The video then transitions to a positive series clipper by simply reversing the diode's orientation, resulting in the negative cycle being clipped. The concept of bias is introduced, explaining how an average offset can affect the clipping behavior. The video concludes with a demonstration of a biased negative series clipper, where an offset is applied to the waveform generator, and the resulting shift in the output is observed.
🔌 Exploring Parallel Clippers and Clampers
The second paragraph delves into parallel clippers, starting with a setup where the diode is in parallel with the load. The behavior of the circuit is explained in terms of the diode's forward and reverse biasing, affecting the voltage across the load. When the diode is forward biased, there is no voltage across the load, but when reverse biased, the negative dip is observed. The video then demonstrates the effect of biasing the circuit, showing how the clipping behavior changes with a DC offset. The discussion moves on to clampers, where a setup with a capacitor in series with a diode and a resistor in parallel is presented. The oscilloscope is used to observe the waveform's shift due to the capacitor's discharge and the effect of the clamper circuit. The video explains that a clamper shifts the entire waveform up or down without adding or losing voltage, as it's merely a redistribution of the existing voltage. The demonstration concludes with a comparison of the series and parallel configurations of clippers and the clamper, emphasizing the importance of hands-on experience and referring viewers to Harold's more advanced tutorial for further understanding.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Clippers
💡Clampers
💡Waveform Generator
💡Oscilloscope
💡Diode
💡Bias
💡Series and Parallel Configuration
💡Resistor
💡Capacitor
💡RC Discharge
Highlights
Introduction to clippers and clampers in electronic circuits
Recommendation of a written tutorial on CircaBred.com for detailed explanations
Demonstration of a simple circuit setup with a waveform generator and oscilloscope
Explanation of negative series clipper and its function in a circuit
Visual representation of a 60 Hertz input signal on an oscilloscope
Comparison of a negative series clipper to a half-wave rectifier
Setup for a positive series clipper by reversing the diode orientation
Observation of the positive series clipper's output on the oscilloscope
Discussion on biased series clippers and the role of DC offset in circuit behavior
Demonstration of how bias affects the clipping level in a circuit
Introduction to parallel clippers and their configuration in a circuit
Comparison between series and parallel clippers in terms of voltage across the load
Setup and explanation of a biased parallel clipper circuit
Transition to clamper circuits and their function in voltage shifting
Demonstration of a clamper circuit with a capacitor, diode, and resistor
Explanation of how a clamper shifts the entire waveform up or down without adding voltage
Practical advice on hands-on experience with electronic circuits
Conclusion and call to action for viewers to engage with the tutorial and experiment
Transcripts
[Music]
so today we're going to learn about
clippers and clampers now Harold put
this tutorial together and he did a
great job it's a written tutorial on
circa bred calm and I highly recommend
you go check it out he goes into the
details with the math and all that sort
of jazz but today on this video I want
to show some of those Clippers that he
describes in action so here I have a set
up with my very very simple circuit and
it is hooked up to a waveform generator
and an oscilloscope and I'm using both
channels of the oscilloscope to show the
output of the generator and then also
show what happens across the load with
these different circuits so there's a
whole lot of connections here you've got
three grounds here for the two channels
on the oscilloscope and one for the
waveform generator and then I'm
measuring across the load and then I'm
measuring across the entire thing and
then of course the waveform generator
itself is going in so it's kind of funny
to me that I only have two components on
here and six things hook to them but
that's that's how it is so this first
thing that we have is what we call a
negative series clipper and so this
clips the signal that's coming in and so
what I have here is a 60 Hertz because
that's generally we're dealing with wall
frequency if so 50 60 Hertz so I have a
60 Hertz input and I can't do 128 volts
output on this so I'm just doing 10
volts and then I'm showing what it looks
like on this so on the oscilloscope
you'll see the yellow is what is being
measured across the load in the blue is
the output from the waveform generator
so you can see we have five volts per
veted per division so we've got 10 volts
up and down there so if I turn off
channel 2 or the input you can see very
clearly that we just have flatline OOP
flatline and if you've looked at any of
our other tutorials particularly on the
half wave rectifier you'll be like hey
that's just a half wave rectifier and
you would be right and that is what the
first negative series clipper looks like
so now to do a positive series clipper
all we have to do is switch this diode
around and put it in the other direction
so let me do that really quick okay so
it just set it up all I did was flip the
diode around and I hooked everything
back up and you can see that my
oscilloscopes going crazy and that is
because my trigger
at the wrong spot now so I need to
trigger it down there and so it looks
exactly like the positive series clipper
but now it's upside down and all we're
getting is the negative cycle on the
bottom so let's turn that back on so
again this is what the input is and
that's the output is and you can see
there's not going to be an exact overlap
one just because I don't have this set
up super fantastic but also because
there is gonna be the slightest voltage
drop across the diode so you can see the
input is all the way giving me a nice
beautiful sine wave but then my output
it's clipping the top off instead of the
bottom and so that's what you get with a
positive series clipper so now let's go
to the next thing which is the biased
series clipper so we'll up until this
point we've been assuming that the
average is zero and so if we were to
have an op-amp or something some sort of
adder or some sort of DC offset in our
circuit we would see a shift so I'm
gonna flip this diode back around and
I'm going to fake that DC offset with my
waveform generator so let's do that
really quick okay so now I've flipped
the diode back and we are back in a
negative series clipper circuit and you
can see I haven't done the offset yet so
we have our typical output but let me go
over here and change the offset and I
really hope that you have access to
these tools either at school or at work
or something like that so you can go
over and you can do this exact same
thing in your own space and also again
Harold has even more advanced Dennis
demonstrations of how to do this of more
advanced clippers and clampers so if you
have access to this I highly recommend
hands-on and seeing it for yourself
because videos are great but there's
nothing like hands-on experience so
hopefully you can do that but coming
back to this we have our 60 Hertz 10
volts peak-to-peak in zero offset right
now but now let's start to give myself
an offset so I have a two bowl offset
three volt and as you see everything is
getting shifted up and so is this so
you're still getting that beautiful sine
wave and it's just clipping it lower and
lower at that zero point so let me go up
a little bit more if you bias it enough
which that's the max for my arbitrary
waveform generator you can see it's
almost a perfect sine wave but
completely above the zero point and then
if we bias it in the
direction and get a negative voltage
then even less comes up and now we're
getting below the trigger points so it's
not even detecting it but it's just
getting smaller and smaller until
there's nothing left because at negative
five volt DC with a 10 volt peak-to-peak
the very peak of this sine wave is at
zero so of course you're not going to
see it so those are our positive and our
negative
series Clippers with and without bias
now let's move to parallel Clippers okay
so our first parallel clipper is set up
now and really the biggest thing you can
notice here is that the diode is in
parallel with the load so if there's a
voltage across the diode there's gonna
be a voltage across the load if there's
not a voltage across the diode there's
not going to be a voltage across the
load so in this one I have the cathode
hooked up to ground and so when it is
being forward biased there is basically
no there there's a point seven volt drop
in and if we assume diode is ideal there
is no voltage across that so if there's
no voltage across the diode then there's
gonna be no voltage across the load so
we come over here and I need to set my
trigger down here again but we can see
that this is when it is forward bias
because there there's no voltage across
this diode but when it's being reverse
biased that is when you get that
negative dip so let's switch this around
and you can take a brief second wand
switching this to think of what exactly
you think this is going to look like
when it's in the parallel configuration
when the cathode is on the positive side
okay now as I'm sure you figure it out
we're basically seeing the other side we
just inverted it and this is one of
those things if you're doing it in
series or in parallel the way you have
the diode it kind of flips your
understanding because now instead of
measuring the voltage on the other side
of the diode you're measuring the
voltage across the diode and so
depending on what you need to do
depending on what you want to do you can
either do the series or parallel
configuration for a clipper circuit now
let's just bias this really quick there
shouldn't be any surprises here either
and then we'll go on to our clamper
example so make sure I'm on my offset
yep
so acts just like you would expect with
the other one with the series
so as you bias it up you're gonna see
more it's gonna still retain that shape
of the sine wave is just gonna clip off
certain sections clipper clip it off
yeah that's where we're going with that
and then if I reverse bias it it's just
going to go away and the interesting
thing is if you notice earlier with the
series we weren't able to get the very
bottom tip of this whereas we were able
to completely hide it whereas you can
still see little divots here so that is
because we are putting that seven point
seven volt drop somewhere else in the
circuit and so you see a little bit of a
shift there okay so let's put together
the climber alright so I just finally
set it up as they clamp er and as you
can see you have a capacitor that is in
series with a diode and a resistor that
are in parallel and that's something you
can see on the schematic and I again I'm
measuring over the resistor and as the
load and also the over the entire thing
so let's look at the oscilloscope here I
have it 10 volts peak to peak at about a
thousand Hertz I had to change out the
value of my resistor is a 100k resistor
and a now I have a point 1 there at
micro farad capacitor in here and so as
we look at the original what's coming in
let me get that you can see that being a
10 volt peak-to-peak peak to peak you
get a 5 volt jump and then the negative
5 volts +5 volts negative 5 volts now as
we turn the output back on basically
what we're getting is we're getting 0
volts negative 10 volts 0 volts negative
10 volts so we're shifting that peak
basically just taking our entire
waveform and shifting it down 5 volts
and so it's an interesting thing because
we're not in gaining anything here it's
not like we're getting an extra 5 volts
because we're stealing it off the top
here we're stealing it up here and we're
just putting it down there and so you're
seeing a little bit of a curve there
that's because of the time constant of
the capacitor starting to discharge
before it jumps again so that's again
where we're getting those RC discharges
there but a clamper that's what a
clamper does is it'll take your entire
circuit and shift the voltage one
direction or another and again you don't
get anything free it's not like you're
good a bigger
voltage you just shifting it down in
this case but if you switch it also you
can go up and that's it okay so we've
gone over clippers that we've gone over
one variety of clampers again Harold has
a fantastic written tutorial on this
sort of stuff with a couple of more
demonstrations and a lot more math and a
lot more in depth I just wanted to show
you what happens practically wouldn't
you have these things and what it looks
like on an oscilloscope so that
hopefully you can sit in your brain a
little bit more intuitively before you
jump into Harold's tutorial I hope you
enjoyed this video if you did give it a
like subscribe to our Channel and we
will catch you in the next one
you
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