- Passive filter
- Active filter
Resistors and capacitors were used in the buildup of the filter to manipulate the current flow. From ohms law, one of widely used equation in electronics, were V=IR, its voltage equal to current multiplied by resistance. The current in the equation could either be direct or alternating current where both types can have any frequencies above 0 Hz.
The level of impedance (R) of a capacitor is reliant on the frequency of current (I) through it.
Impedance = 1/ jωC → C is the capacitance which is expressed in Farads
But ω = 2πf → represents frequency in radians and f is the frequency in cycles measured in Hz.
A voltage divider constructed using resistors and capacitor will explicitly show that output voltage is dependent on the frequency of the input. The higher the frequency of the input signal, the lower the impedance of the capacitor, therefore the two are working vice-versa.
In the case of a voltage divider circuit on the left, the output voltage from the potential divider will decrease for higher input frequencies. Here it’s concerned with low pass filter which will mean that output voltage is high for low frequencies and therefore reduce to near enough zero for higher frequencies.
Figure 1: Low pass filter voltage divider
RC Filter Circuit or Passive Filter:
The passive filter circuit is sometimes drawn in different ways but only after careful observation, it shows itself that it’s just another voltage divider. All frequencies perfectly is able to pass through a low pass filter until a desired cut-off point is given, here is would enable all the desired frequencies and reject all other frequencies that doesn’t fit in the correct range.
This graph represents a perfect result which in most cases the experimental result is not as fruitful therefore the resulting experimental graph looks more like a continual curve rather then this perfect conclusion.
Figure 2: Ideal low pass filter response
Cut-off frequency:
Cut off frequency is the boundary line where desired frequencies are passed but reject the undesired frequencies. Here, we are concerned with low pass filters which sometimes instead of cut-off frequency it’s called the corner frequency which defines the end of the pass band.
Which normally at a precise point where reaction drops -3 (70.7%) from the pass band response (Floyd, 2005)
The cut-off frequency occurs where:
Or, ➔
Therefore
But where active filters are concerned, two networks are formed by and as well as and therefore the cut-off frequency is given by the following formula:
➔
Equipments
The experiment requires the following equipments to compare the performance of an active and passive low filter to compare practical results with the theoretical values.
- Resistors, capacitors, op amps
- Bread board
- Signal generator
- Oscilloscope
- Digital multi-meter
- DC power supply
Experiment Part 1: RC Circuit as a Passive Low-Pass Filter
This is the method to set-up an RC circuit as a passive low pass filter:
Firstly the oscilloscope was turned on and waveform generator then the sinusoidal waveform was selected by pressing the right button on the front panel of the waveform generator. Then connect the probe from the oscilloscope to the probe from the waveform generator made sure that channel 1 was selected to obtain the right reading off the wave-generator. On the oscilloscope there was a curve which looked like the sinus graph which the reader had to get the peak to peak voltage of the waveform and measure the frequency of the waveform from the display. Ensured that the frequency obtained from the oscilloscope is similar to what the waveform generator showed. The frequency and amplitude was changed off the waveform generator through the adjustment of the knobs on the front panel then recorded the changes in the frequency and amplitude of the waveform shown on the generator. Then an RC low pass filter was constructed as show below.
Figure 3: RC Low-pass filter
Then a series of measurement were performed where it started from 0 dc to 2 kHz. To be able to calculate gain Vout / Vin this is calculated from wave generator and then the gain is normalized. Normalisation is a process where any quantity is divided by itself to give a maximum value of 1 and to establish a dimensionless level of range. Gain can calculated in dB through where the maximum value should be 0.
Here are the results for part 1 of the experiment:
The graph below represents the dB gain obtained through the first part of the experiment.
Calculations:
Calculating the theoretical value for cut off frequency, it is demonstrated below, the cut off frequency for experiment 1 (RC filter) can be calculated as follows:
We know the resistance and the capacitance values:
C = 0.1 * 10-6 F
R = 82000 Ω
The actual cut of voltage is the 70.7% of the maximum value, therefore:
For experiment 1:
Vcut = 20 x 0.707 = 14.4 V
For experiment 1 we can linearly interpolate by using bottom and top end frequency values of the theoretical cut off frequency (19.41) therefore its between 10 Hz & 12 Hz. We also have the voltage output for these values, we can therefore calculate as follow:
Solving for y2:
y2 = [(14.4 – 15) (12 – 10)/ (14 – 10)] + 10
y2 = 9.7 Hz
Experiment Part 2:
Operational Amplifier Circuit as an Active Low-Pass Filter
In this part of the experiment Butterworth filter was used which demonstrates very flat amplitude in its pass. The diagram below illustrates a two-pole Butterworth low-pass filter because the two pole filter uses two RC networks to produce a roll-off rate of –40 dB.
The active filter below is wired to give a unity gain (output voltage = input voltage) within the passband as it is connected as a voltage follower.
Method for Experiment Part 2:
Firstly the power supply was turned on then connected and adjusted the power supply to
+/- 15 V. Following that oscilloscope was used to verify the voltage displayed is close +/- 15 V. The dc power supply was switch off and the waveform generator was turned on following that probe 1 was connected to the waveform generator and selected channel 1. The peak to peak voltage of the waveform was viewed on the oscilloscope. Then the frequency was measured of the waveform display and ensured that frequency shown on the oscilloscope was the same as the one shown waveform generator.
Then constructed an active low pass filter;
Figure 4: Active Low-pass filters using an op-amp.
Then a series of measurement were performed where it started from 0 dc to 2 kHz. To be able to calculate gain Vout / Vin this is calculated from wave generator and then the gain is normalized. Normalisation is a process where any quantity is divided by itself to give a maximum value of 1 and to establish a dimensionless level of range. Gain can calculated in dB through where the maximum value should be 0.
Here are the results for part 2 of the experiment:
The graph below represents the dB gain obtained through the second part of the experiment.
Now to calculate the cut off frequency of experiment 2 (op-Amp filter) we can use the following formula:
We know the resistance and the capacitance values:
C1 = 0.1 * 10-6 F
C2 = 0.1 * 10-6 F
R1 = 82000 Ω
R2 = 82000 Ω
It is now important to compare the values of the theoretical cut off frequency against the actual cut off frequency.
Firstly we are required to calculate the actual values of the cut off voltage, in order to use linear interpolation to calculate the cut off frequencies. The actual cut of voltage is the 70.7% of the maximum value, therefore:
For experiment 2:
Since the value of input voltage is not the same throughout the experiment, I have decided that I will use an average value to calculate the cut-off frequency to obtain a more accurate value.
Therefore
Vcut = 17.748 x 0.707 = 12.55 V
For experiment 2 we will need to use the frequency values of 10 & 12Hz:
Solving for y2
y2 = 14.9 Hz
Therefore y2 for the first experiment and y2 for the second experiment are 9.7 Hz and 14.9 respectively.
Discussion
The findings of the experiment are concisely presented in the table below to make easier to analyse, therefore the conclusion is;
As the table above show, the theoretical cut-off frequencies are 14.4 Hz and 12.55 Hz respectively, the value for the theoretical cut-off frequency was calculated using the equation provided at the beginning of the experiment. The theoretical results vary from the actual experimental cut-off frequency obtained from experiments 1 and 2. The experimental results for the cut-off frequency from experiment 1 gave a value of 9.2 Hz, which depict a huge difference between the theoretical and the experimental values which could have be caused by numerous errors when the actual circuit was being built through multiple inconsistencies. We should have had one person reading from oscilloscope instead at least five different people read it causing inaccuracies in the experiment.
Moreover for the second experiment the theoretical value for cut off frequency is 12.55 Hz and the experimental value is 14.9 Hz which show a difference off 2.35 Hz. This would suggest that the results obtained aren’t as reliable and accurate because the two experiments show completely different patterns. This could be due to the readings from the oscilloscope not being taken correctly and noise interference should also be considered, from these probable inaccurate interpretations the cut off frequency was calculated using linear interpolation which itself is just an estimate, which leads to more inaccuracy of the results. Interpolated result is calculated through combination of data which consists of multiple errors.
Calculated percentage error for experiments 1 and 2 are 36.2% and 18.7% respectively highlighting the fact there were some major error when conducting the experiments.
When calculating the percentage error for experiment 1 and 2 we can see that experiment 1 gave a percentage error of 36.3%, and experiment 2 gave a percentage error of 18.7%. As the percentage errors show neither of the results is anywhere accurate to have any significant importance. Again this could be due to the readings from the oscilloscope not being taken correctly.
Comparing the two experiments it’s explicit that the gap between the two experiments are widening as you approach the 2000 Hz point but there as slight exception between 1 to 9 Hz where passive filter dB gain dropped further the Active filter dB gain which is against the overall pattern of how the two circuits work.
Conclusion
Electronic filters are electronic circuits which perform signal processing functions, specifically intended to remove unwanted signals from components and enhance wanted ones therefore such tool is very important in variety of systems. The experiments have given us a first hand experience and see how signal can be diverted and manipulated to serve a specific task. The elements which generates or produces electrical energy is called active elements where as passive elements are components which consume rather than produce energy. The experiment has overall very successful which even under crowded circumstances the results are roughly in the right path.
References
- Lecture notes chapter 4 ‘operational amplifier’, ‘filter circuits’ in chapter 3
Name: Ali Asghari - (ex07028) - 070693030