Electronics Exercise 1: Overview of Electronics Test Equipment, Soldering, and RC Filters

Mechatronics Instructional Laboratory Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Lab Director: I. Charles Ume, Professor Author: Kita , Development TA Summer 2004 Objective: 1. 2. 3. 4. Learn how to use electronic test equipment available in the Mechatronics Lab Learn how to solder Learn about RC low-pass filters Create RC low-pass filter and compare to theory using Electronic Test Equipment

1. Overview of Electronics Test Equipment The TA will demonstrate the use of an oscilloscope and Tenma Universal Test Center. 2. Soldering Demonstation The TA will demonstrate proper soldering techniques. 3. RC Filters In this section, students will reinforce knowledge aquired from the demonstrations to create and test RC filters. RC filters are created using resistors and capacitors. The main usage of RC filters is to eliminate noise and adjust frequency bandwidth of signals. The RC filters used in this exercise are passive first order low pass RC filters. The RC filters in this exercise are passive because the filters do not add any power to the conditioned signal. The RC filters in this exercise are first order since the transfer function of the filter contains one pole. 3.1 RC Low Pass Filter The circuit shown in Fig. 1 is a passive first order low pass RC filter.

Fig. 1 Passive First Order Low Pass RC Filter

The transfer function of the filter is derived below. First use nodal analysis to find the voltages at VIN and VOUT:

VIN = Ri + VOUT =

1 i dt C

1 i dt C

The Laplace Transforms of the previous equations are:

VIN ( s ) = RI ( s ) + VOUT ( s ) =

1 1 I ( s ) = I ( s )( R + ) Cs Cs

1 I( s ) Cs

Then the transfer function in the Laplace domain is:

1 1 I( s ) VOUT ( s ) 1 Cs Cs = = = 1 1 VIN ( s ) CRs + 1 I ( s )( R + ) (R+ ) Cs Cs

The transfer function is equivalent to the impulse response when VIN(s) = 1. The impulse response should be converted into the frequency domain (Fourier Domain) In order to find the magnitude and phase response of the filter. Since the frequency domain is along the imaginary axis of the Laplace domain, substitute s= jw:

VOUT ( jw ) =

1 jwCR + 1

The magnitude of the impulse response in the frequency domain is:

1 1 VOUT ( jw ) = jwCR + 1 jwCR + 1 =

The phase response is:

(CRw )

+1

jwCR + 1 1 jwCR 1 VOUT ( jw ) = 2 jwCR + 1 = jwCR + 1 (wCR ) + 1 VOUT ( jw ) = a tan( wCR )

The magnitude and phase response of a passive first order low pass RC filter using a 10 F capacitor and 150 resistor is shown in Fig. 2. (Note: for the graphs: w = 2f where w is in rad/s and f is Hz)

M agnitude Res pons e 1 0.8

V out/V in

0.6 0.4 0.2

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

P has e Res pons e 0 -20

Degrees

-40 -60 -80

50

100

150

200 250 300 frequency (Hz )

350

400

450

500

Fig 2. Passive First Order Low Pass RC Filter Magnitude and Phase Response (R = 150 , C= 10F)

4. Create RC low-pass filter and compare to theory

Solder the circuit shown in Fig. 3 to a protoboard. Input a 1 V sine wave of various frequencies into the circuit using the Tenma Test Units function generator. Use the oscilloscope to find the magnitude and phase of the output from 0 to 500 Hz in 10 Hz increments. Plot your results on Fig. 2.

Fig.3 Passive First Order Low Pass RC Filter (R = 150 , C= 10F) Questions: 1. Do the measurements obtained compare well to theory? If no, explain why.

2.

What would happen if the output of a passive first order low pass RC filter was the input into a second passive first order low pass RC filter. What would be the advantages? What would be the disadvantages? A passive first order high pass RC filter is shown in Fig. 4. Derive equations for magnitude and phase response of the passive first order high pass RC filter.

3.

Fig. 4 Passive First Order High Pass RC Filter