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Sine Wave Generation

PostedbyChrisFrancisonFriday,March21,20144Comments

byChrisFrancis

Itisnotuncommontoneedasinewavebuthowdoyougenerateit?Thebestormostappropriatemethod
foraparticularapplicationdependsonseveralthingssuchas:

frequency,
purityrequired,
amplitude,
possiblesynchronizationwithanotherfrequency,
variablefrequencyand/oramplitude.

AtlowerfrequenciesaWienbridgemightbeconsideredforfrequenciesofuptomaybe1MHz(althoughin
theoryitcouldbeusedconsiderablyhigherinfrequency).Onedisadvantageisitisnoteasilytunable
becausethefrequencydependsonmorethanonecomponent.AlsoWienbridgeoscillatorsneedan SubscribetoOurNewsletter
amplitudestabilizationmethod.ThisisoftenaJFETbutcouldbediodebased,orevenusingasmall Subscribetoweeklyindustrynews,newproduct
incandescentlamp(notmypreferredapproach!)orthermistor. innovationsandmore.

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OtheroptionsareLCorcrystaloscillatorswhichhavetheirplaceinthedesignerstoolkit.Ifyouneedto
generateasinewavewhichisbasedonagivenclockthenadifferentapproachisrequired.Atypical
situationwouldbewhereyouneedasinewavebasedonaprecisionfrequencygeneratedbya
microcontroller,CPLDorFPGA.Inthatcaseyouwouldpresumablyhaveasquarewaveandneedto
generateyoursinewavefromthat.Ifyoucouldmakeyoursquarewavefrequencyhigherthanthedesired
sinewavethenyoucoulddigitallygenerateasinewaveusingasinelookuptable.Thatistheprincipleused
insomeDDS(DirectDigitalSynthesis)chipsusingaDAC(DigitaltoAnalogConverter)andgeneratingthe
analogvaluesofthesinewaveinyourdigitaldevice.Youwouldalsoneedsomeanalogfilteringtoremove
thehigherfrequencycomponentsoftheresultingsteppedwaveform.

YoudontevenneedtouseaDACyoucouldusesinePWM(PulseWidthModulation).Hereyouwould
generateasquarewaveatamultipleofthedesiredsinewaveandvarythewidthnotlinearlybutina
sinusoidalfashion.Thensimplyfiltertheoutputtoendupwithasinewave.Thewaveformbelowshowsthe
sinePWMsignal(topred)andthefilteredresult.InthiscasethePWMfrequencyisalittleunder40times
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thedesiredsinewavefrequency.

DoingthesamethingwithaDACproducesasimilarresultbutwiththeprefilteredoutputlookingalittle
different:

Anothermethodissimplytofilterasquarewave.Inthatcaseyouwillgenerateawaveformatthesame
frequencyasthesquarewaveratherthanalowerfrequency.Thetradeoffthencomesfromhowmuch
filteringyouneedtodotoachievethesignalpurityyourequire.TheDACandsinePWMapproachcanhave
verysimplefilteringastheunwantedharmonicsaremanytimesthesinefrequency.Atwopolefilterwillgive
verygoodresultsandevenasinglepolefiltercanbeusedifthePWMfrequencyishighenough.Thefilter
wouldbechosentoattenuatethePWM/DACfrequencywhilenotaffectingthesinefrequency,butthisdoes
notprecludehavingavariablefrequency.ReducingthefrequencywouldinvolvechangingthePWMdata
butstillsendingittothefilteratthesamefrequency.Inthiswasthefilteringcanstaythesameevenwitha
variablefrequency.

Variantsofthesetechniquesareusedinpowerinvertersusingmultilevelinvertersoracombinationof
multilevelinversionwithsinePWM.Thosetechniquesinvolveswitchingpowertoapositiveandnegative
voltage,zerovoltsandtwoormorevoltagesinbetween.ThiscreatesaverycrudeDACbasedsignalbut
withonly5levels(or7ormoredependingonhowmanylevelsareused).TheDACinthiscaseisactually
highpoweranddrivinganinvertertransformer.AddingthesinePWMtothetechniquecansmoothoutthe
largestepswhichresultfromsuchcoarsesteps.

Usingasquarewaveatthesamefrequencyasthedesiredsinewaverequireshighsuppressionofthethird
harmonicwithoutaffectingthefundamentalsignal.A4poleChebyshevfilterisprobablytheminimumin
ordertoobtainagoodsinepurity.Havingavariablefrequencyisthentricky.

Anothertechniquewhichisnotcommonlyusedindiscretecircuitry,butcanmakesenseinananalog
customICistoshapeatrianglewave.Atriangleiseasytogeneratesimplybycharginganddischarginga
capacitorwithaconstantcurrent.Italsoisnttoofarfromasinewavewithonly12%distortion.Ratherthan
simplyfilteringthetriangle,itcanbeshaped.ThisissomethingillustratedbythelateHansCamenzindin
hisDesigningAnalogChipsbook.Theprincipleissimplyroundoffthepeaksofthetrianglesoitlooks
moresinusoidal.Hisproposedcircuitryisshownbelow:

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5/5/2016 SineWaveGeneration

andtheresults:

Category:IndustryExpertsTags:commentary

4 Comments on Sine Wave Generation

Thereareafewmorewaystochangeatrianglewaveintoapseudosinewave,
whichshouldgivemuchlowerdistortion.(atleastinthelowerfrequencyapplications

Dustin thatIveusedthemin)
April25,2014
OnemethodinvolvesusingaFETtocreatethecurve,anotherusestwoNPNs
(differentialpair,)andathird(sortofhybridmethod)usesanOTA.(obviouslyIm
comingfromanaudiopointofviewhere,butIimaginetheywouldwork)Thereare
quiteafewgoodwriteupsoutthereforthesemethods.

ThoughtIdmentionthemthough.

Reply

JustFYItheshapingofatrianglewaveintoasineusingvoltagebreakpoints,like
inyourCamenzindexample,hasbeeninusefora*very*longtime.TheICL8038

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5/5/2016 SineWaveGeneration
DonQ
usedthistogenerateasinedowntolessthat1%THDbackinthe70s.Priorto
May1,2014
that,Ihadanold,used,audiofrequencygeneratorthathadadiscreteversionof
thesamebasiccircuit.(Iwouldsuspecttherewereevenvacuumtubebasedcircuits
usingthesameprinciple.)Carefulselectionofbreakpointsandshuntvaluescan
produceverylowdistortionsinewaves.Somemodestpostfilteringwouldimprove
thequalityoftheoutputevenfurther.

Reply

Idontknowwhysomanytextbooksshowclassicphaseshiftoscillatorswithhigh
passfeedback

JerrySteele networks.Oneofmyfavoritetricksistouse3stagesoflowpass.Hereswhereit
July18,2014
throws
everyoneoff:theoutputoftheoscillatoristhefeedbackinputterminal(usuallythe
inverting
input)oftheopamp.Suretheamplitudeiswaydownfromthatofthesquarewave
output,
butitsaprettydecentsinewave.

Reply

Hi,wearealsoworkingonthat.weareabletogeneratepwmwithonedutycycle.
butwearehavingproblemingeneratingmultipledutycyclesothatafterfilteringwe

sumityadav getthesinewave.canyouhelp????
November10,2015
Reply

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