Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3

Operational Amplifier (Oscillator)

Introduction

This experiment investigates the use of operational amplifier commonly known as op-
amp. Op-amp is made up of combinations of resistors, capacitors and transistors. Op-amp has
many uses depending on how they are connected in the circuit and its feedback. Negative
feedbacks are useful for filters and amplifiers. This investigation focuses on op-amp with
positive feedback, used in Schmitt trigger and oscillator.

The aim of this experiment is to demonstrate the output waveform pattern of oscillator
made from op-amp, then analyse where these waveform are applicable.

After this report briefing introducing the report’s ideas about Schmitt triggers, the second
section which follows will be discussing the theory. The third section is about the experiment,
this includes the circuit setups, some graphs results and errors. Fourth section is post
experiment discussion emphasising the ideas proposed earlier. The last section is the fifth
section which will conclude this whole report commenting on successes of the experiment on
demonstrating the ideas.

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 Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3
Theory

The circuit shown

Vin above is a Schmitt trigger (positive feedback op-amp) with
Vout
R1 R1 in this experiment
Vthresholds = ( ×V out ) = ±( ×Vsupply)
R2 R2 Vsupply is ± 15V .

The significant of the Vthreshold

thresholds value is that if the input voltage Vin reach this value,
the Vout (output voltage) will change to become either maximum (15V) or minimum (-15V)
depending on original state. The reason the output does not sit the the middle between
Figure 1[1]
maximum and minimum is because op-amp is an amplifier; it amplifies the different between
negative and positive terminal. So the switching happens when the Vin become larger (if
originally small) or smaller (if originally larger) than Vthreshold.

When that if Vin reaches Vthreshold the output will switch therefore if we supply
sinusoidal wave as an input, the output should be constantly switching from positive to
negative giving square wave output.

Now we know how an op-amp positive feedback circuit behaves, the other theory that
we must consider is how capacitors behave in electrical circuit.

dv
Voltage in a capacitor ( I =C ) for
dt
−t
Discharging capacitor  V =V e RC (decreasing exponentially)
0

−t
Charging capacitor  V =V 0 (1−e ¿ ¿ )¿ (increasing exponentially)
RC
−t
Voltage across a capacitor  V ( t ) =A + B e RC

The rate of which the capacitor charge and discharge depends on the time constant RC
which is the product of the resistant and capacitance, low time constant means quick
charge/discharge, vice versa.

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 Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3
If we combine the capacitor with Schmitt trigger, we can design and produce the
waveform we want.
Experiment Setup
Figure 2[2]
Circuit A

This circuit is set up by using resistors and one

capacitor connecting as shown on the right. The C = 0.1 μF
actual circuit in this experiment is connected over the
R= 27 KΩ
op-amp box given. The scope probes make 2
connections to the circuit, V- and Vout. V- will VDD = 15V
display the voltage at the negative terminal of the op-
VSS = -15V
amp and Vout will show the shape of the output
waveform on the scope.

The special feature of this circuit is that the output voltage is fed back into both the
negative and positive terminal of the op-amp but the voltage at the negative terminal will be
affected by the present of the capacitor.

Circuit B

Figure 3[3]

Circuit B is the circuit shown above, consisting of two op-amps Z1 and Z2, three
resistors R1, R2 and R3 and one capacitor C1. The values of each component are shown on the
figure. Observably, op-amp Z1 is a Schmitt trigger, and Z2 is not because of the negative
feedback. The purpose of setting a circuit this way is to use Z1 as a voltage switching
component and Z2 as voltage comparator.

For this circuit, we will connect the scope probe to the output of Z2 to see the shape of
the output waveform. Voltage at other nodes will be established through analysis of the
circuit behaviour.

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 Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3

Results for circuit A

The result of the investigation on circuit A is shown below (refer back to figure 2)

14 Vout

+Vthreshold 7

V-
Voltage(V) 0

-Vthreshold -7 V+

Figure 4[2]
-14
Time

The V- trend shows how the voltage changes exponentially depending on Vout, if Vout
is at its maximum, the capacitor charges up until the voltage reaches the Vthreshold at which
point the Vout switches to minimum and start discharging the capacitor.

This is an oscillating circuit, for this circuit to be useful, application wise, we need to
be able to control and adjust it. The frequency of which the output oscillate depends on the
time constant RC of the circuit.

For our particular circuit the time constant = RC = (2.7 ×10 4 )(0.1× 10−6 ) = 2.7 ×10−4

Analyse voltage across capacitor at time 0 and 3.2 ×10−3

V ( 0 )=−7= A+ B
−3
−3.2× 10
−4
−3 2.7 × 10
V ( 3.2× 10 ) =+7= A +B e

Solving these two simultaneous equations we get

−t
−4
2.7× 10
V ( t ) =13.16−20.16 e

By using the right combination of RC we can achieve square waveform with particular
frequency, for example, if we want 1 KHz square wave we want the wave to start at -7 and be
at +7 in 5 ×10−4 second
−4
−5 ×10
−4 RC
V ( 5 ×10 )=7=13.16−20.16 e

RC = 4 .23× 10−4 , so we find a combination of RC that give the stated value.

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 Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3

Results for circuit B

+Vthreshold

Figure 5[4]

-Vthreshold

The output for circuit B is a triangular wave as shown above, the switching point would
be the Vthreshold of the circuit. The reason the output waveform is triangular is because of the
linear charging and discharging of the capacitor which sits in the middle of the negative
feedback loop of Z2 which is trying to make sure that Vout is the same as voltage at the
negative terminal of Z2.

dv I
The reason the capacitor charges up linearly is because = and the output from Z1 is
dt C
a square wave so the current is constant and capacitance is also constant therefore rate of
voltage changing over time is constant meaning linear charging/discharging.

Errors
The errors in this experiment are both systematic errors and human errors. The systematic
errors come from the equipment, e.g. bad scope contact point. Also the maximum voltage
supplied is not exactly as stated 15V; in fact it is about 14V. The resistors also have small
errors of 0.1% but this error gets bigger when we work out the Vthreshold because we require
ratio of two resistors. The human errors come from inaccurate reading off the scope due to
eye sight and inaccurate grounding.

Discussion

It is outstanding to find out that using component such as capacitor could give us an
interesting waveform from oscillator such as square and triangular waves. Using different
combination of circuit behaviour component can be a good way of achieving useful outcome.
Also another useful circuit could contain a complex feedback loop (Circuit B).

The error in this experiment is insignificant because it only affects the magnitude of
the output but not the shape, which is what this experiment focuses on.

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 Pattanan Amatanon EE1A3

Conclusion
As we can see from this experiment, Schmitt trigger is a useful triggering device
which can be adapted into an oscillator, in this particular experiment, our oscillator formed
square and triangular waves. From this experiment, we learn that not only we can change the
shape of the waveform by altering the circuit, we can also change the oscillation frequency
and the magnitude of the wave to fit specific requirement.

Schmitt trigger has varieties of application, for example, it can be use in a temperature
control system, when the temperature falls below the limit the heater turns on, and when rises
above the limit heat off. Schmitt trigger can be use to deal with other analogue situation and
can even be use to deal with noise.

References

1. http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys3330/phys3330_sp11/mainPage06.html
2. http://www.thefullwiki.org/Schmitt_trigger
3. https://intranet.ee.ic.ac.uk/intranet/labweb/ (lab booklet)
4. http://www.till.com/articles/QuadTrapVCO/discussion.html

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