(/) MITx: 6.

002x Circuits and Electronics

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LAB 9

In this lab we'll be exploring the properities of second-order circuits, i.e., circuits with two energy storage elements. You
may find it useful to review Chapter 12 (../../../book/0/649) in the text.

Figure 1 below shows the circuit we'll be using to explore the step response of an RLC circuit. The voltage source
produces a 1V step at t = 0. Initially the resistor has been set to 0Ω. We'll be probing the voltage across the
capacitor, which will indicate the amount of charge on the plates of the capacitor (q = Cv ), and the current through
the inductor, which will indicate the flux linkage of the magnetic field of the inductor (λ = Li).

TRAN

Figure 1. RLC Circuit driven by a voltage step

Run a 50μs TRAN simulation on the circuit. You'll see that the energy imparted by the voltage step oscillates back and

forth between the flux of the inductor and the charge of the capacitor (as indicated by the oscillating voltage across the
capacitor and the oscillating current through the inductor).

Leaving the inductance L as-is, adjust the capacitance C so that the frequency of
oscillation is 100 kHz with a period of 10μs. You can do this by experimentation,
but a more effective approach would be to use Equation 12.45 (../../../book/0/665) to
compute the correct value for C given L and the desired ω0 . Note that the units of
ω0 are in radians/sec, so you'll have to convert Hz to radians/sec using
1Hz = 2π rad/s . Your plots should like those shown to the right.

Please enter the adjusted capacitance C below:

Adjusted capacitance C (in farads):

 126.65p Answer: 126.5e-12

Keeping the adjusted C , now adjust the resistance R so that the system is just
operating in the over-damped region, i.e., so that the voltage across the capacitor
makes a single 0 → 1 transition, never exceeding 1V. Again you can use the analysis
in Section 12.2.2 (../../../book/0/672) to compute the R necessary to produce a plot
like that to the right. Hint: if there's any voltage sample that is greater than 1V, the
voltage scale will have a maximum of 2V, so one quick way to tell if the voltage is
staying less than or equal to 1V is when the maximum value on the voltage scale is
1V.

Please enter the adjusted resistance R below:

Adjusted resistance R (in ohms):

25k Answer: 25000

Now let's use the properties of second-order systems to build a boost converter, a DC-to-DC power supply useful where
high voltages are required but not directly available. Powering the flash bulb in a camera is one such example. A boost
converter circuit is shown in Figure 2. In this case the supply voltage is 3V and the goal is produce a relatively stable
supply of 6V to drive a load, here represented as a 1kΩ resistor. Your task to is adjust L, C and the duty cycle D of
the square wave controlling the MOSFET switch so that the output voltage falls between 5.9V and 6.1V (6V with a
maximum of 0.1V ripple).

DC TRAN

Figure 2. Boost converter

The operation of the boost converter is analyzed in detail in Section 12.10 (../../../book/0/695) of the text. The circuit
above differs from the example in how the switches are implemented. S1 in the Example is implemented by a MOSFET
switch, where a square-wave voltage is used to turn the switch on and off. S2 in the Example is implemented using a
diode, which conducts when the voltage on the inductor side sufficiently exceeds the voltage on the capacitor side. In
the steady state this happens when S1 is off, just what we wanted for the correct operation of the circuit.

The boost converter operates in a two-state cyclic manner. During the first state, the MOSFET is turned on. This
The boost converter operates in a two-state cyclic manner. During the first state, the MOSFET is turned on. This
connects the inductor across the power supply, so the inductor current iL increases. During this time, the diode is
reverse biased and so behaves as an open circuit, disconnecting the capacitor and load resistor from the remainder of
the circuit. In this state, the capacitor powers the load resistor, discharging in the process.

During the second state, the MOSFET is turned off but the inductor current cannot go to zero instaneously. So the
voltage on the diode increases making the diode forward biased and the decreasing current from the inductor flows
through the diode to power the load and simultaneously replenish the charge in the capacitor. The inductor flux
diminishes in the process.

This cycle repeats itself indefinitely. Let the duration of the first state be DT , and the duration of the second state be
(1 − D)T , where D is the fraction of a cycle for which the square wave controlling the MOSFET is high (sometimes
called the duty cycle) and T is the switching period (set to 1/30kHz in the circuit above).

Try a 2ms TRAN simulation to see how the circuit works, paying attention to the current through the inductor and the
output voltage. Start by adjusting the capacitance C so that the ripple on the output voltage is 0.1V or less using the
equation iΔt = CΔv to help choose the appropriate value. Here i is the desired load current 6V /1kΩ, Δt is the
discharge time in one cycle DT and Δv is the desired ripple 0.1V .

Now choose values for the inductance L and duty cycle D to produce the desired output voltage. As explained in the
text, the average output voltage is roughly VIN/(1 − D), so increasing the duty cycle will raise the output voltage.
One wants to choose D and the cycle time T so that the inductor current reaches zero just as the next cycle begins.

Experiment with the various parameters until the output voltage is 6V with a maximum 0.1V ripple. As a final check,
perform a 10ms TRAN simulation and then click CHECK. The on-line system will be veryifying that the output voltage
meets the specification for 9.5ms < t < 10ms.

EXPLANATION: TEST

The goal of this lab is to explore the properties of second-order circuits. We first wish to change the ω0 of a series
LC circuit. The inductance L is 20mH , and we want to change the capacitance C so that the frequency of
oscillation is 100kH z.

−−
−

The of this circuit is . Therefore, we want ω0 = 2π ⋅ 100kH z . This gives us a capacitance of about
1
ω0 √
LC

F.
−10
1.27 × 10

Now we wish to increase R while leaving L and C the same so that the system is just operating in the over-
damped region. The differential equation governing this circuit is:
=
2
1 d vc R dvc 1
Vi = + + vc
2
LC dt L dt LC

−−
−
Where vc is the capacitor voltage and Vi is the voltage step input. For this circuit, ω0 and α . The
1 R
= √ =
LC 2L

circuit enters the over-damped region of operation once α ≥ ω0 . So for over-damped operation,
−−

≈ 25098Ω .
L
R ≥ 2√
C

Now we want to use our understanding of second-order circuits to build a boost converter. Intuitively, the boost
converter switches between the following two circuits:
In the first circuit, the inductor current rises, and the inductor charges up while the capacitor's energy is
dissipated by the load resistor. In the second circuit, the inductor's current flows through the capacitor, and the
capacitor charges. If the energy dissipated by the resistor can dissipate in one cycle, then the capacitor voltage can
keep rising until the energy deposited and the energy dissipated over one cycle become approximately the same.

We want to adjust C so that the output voltage ripple is less than 0.1V . Using the equation given:

iΔt = CΔv

with i , and Δv , we get a capacitance of about 1μF .

6V 1
= , Δt = DT = 0.5 × = 0.1V
1kΩ 30kH z

Now we wish to adjust the duty cycle D and the inductance L so that the output voltage reaches 6V . If the
VIN
average output voltage is roughly and VIN = 3V , then D ≈ 0.5. With the given 2mH inductor, a duty
(1−D)

cycle of 0.5 is too low to reach 6V . You could find the right duty cycle via experimentation, as analytic analysis may
be too difficult for this problem. A set of values that yields roughly a 6V output voltage with less than 0.1V ripple