Sohar University

Faculty of Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering Program

Instrumentation and Measurements

ELEC2113

Module 1- Practical Component

Typical Instrumentation system and

measurements

2020-2021
 Experiment 1
Operational amplifier

Fundamentals: AC Amplifier

Figure 1

In the Inverting Amplifier circuit shown in Figure 1 the operational amplifier is connected
with feedback to produce a closed loop operation. When dealing with operational
amplifiers there are two very important rules to remember about inverting amplifiers, these
are: “No current flows into the input terminal” and that “V 1 always equals V2”.

This is because the junction of the input and feedback signal ( X ) is at the same potential
as the positive ( + ) input which is at zero volts or ground then, the junction is a “Virtual
Earth”. Because of this virtual earth node the input resistance of the amplifier is equal to
the value of the input resistor, Rin and the closed loop gain of the inverting amplifier can
be set by the ratio of the two external resistors.

We said above that there are two very important rules to remember about Inverting
Amplifiers or any operational amplifier for that matter and these are.

1. No Current Flows into the Input Terminals

2. The Differential Input Voltage is Zero as V1 = V2 = 0 (Virtual Earth)

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 The Summing Amplifier

The gain of an operational amplifier is typically one million. To keep within saturation limits
the input voltage must therefore be less than one millionth of the output voltage, or a few
microvolts. The input voltage is so low that the input is known as the a virtual ground
(VG) (Fig 16.1).
The input impedance of the operational amplifier is very high, typically measured in MΩ.
With an input voltage in μV and an input impedance in MΩ, the input current to the Op
Amp is non-existent, or at least negligibly small. From Kirchhoff's Laws, the current(s) into
a junction must be the same as the current(s) out of the junction, so, since there is no
current flowing into the Op Amp, the feedback current (IF) must be equal to the sum of the
three input currents
(I1, I2 & I3).

If all of the resistors are made the same size, then they cancel out in the equation leaving:
VO = V1 + V2 + V3 + . . . .
The output voltage is the sum of the three input voltages. However, since the inverting
input has been used it will be of opposite sign or polarity, so an inverter has been added to
restore the original polarity. Other input branches may be added.
The main characteristics for the device provided are:

Figure 2: Summing Amplifier Circuit

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Differential Amplifiers

Figure 3

• The Differential Amplifier produces an output that is proportional to the

difference between the two input voltages.

Equipment Required

• DIGIAC 1750 Transducer and Instrumentation Trainer.

• 4mm Connecting Leads.
• Digital Multimeter.

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Procedure:

Part 1: Characteristics of a Summing Amplifier

• Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 4. Set the variable resistors to their central
positions.
• Switch ON the power supply.
• Adjust the controls of the three resistors to vary the input voltages to the summing
amplifier. Note that variation of any of the input voltages affects the output voltage
(multimeter V2).You will find that increasing the input voltages will increase the
output voltage up to a certain maximum (saturation), after which any further
increase of input does not increase the output any more.
• Determine this maximum (saturation) output voltage.

Figure 4

Maximum possible output =± V voltage

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 • Using multimeter V1, set the Summing Amplifier input voltages to the values
indicated in the first row of Table 2. Record the expected output voltage and the
measured output voltage (multimeter V2).

Table 1
• Repeat the procedure for the other settings listed in Table 1 to verify that the output
voltage is the sum of the input voltages as long as you keep within the saturation
limits.

Part 2: Characteristics of a Differential Amplifier

Figure 5

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 • Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 5 and switch ON the power supply.
• Set the voltages at inputs A and B of the Differential Amplifier to -3V on each input.
Note the resulting output voltage and record this in Table 2.

Table 2

• Repeat the procedure for each of the other pairs of inputs in Table 3 and record the
output voltage again.

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