Analysis of low pass RC and high pass RL filter circuits

Objective:

Study the characteristics of passive filters by obtaining the frequency response of low pass
RC filter and high pass RL filter.

Apparatus:

 Resistors(200Ώ ,1.1KΏ)
 Inductor(33mH)
 Capacitor(1 μF)

Theory:

A High Pass Filter is the exact opposite to the low pass filter circuit as the two components
have been interchanged with the filters output signal now being taken from across the
resistor. Where as the low pass filter only allowed signals to pass below its cut-off frequency
point, ƒc, the passive high pass filter circuit as its name implies, only passes signals above the
selected cut-off point, ƒc eliminating any low frequency signals from the waveform. Consider
the circuit below. In this circuit arrangement, the reactance of the capacitor is very high at
low frequencies so the capacitor acts like an open circuit and blocks any input signals
at VIN until the cut-off frequency point ( ƒC ) is reached. Above this cut-off frequency point
the reactance of the capacitor has reduced sufficiently as to now act more like a short circuit
allowing all of the input signal to pass directly to the output as shown below in the filters
response curve.
For RC filter:

fc= ½ πRC

For RL filters:

R
fc=
2 πL

Frequency Response:

It is a graph of magnitude of the output voltage of the filter as a function of the frequency. It
is generally used to characterize the range of frequencies in which the filter is designed to
operate within.

Procedure:

Low Pass RC filter:

1. Set up the circuit shown in the Figure 11.1 with the components values R=200Ώ, C=1
μF. Switch on the power supply.
2. Select the function generator and apply 4V peak-peak sinusoidal wave as input
voltage to the circuit.
3. Select the oscilloscope from the menu. Make sure the source on channel A, source on
channel B, trigger and time base input boxes are properly set.
 4. Vary the frequency to sweep through a range of 100KHz to 1KHz in steps of 100Hz
and from 1KHz to 20 KHz in steps of 5KHz. Observe the response on the scope in
each case and note down the output voltage for the corresponding input frequency.
5. Compute the 70% of Vp-p and obtain the frequency at which this occurs on the
oscilloscope. This gives the cut-off frequency for the constructed Low Pass RC filter.

High Pass RL Filter:

1. Set up the circuit shown in the Figure 2 with the component values R=1.1KΏ,
L=33mH: and switch on the power supply.
2. Repeat the steps 2 and 3 as in part A to obtain the frequency response on the
oscilloscope.
3. Vary the frequency to sweep through a range of 0 to 1KHz in steps of 100Hz and
from 1KHz to 10 KHz in steps of 1KHz. Observe the response on the scope in each
case and note down the output voltage for the corresponding input frequency.
4. Compute the 70% of Vp-p and obtain the frequency at which this occurs on the
oscilloscope. This gives the cut-off frequency for the constructed High Pass RL filter.

Simulation

High Pass RL-circuit& Low pass RC-circuit

Observation and Calculation table

Low pass RC filter

Frequency(kHz Output voltage(volts) Phase angle

)

0.1 9.98 87

1 8.46 59

10 1.57 60

20 0.79 57

RC-low pass
10
9
8
7
output volt(V)

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
100 1000 10000
frequency(kHz)
High pass RL filter
Here the cut-off frequency fc=5307.1 by using the formula f=R/2∏L as L=33mH ,R=1100

f(Hz) Vo(volt) Phase angle

100 0.07636 54
200 0.1524 67
300 0.2287 85
400 0.3046 48
500 0.3801 39
600 0.4558 77
700 0.5299 81
800 0.604 52
900 0.67749 80
1000 0.7502 43
2000 1.42 32
3000 1.998 25
4000 2.428 58
5000 2.762 51
6000 3.01 56
7000 3.2 83
8000 3.347 88
9000 3.45 75
10000 3.544 65
100000 3.99 63
1000000 4 47
10000000 4 85
10000000 89
0 4
 frequency(f) versus voltage( Vo)
4.5
4
3.5
3
voltage(v)

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000 100000000
frequency

Conclusions

 In this lab we introduced with high pass RL and low pass RC circuit.
 There was also some distraction during calculation but we tried to take accurate readings.
 My investigation was a fair test. I drew a line of best fit using the different voltage
readings across inductor , capacitor and resistor, which helped me to prove my theory.
 By using CRO practically and signal generator during the experiment , now I
clearly know about the working of CRO and signal generator.
 In this experiment we worked with bread board and also worked with CRO and signal
generator.
 We learned how to find phase angle of circuit and saw the effect of RL and RC circuit as
High pass and low pass waves.
 We also studied the phasor behavior of RLC with AC power supply.
 Some sources of error between the calculated and actual results are: internal resistance of
the inductor, and uncertainty in determining the exact resonant frequency from the
oscilloscope, human reading and manipulation error.
 In general our actual results compared favorably with the expected results.