Analysis of wave shaping circuits like RC integrator and RC

differentiator

Objectives

To analyze the wave shaping circuit like RC integrator and differentiator

Theory:

A passive RC network is nothing more than a resistor in series with a capacitor, that is a fixed
resistance in series with a capacitor that has a frequency dependant reactance which decreases
as the frequency across its plates increases. Thus at low frequencies the reactance, Xc of the
capacitor is high while at high frequencies its reactance is low due to the standard capacitive
reactance formula of Xc = 1/(2πƒC), and we saw this effect in our tutorial about Passive Low
Pass Filters.

Then if the input signal is a sine wave, an rc integrator will simply act as a simple low pass
filter (LPF) with a cut-off or corner frequency that corresponds to the RC time constant
(tau, τ) of the series network and whose output is reduced above this cut-off frequency point.
Thus when fed with a pure sine wave an RC integrator acts as a passive low pass filter.

As we have seen previously, the RC time constant reflects the relationship between the
resistance and the capacitance with respect to time with the amount of time, given in seconds,
being directly proportional to resistance, R and capacitance, C.

Thus the rate of charging or discharging depends on the RC time constant, τ = RC. Consider
the circuit below.

For an RC integrator circuit, the input signal is applied to the resistance

with the output taken across the capacitor, then V OUT equals VC. That is it
takes a certain amount of time for the capacitor to fully charge as the
capacitor cannot charge instantaneously only charge exponentially.

Therefore the capacitor current can be written as:

 
This basic equation above of iC = C(dVc/dt) can also be expressed as the instantaneous rate of
change of charge, Q with respect to time giving us the following standard equation
of: iC = dQ/dt where the charge Q = C x Vc, that is capacitance times voltage.

RC Time Constant

 
Then we can see that as both i and R cancel out, only T remains indicating that the time
constant of an RC integrator circuit has the dimension of time in seconds, being given the
Greek letter tau, τ. Note that this time constant reflects the time (in seconds) required for the
capacitor to charge up to 63.2% of the maximum voltage or discharge down to 36.8% of max
RC Integrator Formula

So an RC integrator circuit is one in which the output voltage, VOUT is proportional to the
integral of the input voltage, and with this in mind, lets see what happens when we apply a
single positive pulse in the form of a step voltage to the RC integrator circuit.

When a single step voltage pulse is applied to the input of an RC integrator, the capacitor
charges up via the resistor in response to the pulse. However, the output is not instant as the
voltage across the capacitor cannot change instantaneously but increases exponentially as the
capacitor charges at a rate determined by the RC time constant, τ = RC.

Apparatus

 Capacitor
 ResistorCROFunction generator

Procedure

 I implemented the designed differentiator. I adjusted the input wave form as a sinusoidal
wave and measure the input amplitude and kept it fixed during experiment.
 I measured and observed the waveform across the resistor and measured the voltage gain
at each setting of frequency. I observed the differentiation action by the circuit.
 I applied different sine waves, square waves and triangular waves to the circuit and
observed the output.
 I applied the square waves at the input and measured the delay time t Dfrom the
oscilloscope.
 I repeated step 1-2 for designed integrator circuit as well.
 I applied square wave to the circuit and measured the rise time t
Observation and calculation table

RC-Differentiator

Voltage
Frequency(Hz) Voltage(volts) gain(dB)
10 0.1
100 0.5
1000 5.391
10000 9.876
100000 9.99
1000000 10
10000000 10

RC-Differentiator(High-pass)
12

10

8
magnitude(volts)

0
10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000
frequency(Hz)
 Frequency(Hz) Output voltage(volts) Voltage gain (dB)

100 9.98

1000 8.46

10000 1.57

20000 0.79

RC-Integrator(low pass)
10
9
8
7
magnitude(volts)

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
100
frequency(kHz)
Simulation
RC-integrator

RC-Differentiator
Conclusion:
 A differentiator gives the derivative of input voltage as output. A differentiator using

passive components resistors and capacitors is a high pass filter.

 The input signal to the differentiator is applied to the capacitor.

 At higher frequencies the reactance of the capacitor is much lower resulting in a

higher gain and higher output voltage from the differentiator amplifier.

 The RC circuit has thousands of uses and is a very important circuit to study.

 Not only can it be used to time circuits, it can also be used to filter out unwanted

frequencies in a circuit and used in power supplies, like the one for your computer, to

help turn ac voltage to dc voltage.