POWER AMPLIFIERS

CLASS A POWER AMPLIFIER:

A power amplifier is called Class A amplifier if the transistor used in the circuit conducts for
full cycle of the input signal.

The operating point(Q) is selected approximately at the (Biased) centre, so that the output
current faithfully follows the input signal. The transistor remains in the active region for the full
input signal. Transistor is not operated in Cut off or Saturation region. Transistor conducts for full
360. as shown in .Thus the collector current also flows for full 360. Or full cycle. The base
current changes sinusoidally, above and below to the quiescent base current. The collector
output current also changes sinusoidally above and below the quiescent current value. They are
in phase with each other. Due to this Ic change, Vce will also change sinusoidally as shown in
but out of phase 180. Input is amplified faithfully without any distortions.Since transistor is
operated in active region continuously the collector current and voltage are high.This high
collector output produces large power which is dissipated as heat.Hence the efficiency of Class
A power amplifier is Low.
Load line analysis :
Advantages:
(1) simple construction
(2) Distortion less output voltage
Disadvantage:
(1) very low efficiency (25%)
(2) Large power dissipation in the transistors.
(3) Output Impedance is very large.
Applications
Class A is found most often in applications that require low power and low distortion, such as for
radio or guitar amplifiers.

Class B Power Amplifier:

The output power is obtained for one half cycle of input only. Refer Figure . The collector
current flows for 180 degrees only. For this the Q point is adjusted so that it is in cut off region.

The transistor conducts one half cycle only for the positive half cycle of the input and in
Negative cycle of input the transistor goes into Off state. Thus collector current flows only for
one half cycle. Since the transistor conducts for one half cycle of the input the power dissipation
of these class B amplifiers are very less. Hence efficiency gets increased.

Advantages:
● Impedance with load is possible.
● Second harmonic get automatically canceled.
● Zero power dissipation.
● High efficiency compared with class A amplifiers.

Disadvantage:
Crossover distortion is present in the output waveform. Since, the transistor is biased at cut
off region the waveform is distorted near zero crossings. Efficiency is not so high.
Applications:
● These are mainly used in the low-cost design.
● These amplifiers are very significant as compared to the class-A amplifiers.
● This type of amplifier suffers mainly from distortion if the level of signal is low.
● These are mainly used in two complementary transistors like bipolar and FET.

CLASS C AMPLIFIERS:

In class C the transistor conducts for less than one half cycle period of the input i.e around 80º
to 120º angle. This reduced conduction angle increases the efficiency (Theoretically around 90
%). But this kind of operation causes large distortions. Hence, it is not used in Audio
applications. Tuned circuit is used as load.

When the input signal is applied the tuned circuit starts resonating at the frequency of the
input signal. Transistor produces a series of current pulses based on the input. By selecting
Proper L1, C1 resonance can be achieved. This resonance frequency is extracted by the tuned
load at the output. Harmonics can be eliminated by adding filters to the circuit. The biasing
resistance pulls the q point below Cut off region. Hence the transistor conducts only after the
input amplitude is greater than the base emitter voltage.
Advantages:
1. Less Physical size.
2. Used in RF applications.
3. High Efficiency (higher than 95%)
4. Low power loss in power transistors

Disadvantage:
1. Creates lot of RF Interference.
2. election of ideal Inductors is problem.
3. Not suitable in Audio applications.

Applications:
Tuned amplifiers, RF amplifiers, oscillators, Booster amplifiers, and High Frequency repeaters.

Class AB Power Amplifier

As the name implies, class AB is a combination of class A and class B type of amplifiers. As
class A has the problem of low efficiency and class B has distortion problem, this class AB is
emerged to eliminate these two problems, by utilizing the advantages of both the classes.
The cross over distortion is the problem that occurs when both the transistors are OFF at the
same instant, during the transition period. In order to eliminate this, the condition has to be
chosen for more than one half cycle. Hence, the other transistor gets into conduction, before the
operating transistor switches to cut off state. This is achieved only by using class AB
configuration, as shown in the following circuit diagram.
 The small bias voltage given using diodes D1 and D2, as shown in the above figure, helps the
operating point to be above the cutoff point. Hence the output waveform of class AB results as
seen in the above figure. The crossover distortion created by class B is overcome by this class
AB, as well the inefficiencies of class A and B don’t affect the circuit.
So, the class AB is a good compromise between class A and class B in terms of efficiency and
linearity having the efficiency reaching about 50% to 60%. The class A, B and AB amplifiers are
called as linear amplifiers because the output signal amplitude and phase are linearly related to
the input signal amplitude and phase.
Advantages:
1. The class AB has a linear behavior
2. The design of this amplifier is very simple
3. The distortion of this amplifier is less than 0.1%
4. The sound quality of this sound is very high
Disadvantages:
1. The power dissipation of this amplifier generates the heat and requires large amount of
heat sink.
2. This amplifier has low power efficiency and the average efficiency is less than 50%.

Applications:
1. Used in Audio Frequency (AF) amplifiers in TVs
2. Used in Public addressing systems
3. Used in TV receivers
4. Used in radio receivers
5. Used in CD players.
6. Used satellite and other wireless communication system.

Report by: SE-ECS( 2022-23)

23-Husainali Lokhandwala

24-Sniddhi Malankar

25-Sanjib Mandal