Passive Filters

Electronic filters are divided into two types, Active filters and Passive filters. The active
filters are made of active components such as transistors, integrated circuits and operational
amps or op-amps. These filters require powering from an external power supply, and help in
signal processing. On the other hand, passive filters are made of passive components such as
resistors, capacitors and inductors. They don’t require an external power source, and they help
in controlling and modifying the property of frequency range. Passive filters are divided as
follows:

Figure 1: Passive filters type

Low Pass Filters:

A low pass filter is a circuit that permits the signals lower than the cutoff frequency to
pass the output, while attenuating and rejecting the frequencies higher than the cutoff
frequency.

Figure 2: Low-pass filter block diagram and general response curve

- RC low pass filters:
In an RC low-pass circuit, a resistor and a
capacitor are connected to the power supply
Vin, and the output voltage is taken across the
capacitor. When the frequency is 0Hz, the
output voltage will equal the input voltage
because the capacitor’s impedance (XC) will
be very high, and it can be represented as
Figure 3: Low pass RC circuit
follows:

𝑉𝑖𝑛 = 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡

As the frequency increases, Xc will start decreasing, until its impedance equals the
resistor’s impedance. When the two impedances are equal, a critical frequency is
made.

And the critical frequency is represented as follows:

The output voltage at any particular frequency can be calculated using the
voltage divider rule:

At the critical frequency, where Xc=R, the output voltage is given by:
 From the previous derivation, we notice that at the critical frequency, the output
voltage will be 70.7% of the input voltage. We can also calculate the decibels at the
critical frequency using the following equation

- RL Low pass filters:

RL circuits are made of two main
components that are connected in series and
the output voltage is taken across the resistor.
Just like in RC circuits, when the frequency
is zero the input voltage will equal the output
voltage Vin=Vout . When the frequency increase,
the inductor’s impedance will increase. When
the impedance equals the resistor, a critical
Figure 4: Low pass RL circuit
frequency is made.

At the critical frequency, the output voltage is equal to 70.7% of the input
voltage. The decibels will equal -3dB.
High Pass Filters:
A high pass filter is a circuit that permits the signals higher than the cutoff frequency to
pass the output, while attenuating and rejecting the frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency.

Figure 5: High-pass filter block diagram and general response curve

 - RC High pass filters:
In an RC high-pass circuit, a resistor and a
capacitor are connected to the power supply Vin, and
the output voltage is taken across the resistor. At the
critical frequency, the output voltage would be
0.707Vin and Xc=R. As the frequency increases, the
value of Xc decreases. The frequency can be
Figure 6: High pass RC circuit
calculated using the following formula:

- RL High pass filters:

RL circuits are made of two main components
that are connected in series and the output voltage
is taken across the Inductor.
When the frequency increase, the inductor’s
impedance will increase. When the impedance
equals the resistor, a critical frequency is made.
The frequency can be calculated using the
following formula: Figure 7: High pass RL circuit

Phase shift in Low/high pass configuration

- Phase shift in low pass filters:
Since there are capacitors and inductors in passive filter, a phase shift will occur
depending on the element presenting in the circuit. In the phase shift angle can be
found using the following equations:

At the critical frequency, the impedance of the resistor will equal the impedance of the
capacitor or the inductor XC=R, XL=R. Since the two impedances are having the same value, the
the angle will equal -45⁰.
 Figure 8: Phase shift of low pass filter

Phase shift in Low/high pass configuration

- Phase shift in high pass filters:
Since there are capacitors and inductors in passive filter, a phase shift will occur
depending on the element presenting in the circuit. In the phase shift angle can be
found using the following equations:

At the critical frequency, the impedance of the resistor will equal the impedance of the
capacitor or the inductor XC=R, XL=R. Since the two impedances are having the same value, the
the angle will equal +45⁰.

Figure 9: Phase shift of high pass filter

Band pass filters
A band pass filter is a combination of passive elements in a certain configuration. It allows
a certain band of frequency to pass, and the rejects the the ones below and above the pass band.
The output voltage ≥ 0.707Vin. The bandwidth can be calculated using the following formula:

Figure 9: Phase shift of high pass filter

Low pass and high pass circuit

Band pass filter are made of a combination of a low pass and a high pass circuit.
Where each and every circuit of them contains a cutoff frequency, the frequencies
lower than the low pass filter’s cutoff frequency will pass. At the same time, the
frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency of the high pass filter are going to pass.
The leaves us with a pass band that has a high and a low cutoff frequencies just like
the following illustrations:

Figure 10: Low pass/ High pass configuration

 Figure 11: The overlapping between the 2 filters

- Series resonant band pass filter:

In this type of filter, the current will be at its maximum value and the
impedance will have its minimum value when the resonant frequency is set. The
resonant frequency is also called the center frequency. The band width in this
circuit is calculated using the quality factor in the following formula:

Figure 12: Series resonant band pass filter

 - Parallel resonant band pass filter:
In this type of filter, a parallel configuration of the passive elements is
implemented. The parallel circuit works as a voltage divider circuit. When the
resonance frequency is reached, the sum of impedances will be higher than the
resistance. Therefore, the total impedance of the parallel configuration will be
higher than the resistance. Therefore, most of the source voltage will be be across
the parallel set-up, and a maximum value of the outout voltage at the center
frequency.

Figure 13: Parallel resonant band pass filter

Band stop filters

A band pass filter is a combination of passive elements in a certain configuration. It blocks
a certain band of frequency, set between two frequency, and allows the the ones below and
above the pass band to pass. The figure below shows the configuration of the band stop filter:

Figure 14: A low-pass and a high-pass filter are used to form a band-stop filter.
 Figure 15: General Band stop response curve

Figure 16: Band stop response curve

- Series resonant band stop filter:

In this type of filter, the ouput will be at its minimum value and the
impedance will have its minimum value when the resonant frequency is set. At
frequencies higher or lower than the resonant frequencies, the impedance will
increase and increase the outout voltage accordingly.

Figure 17: Series resonant band stop circuit

 - Parallel resonant band stop filter:
In this type of filter, a parallel configuration of the passive elements is
implemented, and then is set in series with the resistor. As the impedance of the
parallel configuration increases, the resonant frequency appears and most the input
voltage is dropped across it, leaving the resistor with a very small amount of voltage
drop. As the impedance decrease, the output voltage will increase.

Figure 17: Parallel resonant band stop circuit

To sums it up, Passive filters are made of different configurations of passive elements,
capacitors, resistors and inductors. High pass and low pass filters are made have the same
components, we can implement the other filter by reversing the the positions. Same goes for
the band pass and the band stop filters, where we can implent the other filter by reversing the
resistance and the impedance tank.

References
Floyd, T., 2013. Principles Of Electric Circuits: Pearson New International Edition.
9th ed. Harlow: Pearson,
Alexander, C. and Sadiku, M., 2012. Fundamentals Of Electric Circuits. 5th ed.
Science Engineering & Math; 5th edition.