Adama Science and Technology University

School of Electrical Engineering and Computing

Course Title: Electronic Circuit I
Course Number:ECE2101
Lab: Experiment Number 4 and 5
Title: Clipper , Clamper and Voltage Multiplier Circuits
Name ID No.
1 Samuel Tolossa Ugr/25454/14
2 Kiduse Asnake Ugr/25665/14
3 Kirubel Asfaw Ugr/24585/14
4 Meriat Akalu Ugr/25909/14
5 Mahlet Girma Ugr/25725/14
6 Nagasa Dereje Ugr/26547/14
7 Natan Muleta Ugr/25576/14

Submitted to:
Date of conduction: april 11, 2023
Date of submission: april 25, 2023
 Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge our lab assistant for his support and explanation in the
laboratory. Through the group work and experiment we were able to comprehend the topics
that were raised and able to communicate with each other well.

Theoretical Background
Clippers are networks that employ diodes to “clip” away a portion of an input signal without
distorting the remaining part of the applied waveform. There are two general categories of
clippers: series and parallel. The series configuration is defined as one where the diode is in
series with the load, whereas the parallel variety has the diode in a branch parallel to the load.

Figure 1: Series Clipper

Figure 2: Parallel Clipper

The ability of a clipper circuit to clip off a positive and a negative section is determined by the
magnitude of the dc supplies.

A clamper is a network constructed of a diode, a resistor, and a capacitor that shifts a waveform
to a different dc level without changing the appearance of the applied signal. Additional shifts
can also be obtained by introducing a dc supply to the basic structure. Clamping networks have
a capacitor connected directly from input to output with a resistive element in parallel with the
output signal. The diode is also in parallel with the output signal but may or may not have a
series dc supply as an added element.

Figure 3: Clamper Circuits

 Lab – 4: Clipper and Clamper Circuits
Objectives:
 To analyze the action of clipper and clamper Circuits.
Apparatus Used:
 DC power supply
 Variable AC power supply
 Digital Multimeter (DMM)
 Resistors:1kΩ
 Diode: Silicon (1N4007)
 Breadboard
 Oscilloscope
 Connecting Wires
 Electrolytic Capacitors

Procedures
Clipper Circuit
1. First of all we placed our components and instruments on a fine surface to begin our
experiment.
2. Thereafter we constructed a circuit on the breadboard where the AC source is in series
with the resistor and then the diode is in series with the resistor. Following the diode DC
source is in series which then finishes with the AC source being in series with the DC
source.
3. Then we set the DC source to 2V and the peak to peak voltage of the AC source to 10V.
Also here we set the frequency to 1 KHz.
4. Then by placing the probes of the oscilloscope at the two ends of the diode we observed
the output wave form.
5. Then we measured and recorded the DC and AC level of the output using a digital
Multimeter.
6. Finally we repeated all the above procedures when our diode is reversed. Meaning for
the positive clipper circuit.
Clamper Circuit
1. First of all we placed our components and instruments on a fine surface to begin our
experiment.
2. And we constructed a circuit containing a capacitor, a diode and an AC source. This
clamper was designed as a negative clamper.

3. Thereafter we set the peak to peak Voltage of the AC source to 10V. And we set the
frequency to 1 kHz.
4. Then we connected the oscilloscope to the circuit and observed the output wave form.
5. Finally we repeated all the above steps to a positive clamper which we obtained by
reversing the diode.

Result and Discussion

After conducting our experiments we have obtained the following output wave-forms.
1. Design a clamper circuit to add a DC value of 3V to a sinusoidal input of peak value 5V.

Observations and Conclusion

We have observed the following points:

 The clipper Circuit cuts out part of a wave form displaying the output we wanted to see
from the input wave form. The part of the wave form to be cut depends up on the
direction of the diode, the available sources and the way the diode is connected to the
resistor (series or parallel).
 The clamper circuit does not bring any change to the input wave form. Rather it moves
(shifts) it by the value we determined it to in the circuit. The shifting of the circuits
depends up on the direction of the diode, and the available sources.

Voltage Multiplier Circuits

Theoretical Background
Voltage-multiplier circuits are employed to maintain a relatively low transformer peak voltage
while stepping up the peak output voltage to two, three, four, or more times the peak rectified
voltage.

Figure 1: Half wave voltage doubler and its operations

During the positive voltage half cycle across the transformer, secondary diode D1 conducts (and
diode D2 is cut off), charging capacitor C1 up to the peak rectified voltage (Vm). Diode D1 is
ideally a short during this half-cycle, and the input voltage charges capacitor C1 to Vm with the
polarity. During the negative half-cycle of the secondary voltage, diode D1 is cut off and diode
D2 conducts charging capacitor C2. Since diode D2 acts as a short during the negative half-cycle
(and diode D1 is open).On the next positive half-cycle, diode D2 is non-conducting and
capacitor C2 will discharge through the load. If no load is connected across capacitor C2, both
capacitors stay charged— C1 to V m and C2 to 2Vm. If, as would be expected, there is a load
connected to the output of the voltage doubler, the voltage across capacitor C2 drops during
the positive half-cycle (at the input) and the capacitor is recharged up to 2Vm during the
negative half cycle. The output waveform across capacitor C2 is that of a half-wave signal
filtered by a capacitor filter. The peak inverse voltage across each diode is 2Vm.
Another doubler circuit is the full-wave doubler of Figure 2. During the positive half-cycle of
transformer secondary voltage diode D1 conducts, charging capacitor C1 to a peak voltage Vm.
Diode D2 is non-conducting at this time. During the negative half-cycle diode D2 conducts,
charging capacitor C2, while diode D1 is non-conducting. If no load current is drawn from the
circuit, the voltage across capacitors C1 and C2 is 2Vm. If load current is drawn from the circuit,
the voltage across capacitors C1 and C2 is the same as that across a capacitor fed by a full-wave
rectifier circuit. One difference is that the effective capacitance is that of C1 and C2 in series,
which is less than the capacitance of either C1 or C2 alone. The lower capacitor value will
provide poorer filtering action than the single-capacitor filter circuit.
 Figure 2: Half wave voltage doubler and its operations
The peak inverse voltage across each diode is 2Vm, as it is for the filter capacitor circuit. In
summary, the half-wave or full-wave voltage-doubler circuits provide twice the peak voltage of
the transformer secondary while requiring no center-tapped transformer and only 2Vm PIV
rating for the diodes.

Objectives:
 To analyze Voltage doubler circuits.
Apparatus Used:
 AC power supply
 Digital Multimeter (DMM)
 Diode: (1N4001)
 Breadboard
 Oscilloscope
 Connecting Wires
 Capacitors

Procedures
Half-wave Voltage Doubler
1. First we placed our instruments on a fine surface to begin our experiment.
2. Then we set the peak to peak voltage of the AC power source 12V. Right then we
measured the Vrms by using a Digital Multimeter.
3. Thereafter we constructed the circuit shown in Figure 3.
4. Following the above we measured the voltage values of the two capacitors and the load
resistor.
5. Finally we measured the ripple voltage by using a DMM.
 Figure 3: Half-wave voltage doubler

Full-wave Voltage Doubler

1. We placed and arranged our instruments on a fine surface to begin our experiment.
2. Again we set our peak to peak voltage of the AC power source to 12V.
3. Thereafter we constructed the circuit shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Full-wave voltage doubler

4. The same with half-wave doubler, we also measured the voltage across the two
capacitors and the load resistor.
5. Finally we measured the ripple voltage by using a DMM.

Result and Discussion

After conducting our experiments we have obtained the following results.
Voltage Doubler
Half-wave Full-wave
VRL(V) 8.28 9.2
VC1(V) 8.22 4.62
VC2(V) 4.41 4.61
Vrms (V) 4.31 4.52
Vripple(V) 0.42 0.42

Observations and Conclusion

We have observed the following points:
Half-wave Voltage Doubler
  The voltage across the first capacitor is the same as the rms Voltage. However the
voltages across the second capacitor and the load resistance are double of the DC
voltage.
 To measure the rms voltage (DC voltage) we set our DMM to DC voltage measurer and
place it across the source.
 When we wish to measure the ripple voltage we set our DMM to AC voltage measuring
mode and place the probes across the resistor. This will tell us how much AC is left in the
Multiplied DC voltage.
Full-wave Voltage Doubler
 The voltage across each capacitor is the same as the rms voltage, but the load resistor
voltage is the double of the rms Voltage.
 The way we measure the ripple and rms Voltages is the same as with the half-wave
doubler.

References
 Electronic devices and circuit Theory 11th edition, R. L. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky

Thank you!!!