SIF2020

Lecture 10 (b): Power Amplifiers

Class B amplifier

1
Class B Amplifier

• The active device (transistor) conducts only for one half cycle of the input signal.
• That means the conduction angle is 180° for a Class B amplifier.

• To improve the full power efficiency of the previous class A amplifier by

reducing the wasted power in the form of heat it is possible to design
the power amplifier circuit with two transistor in its output stage
producing what is commonly termed as a Class B amplifier also
known as a push-pull amplifier configuration.
• Class B is far more efficient but can lead to signal distortions.
• The solution is to find a half-way house that tries to take the good
points of each and minimise the problems.
• The most common solutions is class AB amplifier
 CLASS B AMPLIFIER OPERATION

Input (DC) Power

Idc is the average or dc current
drawn from the power
supplies

I(p) is the peak value of the

output current waveform

Efficiency

Output (AC) Power

Power dissipated by output transistors
or P2Q – power dissipated
by 2 output transistors
Using
Using
rms
oscilloscope
meter PQ – power dissipated
by each transistors
Example:
For a class B amplifier providing 20V peak signal to a 16  load (speaker) and a power supply of VCC = 30 V,
determine the input power, output power and circuit efficiency.

Solution:
Maximum Power Considerations

For class B operation, the maximum output power is delivered to the load The maximum power dissipated by the two output
when VL(p) = VCC
transistors occurs when the output voltage across the
load is
Example:
For a class B amplifier using a supply of VCC = 30 V, and driving a load of 16 , determine the maximum input
power, output power and transistor dissipation.

Solution:
CLASS B AMPLIFIER CIRCUITS

(a) center-tapped (c) Phase-splitter circuits

transformer provides (b) Uses a BJT stage with
opposite-phase signals in-phase output from the
emitter and opposite-phase
output from the collector

• The input signals could be a single signal providing 2 opposite polarity signals
• The input of two opposite-polarity signals with two similar stages could be used (each operating on the
alternate cycle because of the input signal)
• transformer-coupled amplifier is the most popular amplifier
Transformer-Coupled Push–Pull Circuits
• Center-tapped input transformer to
produce opposite-polarity signals to the
two transistor inputs and an output
transformer to drive the load in a push–
pull mode of operation.
• The current I1 through the transformer
results in the first half-cycle of signal to
the load.
• During the second half-cycle of the input
signal, Q2 conducts, whereas Q1 stays off,
• the current I2 through the transformer
resulting in the second half-cycle to the
load.
• The overall signal developed across the
load then varies over the full cycle of
signal operation.
Complementary-symmetry circuits
Quasi-Complementary Push-Pull Amplifiers Amplifier Distortion

• Any signal varying over less than the full 360o cycle
will have distortion
• Distortion caused by not linear device characteristic
• Distortion can occur to all classes of amplifiers
• Fourier analysis- a method describes distorted but
period waveforms
• Harmonics: any periodic waveforms in terms of
fundamental frequency component and frequency
components at integer multiples
• Ex. Original frequency 1 kHz; after distortion;
harmonics components at 2kHz (2 x 1kHz), 3 kHz (3
x 1 kHz), etc
• If the fundamentals frequency has an amplitude A1,
the nth frequency component has an amplitude An, a
harmonic distortion can be defined as:
Example:
Calculate the harmonic distortion components for an output signal having fundamental amplitude of 2.5 V,
second harmonic amplitude of 0.25 V, third harmonic amplitude of 0.1 V, and fourth harmonic amplitude
of 0.05 V.

Solution:
Total Harmonic Distortion
An output signal has a number of individual harmonic distortion components, the total harmonic distortion
(THD) based on the individual elements is :

Example:
Calculate the total harmonic distortion for the amplitude components given in the previous example:

Solution:
 Solution:
Example:
For the circuit of the figure given here,
calculate the input power, output power
and power handled by each output
transistor and the circuit efficiency for an
input of 12 V rms.
Graphical Description of Harmonic
Components of a Distorted Signal
To be continued…