Experiment # 07

Four Terminal Networks

RNEW 320
Submitted To: Prof. Wang

Submitted By:
Rakan Althaqfi A00627734

Rayan Althaqafi A00628755

Abdullah Alharbi A00616582

Abdulrahman Alazmi A00625308

 Experiment#7
Abstraction:

In this lab students will design the Circuit for four terminal networks (op-amp) and verify the
circuit using the equations and the Multisim simulation. This experiment allows them to
understand how to Design and analyze a Circuit using OP-amp. Students will analyze the circuit
gain. Multisim environment is used to monitor the overall behavior of the circuit and results are
plotted using oscilloscope.

Objective:

The objective of this experiment is to begin to become familiar with the properties and uses of
the four terminal networks in circuits and engineering in general.

Equipment’s Required:

 Resistors
 Capacitors
 Connecting wires
 Bread board
 Voltage source
 OP-amp
 Oscilloscope

Software Required:

1. Multisim

Introduction:

An Operational Amplifier, or op-amp for short, is fundamentally a voltage amplifying device

designed to be used with external feedback components such as resistors and capacitors between
its output and input terminals. These feedback components determine the resulting function or
“operation” of the amplifier and by virtue of the different feedback configurations whether
resistive, capacitive or both, the amplifier can perform a variety of different operations, giving
rise to its name of “Operational Amplifier”.
An Operational Amplifier is basically a three-terminal device which consists of two high
impedance inputs. One of the inputs is called the Inverting Input, marked with a negative or
“minus” sign, ( – ). The other input is called the Non-inverting Input, marked with a positive or
“plus” sign ( + ).
A third terminal represents the operational amplifiers output port which can both sink and source
either a voltage or a current. In a linear operational amplifier, the output signal is the
amplification factor, known as the amplifiers gain ( A ) multiplied by the value of the input
signal and depending on the nature of these input and output signals, there can be four different
classifications of operational amplifier gain.
 Voltage – Voltage “in” and Voltage “out”
 Current – Current “in” and Current “out”
 Transconductance – Voltage “in” and Current “out”
 Transresistance – Current “in” and Voltage “out”
Since most of the circuits dealing with operational amplifiers are voltage amplifiers, we will
limit the tutorials in this section to voltage amplifiers only, (Vin and Vout).
The output voltage signal from an Operational Amplifier is the difference between the signals
being applied to its two individual inputs. In other words, an op-amps output signal is the
difference between the two input signals as the input stage of an Operational Amplifier is in fact
a differential amplifier as shown below.

Differential Amplifier
The circuit below shows a generalized form of a differential amplifier with two inputs
marked V1 and V2. The two identical transistors TR1 and TR2 are both biased at the same
operating point with their emitters connected together and returned to the common rail, -Vee by
way of resistor Re.

Differential Amplifier
The circuit operates from a dual supply +Vcc and -Vee which ensures a constant supply. The
voltage that appears at the output, Vout of the amplifier is the difference between the two input
signals as the two base inputs are in anti-phase with each other.
So as the forward bias of transistor, TR1 is increased, the forward bias of transistor TR2 is
reduced and vice versa. Then if the two transistors are perfectly matched, the current flowing
through the common emitter resistor, Re will remain constant.
Like the input signal, the output signal is also balanced and since the collector voltages either
swing in opposite directions (anti-phase) or in the same direction (in-phase) the output voltage
signal, taken from between the two collectors is, assuming a perfectly balanced circuit the zero
difference between the two collector voltages.
This is known as the Common Mode of Operation with the common mode gain of the amplifier
being the output gain when the input is zero.
The Voltage Gain (AV) of the operational amplifier can be found using the following formula:

Op-amp Integrator Circuit

As its name implies, the Op-amp Integrator is an operational amplifier circuit that performs the
mathematical operation of Integration, that is we can cause the output to respond to changes in
the input voltage over time as the op-amp integrator produces an output voltage which is
proportional to the integral of the input voltage.
In other words the magnitude of the output signal is determined by the length of time a voltage is
present at its input as the current through the feedback loop charges or discharges the capacitor
as the required negative feedback occurs through the capacitor.
When a step voltage, Vin is firstly applied to the input of an integrating amplifier, the uncharged
capacitor C has very little resistance and acts a bit like a short circuit allowing maximum current
to flow via the input resistor, Rin as potential difference exists between the two plates. No
current flows into the amplifiers input and point X is a virtual earth resulting in zero output. As
the impedance of the capacitor at this point is very low, the gain ratio of XC/RIN is also very small
giving an overall voltage gain of less than one, ( voltage follower circuit ).
As the feedback capacitor, C begins to charge up due to the influence of the input voltage, its
impedance Xc slowly increase in proportion to its rate of charge. The capacitor charges up at a
rate determined by the RC time constant, ( τ ) of the series RC network. Negative feedback
forces the op-amp to produce an output voltage that maintains a virtual earth at the op-amp’s
inverting input.
Since the capacitor is connected between the op-amp’s inverting input (which is at virtual ground
potential) and the op-amp’s output (which is now negative), the potential voltage, Vc developed
across the capacitor slowly increases causing the charging current to decrease as the impedance
of the capacitor increases. This results in the ratio of Xc/Rin increasing producing a linearly
increasing ramp output voltage that continues to increase until the capacitor is fully charged.
At this point the capacitor acts as an open circuit, blocking any more flow of DC current. The
ratio of feedback capacitor to input resistor ( XC/RIN ) is now infinite resulting in infinite gain.
The result of this high gain (similar to the op-amps open-loop gain), is that the output of the
amplifier goes into saturation as shown below. (Saturation occurs when the output voltage of the
amplifier swings heavily to one voltage supply rail or the other with little or no control in
between).

The rate at which the output voltage increases (the rate of change) is determined by the value of
the resistor and the capacitor, “RC time constant“. By changing this RC time constant value,
either by changing the value of the Capacitor, C or the Resistor, R, the time in which it takes the
output voltage to reach saturation can also be changed for example.

If we apply a constantly changing input signal such as a square wave to the input of
an Integrator Amplifier then the capacitor will charge and discharge in response to changes in
the input signal. This results in the output signal being that of a sawtooth waveform whose
output is affected by the RC time constant of the resistor/capacitor combination because at
higher frequencies, the capacitor has less time to fully charge. This type of circuit is also known
as a Ramp Generator and the transfer function is given below.

Op-amp Integrator Ramp Generator

Procedure:

 Build a circuit as illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: OP-Amp amplifier circuit

 Run Select “National Instruments” – “Circuit Design Suite” - Multisim
 Select “place” – “components”
 Apply a voltage source with the voltage equal to 1V with frequency of 3k Hz.
 Select the transient analysis from the simulate and analysis button to check the response
of the circuit.
  Analyze the plot of the output

Schematic

Figure 2: OP-Amp amplifier circuit

Results:
 Figure 3: Output of amplifier circuit

Procedure:

Now repeat same procedure for second circuit(integrator):

 Build a circuit as illustrated in Figure 4.

 Figure 4: OP-amp as Integrator
 Run Select “National Instruments” – “Circuit Design Suite” - Multisim
 Select “place” – “components”
 Apply a voltage impulse source with the voltage equal to -1V to 1V.
 Select the transient analysis from the simulate and analysis button to check the response
of the circuit.
 Analyze the plot of the output

Schematic
 Figure 5: OP-amp as Integrator

Results:

Figure 6: Output of an Integrator

Procedure:
Now repeat same procedure for second circuit(differentiator):

 Build a circuit as illustrated in Figure 7.

Figure 7: OP-amp as Differentiator

 Run Select “National Instruments” – “Circuit Design Suite” - Multisim
 Select “place” – “components”
 Apply a voltage impulse source with the voltage equal to -1V to 1V.
 Select the transient analysis from the simulate and analysis button to check the response
of the circuit.
 Analyze the plot of the output

Schematic
 Figure 8: OP-amp as Differentiator

Results:

Figure 9: Output of a Differentiator

Conclusion:
  Operational amplifier is widely used and it can be used for several purpose depending on
the object under concern.
 The sinusoidal wave experiences a phase shift on both the integrator and the
differentiator circuit.
 Capacitors do have a major role in determining the characteristics of the circuit.

References:

1. https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/opamp/opamp_6.html
2. https://www.student-circuit.com/learning/year1/advanced-circuit-analysis/four-terminal-
network/
3. http://ecelabs.njit.edu/ece392/lab4.php#:~:text=Analog%20op%2Damp%20circuits
%20operate,or%20zero)%20power%20supply%20voltage.