DIODE LIMITER

The diode limiter also called Clipper as it is used to limit the input voltage. A basic diode limiter circuit is
composed of a diode and a resistor. Depending upon the circuit configuration and bias, the circuit may clip or
eliminate all or part of an input waveform.
A diode limiter is a circuit that uses diodes to limit the amplitude of a signal. It is commonly employed in
electronics to protect sensitive components from excessive voltage levels or to prevent signal distortion in
communication systems. Diode limiters are simple and effective devices that operate based on the nonlinear
characteristics of diodes.

A diode limiter is a circuit that employs the nonlinear characteristics of diodes to restrict the amplitude of an
input signal. By utilizing the threshold voltage, or forward voltage drop, of diodes, typically around 0.6 to 0.7
volts for silicon diodes, these devices selectively conduct current when the input signal surpasses a certain
level. This conduction causes a "clipping" effect, limiting the amplitude of the signal. Diode limiters find
applications in various fields, including communication systems and radar, where they safeguard sensitive
components from damage due to high voltages or strong signals. While effective in amplitude control, diode
limiters may introduce some nonlinear distortion to the signal, and their performance can be frequency-
dependent. Despite these limitations, their simplicity and reliability make them valuable tools in electronic
circuit design, particularly for protection and signal conditioning purposes.
There are two common types of diode limiters:
1. Clipping Limiter: This type of limiter clips or limits the signal at a certain voltage level. It is often used to
protect downstream circuitry from excessive signal amplitudes.
A clipping limiter is a type of diode limiter that restricts or clips the amplitude of an input signal when it
exceeds a certain threshold. The purpose of a clipping limiter is to prevent the signal from reaching levels that
could potentially damage or distort downstream components in an electronic circuit.
Clipping limiters are commonly used in audio processing applications, such as guitar distortion pedals or audio
compressors, where it is desirable to shape the waveform by introducing controlled clipping. In communication
systems, clipping limiters can be used to prevent signal distortion and ensure that signals stay within
acceptable levels to avoid interference and distortion in the transmission process.
2. Clamping Limiter: A clamping limiter shifts the entire waveform up or down by clamping it to a certain
voltage level. This type is useful for applications where it is necessary to limit both positive and
negative excursions of the signal.
A clamping limiter, also known as a clamping circuit or clamper, is an electronic circuit that shifts the
entire waveform up or down by clamping it to a certain voltage level. Unlike a clipping limiter, which
removes portions of the signal that exceed a threshold, a clamping limiter repositions the entire signal.
 Clamping limiters are often used in electronic systems to establish a reference voltage or bias level for
signals. They are employed in various applications, such as video signal processing, where it's necessary
to shift the DC level of a signal to ensure proper operation of subsequent stages in the circuit. Clamping
circuits are also used in communication systems to ensure that signals stay within a specific voltage
range and to eliminate any DC offset that may be present in the input signal.

Diode Clampers
Clampers can also be referred as DC restorers. Clamping circuits are designed to shift the input waveform
either above or below a DC reference level without altering the shape of the waveform. This shifting of the
waveform results in a change in the DC average voltage of the input waveform. The levels of peaks in the signal
can be shifted using the clamper circuit, hence clampers can also be referred as level shifters.

Clampers can be broadly classified into two types. They are:

 Positive Clampers
 Negative Clampers
Positive Clamper: This type of clamping circuit shifts the input waveform in a positive direction, as a result the
waveform lies above a DC reference voltage.
Negative Clamper: This type of clamping circuit shifts the input waveform in a negative direction, as a result
the waveform lies below a DC reference voltage.
The direction of the diode in the clamping circuit determines the type of clamper circuit. The operation of a
clamping circuit is mainly based on the switching time constants of a capacitor, which charges through the
diode and discharges through the load.

Types of Clamper Circuits

Positive Clamper
The circuit of a Positive Clamper is shown in the following circuit. Here, the circuit consists of three main
elements:
 Capacitor
 Diode
 Load
The diode is connected in parallel to the load in such a way that the cathode of the diode is connected to the
capacitor and anode to the ground.
Let us analyze the circuit starting with a negative cycle after startup. During the first negative cycle, the diode is
forward biased and acts as a closed switch. As a result, the capacitor charges to the peak input voltage, which
we will call as VC.
In the next positive and negative cycles, the capacitor doesn’t lose much charge due to the RC Time Constant.
As a result, the diode pretty much stays reverse biased.
Hence, the output voltage is the sum of applied input voltage and the charge stored at capacitor.
VOUT = VIN + VC
where VC is the peak of the input voltage.
From the above equation, it is clear that the above circuit adds a positive DC Shift to the input voltage.
Positive Clamper with Positive Reference Voltage
A positive reference voltage is connected in series with the diode in the positive clamper circuit such that the
positive terminal of the reference voltage is connected in series with the anode of the diode. The operation is
similar to the above circuit except that the capacitor charges to peak of the input voltage plus the DC Voltage.

If VP is the peak voltage and VDC is the DC Reference, then the capacitor voltage VC is VP + VDC and output
voltage VOUT is VIN + VC.
Positive Clamper with Negative Reference Voltage
During the negative half cycle, the diode starts conducting and the capacitor charges to V P – VDC.
During the consecutive positive and negative half cycles of the input waveform, the diode pretty much does
not conduct and as a result, the output is equal to sum of voltage stored in the capacitor and applied input
voltage.

As VC = VP – VDC, the output voltage is VIN + VC = VIN + (VP – VDC). The shift is still positive but less than the peak by
VDC.
Negative Clamper
The Negative Clamping circuit consists of a diode connected in parallel with the load. The capacitor used in the
clamping circuit can be chosen such that it must charge very quickly and it should not discharge very
drastically. The anode of the diode is connected to the capacitor and cathode to the ground.
During the first positive half cycle of the input, the diode is in forward bias and as the diode conducts the
capacitor charges very quickly to the peak of the input VP.
During the subsequent negative and positive half cycles of the input, the diode will be in reverse bias and the
diode will not conduct. The output voltage will be equal to the sum of the applied input voltage and the charge
stored in the capacitor. The output waveform is same as input waveform, but shifted below 0 volts by V P.

Negative Clamper with Positive Reference Voltage

The circuit arrangement is very similar to the Negative clamper circuit, but a DC reference supply is connected
in series with the diode. The output waveform is also similar to the Negative clamper output waveform, but it
is shifted towards the positive direction by an amount equal to the reference voltage at the diode.

Negative Clamper with Negative Reference Voltage

If the reference voltage directions in the above case are reversed and connected to the diode in series, then
during the positive half cycle the diode starts conducting current before applying input voltage. Since the
cathode has a very small negative reference voltage less than zero volts, the waveform is shifted away from the
0 volts towards the negative direction by an amount of the reference voltage.

Applications of Clippers
1. Used for generating new waveforms and/or shaping the existing older waveforms.
2. Clippers can be used as freewheeling diodes in protecting the transistors from transient effects by
connecting the diodes in parallel with the inductive load.
 3. Commonly used in power supplies.
4. In the separation of synchronizing signals existing from the composite color picture signals.
5. Frequently used in FM transmitters for removing the excess ripples in the signals above a certain noise
level.
Applications of Clampers
1. Clampers can be frequently used in removing the distortions and identification of polarity of the
circuits.
2. For improving the reverse recovery time, clampers are used.
3. Clamping circuits can be used as voltage doublers and for modelling the existing waveforms to a
required shape and range.
4. Clampers are widely used in test equipment and other sonar systems.

Rectifiers
The device which converts alternating (bidirectional) voltage to pulsating (Unidirectional) voltage is called
rectifier. As the name specifies it rectifies some portion of the alternating signal and provides a unidirectional
signal at the output. This is achieved by the electronic element called semiconductor diode. The
semiconductor diode is the element which allows the signal in one direction and blocks the signal in reverse
direction i.e. converting bidirectional into unidirectional.
Half Wave Rectifier
However a simple diode can acts as rectifier which also can be called as Half wave rectifier. But the half wave
rectifier can convert half of the input signal to pulsating DC and the remaining half will be lost as heat. So the
efficiency is less.

Full wave Rectifier

To increase the efficiency two diodes are placed to convert each AC cycle into pulsating DC cycle. I.e. two
unidirectional pulsed for one AC cycle will be produced at the output. The full wave rectifiers are divided as
Center-taped full wave rectifier and Bridge Full wave rectifier.
Center Taped full wave rectifier
In this the center taped transformer is used to perfectly divide the AC signal in to half cycles and to give as an
input to the two diodes which produces the pulsating DC.

Bridge Rectifier

Four rectifier diodes arranged in the form of bridge in which two diodes conducts per one half AC cycle and
provides the pulsating DC output with two pulses per cycle. Here the need of the transformer is eliminated.

However the rectifier output is unidirectional pulsating current which has variation in magnitude. This
variation in magnitude should be eliminated before giving to any electronic component. So to eliminate this,
the devices called filters are introduced.

Filters
The devices which converts the pulsating DC in to pure DC is called filter. As the name specifies it filters the
oscillations in the signal and provides a pure DC at the output. The electronic reactive elements like capacitor
and inductors are used to do this work.
Inductive Filter (L)
The property of the inductor is that it opposes any sudden change that occurs in a circuit an provides a
smoothed output. In the case of AC, there is change in the magnitude of current with time. So the inductor
offers some impendence (opposing force) for AC ((XL = jwL) and offers shot circuit for DC. So by connecting
inductor in series with the supply blocks AC and allows DC to pass.

Capacitor Filter
The elegant quality of the capacitor is it stores the electrical energy for short time and discharges it. By
controlling the charging and discharging rate of the capacitor the pure DC can be obtained from the pulsating
DC. In simple the capacitor allows AC and blocks DC, so the capacitor can connect parallel to the power supply
so that the AC is filtered out and DC will reach the load.

LC Filter
In the above two filters the reactive components are singly connected, however no element will be perfect in
doing the job i.e. inductor in series may pass small quantity of AC and Capacitor in parallel may not block all
the AC component. So for better filtering two components are connected as filter which provides less ripple
factor at the output compared to the above filter.
CLC or π filter
In L and LC filter the inductor connected in series to the power supply drops more AC voltage which reduces
the efficiency. So to avoid this increase the efficiency a capacitor is connected at the input of the LC filter. The
input capacitor charges & discharges and provides a ripple DC at the input of inductor. Then the drop at the
inductor is less and provides a ripple less DC which again filtered by capacitor at the output.
Multiple connection the above filter provides better efficiency and less ripple factor at the output.
A voltage doubler is an electronic circuit designed to double the voltage output from a single input voltage
source. It is commonly used in low-power applications, where a higher voltage is required but it’s not practical
or cost-effective to use a transformer or a dedicated power supply. Voltage doublers are useful in a variety of
applications, such as in power supplies for vacuum tubes, photomultipliers, and electronic flash equipment.

There are two main types of voltage doublers: the Greinacher (or Villard) doubler and the Cockcroft-Walton
(CW) multiplier. The Greinacher doubler is a half-wave voltage doubler, meaning that it only utilizes one half of
the input waveform. The CW multiplier, on the other hand, is a full-wave voltage doubler that uses both the
positive and negative halves of the input waveform. The CW multiplier is more efficient and can be extended
to achieve even higher voltage multiplication factors.
Applications of Voltage Doublers
Voltage doublers find use in a wide range of applications, particularly in situations where a higher voltage is
needed but a dedicated power supply or transformer is not practical or cost-effective. Some common
applications include:
 Power supplies for vacuum tubes: Many vacuum tube circuits require high voltage power supplies, and
voltage doublers provide a compact and cost-effective solution to meet these requirements.
 Photomultiplier tubes: These devices, often used in scientific instruments and radiation detectors,
require high voltage power supplies to operate. Voltage doublers can provide the necessary voltages
without the need for large, expensive transformers.
 Electronic flash equipment: Flash circuits in cameras and strobes require high voltage to charge the
flash capacitor quickly. Voltage doublers can efficiently provide the needed voltage while minimizing
the size and weight of the power supply.
 Electrostatic systems: Voltage doublers can be used to generate the high voltages required for
electrostatic applications, such as air ionizers, electrostatic precipitators, and electrostatic
loudspeakers.