COURSE NO. 309

EXPERIMENT NO. : 7

NAME OF THE EXPERIMENT : INVESTIGATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A

VACUUM TRIODE VALVE AND DETERMINATION OF THE PLATE RESISTANCE , MUTUAL
CONDUCTANCE AND AMPLIFICATION FACTOR μ.

Student name: A.F.M SALEM MAULA

Exam roll: 150293
Class roll : 2387
Department of Physics
  INVESTIGATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A VACUUM TRIODE
VALVE AND DETERMINATION OF THE PLATE RESISTANCE , MUTUAL
CONDUCTANCE AND AMPLIFICATION FACTOR μ.

THEORY : The grid of a triode valve lies between plate and cathode and consists of a wire mash
which surrounds the cathode and is situated close to it. The potential applied to the grid is usually
several volts negative relative to the cathode, where the plate is usually maintained several
hundred volts positive with respect to the cathode.
Clearly, the electric field resulting from the potential of the grid tends to maintain a large space-
charge cloud, whereas the field of the plate tends to reduce the space charge. (However, owing to
its froximity to the cathode, a given potential of the grid will exercise a greater effect on the space
change, thus the same potential on the plate.)
Thus the plate current (ib) depends on both grid potential (eb).
 Thus theplate current ( ) depends on both grid potential () and plate potential (). The
dependence of the plate current on the plate and grid potentials is represented
functionally by the expression
= f(, )
If is kept constant , depends only eb similarly if is kept constant, it depends only on .
PLATE CHRACTERISTICS: The variation of the plate current with the variation of the plate
voltage (grid voltage being kept fixed) gives ruses to plate characteristics curves. For
various values of grid bias, different plate characteristics curve may be obtained. Typical
form of plate characteristics curves is shown in fig-1.
The plate resistance is defined as –
) = tangent of the angle made by the plate characteristics curve with axis.
Fig-1 Plate voltage vs plate current Fig-2 Grid voltage vs plate current
 MUTUAL (OR TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS) :
The variation of the plate current with the variation of the grid voltage (plate
voltage being kept constant) gives rise to mutual or transfer characteristics
curves. For various plate potentials, different mutual characteristics curves
may be obtained
Typical form of mutual characteristics curves is shown in fig-2.
The mutual characteristics () is defined as
) = tangent of the angle made by the mutual characteristics curve with axis.
 Working of a triode valve:

3D presentation of triode valve

Triode vacuum valve

Circuit Diagram : The circuit used for obtaining characteristics curve
is shown in the figure below.
APPARATUS:

• One triode valve

• One valve socket
• One ammeter
• Two power supplier
• One circuit board
 PROCEDURE:

A. PLATE CHARACTERISTICS :

(i) The grid voltage (ec) was set at 0 volt and it was kept fixed.

(ii) Starting from a lower plate voltage, the reading of plate current (ib) were taken for
different plate voltage (eb).
(iii) The grid voltage was set at a new fixed values said, 0.5 volt (it is to be noted here that,
according to the circuit diagram, the values of ec shown by the voltmeter are negative with
respect to the cathode or ground.
(iv) The readings of ib were taken from different eb’s . In this way, different plate
characteristics curves were obtained for different eb’s. rp was found from curves.
B. MUTUAL CHARACTERISTICS :

(v) The plate voltage (eb) was set the highest possible voltage (said, 200 V)
and it was kept fixed . Starting from lower grid voltage (said, 0 Volt), the
readings of ib were taken for different grid voltage (ec)

(vi) ib vs ec was plotted. Thus one curve was obtained.

(vii) The plate voltage was set at a new fixed value, said 250 V.

(ix) The readings of ib were taken for different ec’s . In this way, different
mutual characteristics curves were obtained for different eb’s.
 DATA TABLE-1:Data for plate current for different plate voltage :
No of observations Grid voltage (ec) in volts Plate voltage (eb) in Volts Plate current (ib) in mA

1 0 50 1.10
2 100 2.07
3 150 3.13
4 200 4.34
5 250 5.64
6 275 6.32
1 - 0.5 50 0.3
2 100 0.6
3 150 1.4
4 200 2.5
5 250 3.5
6 275 4.78
No of observations Grid voltage (ec) in volts Plate voltage (eb) in Volts Plate current (ib) in mA

1 -1 50 0.02

2 100 0.22

3 150 0.85

4 200 1.58

5 250 2.60
6 275 3.15
DATA TABLE-2:DATA FOR PLATE CURRENT FOR DIFFERENT
VOLAGE GRID
No of observations Plate voltage (eb) on Grid voltage (ec) in Volt Plate current (ib) in mA
Volt
1 200 0 4.43
2 -0.5 3.22
3 -1 1.78
4 -1.5 0.85
5 -2 0.26
6 225 0 5.0
7 -0.5 3.62
8 -1 2.24
9 -1.5 1.25
10 -2 0.48
No of observations Plate voltage (eb) on Volt Grid voltage (ec) in Volt Plate current (ib) in mA

11 250 0 5.67

12 -0.5 4.16

13 -1 2.85

14 -1.5 2.85

15 -2 0.84
CALCULATION :
From
  the graph of eb vs ib we get,
Plate resistance, rp = ()ec
Here, from graph,
∴ = () at ec=0.0 v
45454.54 Ω
∴ = () at ec=-0.5 v
55555.56 Ω
∴ = () at ec=-1.0 v
56818.18 Ω

Mean plate resistance obtained from the graph:

= 52609.42 Ω
   from the graph of grid voltage (ec) vs plate current (ib) graph
Now
The mutual conductance (gm) is, gm )eb

When eb =200 ; ∆𝑖𝑏=(2.58-2.0)* = 0.58×10−3 𝐴 ; ∆𝑒𝑐=(-0.75+1.0) = 0.25 𝑉

)eb
= ()eb

= 2s S is (Siemens

When eb =225 ; ∆𝑖𝑏=(4.4-3.0)* = 1.4×10−3 𝐴 ; ∆𝑒𝑐=(-0.25+0.75) = 0.50 𝑉

)
= ()
= 2s

When eb =250 ; ∆𝑖𝑏=(2.3-1.0)* = 1.3×10−3 𝐴; ∆𝑒𝑐=(-1.25+2.0) = 0.75 𝑉

)
= ()
= 1.734s

Mean conductance = = 2.28s

Amplification factor:
𝜇=𝑟𝑝+𝑔𝑚=𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 ×𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
=52609.42 Ω ×2.28s
=120.107
 RESULT:

 1.From the graph of plate current (ib) vs plate voltage (eb) it is observed that
with the increase of plate voltage (eb) plate current (ib) increases, keeping
grid voltage (ec) constant .

2.From the graph of grid voltage (ec) vs plate current (ib) it is observed that
with the increase of grid voltage (ec) plate current (ib) decreases, keeping
plate voltage constant .

3.The value of plate resistance is 52609.42 Ωthe value of mutual

conductance is 2.28s and the value of amplification factor is 120.107
DISCUSSION
1.  Plate characteristics:
i. It is observed that when the grid was made more negative, the curves were
shifted to the right.
ii. If the grid was made more negative, the plate voltage was to be increased to
obtain any particular value of plate current.
iii.The plate resistance, was determined from the graph.
2. Mutual characteristics:
iv. The variation of the plate current with the variation of the grid voltage
(plate voltage) being kept constant was given rise to mutual characteristics
curve.
v. It was indicated by the constancy of the slope that the triode had a
specific mutual conductance.
vi. The circuit was connected properly as shown in figure.
vii. The amplification factor was calculated properly.