BMEN 3120 Capacitive Circuits

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

Lab 2
Capacitive Circuits
Ami Shah
9/15/2015

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Introduction
This lab was an introduction to circuit capacitors and how to work with both DC (direct
current) and AC (alternating current). The behavior of these circuits was analyzed
through the excited sinusoidal sources. This showed the distribution of energy through
steady- state conditions, prediction of circuit behavior when non- sinusoidal curves are
analyzed, and the performance of a circuit in a steady state behavior. These responses of
a RC circuit were analyzed through the behavior of passive- low and high filters. This is
an important method because capacitors and inductors have to be analyzed differently
from if it’s just voltage and resistance, which uses the same technique as a DC circuit.

Theory
Capacitors are passive components that temporarily store energy in the electric field. The
voltage across the capacitor is related to the charge.

Figure 1: Simple RC circuit

The current of this circuit is represented by this formula:

𝑡
𝑖(𝑡) = 𝐼0 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶 𝐸𝑞𝑛 (1)
This formula with the initial value,
𝑉
𝑖(0) = 𝐼0 = 𝑅𝑆 𝐸𝑞𝑛(2)

A sinusoidal voltage/ current source produces a voltage that varies with time
sinusoidally.
This can be written as:
𝑉(𝑡) = 𝑉𝑚 cos(𝜔𝑡 + 𝜑) 𝐸𝑞𝑛(3)
𝑉𝑚 is the amplitude of the voltage,
𝜔 is the angular frequency in rad/sec,
𝜑 is the phase angle, and
𝑡 is time in seconds.

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Figure 2: Sinusoidal voltage with and without phase shift

Figure 2 shows sinusoidal waves with different phases. Since this function is periodic it
is represented by 𝑦(𝑡) = 𝑦(𝑡 + 𝑇) where T is period of the function and the amount of
time the function takes to pass through all the values.

The frequency of a sine wave is represented by:

1
𝑓 = 𝐸𝑞𝑛(4)
𝑇

A cycle per second is referred to as Hz and omega represents the angular/ radian
frequency by:
2𝜋
𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑓 = 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝐸𝑞𝑛(5)
𝑇

Another important variable, 𝑉𝑚 , shows the peak voltage with voltage peak to
peak(VPP) as 2𝑉𝑚 . The phase angle, 𝜑, shows the value of the sine function at 𝑡 = 0.

In figure 2 the solid curve is the zero phase and the dotted curve has an angle of −𝜑.
For this reason the dotted curve leads the solid curve by an angle of 𝜑 which is equal
to 𝜑/𝜔 seconds.

The RMS is a measurement defined by the square root of the mean of the squares of the signal.
It’s characterized by a continuously varying signal such as altering electric current. For a
sinusoidal signal, 𝑠(𝑡) = 𝑉𝑚 cos(𝜔𝑡 + 𝜑), through manipulation it can be seen that the RMS
𝑉𝑚
value is .
√2

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Figure 3: Low- pass filter circuit

Figure 3 in summary shows that the larger the time constant is, the lower the peak
output voltage. Also, the higher the signal’s frequency, the lower the peak output
voltage. This is why the figure above will reduce the amplitude of high frequency
signals more than low frequencies. The circuit will filter out the high signals.

The ratio of peak output voltage to peak input voltage is given by:
𝑉𝑜 1
= 𝐸𝑞𝑛(6)
𝑉𝑖 √1 + (𝜔𝑅𝐶)2
And phase difference by:
𝜑 = tan−1(𝜔𝑅𝐶) 𝐸𝑞𝑛(7)
The response of a circuit can be measured as a function of 𝜔. This is called the frequency
response and it is plotted by treating 𝜔 as the independent variable. When the responses
of amplitude and frequency are plotted, it is called a Bode plot.

(a) (b)
Figure 4: Amplitude response of a low-pass filter: (a) practical, and (b) ideal.

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A Bode plot shows how the output amplitude and phase change at different frequencies.
Phase can be plotted in degrees or radians. The amplitude gain is usually plotted in units
of decibels and calculated by:
𝑉𝑜
|𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛|𝑑𝐵 = 20 log10 ( ) 𝐸𝑞𝑛(8)
𝑉𝑖
Usually, the gain of a circuit is the amplitude of the output divided by the amplitude of
the input.The cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter in Figure 4 is determined by R and
C as:
1
𝜔𝐶 = 𝐸𝑞𝑛(9)
𝑅𝐶

Figure 5: High-pass filter circuit

Figure 5 shows the simplest type of RC high-pass filter with the only difference being the
positions of the capacitor and the resistor. In this case, since the capacitance is in series
with the input voltage source and the output terminals of the network, the voltage v0
becomes small as the frequency is reduced.

The ratio of the peak output voltage, 𝑉𝑜 to the peak input voltage, 𝑉𝑖 , is:
𝑉𝑜 1
= 𝐸𝑞𝑛(11)
𝑉𝑖 2
√1 + ( 1 )
𝜔𝑅𝐶
and the phase difference is,

𝜑 = 900 − tan−1 (𝜔𝑅𝐶) 𝐸𝑞𝑛(12)

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METHODS
1. Make sure NI Elvis is connected to the computer and connect the FGEN and
AIGND to the Elvis board. Turn on the function generator and Oscilloscope from
the instrument launcher.
2. Build a circuit with AC voltage source (FGEN 100 Hz, 5 Vpp, sine wave) in series
with two resistors (R1 = 1 kΩ and R2 = 2 kΩ).
3. Calculate time constants of the circuit theoretically by using R1 = 1 kΩ, R2 = 100
kΩ, and C= .47µF.
4. To verify the time constants, Multisim is going to be used.
5. To excite the circuit use a square wave, and to record the signal the oscilloscope
has to be used. In order to catch the rising voltage the trigger feature has to be
used.
6. The next step is to see the same results as the Multisim, but experimentally. For
this, the circuit needs to be built with the proper resistors and capacitor (negative
side to ground).
7. Now you have to determine the amplitude and the phase angle in a low- pass
filter. In order to do this the values are calculated through using equations and
through the values of already known resistors and capacitors.
8. In order to see the output wave and measure the gain and phase the circuit has to
be physically constructed and seen on the function generator.
9. To see the filter response the input and output voltage of the circuit have to be
measured.
10. Then the input voltage has to be varied in order to see the peak voltages clearly
and the gain/ phase angle can be measured.
11. To measure the frequency response the bode plotter has to be used with
Multisim, which is also under simulations.
12. The NI Elvis board has to now be used in order to measure the frequency of the
filter with the same circuit setup.
13. Now you will analyze a high- pass filter and this time the output voltage will be
measured instead of the voltage across the resistor.
14. The bode analyzer is used again to see the frequency response of the high- pass
filter.
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
Function generator: 100Hz, 5 Vpp, Vm=5
Multisim simulation
Resistors: 1kΩ, 2kΩ, 100kΩ – 1 of each
Capacitor .47µF - 1
Elvis board oscilloscope
Bode Analyzer

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Breadboard - 1
Wires (as required)

This lab had a few difficulties when we were trying to get the Multisim simulation for
the 100kΩ resistor. The reason for this was because we had to change the time base after
changing the frequency because the value of this resistor was significantly larger than
the previous resistor used for the experiment. We also had to debug our circuit at first
because the wires had to be correctly forming a circuit and be connected to two of the
AI’s in addition to one end being at the power source and the other being at the ground.
From this experiment I learned that there is a particular way to connect the wires in
order to connect the FGEN to the breadboard. Also realized how we are supposed to
get the Multisim simulation to draw the circuit and how to connect it to the bode
analyzer to see the graph that results.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

EX 1.2
R1 R2
Exact values of resistors (measured using multimeter): 1 KΩ 2kΩ

Calculated from VS, R1, R2 Measured from

(show your calculations) Scope
VPP RMS VPP RMS
5 2.5 4.946 V 1.778 V
= 2.5𝑉𝑚 = = 1.76
VS 5V 2 𝑠𝑞𝑟𝑡2

1.667 . 833 1.658 V 584.09

1000 ∗ 5 = = .589
V1 2 𝑠𝑞𝑟𝑡2 mV
= 1.667
3000

Table 1

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EX 2.1

S.No Time Value (s) S.No Time constant Value (s)

constant
1 τ 4.7 E-4 1 τ .047
2 2τ 9.4 E-4 2 2τ .094
3 3τ .00141 3 3τ .141
4 4τ .00188 4 4τ .188
5 5τ .00235 5 5τ .235
Table 2: Time constants with Table 3: Time constants with
R1 = 1 kΩ, C= 0.47µF R1 = 100 kΩ, C= 0.47µF

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EX 2.2

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EX 2.3
Table 4: Charging voltage Vc for R = 1kΩ, C = 0.47µF Table 5: Discharging voltage Vc for R = 1kΩ, C = 0.47µF

S.No Time VC S.No Time VC

1 0 919.14 1 0 80.51 mV
mV
2 440 us 763.56 2 440 us 244.63
mV mV
3 1.02 ms 953.6 mV 3 1.02 ms 40.41 mV
4 1.46 ms 984.14 4 1.46 ms 8.04 mV
mV
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 10

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Charging voltage for 1kohm

300
250
200
Vc (mV)

150
100
50
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Time (ms)

300

250
Discharging voltage for 1kohm
200
Vc (mV)

150

100

50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Time (ms)

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Table 6 and 7 didn’t have to be included because they represented the same concept.

Quantity Show your calculations Value

Critical frequency of the 1 2127 338.6 Hz
= = 338.6
low-pass filter, 𝑓𝑐 1000 ∗ .47𝐸 − 6 2𝑝𝑖

Peak output voltage, 𝑉𝑂 (in 2.44 = 𝑉𝑚 cos(2127 ∗ .00295) 2.45

terms of 𝑉𝑚 ) at
critical frequency
Magnitude of the filter’s |𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛| = 20log(.707) 3.008 dB
gain (in dB) at critical
frequency
Phase difference between tan−1 (2127 ∗ 1000 ∗ .47𝐸 − 6) 45 degrees
the input and output
voltages at critical
frequency
Table 8

EX 3.1

Frequency Peak Vin Peak Vout Gain (dB) Δt Phase angle

𝑓𝑐 /4 = 84.5 2.49 2.46 .1053 396 us 14.01
𝑓𝑐 /2 = 169 2.48 2.35 .4677 342 us 26.5
𝑓𝑐 = 338 2.44 2.04 1.555 242 us 44.9
2𝑓𝑐 = 676 2.37 1.47 4.149 208 us 63.4
4𝑓𝑐 = 1352 2.32 .856 8.660 110 us 75.9
Table 9

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EX 3.3

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EX 3.4

EX 4.1

Frequency Peak Vout Gain (dB) Phase angle

Low-pass filter 2.04 1.555 44.9
(copy from Table 9)
High-pass filter 1.29 5.536 44.9

Table 10

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EX 4.2

For each of the experiments done, the objectives of each of the tests were obtained. In
each of the exercises, the graphs looked like they were supposed to in the lab manual.
The objectives of each of the tests were to find values through doing a few calculations
with equations, finding the value of the time constant, analyzing the Multisim
simulations, obtaining values for the charging voltage, and viewing the bode analyzer.
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For each of the experiments there were very minor errors, which probably resulted from
human error or experimental errors. In comparing table nine and ten the results of the
voltage out and therefore the gain were different because of the placement of the
resistor and the capacitor. The reason for their difference is because low pass filters
usually filter signals that are lower than a certain cutoff frequency and the high- pass
filters are the exact opposite.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Capacitors are important especially because they are used in almost all current
electronic devices. They work by being charged by a current and releasing all that
current at once. An example of a device that uses a capacitor is a light bulb, which turns
on as long as there is still stored energy in the bulb. It works by having charge flow
through the capacitor to the lamp until the plates run out of this charge. The diagram
below shows the same concept explained above. As long as there remains enough
power supply, it will run through the capacitor and turn on the light bulb until the
capacitor no longer has enough charge remaining.

CONCLUSION
This lab shows the relationship between AC and DC currents in addition to the effect of
capacitors. The circuits were excited by sinusoidal sources and the distribution of
energy was noticed. Furthermore, this lab was important to realize the difference
between high pass and low pass filter circuits. Lastly, the relationship between gain and
frequency was seen through a bode plot.

REFERENCES
 Electric Circuits, 9/E, James W. Nilsson, Susan Riedel
 Lab 2: Capacitive circuits

 Woodford, Chris. (2008) Capacitors. Retrieved from

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/capacitors.html. [Accessed (9/14/15)]

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