PULSE CIRCUITS

Clipping, and Clamping Circuits

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 Clipping
 In previous discussions, we have referred to clipping as the undesirable
result of overdriving an amplifier. We have seen that any attempt to push
an output voltage beyond the limits through which it can “swing” causes
the tops and\ or bottoms of a waveform to be “clipped” off, resulting in
distortion.
 However, in numerous practical applications, including wave shaping and
nonlinear function generation, waveforms are intentionally clipped.
 For example, 1) see the figure 14.68 below. The horizontal line means that
the output remains constant regardless of the input level in that region.
Outside of the clipping region, the transfer characteristic is simply a line
whose slope equals the gain of the device. This is the region of normal,
linear operation.
 Figure 14.69 illustrates a somewhat different kind of clipping action.
Instead of the positive or negative peaks being “chopped off ”, the output
follows the input when the signal is above or below a certain level.
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 Clipping can be accomplished using biased diodes, a technique that is more
efficient than overdriving an amplifier.
 Clipping circuits rely on the fact that diodes have very low impedances
when they are forward biased and are essentially open circuits when
reverse biased.

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 Cont’d..

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 Clamping
 Clamping Circuits are used to shift an ac waveform up or down by
adding a dc level equal to the positive or negative peak value of the ac
signal. It is better to refer it as level shifting rather than clamping.
 Clamping circuits are also called dc level restorers, because they are used
in systems (television, for example) where the original dc level is lost
in capacitor coupled amplifier stages.

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 Cont’d….

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 Schmitt Triggers
 In its most general sense, hysteresis is a property that means a device
behaves differently when its input is increasing from the way it behaves
when its input is decreasing.
 In the context of a voltage comparator, hysteresis is a desirable
characteristic because it prevents the comparator from switching back
and forth in response to random noise fluctuations in the input.
 Figure below shows how hysteresis can be introduced into comparator
operation. In this case, the input is connected to the inverting terminal
and a voltage divider is connected across the non inverting terminal
between Vo and a fixed reference voltageVREF.
 This characteristic shows that the output switches to +Vmax when Vin
falls below a lower trigger level (LTL), but will not switch to –Vmax
unless Vin rises past an upper trigger level (UTL). The arrows indicate
the portions of the characteristic followed when the input is increasing
(upper line) and when it is decreasing (lower line). A comparator
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having this characteristics is called a Schmitt Trigger.
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 We can derive expressions for UTL and LTL using the superposition
principle.

VREF vo  0
 R2
v 
R1  R2

vo VREF  0......vo  Vmax

 R1
v 
R1  R2

v 
R2
VREF 
R1
 Vmax 
R1  R2 R1  R2
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 As can be seen in figure 14.62 (b), v- must fall to this value of v+
before the comparator switches to +Vmax

LTL 
R2
VREF 
R1
 Vmax 
R1  R2 R1  R2
Similarly , when.....v0  Vmax ....vin must..rise...to

UTL 
R2
VREF 
R1
 Vmax 
R1  R2 R1  R2

Quantitatively, the hysteresis of a Schmitt trigger is defined to be the

difference between the input trigger levels
 R1   R1 
Hysteresis  UTL  LTL    VMAX     Vmax 
12  R1  R2   R1  R2 
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 Astable Multivibrator
 The word astable means “unstable”, and like other unstable devices, an
astable multivibrator is a (square wave) oscillator. (A bistable
multivibrator, also called a flip flop, is a digital device with two stable
states; a monostable multivibrator has one stable state, and an astable
multivibrator has zero stable states.)

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