Unit-11
Unit-11
UNIT 11
OSCILLATORS
Oscillators are used for generating
sine waves. LC circuits are used for
high frequency generation as you will
learn in this unit.
Structure
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STUDY GUIDE
In the last unit you learnt about the amplifiers required for increasing the power (or voltage / current) of
a signal. You also learnt about the concept of negative feedback, and how it provides stability to the
amplifier performance. In this unit, you will learn about the use of transistors for generating ac signals of
desired frequency. Such circuits are called the Oscillators. For this you should brush up your
knowledge about RC, LC and LCR resonant circuits you worked with in the second semester courses
BPHCT-133 entitled Electricity and Magnetism and BPHCL-134 entitled Electricity and Magnetism:
Laboratory.
You will also require the knowledge of transistor biasing (mostly in CE configuration) discussed in the
earlier units of this course.
You should try to work out the SAQs, TQs and design examples given in this unit on your own in order
to get complete knowledge of the topic.
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Generation of high frequencies is essential in all communication systems. For
example, in radio and television broadcasting, the transmitter radiates the
signal using a carrier of very high frequency say from 550 kHz to 22 MHz in
radio broadcasting and from 47 MHz to few GHz in TV broadcasting. In radio
and TV receivers too there is an oscillator circuit which generates very high
frequencies. Even mobile phones require oscillator circuits. The oscillators are
usually transistor amplifier circuits with positive feedback. In the last unit you
learnt about the concept of feedback.
If the portion of the output that is fed back is in phase with respect to the input,
then the feedback is termed as positive feedback. With positive feedback a
circuit can be made to generate an output with no external input. In this unit
we will use positive feedback in building oscillators.
In Sec. 11.2 we will discuss about the positive feedback and the principle
governing the oscillations. You will be able to establish the criteria for
sustained oscillations in a circuit called Barkhausen Criteria.
Based on the principle used for generation of oscillations, the oscillators are
classified as tuned circuit (LC) oscillators and RC oscillators. In Sec. 11.3 you
will learn about two important LC oscillators viz. Hartley oscillator and Colpitts
oscillator.
In Sec. 11.4 we will discuss about the RC oscillators, namely, Wien bridge
oscillator and phase shift oscillator.
draw the circuit and explain the working, state the frequency relation and design
the LC oscillators (Hartley and Colpitt’s oscillators);
explain the working of phase shift oscillator and design its feedback R-C
network; and
explain the working and calculate the frequency of a Wien bridge oscillator.
Now, when the feedback voltage is in phase with the input signal, then it adds
to the input signal. In this case is positive and feedback is termed as
positive or regenerative feedback. You can observe that when is positive,
the gain with feedback can be written from Eq. (10.14) as
A
Af (11.1)
1 A
Oscillators are mainly divided into two types, namely, sinusoidal and
relaxation oscillators. Sinusoidal oscillators produce continuously varying
signals like sine waves with single frequency. Whereas relaxation oscillators
produce non-sinusoidal signals like square waves, triangular waves etc. In this
unit we will study about a few sinusoidal oscillators. Depending upon how
oscillations are produced, sinusoidal oscillators are of the following type:
ii) RC oscillators
Once the capacitor is fully discharged, the magnetic field begins to collapse.
The back emf in the inductor keeps the current flowing in the same direction.
The capacitor starts charging, but with opposite polarity this time, as shown in
Fig. 11.3c. As the charge builds up across the capacitor, the current
decreases and the magnetic field decreases. When the magnetic field energy
drops to zero, the capacitor charges to the value it had in condition (a) but with
opposite polarity. Once again all the energy is in the form of potential energy.
The capacitor now begins to discharge again. This time current flows in the
opposite direction. Fig. 11.3d shows the capacitor fully discharged, and also
shows maximum current flowing in the circuit. Again, all the energy is in the
magnetic field. The interchange or “oscillation” of energy between L and C is
repeated again and again. This situation is similar to an oscillating pendulum,
in which the energy keeps on interchanging between potential energy and
kinetic energy.
In a practical pendulum, because of the friction at the pivot and the air
resistance, some energy is lost during each swing. The amplitude of each
cycle goes on decreasing and eventually the pendulum comes to rest, though
it may take a long time. The oscillations of the pendulum are said to be
damped.
In LC circuit, the constants of the system are the inductance and capacitance
values. The frequency of oscillation is the same as the resonant frequency of
the tank circuit. It is given by
1
f0 (11.3)
2 LC
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
Sustained Oscillations
The oscillations of a pendulum can be maintained at a constant level, if we
supply additional energy to it from time to time, to overcome the effect of
frictional losses.
The oscillations of an LC circuit can also be maintained at a constant level in a
similar way. For this, we have to supply a pulse of energy at the right time in
each cycle. The resulting “undamped oscillations” are called sustained
oscillations, as shown in Fig. 11.2a. Such sustained oscillations (or continuous
waves) are generated by the electronic oscillator circuits.
There are many varieties of LC-oscillator circuits. All of them have following
two features in common:
i) They must contain an active device (transistor) that works as an amplifier
to overcome the losses.
ii) There must be positive feedback in the amplifier.
11.2.2 Positive Feedback Amplifier as an Oscillator
We discussed that an oscillator generates ac output signal without any input
ac signal. A part of the output is fed back to the input; and this feedback signal
is the only input to the internal amplifier.
To understand how an oscillator produces an output signal without an external
input signal, let us consider Fig. 11.4a. The voltage source v drives the input
terminals YZ of the internal amplifier (with voltage gain A). The amplified
signal Av drives the feedback network is to produce feedback voltage Av.
This voltage returns to the point X. If the phase shift due to the amplifier and
feedback network is correct, the signal at point X will be exactly in phase with
the signal driving the input terminals YZ of the internal amplifier.
11.3 LC OSCILLATORS
LC oscillators or resonant-circuit oscillators are widely used for generating
high frequencies. With practical values of inductors and capacitors, it is
possible to produce frequencies as high as 500 MHz. The oscillators used in
rf (radio frequency) generators, radio and TV receivers etc. are LC oscillators.
Such an oscillator has an amplifier, an LC resonant circuit and a feedback
arrangement. There is a large variety of LC-oscillator circuits. Here, we shall
discuss only a few important ones.
11.3.1 Tuned-Collector Oscillator
Fig. 11.5 shows a basic LC-oscillator circuit. It is called tuned-collector
oscillator, because the tuned (LC) circuit is connected to the collector. We use
a transformer here. The primary of the transformer and the capacitor form the
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
tuned circuit (or tank circuit) which decides the frequency of oscillation. The
secondary winding is connected to the base. You are aware that the voltage in
primary and secondary winding of the transformer can have 0 or 180 phase
difference depending upon the direction of windings of the primary and
secondary coils. On the transformer symbol, the points of equal phase are
indicated by the dots near the ends of the two windings. In present case,
shown in Fig. 11.5, the primary and secondary voltages are out of phase
i.e. have 180 phase difference. Since a phase difference of 180 is provided
by the CE transistor amplifier, and an additional 180 by the transformer, the
type of feedback is positive. The transistor amplifier provides sufficient gain for
oscillator action to take place.
L L1 L2 (11.5)
1
f (11.6)
2 (L1 L2 ) C
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
11.3.3 Colpitts Oscillator
The Colpitts oscillator shown in Fig. 11.7 is a widely used circuit in commercial
signal generators above 1 MHz. The oscillator is similar to the Hartley
oscillator given in Fig. 11.6 The only difference is that the Colpitts oscillator
uses a split-tank capacitor instead of a split-tank inductor. The RFC has the
same function as in the Hartley oscillator. The voltage developed across the
capacitor C2 provides the regenerative feedback required for the sustained
oscillations to the base circuit.
1
f (11.7)
2 LC
where
C1C2
C (11.8)
C1 C2
SAQ 3 – LC oscillators
Considering the condition for starting the oscillations is A > 1, what should
be the condition on the value of gain A in terms of values of capacitors C1
and C2 in a Colpitts oscillator?
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Unit 11 Oscillators
11.4 RC OSCILLATORS
Till now we have discussed only those oscillators which use an LC-tuned
circuit. These tuned circuit oscillators are good for generating high
frequencies. But for low frequencies (say, audio frequencies), the LC circuit
becomes impracticable (due to extremely high values of L and C). In such
cases, RC oscillators are more suitable. There are many types of RC
oscillators, but the following two are the most important:
i) Phase-shift oscillator
We know that a single stage of an CE amplifier not only amplifies the input
signal but also shifts its phase by 180. If we take a part of the output and
directly feed it back to the input, a negative feedback takes place. The net
output voltage then decreases. But for producing oscillations we must have
positive feedback (of sufficient amount). Positive feedback occurs only when
the feedback voltage is in phase with the original input signal. This condition
can be achieved in two ways. We can take a part of the output of a single
stage amplifier (giving a phase shift of 180) and then pass it through a phase-
shift network giving an additional phase shift of 180. Thus a total phase shift
of 180 + 180 = 360 (which is equivalent to a phase shift of 0) occurs, as
the signal passes through the amplifier and the phase-shift network. This is
the principle of phase-shift oscillator.
Another way of getting a phase shift of 360 is to use two stages of amplifiers
each giving a phase shift of 180. A part of this output is fed back to the input
through a feedback network without producing any further phase shift. This is
the principle of Wien bridge oscillator.
The phase of the signal at the input (B) gets reverse at output (C), when it is
amplified by the amplifier. The output of the amplifier goes to a feedback
network. The feedback network consists of three identical RC sections. Each
RC section provides a phase of 60 Thus a total of 60 3 = 180 phase shift
is provided by the feedback network. The output of this network is now in the
same phase as the originally assumed input to the amplifier, as shown in the
figure. If the condition A = 1 is satisfied, oscillations will be maintained.
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
1
f (11.9)
2 RC 6
1
f (11.10)
2 R1C1R2C2
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Unit 11 Oscillators
Fig. 11.10: Wien bridge oscillator with negative feedback; b) same circuit
redrawn to depict the “bridge” in the circuit. 49
Block 3 Analog Circuits
The same circuit is redrawn in Fig. 11.10b. The two amplifier blocks in
Fig. 11.10a representing the two stages of the amplifier are replaced by a
single block in Fig. 11.10b. You may now see why this circuit is called a bridge
oscillator. In this circuit, the resistors R3 and R 4 provide the desired negative
feedback.
11.5 SUMMARY
Concept Description
Positive If the feedback signal is in phase with the applied signal and aids it, positive
feedback or regenerative feedback takes place.
Gain with Gain increases with positive feedback, which may lead to oscillations. The
positive gain is given by
feedback
A
Af
1 A
Oscillator An oscillator acts as energy converter which changes direct current energy
into alternating current energy.
Components of Essential parts of an oscillator are (i) the frequency determining network
oscillator circuit (ii) source of dc energy and (iii) a feedback circuit to provide positive
feedback.
RC oscillators Phase-shift oscillator has three RC sections to provide 180 phase shift in
feedback voltage.
A Wien bridge oscillator is an RC oscillator whose frequency of oscillation can
be varied over a wide range.
vf i XC2 XC2
v out i XC1 XC1
1 (2 fC2 ) C1
1 (2 fC1) C2
In order to start the oscillations, we need
C2
A
C1
4. The frequency of oscillation of a phase-shift oscillator is given as
1
f
2 RC 6
1 1
f0
2 R1R2C1C2 2RC
where R1 R2 R and C1 C2 C.
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Block 3 Analog Circuits
Here, R 220 k 2.2 105 , C 250 pF 2.5 10 10 F.
Therefore,
1
f0
2 3.141 2.2 105 2.5 10 10
2893.7 Hz
2.89 kHz.
Terminal Questions
1. The product A is known as loop gain. The input signal is multiplied by A
times in passing through the amplifier and times in the feedback network
before it arrives at the input. Hence the name loop gain.
1
2. f ; R 10 k 10 10 3
2 RC
1
f
2 3.142 10 10 3 4700 10 12
3386 Hz
3. For Hartley oscillator
1
f
2 (L1 L2 ) C
1
2 (0.1 0.1) 10 3 0.1 10 9
1 107
1.125 MHz.
2 0.2 0.1 10 12 2 2
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