oscillators

Lecture19
Oscillators
Oscillators
An oscillator is a system which is used in producing sinusoidal or non-sinusoidal waveforms at the output of the system circuit
without applying a input signal.
Sinusoidal oscillators are called harmonic oscillator whereas non-sinusoidal oscillators (square or saw tooth waveforms) are
called relaxation oscillator.
Oscillators can generate waveforms in various frequency range given in the table below:
Oscillator Type Frequency range

Audio frequency (AF) oscillator Upto 20 kHz
Radio frequency (RF) oscillator 20 kHz – 30 MHz
Very High frequency (VHF) 30 MHz – 300 MHz

oscillator
Ultra High frequency (UHF) 300 MHz- 3 GHz

oscillator
Microwave Oscillators 3 GHz – several GHz

Principle of oscillation
No external signal is applied to an oscillator. When power supply to the system is switched on, a noise voltage is produced. The
frequency spectrum of noise being very wide, it always has voltage component at frequency required for oscillator. Thus the initial
signal to trigger the oscillations is obtained from noise voltage.
𝐴
Feedback oscillator concepts: The positive feedback required for oscillation is Af = 1−𝐴𝛽 ; If the loop gain A𝛽, is unity then the
closed loop gain, Af = infinity. So as it is clear that the amplifier gives an output voltage without requiring any externally applied
input voltage. In this case, the amplifier becomes an oscillator.
This condition of unity loop gain is called Barkhausen criterion. This means | A𝛽 | = 1 & phase angle of the loop gain should be
zero or integral multiple of 360 degrees.
Therefore basic criterion of oscillation is : i) feedback must be regenerative ii) loop gain must be unity
Phase shift oscillator (employed in AF range)
The following figure shows a phase shift oscillator using a pnp
transistor which is biased in the active region. As the transistor is in
CE configuration, it introduces a phase shift of 180 degree between
the input and the output. Now for oscillation to take place, we need
a phase shift of 360 degrees, for which extra 180 degree phase shift
is provided by the RC network.
For convenience , all the R & C values are taken identical. The
resistance of the last section is R’ = R – hie, the input resistance hie is
added to R’, thus giving a net resistance R. The RC phase shift
oscillator constitute the frequency determining circuit.
RC phase shift oscillator
Analysis: As resistance R1 & R2 are chosen large enough for biasing purposes, it has no effect on AC operation. The RE- CE
parallel combination is also absent in the ac circuit, due to negligible impedance offered by this combination at AC.
Also 1/ hoe >>> RL, & is parallel to RL, hence can be neglected. Also hre being small, hreV2 can be neglected.
By incorporating the above, we get the simplified ac diagram.
RC phase oscillator
Where 𝜔, is the angular frequency. Since the currents I1, I2 & I3 are non-zero, the determinant of the coefficients, I1, I2 & I3 must
vanish. Thus,
RC phase oscillator
Wien Bridge oscillator (AF range)
An RC oscillator which uses a balanced bridge as the feedback network, is Wien bridge oscillator. The output voltage Vo of the
amplifier is the input voltage of the bridge. The output voltage Vi of the bridge is the input voltage of the amplifier. When the
bridge is exactly balanced, Vi = 0. But for sustained oscillation, Vi should be non-vanishing. The bridge is therefore slightly
unbalanced by adjusting the ratio between the resistances R1 & R2. The bridge does not give any phase-shift between input and
output, the amplifier also should not give any phase shift so that the net phase shift remains zero. Using a BJT, a two stage CE
amplifier can serve the purpose, to be used as amplifier as the phase shift between input output of a single amplifier is 180 degrees
so using a two stage provides a phase shift of 360.
Wien Bridge Oscillator Circuit
Analysis
Wien Bridge Oscillator
When bridge is balanced, the voltages across the two lower arms of the bridge must be equal,
Advantages of Wien Bridge oscillator
i) Over all gain is high, as two stage amplifier is used
ii) Circuit gives a good sine wave
iii) Frequency stability is good.
iv) The frequency of oscillation can be easily varied.
Disadvantage:
i) Large number of components requires
ii) Very high frequency cannot be generated.

oscillators

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

oscillators

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

oscillators

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture19

Oscillator Type Frequency range

Very High frequency (VHF) 30 MHz – 300 MHz

Ultra High frequency (UHF) 300 MHz- 3 GHz

Microwave Oscillators 3 GHz – several GHz

You might also like