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Square Wave Generator Using Op Amp - Waveforms

The circuit uses an op-amp configured as a schmitt trigger to generate a square wave. The output switches between positive and negative saturation levels. A capacitor charges and discharges through feedback resistors, causing the output to oscillate. The frequency is determined by the time it takes the capacitor to charge from the upper threshold voltage to the lower threshold voltage. The square wave generator produces a periodic signal whose frequency is inversely proportional to the RC time constant of the charging circuit.

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Nagendrababu Vasa
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781 views

Square Wave Generator Using Op Amp - Waveforms

The circuit uses an op-amp configured as a schmitt trigger to generate a square wave. The output switches between positive and negative saturation levels. A capacitor charges and discharges through feedback resistors, causing the output to oscillate. The frequency is determined by the time it takes the capacitor to charge from the upper threshold voltage to the lower threshold voltage. The square wave generator produces a periodic signal whose frequency is inversely proportional to the RC time constant of the charging circuit.

Uploaded by

Nagendrababu Vasa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4/26/2020 Square Wave Generator Using Op amp | Waveforms

Square Wave Generator Using Op amp


September 8, 2016 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Square Wave Generator Using Op amp:


The Square Wave Generator Using Op amp means the astable multivibrator circuit using op-
amp, which generates the square wave of required frequency. The Fig. 2.83 shows the square
wave generator using op amp.

It looks like a comparator with hysteresis (schmitt trigger), except that the input voltage is
replaced by a capacitor. The circuit has a time dependent elements such as resistance and
capacitor to set the frequency of oscillation.

As shown in the Fig. 2.83 the comparator and positive feedback resistors R 1 and R2 form an
inverting schmitt trigger.

https://www.eeeguide.com/square-wave-generator-using-op-amp/ 1/
When Vo is at +Vsat, the feedback voltage is called the upper threshold voltage V UT and is
given as

When Vo is at -Vsat, the feedback voltage is called the lower-threshold voltage VLT and is given
as
When power is turn ON, Vo automatically swings either to +Vsat or to -Vsat since these are the
only stable states allowed by the schmitt trigger. Assume it swings to +V sat. With Vo = +Vsat we
have – Vp = VUT and capacitor starts charging towards +V sat through the feedback path
provided by the resistor Rf to the inverting (-) input. This is illustrated in Fig. 2.84 (a). As long as
the capacitor voltage VC is less than VUT, the output voltage remains at +Vsat.

As soon as VC charges to a value slightly greater than V UT, the (-) input goes positive with
respect to the (+) input. This switches the output voltage from +V sat to -Vsat and we have Vp =
VLT , which is negative with respect to ground. As V o switches to -Vsat, capacitor starts
discharging via Rf, as shown in the Fig. 2.84 (b).

The current I – discharges capacitor to 0 V and recharges capacitor to VLT. When VC


becomes slightly more negative than the feedback voltage VLT, output voltage Vo switches back
to +Vsat. As a result, the condition in Fig. 2.84(a) is reestablished except that capacitor now has
a initial charge equal to VLT. The capacitor will discharge from VLT to 0V and then recharge to
VUT, and the process is repeating. Once the, initial cycle is completed, the waveform become
periodic, as shown in the Fig. 2.84(c).

Frequency of Oscillation:
The frequency of oscillation of Square Wave Generator Using Op amp is determined by the
time it takes the c apacitor to charge from VUT to VLT and vice versa. The voltage across the
capacitor as a function of time is given as

where

VC(t) is the instantaneous voltage across the capacitor.

Vinitial is the initial voltage

Vmax is the voltage toward which the capacitor is charging.


Let us consider the charging of capacitor from VLT to VUT, where VLT is the initial voltage, VUT
is the instantaneous voltage and +V sat is the maximum voltage. At t = T 1, voltage across
capacitor reaches VUT and therefore equation (3) becomes

The time taken by capacitor to charge from VUT to VLT is same as time required for charging
capacitor from VLT to VUT . Therefore, total time required for one oscillation is given as

The frequency of oscillation can be determined as f o = 1/T, where T represents the time
required for one oscillation.

Substituting the value of T we get,

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