Alpha Laboratories

ECSE-2010 Summer 2019

LABORATORY 1: LTSpice/Analog Discovery Introductory Circuits

PART A – Introduction to LTSpice

Materials need: Laptop

Choose a partner:
1) Pick a partner. Remember, you will likely have to work with this person for
the rest of the semester
2) Only one laboratory report is needed for each pair of partners. Make sure
you include both names on the front of the report. Also remember to add
your partner to Gradescope. (Only one person needs to submit it).

Installation:
1) LTSpice
a. Use the link http://www.analog.com/en/design-center/design-tools-
and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html
i. Or find (LTSpice Download) on the Circuits webpage under
Resources.
b. Run the executable and follow the default installation.

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LTSpice Starting a new projects:

1) Start “LTSpice XVII” (or earlier version)
2) Start a new Project under the File -> New Schematic
a. Make sure your files are saved in a convenient directory. The root
directory (C:\) or Desktop are probably not good choices. I would
suggest creating a directory “C:\Circuits” and saving your work there.
b. Pick an appropriate name (Laboratory_01 is a good choice)
3) To place components:
a. The first time you start, click Edit in the task bar. Here you’ll find
symbols and their matching labels.
b. You can choose to go down the menu and click Component or simply
use the Toolbar above the schematic frame from this point on OR
i. There are shortcut keys for adding components as well.
ii. http://www.analog.com/media/en/simulation-models/spice-
models/LTspice_ShortcutFlyerC.pdf?modelType=spice-models

A1: Bias Point Measurements for Resistive Circuits

1) Create the circuit above in LTSpice and display the current, voltage and
power values for the circuit similar to the diagram below. The sample image
below has different component values but gives an idea of what you need to
show.

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Note: If you are confident that you can do this without step-by-step
instruction you can skip to A2. Step-by-step instructions are below.

2) Find and Add the Component (shortcut “F2”), VDC, by typing “voltage”.
Press “OK”.
a. A DC voltage source should follow your cursor.
b. Left click to place. Press ESC to keep from duplicating. (If you make
a mistake, you can press CTRL-V to cut the component).
c. Move your cursor over the component. When a hand pointing left
appears, right click, to edit the value of the DC voltage. Change the
value to 5V.
3) Add resistors. (shortcut “R”). Press CTRL-R to rotate. Right click to place
and ESC to keep from duplicating.
a. They should be default labeled R1 and R2.
c. Change values of R1 and R2 to 1.5k and 3.2k respectively by right
clicking the component.
4) Connect the DC source and the two resistors in a closed loop by placing wire
connections between each component. (shortcut “F3”) Click on one of the
square boxes connected to a circuit component and then move the mouse
and click on another square box to place a wire connection.
5) Add a ground connection. (shortcut “G”) You MUST use a ground in every
circuit you simulate. Be sure to wire this as well.

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Setting Operating Point DC Analysis

1) To add operating point analysis (.op) you have a few options
a. Click “.op” in the tool bar on the far right and add text “.op” in the
text box as shown below

b. Press shortcut “t” on your keyboard then change radio button to

“SPICE directive” then add text “.op” in the text box below it
c. Press “s” on your keyboard which automatically selects “SPICE
directive” then add text “.op” in the text box below it
2) Place .op anywhere near the circuit
3) Run the simulation. (Click the “Running person” in the toolbox.)
4) Results will appear in a dialog box.
5) Label the circuit with voltage, current, and power by placing operating point
data labels.
a. FOR VR2:
i. Right click on the wire to the right of R1 (this is the voltage
above R2, Vn002 to ground which is the voltage across R2,
VR2).
ii. Right click to change the number of significant figures. For
two decimal places use round(data label*100)/100. For three
significant figures multiply and divide by 1000. For four 10000
etc.

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iii. Press ok, and move the label anywhere convenient using the
“Move” hand on the toolbar
b. FOR IR2
i. Right click on the wire to the right of R1 again. It will show
voltage but you will change it by right clicking on it and
choosing I(R2) which will show in the text box
ii. Be sure to round this value to significant figures.
Note: LTSpice assumes conventional current flows from positive to
negative terminal of the power supply (pointing down). Therefore all
resistors current will be labeled as negative in LTSpice. To make positive
simply add a negative in front of I(R1) and I(R2).
c. For PR2
i. An equation can be written P=VI with rounding to significant
figures is included round(I(R2)*V(n002)*10000)/10000
d. Add text above all the numerical labels by pressing “t”. The radio
button should automatically be on “Comment”. Type VR2 in the text
box for example and place near the value in the figure.
e. Repeat this process for the voltage current and power for R1 and
power for the voltage source in your figure. Remember VR1 is the
difference between points V(n001) and V(n002) in the diagram.
Also remember power supplied must equal power absorbed by the
resistors!

Results
1) Include a screen shot of your results in your report. Report template can be
found https://ecse.rpi.edu/~ssawyer/CircuitsSum2018_all/Templates/
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A2: Making Changes

1) Change R1 to 15k and R2 to 32k. Rerun the simulation
a. Comment on the new voltage and current measurements. Are the
results consistent with expectations? Why?
b. Did the power levels go up, down or stay the same? Why?
c. Include a screen shot of your results in your report.
2) Replace the voltage source with a 5mA current source. (Component
“current”)
a. What can you say about the current as R1 and R2 change?
b. What happens to the power if both resistors are reduced back to their
1.5k and 3.2k values (from the 15k and 32k values)?
c. Include a screen shot of your results in your report.

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A3: Unlimited-All Access Homework Solutions and Practice Problem

Solutions!
1) Use LTSpice to implement the circuit in HW1, problem 3 (shown below but
values are in HW1).
2) Using LTSpice, find the current through R5. When you complete HW1,
compare your calculated answer with your simulated answered. (The
LTSpice simulation does not constitute a solution when submitting HW1.
When you hand in HW1, you must include your work demonstrating that
you can obtain the solution by hand.)
3) Discuss the polarity of IV1, your hand written calculations and how LTSpice
determines current direction (look this up online if needed!)
4) Include a screen shot of your results in your report.

5) Change the location of your ground (move it to a different node) and verify
that the current through R5 has not changed.

Part B: Analog Discovery Introductory Circuits

Materials need: Analog Discovery Board and Circuits Kit, Resistors

Installations:
1) Analog Discovery Board 1 (or Analog Discovery Board 2)
a. In a web browser, open up the page
https://store.digilentinc.com/waveforms-previously-waveforms-2015/
Click on the link, “DOWNLOAD HERE”
b. Follow the default install. If it asks about any Microsoft runtime
libraries, let it install them.
c. If you are using Windows 7, then open the Start Menu and find the
Digilent tab and start the Waveform application. If you are using
Windows 8 or Windows 10, find the Waveform application using the
search tool and start it.

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Background Circuit Concepts:

1) Series Resistors
R1 R2

Resistors in series ‘add’ to an equivalent total resistance. For the two

resistors shown above, the equivalent resistance is REQ = R1 + R 2 . For N
resistors in series, this expression extends to REQ = R1 + R 2 +  + RN

2) Parallel Resistors

R1 R2

Resistors in parallel have an inverse relationship. For the two resistors

1 1 1
shown above, the equivalent resistance is = + . More generally,
REQ R1 R 2
−1
 1 1 
this expression is written as REQ = +  . For N resistors in parallel,
 R1 R 2 
−1
 1 1 1 
this expression extends to REQ = + ++ 
 R1 R 2 RN 
Discovery Board basics:
1) Plug in the Discovery board using the USB connector
2) Start the Waveform applications (the Welcome tab should open).
3) In the window that opens, click on the Supplies icon (the third icon). You
should see a DC power control window open.

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a. Click the Master Enable is Off button to turn DC voltage on. It should
now say Master Enable is On and be highlighted in blue.
b. This provides access to a 5V/-5V supply using the V+/V- connections
on the Discovery board.
c. You find the connections and see that they are the solid red wire and
the solid white wire, respectively.
4) To find Voltmeter, go back to the Welcome Tab
a. Choose the forth icon, Voltmeter, and a new window should open.
b. In the upper left corner of the Voltmeter window, click the Run box so
that they you can use the channel inputs for digital measurements.
c. For now, we only be using the DC measurements.

d. There are two input channels, Channel 1 and Channel. They are
represented as 1+/1- and 2+/2- on the discovery board.
e. Channel 1 is the solid orange wire (1+) and the orange wire with a
white stripe (1-).
f. Channel 2 is the solid blue wire (2+) and the blue wire with a white
stripe (2-).
g. Each channel needs two connections, to measure across a circuit
component (equivalent to using a voltmeter)

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B1: Simple Check - Power Supply Measurement

As an initial experiment to make sure everything is working correctly, we will

measure the DC voltage using the channel 1 inputs.

Hardware
1) Connect six pin header to your proto-board, making sure that each pin is
connected to a different row.
2) Connect the V+ (red wire) to one of the header pins and a ground (any of the
black wires) to another pin.
3) Connect another six pin header to a different area on the proto-board. (This
is for convenience, if you really want you can use only one six pin header).
4) Connect the 1+ (orange wire) to a header pin and the 1- (orange white stripe
wite) to another header pins.
5) On your proto-board, connect the V+ row to the 1+ row and connect the
ground row to the 1- row.

On the Voltmeter (computer)

1) Check the DC measured voltage. If everything is connected correctly and
your software is setup, you will see a measurement of approximately 5 [V]

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B2: Voltage Divider/Series Resistors

First off, we will look at a simple voltage divider. Build the following circuit

R1
3.3k

V2
5 R2
6.8k

In this circuit, the positive side of the voltage source is the V+ connection (red
wire) and the negative side of the voltage source is any of the grounds (black
wires).

We will use the Discovery Board to make voltage measurements across each
resistor.

Connect 1+ (orange wire) and 1- (orange white stripe) across R1.

Voltage across R1: _______________

Connect 2+ (blue wire) and 2- (blue white stripe) across R2.

Voltage across R2. _______________

a. Are these voltages consistent with expectations from KVL? In other

words, does the voltage around the closed loop sum to zero? Note, the
polarity of your connections matters. 1+ and 1- correspond to your
‘guessed’ polarity for Channel 1. Similarly for Channel 2.

Replace R2 with a much larger resistor (100kΩ or more). Measure the voltage
across R1 and R2 again. In this case we can symbolically say, VR2 ≈ _________

b. With that in mind, circuit reduction in this simple circuit would result
in an equivalent resistance when R2 >> R1, then REQ = R1+R2
≈___________ (symbolically, not numerically).

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B3: Effects of Measurement Equipment

R1
1k

V3
5 R2 Voltmeter
1k

1) Build the simple voltage divider circuit shown above. In a more complete
model, the Voltmeter is actually part of the circuit. Ideally it has no affect on
the circuit.
2) Measure the voltage across R2.
a. Does the measurement agree with expectations for the voltage divider
circuit?

R1
1Meg

V3
5 R2 Voltmeter
1Meg

3) Replace the 1k resistors with 1Meg resistors and measure the voltage across
R2 again.
a. Does the measurement agree with expectations? What affect did the
Channel 1 probes (the Voltmeter) have on the circuit? Why?

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Part C: Alpha Laboratories Applications

Can a sensor tell a cloudy day from a cloudless, bright sunny day? The full context
of the circuit design below can be found in the introduction of Beta Laboratories
Design Stage 1 found in the link below.
https://ecse.rpi.edu/~ssawyer/CircuitsSum2019_all/Labs/Unit1/BetaDS1.pdf

C1: Reading a Data Sheet

To interpret a continuously changing voltage caused by the continuously changing

environment, a sensor and a bridge circuit is often employed. This is analog sensor
signal transduction.

Interpret the data sheet of the LDR (CdS Photoconductive Photocells

PDV-P9203) in the Analog Discovery Kit to simulate a bridge circuit:
https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Photonic%20Detetectors%20Inc%20PDFs/PDV-
P9203.pdf:
1) Determine the equation that represents the line(s) on the CELL
RESISTANCE vs. ILLUMINANCE data sheet. What do the two lines
mean? Discuss with any Beta Lab team(s). You must write down the
team you discussed this with.
2) Make reasonable (look up values and reference) assumptions for lux
values during dusk on a clear day (cloudless) and lux values during a dust
storm during dusk on a clear day.

C2: Application of Voltage Dividers –Reference Voltage

You have a 5V source and two resistors. Design a circuit using these components
that will provide 3.7V reference for the next part of the circuit using LTspice. (The
next part of the circuit is arbitrary for now.)
1) Show the bias point analysis results.
2) Build the circuit and measure using the Analog Discovery Board. Provide
screen shot of the results.

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