UET

University of Engineering and Technology

Lahore
Electrical Instrumentation and Measurements

(LAB MANUAL NO.:2)

Submitted to: Mr. Ali Raza
Submitted by: Ahsan Ijaz (2014-EE-422)

Department of Electrical, Electronics and Communication

Engineering
Electrical Instruments and Measurements (Electrical Engineering Department) Lab. Manual

Reg. # 2014-EE-422
Name Ahsan Ijaz
Marks
EXPERIMENT #2
RC Low Pass Filter
Objectives:
Lab Tasks:

 Build a circuit of Passive RC Low Pass filter, Active RC Low Pass filter
and determine their outputs.

Required apparatus:

 Power supply
 Oscilloscope
 Resistor
 Capacitor
 IC 741 OP-AMP
 Jumpers
 Multimeter
Procedure and Theory:

1. Build a passive RC low pass filter.

2. Determine critical frequency after finding resistance and capacitance
(In my case resistance is 450-ohm, capacitance is 10 nano farad).
3. Observe the behavior of circuit by taking output at values ranging from
less than, equal to, and greater than critical frequency.
4. Draw graph of output(dB).
5. Now connect a non-inverting amplifier to the RC low pass filter, the
resulting circuit will be active RC low pass filter.
6. Calculate the gain (output voltage) using multimeter.

Low Pass Filter: A Low Pass Filter is a circuit that can be designed to
modify, reshape or reject all unwanted high frequencies of an electrical signal and
accept or pass only those signals wanted by the circuits designer.

A Low Pass Filter can be a combination of capacitance, inductance or

resistance intended to produce high attenuation above a specified frequency and

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Electrical Instruments and Measurements (Electrical Engineering Department) Lab. Manual

little or no attenuation below that frequency. The frequency at which the

transition occurs is called the “cut-off” or “corner” frequency.

Figure 1

Filters can be divided into two distinct types: active filters and passive
filters.

Passive filters are made up of passive components such as resistors,

capacitors and inductors and have no amplifying elements (transistors, op-amps,
etc) so have no signal gain, therefore their output level is always less than the
input.

Figure 2

Simple passive filters can be made by connecting together a single resistor

and a single capacitor in series across an input signal, ( Vin ) with the output of
the filter, ( Vout ) taken from the junction of these two components.

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Electrical Instruments and Measurements (Electrical Engineering Department) Lab. Manual

Active Filters contain active components such as operational amplifiers,

transistors or FET’s within their circuit design. They draw their power from an
external power source and use it to boost or amplify the output signal.

Filter amplification can also be used to either shape or alter the frequency
response of the filter circuit by producing a more selective output response,
making the output bandwidth of the filter more narrower or even wider. Then the
main difference between a “passive filter” and an “active filter” is amplification.
An active filter generally uses an operational amplifier (op-amp) within its
design and in the Operational Amplifier tutorial we saw that an Op-amp has a
high input impedance, a low output impedance and a voltage gain determined by
the resistor network within its feedback loop.

Figure 3

Result:

Passive Filter

# Vs F Output Output # Vs f Output Output

(V) (kHz) (mV) (dB) (V) (kHz) (mV) (dB)

1 0.1 1.11 0.453229788 12 1 31 0.56 -2.51811973
1
2 13 -
1 0.5 1.1 0.413926852 1 32 0.545 2.636034977

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Electrical Instruments and Measurements (Electrical Engineering Department) Lab. Manual

3 14 -
1 1 1.08 0.334237555 1 33 0.52 2.839966564

4 15 -
1 10 1.03 0.128372247 1 34 0.51 2.924298239

5 - 16 -
1 20 0.76 1.191864077 1 34.9 0.501 3.001622741

6 1 25 0.64 -1.93820026 17 1 36 0.49 -3.0980392

7 - 18 -
1 26 0.63 2.006594505 1 37 0.48 3.187587626

8 - 19 -
1 27 0.62 2.076083105 1 38 0.465 3.325470471

9 - 20 -
1 28 0.6 2.218487496 1 39 0.455 3.419886033

10 - 21
1 29 0.585 2.328441339 1 40 0.445 -3.51639989

11 - 22 -
1 30 0.57 2.441251443 1 45 0.4 3.979400087

Graph

Active Filter

# Vs F Output Voltage Gain

(V) (Hz) (mV) (Av)

1 34.9k 3.76 5.23
1
2 1 14k 3.928 5.52

3 1 4 5.85 5.86

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Electrical Instruments and Measurements (Electrical Engineering Department) Lab. Manual

Observations and Conclusion:

 Low pass filter provides very high attenuation to the high frequency
components. In ideal case, the frequency response curve drops at the cut-
off frequency. Practically the signal will not drop suddenly but drops
gradually from transition region to the stop band region.
 Since capacitor is a sensitive component the main concentration to be
observed is about “capacitive reactance”. Capacitive reactance is the
opposition response created due to the capacitor in the circuit.
 The attenuation of the signal that is the amplitude of the output signal is
lesser than amplitude of the input signal in the passive circuit. In order to
overcome this disadvantage of passive filter active filter is designed. A
Passive filter connected to the inverting or non-inverting op-amp gives us
a simple active low pass filter.
 In active low pass filter when the input signals are at low frequencies the
signals will pass through the amplifying circuit directly, but if the input
frequency is high the signals are passed through the capacitor. By this filter
circuit the output signal amplitude is increased by the pass band gain of the
filter.
 Low pass filters can be used in various applications. These filters are used
as hiss filters in audio speakers to reduce the high frequency hiss produced
in the system and these are used as inputs for sub woofers. In analog to
digital conversion these are used as anti-aliasing filters to control signals.
In digital filters these are used in blurring of images, smoothing sets of data
signals. In radio transmitters to block harmonic emissions.

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