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Passive Band Pass Filter

Passive Band Pass Filters can be made by connecting together a low pass lter with a high pass lter

Band Pass Filters can be used to isolate or lter out certain frequencies that lie within a particular band or
range of frequencies. The cut-off frequency or ƒc point in a simple RC passive lter can be accurately
controlled using just a single resistor in series with a non-polarized capacitor, and depending upon which way
around they are connected, we have seen that either a Low Pass or a High Pass lter is obtained.
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One simple use for these types of passive lters is in audio ampli er applications or circuits such as in
loudspeaker crossover lters or pre-ampli er tone controls. Sometimes it is necessary to only pass a certain
range of frequencies that do not begin at 0Hz, (DC) or end at some upper high frequency point but are within
a certain range or band of frequencies, either narrow or wide.
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By connecting or “cascading” together a single Low Pass Filter circuit with a High Pass Filter circuit, we can
produce another type of passive RC lter that passes a selected range or “band” of frequencies that can be
either narrow or wide while attenuating all those outside of this range. This new type of passive lter
arrangement produces a frequency selective lter known commonly as a Band Pass Filter or BPF for short.

Band Pass Filter Circuit

 
Unlike the low pass lter which only pass signals of a low frequency range or the high pass lter which pass
signals of a higher frequency range, a Band Pass Filters passes signals within a certain “band” or “spread” of
frequencies without distorting the input signal or introducing extra noise. This band of frequencies can be
any width and is commonly known as the lters Bandwidth.

Bandwidth is commonly de ned as the frequency range that exists between two speci ed frequency cut-off
points ( ƒc ), that are 3dB below the maximum centre or resonant peak while attenuating or weakening the
others outside of these two points.

Then for widely spread frequencies, we can simply de ne the term “bandwidth”, BW as being the difference
between the lower cut-off frequency ( ƒcLOWER ) and the higher cut-off frequency ( ƒcHIGHER ) points. In
other words, BW = ƒH – ƒL. Clearly for a pass band lter to function correctly, the cut-off frequency of the
low pass lter must be higher than the cut-off frequency for the high pass lter.

The “ideal” Band Pass Filter can also be used to isolate or lter out certain frequencies that lie within a
particular band of frequencies, for example, noise cancellation. Band pass lters are known generally as
second-order lters, (two-pole) because they have “two” reactive component, the capacitors, within their
circuit design. One capacitor in the low pass circuit and another capacitor in the high pass circuit.

Frequency Response of a 2nd Order Band Pass Filter

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The Bode Plot or frequency response curve above shows the characteristics of the band pass lter. Here the
signal is attenuated at low frequencies with the output increasing at a slope of +20dB/Decade (6dB/Octave)
until the frequency reaches the “lower cut-off” point ƒL. At this frequency the output voltage is again 1/√2 =
70.7% of the input signal value or -3dB (20*log(VOUT/VIN)) of the input.

The output continues at maximum gain until it reaches the “upper cut-off” point ƒH where the output
decreases at a rate of -20dB/Decade (6dB/Octave) attenuating any high frequency signals. The point of
maximum output gain is generally the geometric mean of the two -3dB value between the lower and upper
cut-off points and is called the “Centre Frequency” or “Resonant Peak” value ƒr. This geometric mean value
is calculated as being ƒr 2 = ƒ(UPPER) x ƒ(LOWER).

A band pass lter is regarded as a second-order (two-pole) type lter because it has “two” reactive
components within its circuit structure, then the phase angle will be twice that of the previously seen rst-
order lters, ie, 180o. The phase angle of the output signal LEADS that of the input by +90o up to the centre
or resonant frequency, ƒr point were it becomes “zero” degrees (0o) or “in-phase” and then changes to LAG
the input by -90o as the output frequency increases.

The upper and lower cut-off frequency points for a band pass lter can be found using the same formula as
that for both the low and high pass lters, For example.

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Then clearly, the width of the pass band of the lter can be controlled by the positioning of the two cut-off
frequency points of the two lters.

Band Pass Filter Example No1.

A second-order band pass lter is to be constructed using RC components that will only allow a range of
frequencies to pass above 1kHz (1,000Hz) and below 30kHz (30,000Hz). Assuming that both the resistors
have values of 10kΩ, calculate the values of the two capacitors required.

The High Pass Filter Stage

The value of the capacitor C1 required to give a cut-off frequency ƒL of 1kHz with a resistor value of 10kΩ
is calculated as:

 
Then, the values of R1 and C1 required for the high pass stage to give a cut-off frequency of 1.0kHz are: R1
= 10kΩ and to the nearest preferred value, C1 = 15nF.

The Low Pass Filter Stage

The value of the capacitor C2 required to give a cut-off frequency ƒH of 30kHz with a resistor value of 10kΩ
is calculated as:

 
Then, the values of R2 and C2 required for the low pass stage to give a cut-off frequency of 30kHz are, R =
10kΩ and C = 530pF. However, the nearest preferred value of the calculated capacitor value of 530pF is
560pF, so this is used instead.

With the values of both the resistances R1 and R2 given as 10kΩ, and the two values of the capacitors C1
and C2 found for both the high pass and low pass lters as 15nF and 560pF respectively, then the circuit
for our simple passive Band Pass Filter is given as.

Completed Band Pass Filter Circuit /

 

Band Pass Filter Resonant Frequency

We can also calculate the “Resonant” or “Centre Frequency” (ƒr) point of the band pass lter were the
output gain is at its maximum or peak value. This peak value is not the arithmetic average of the upper and
lower -3dB cut-off points as you might expect but is in fact the “geometric” or mean value. This geometric
mean value is calculated as being ƒr 2 = ƒc(UPPER) x ƒc(LOWER) for example:

Centre Frequency Equation

Where, ƒr is the resonant or centre frequency

ƒL is the lower -3dB cut-off frequency point
ƒH is the upper -3db cut-off frequency point

and in our simple example above, the calculated cut-off frequencies were found to be ƒL = 1,060 Hz and ƒH
= 28,420 Hz using the lter values.

Then by substituting these values into the above equation gives a central resonant frequency of:

Band Pass Filter Summary

A simple passive Band Pass Filter can be made by cascading together a single Low Pass Filter with a High
Pass Filter. The frequency range, in Hertz, between the lower and upper -3dB cut-off points of the RC
combination is know as the lters “Bandwidth”.

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The width or frequency range of the lters bandwidth can be very small and selective, or very wide and non-
selective depending upon the values of R and C used.

The centre or resonant frequency point is the geometric mean of the lower and upper cut-off points. At this
centre frequency the output signal is at its maximum and the phase shift of the output signal is the same as
the input signal.

The amplitude of the output signal from a band pass lter or any passive RC lter for that matter, will always
be less than that of the input signal. In other words a passive lter is also an attenuator giving a voltage gain
of less than 1 (Unity). To provide an output signal with a voltage gain greater than unity, some form of
ampli cation is required within the design of the circuit.

A Passive Band Pass Filter is classed as a second-order type lter because it has two reactive components
within its design, the capacitors. It is made up from two single RC lter circuits that are each rst-order lters
themselves.

If more lters are cascaded together the resulting circuit will be known as an “nth-order” lter where the “n”
stands for the number of individual reactive components and therefore poles within the lter circuit. For
example, lters can be a 2nd-order, 4th-order, 10th-order, etc.

The higher the lters order the steeper will be the slope at n times -20dB/decade. However, a single
capacitor value made by combining together two or more individual capacitors is still one capacitor.

Our example above shows the output frequency response curve for an “ideal” band pass lter with constant
gain in the pass band and zero gain in the stop bands. In practice the frequency response of this Band Pass
Filter circuit would not be the same as the input reactance of the high pass circuit would affect the frequency
response of the low pass circuit (components connected in series or parallel) and vice versa. One way of
overcoming this would be to provide some form of electrical isolation between the two lter circuits as
shown below.

Buffering Individual Filter Stages

One way of combining ampli cation and ltering into the same circuit would be to use an Operational
Ampli er or Op-amp, and examples of these are given in the Operational Ampli er section. In the next
tutorial we will look at lter circuits which use an operational ampli er within their design to not only to
introduce gain but provide isolation between stages. These types of lter arrangements are generally known
as Active Filters.