Clamper Circuit

Clamper Circuit
A clamper circuit is also known as a clamping circuit is an electronic circuit that shifts
the DC level of a signal without changing the shape of its waveform. It moves the
whole signal either up or down about the reference level.
Unlike the clipper circuit, it does not change or distort the shape of the waveform. It
simply adds or subtracts the DC level from the waveform to shift the waveform up or
below the 0V reference line.
Working of Clamper Circuit

The idea behind the clamper circuit is to add the DC component to shift the waveform
above the 0v line or subtract the DC component to shift the waveform below the –v
line. This DC component is introduced into the circuit by utilizing a capacitor (which is
the main component of a clamper circuit apart from diode and resistor). The capacitor
stores the charge in one half-cycle and discharges in another half cycle where it adds
to the input signal and shifts the DC level of the whole signal.
Type of Clampers
The clamper circuit can be designed in the following types.
• Positive Clamper
• Negative Clamper
Positive Clamper
In a positive clamper circuit, the input waveform is shifted upward above the 0v
reference line. Here is the circuit diagram of a positive clamper circuit.
During the positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased, therefore, therefore, the
input signal appears at the output as it is. At this point, the capacitor is not charged
and there is no clamping. Therefore, the output at this half cycle is not considered.
During the next negative half cycle, the diode becomes forward biased and it starts to
conduct, at this half cycle, the capacitor charges up to the peak input voltage VM with
inverse polarity.
During the next positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased and it does not conduct.
Due to this, the capacitor starts to discharge. The capacitor discharge adds to the input
signal which appears at the output as the summation of both voltages which reaches
up to 2VM. This is how the signal level is shifted above the 0v line.
Positive Clamper with Biasing

The positive clamper can be biased with another voltage source to further shift the
input signal waveform. The biasing can be either positive or negative voltage. Simply
put, the positive biasing further shifts up the waveform while the negative biasing lower
down the waveform by the amount of the biasing voltage.
Positive Biasing
During positive biasing a positive voltage source is added in series with the diode as
shown in the figure below.
During the positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased for the input signal but
forward biased for the battery voltage. Therefore, the diode conducts until the input
voltage exceeds the battery. During the conduction, the capacitor is charged with the
battery voltage VB. the diode stops conduction once the input voltage exceeds.
During the negative half cycle, the diode is forward biased for both input and battery
voltage. Thus, the diode conducts to charge the capacitor with both the input and
battery voltage VM+VB. During the next positive half cycle, the capacitor is discharged
that adds to the input signal waveform as explained in the positive clamper circuit.
Negative Biasing
The negative biased positive clamper has the same operation as a positive biased
clamper except the waveform is shifted down by the amount of the battery voltage VB
During the positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased due to both input voltage
and the battery voltage. The diode does not conduct and the capacitor does not
charge.
During the negative half cycle, the diode is forward biased for input voltage but it is
reversed biased for battery voltage VB. Therefore, the diode does not conduct unless
the input voltage exceeds the battery voltage and when the diode conducts, the
capacitor charges. Due to this, the charging voltage of the capacitor is reduced to
Vm – VB.
During the next positive cycle, the diode does not conduct, thus the capacitor is
discharge and the waveform is shifted upward by VM – VB (the capacitor voltage). The
biasing voltage shifts the waveform down by the amount of VB of a positive clamper.
Negative Clamper
The negative clamper shifts the whole input waveform downward. Here is the circuit
diagram of a negative clamper circuit.
During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward-biased. Therefore, it conducts and
charges the capacitor with inverse polarity up to the peak input voltage -VM. There is
no output during this half cycle.
During the negative half cycle, the diode is reverse biased and it does not conduct.
Therefore, the capacitor discharges which adds with the input waveform. The addition
of both voltages shifts the whole waveform furthermore up to -2VM. This is how the
input signal is shifted downward.
Negative Clamper with Biasing

The positive and negative biasing of negative clamper further shifts the waveform
above or down.
Positive Biasing
The positive biasing of the negative clamper adds a positive or upward shift by the
amount of biasing voltage to the negative clamped waveform. It shifts the waveform
up to the positive level due to positive basing.
During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward biased for input voltage but reverse
biased for battery voltage. The diode conducts when the input voltage exceeds the
battery and then the capacitor charges. Therefore, the amount of capacitor charge is
reduced by the amount of VB and the capacitor voltage results in -VM + VB.
During the negative half cycle, the diode does not conduct and the capacitor
discharge. The sum of input voltage and the capacitor appears at the output which has
a shift of VB upward as shown in the figure above.
Negative Biasing
The negative biasing of the negative clamper further shifts downward the input signal
waveform.
During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward biased for both the input signal and
the battery voltage. Thus, the diode conducts and the capacitor charges with the sum
of both voltages.
During the negative half-cycle, the diodes reverse biases for input voltage but do
conduct for the battery voltage. When the input voltage exceeds the battery, the diode
blocks the signal and it appears at the output including the discharge voltage of the
capacitor. As a result, the waveform further shifts downward as shown in the figure.

Clamper Circuit

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Clamper Circuit

Working of Clamper Circuit

Positive Clamper with Biasing

Negative Clamper with Biasing

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