LABORATORY 4:

EECE 211L Experiment 8

RC AND RL LOW PASS FILTER
I. INTRODUCTION:
- Resistors, capacitors, and inductors can be combined to form filters.
Waveform such as those originating from voice, music, or transducers can
often be decomposed into a sum of many sinusoidal signals with different
frequencies.
- When such a waveform is applied to a low pass filter, only the low frequency
sinusoidal components pass through the filter while the high frequency
components are attenuated. Such a filter could be useful for removing
additive high frequency noise from a low frequency signal such as the
signal from a temperature sensor.
- Other types of filters include high pass, band pass and band reject filters. In
this experiment, two simple low pass filters will be studied. The
experimentally determined frequency responses will be compared with
responses using theoretical calculations.

II. EQUIPMENT AND PARTS

- Signal generator.
- Oscilloscope.
- Digital mulitimeter
- Resistor 470Ω.
- Inductor 20mH
- Capacitor 0.1µF
- HP 467 amplifier

III. PROCEDURE
3.1. RC Filter Frequency Response.
1. After measuring R and C, construct the circuit shown in Figure 1.

2. Vary the frequency of the generator over the following values: 100 Hz, 300 Hz, 600
Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 3500Hz, 4000Hz, 4500 Hz,5000 Hz, 6000 Hz,
10,000Hz and 50,000 Hz.
- For each frequency value use the scope to measure and record the amplitudes of
Vin(t) and V(t).

Vout
Image Frequency Vin Vout 20*log10( Vin ¿

100Hz 4.00V 3.96V -0.087

300Hz 3.96V 3.92V -0.088

600Hz 3.84V 3.72V -0.28

1000Hz 3.64V 3.36V -0.69

2000Hz 3.12V 2.48V -1.99

3000Hz 2.84V 1.88V -3.58

3500Hz 2.76V 1.64V -4.52

4000Hz 2.68V 1.48V -5.16

4500Hz 2.60V 1.36V -5.63

5000Hz 2.60V 1.24V -6.43

6000Hz 2.52V 1.04V -7.69

10000Hz 2.44V 600mV -12.18

50000Hz 2.32V 180mV -22.20

- Experimentally, also find the frequency where the amplitude of V(t) is 0.707 times
the amplitude of V(t) when the source frequency is close to 0.
- We have cut-off-frequency:
Vout = 0.707 x Vin
- For f = 3000Hz:
Vout 1 . 8 8
≅ =0.66
Vin 2.84

 The ratio is nearly the same with frequency f =3000 Hz

3. It can be shown that the theoretical relationship between the RMS value of V(t) and
the RMS of Vin(t) is given by

- In this expression V(ω) and Vin(ω) refer to the phasor representations of V(t) and

Vin(t), respectively. Use MATLAB to plot

over the frequency range 100 Hz to 100 KHz. Use a 3 cycle semilog scale for the
frequency axis and your measured values of R and C for the calculations. Your
graph should be a solid smooth curve.
Theoretically, the expression in (1) should be -3 dB at the frequency given by

- Calculate (2) using your measured R and C. Show the experimental response at this

frequency point on your plot using the plot symbol "*". These are your theoretical

results.

Vout RMS
Vin RMS Vout RMS 20 log 10
Frequency Vin RMS
100Hz
2.83V 2.79V -0.12dB
 300Hz
2.79V 2.77V -0.06dB
600Hz
2.71V 2.63V -0.262dB
1000Hz
2.57V 2.38V -0.670dB
2000Hz
2.20V 1.75V -1.991dB
3000Hz
2.00V 1.32V -3.61dB
3500Hz
1.95V 1.16V -4.51dB
4000Hz
1.89V 1.05V -5.10dB
4500Hz
1.84V 0.96V -5.65dB
5000Hz
1.84V 0.88V -6.41dB
6000Hz
1.78V 0.74V -7.62dB
10,000Hz
1.72V 0.42V -12.24dB
50,000Hz
1.64V 0.13V -22.02dB

- We have:

20 log 10
|V ( f )| =20 log 1
=20 log 10
1
=−3.01 dB
√1+ (2 πfRC ) √1+(2 π∗3387∗470∗0.1∗10−6 )2
10
|V ¿ ( f )| 2

- For RC lowpass filter:

1 1 rad
ωc= = ≅ 21.28 × 103 ( )
RC 470 × ( 0.1 ×10 )
−6 s

ωc 21.28 ×10 3
 f BW = = ≅ 3387 ( Hz)
2π 2π
4. Use MATLAB to plot your tabulated experimental data from Step 2 on the same graph
as your theoretical results. Use the plot symbol "o" for your experimental results. Don't
connect the "o" by straight lines. You should now have a direct comparison of the
theoretical and experimental frequency responses of the circuit.
  Consequently, the graph indicates that there is a reasonable amount of error between
the circuit's theoretical and experimental frequency responses.

3.2. RL Filter Frequency Response

1. Measure the values of R1, RL, and L. Then construct the circuit shown in Figure 2.

- Then construct the circuit shown in Figure 2.

 RL 15ohm
R1 470ohm
L 20mH
2. For the circuit in Figure 2, repeat the measurements shown earlier in Step 2 for the
RC network.

Vout
Image Frequency Vin Vout 20*log10( Vin ¿

100Hz 4.00V 3.76V -0.54

300Hz 4.00V 3.64V -0.81

600Hz 4.00V 3.54V -1.06

1000Hz 4.00V 3.42V -1.36

2000Hz 4.00V 3.19V -1.97

3000Hz 4.00V 2.82V -3.04

3500Hz 4.00V 2.51V -4.05

4000Hz 4.00V 2.04V -5.85

4500Hz 4.00V 1.88V -6.56

 5000Hz 4.00V 1.50V -8.52

6000Hz 4.00V 1.23V -10.24

10000Hz 4.00V 1.06V -11.54

50000Hz 4.00V 0.8V -13.98

- Experimentally, also find the frequency where the amplitude of V(t) is 0.707 times
the amplitude of V(t) when the source frequency is close to 0.
- We have cut-off-frequency:
Vout = 0.707 x Vin
- For f = 3000Hz:
Vout 2.82
≅ =0.705
Vin 4.00

 The ratio is nearly the same with frequency f =3000 Hz

3. The theoretical relationship between the RMS values of V and Vin is

As in Step 3 for the RC network, calculate and plot

over the frequency range 100 Hz to 100 KHz using 3 cycle semilog paper in MATLAB.
The theoretical expression for the -3 dB frequency is given by

Calculate (4) using the measured values of R and L. Indicate this frequency point in your
theoretical plot of the frequency response using the plot symbol "*".
 - These are your theoretical results.

Vout RMS
Vin RMS Vout RMS 20 log 10
Frequency Vin RMS
100Hz
2.83V 2.66V -0.54dB
300Hz
2.83V 2.57V -0.84dB
600Hz
2.83V 2.50V -1.08dB
1000Hz
2.83V 2.41V -1.39dB
2000Hz
2.83V 2.26V -1.95dB
3000Hz
2.83V 1.99V -3.05dB
3500Hz
2.83V 1.71V -4.37dB
4000Hz
2.83V 1.44V -5.87dB
4500Hz
2.83V 1.33V -6.56dB
5000Hz
2.83V 1.06V -8.53dB
6000Hz
2.83V 0.87V -10.25dB
10,000Hz
2.83V 0.75V -11.53dB
50,000Hz
2.83V 0.57V -13.92dB

We have:
R1
|V out ( f )| R1 + R L
20 log 10 =20 log10
|V ¿ ( f )|
√ ( )
2
L
1+ 2 πf
R 1+ R L

For RL lowpass filter:

R L + R 1 15+ 470 rad
ωc= = −3
=24250( )
L 20 ×10 s
ω c 24250
 f c= = ≅ 3859 (Hz)
2π 2π
4. Use MATLAB to plot your tabulated experimental data from Step 2 on the same
graph as your theoretical results. Use the plot symbol "o" for your experimental
 results. Don't connect the "o" by straight lines. You should now have a direct
comparison of the theoretical and experimental frequency responses of the circuit.

Since the cutoff frequency point is not on the blue line, it is evident from the graph that there
is a significant error between the theoretical and experimental frequency responses of the circuit.