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Clippers

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Vaibhav Singh
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19 views5 pages

Clippers

Uploaded by

Vaibhav Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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5/16/24, 10:26 PM Clippers

Clippers
Wave shaping circuits are the electronic circuits, which produce the desired shape
at the output from the applied input wave form. These circuits perform two functions
−

Attenuate the applied wave


Alter the dc level of the applied wave.

There are two types of wave shaping circuits: Clippers and Clampers. In this
chapter, you will learn in detail about clippers.

Op-amp based Clippers


A clipper is an electronic circuit that produces an output by removing a part of the
input above or below a reference value. That means, the output of a clipper will be
same as that of the input for other than the clipped part. Due to this, the peak to
peak amplitude of the output of a clipper will be always less than that of the input.

The main advantage of clippers is that they eliminate the unwanted noise present in
the amplitude of an ac signal.

Clippers can be classified into the following two types based on the clipping portion
of the input.

Positive Clipper
Negative Clipper

These are discussed in detail as given below −

Positive Clipper

A positive clipper is a clipper that clips only the positive portion(s) of the input
signal.

The circuit diagramof positive clipper is shown in the following figure −

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In the circuit shown above, a sinusoidal voltage signal Vt is applied to the non-
inverting terminal of the op-amp. The value of the reference voltage Vref can be
chosen by varying the resistor R2 .

The operation of the circuit shown above is explained below −

If the value of the input voltage Vi is less than the value of the reference
voltage Vref , then the diode D1 conducts. Then, the circuit given above
behaves as a voltage follower. Therefore, the output voltage V0 of the
above circuit will be same as that of the input voltage Vi , for Vi < Vref .

If the value of the input voltage Vi is greater than the value of reference
voltage Vref , then the diode D1 will be off. Now, the op-amp operates in an
open loop since the feedback path was open. Therefore, the output voltage V0
of the above circuit will be equal to the value of the reference voltage Vref ,
for Vi > Vref .

The input wave form and the corresponding output wave form of a positive
clipper for a positive reference voltage Vref , are shown in the following figure −

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Negative Clipper

A negative clipper is a clipper that clips only the negative portion(s) of the input
signal. You can obtain the circuit of the negative clipper just by reversing the diode
and taking the reverse polarity of the reference voltage, in the circuit that you have
seen for a positive clipper.

The circuit diagram of a negative clipper is shown in the following figure −

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5/16/24, 10:26 PM Clippers

In the above circuit, a sinusoidal voltage signal Vi is applied to the non-inverting


terminal of the op-amp. The value of the reference voltage Vref can be chosen by
varying the resistor R2 .

The operation of a negative clipper circuit is explained below −

If the value of the input voltage Vt is greater than the value of reference voltage
Vref ,then the diode D1 conducts. Then, the above circuit behaves as a voltage
follower. Therefore, the output voltage V0 of the above circuit will be same as that
of the input voltage Vi for Vi > Vref .

If the value of the input voltage Vi is less than the value of reference voltage , then
the diode D1 will be off. Now, the op-amp operates in an open loop since the
feedback path is open. Therefore, the output voltage V0 of the above circuit will be
equal to the value of reference voltage ,Vref for Vi < Vref .

The input wave form and the corresponding output wave form of a negative
clipper, for a negative reference voltage Vref , are shown in the following figure −

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