SEMESTER 3, 2011/12

EEEB141 : ELECTRONIC DESIGN LABORATORY

PROJECT 1 : CONVERTING AC TO DC
( REPORT )
NAME
ID

: WONG YINWEN
: EP088143

NAME
ID

: PHUA MEI GUAN

: EE087732

LECTURER

: SYED SULAIMAN BIN KAJA MOHIDEEN

SECTION

: 03

DATE DEMO : 4th APRIL 2012

PROBLEM STATEMENT
We are working at a manufacturing company as an electrical engineer. The
company is using control systems which are digitally controlled by computers.
All those computers operate on DC voltages. Instead of using batteries which
supply only limited power, the company installs a black box which will convert
the AC power supply into desired DC power supply level.
One day, the device failed to operate and all the control systems inside the
factory collapsed. Furthermore, all the parts inside the black box was imported,
spare parts will take up a few weeks to reach the factory. Thus, we are being
assigned to design a device that is able to convert the AC power supply into
desired DC power supply so that the computer devices can function until the
spare parts are being imported.
The details of input and required output :
Input

: 6Vrms AC 50Hz

Output

: 5V DC

Rout

: 20k

OBJECTIVE
The objectives are to be able to apply the concept we have gained from lab
sessions into problem we face, to be able to construct a circuit producing a 5V DC
power supply by using 6Vrms 50Hz AC power supply and also to be able to use
creativity in problem solving.

PROCEDURE
1. Materials
- Diodes
- Resistors
- Capacitors

:1
: 1 1.8k, 1 x 20k8.2k
: 1 100 F

Equipment
- Protoboard
- Fluke 45 Dual Display Multimeter
- Tektronix CFG 253 3MHz Function Generator
- Hewlett Packard Oscilloscope 100MHz 54600B
2. We have constructed the circuit as shown in figure below into protoboard.

3. The function generator is set to 6Vrms AC 50Hz which is equivalent to

8.48Vp-p AC 50Hz. The function generator is then being connected into the
circuit.
4. The Vin and Vout are being connected to probe 1 and 2 of the oscilloscope
respectively. (Vout is the voltage across 20k resistor.

5. The function generator and oscilloscope are switched on. The result is
taken and graph is obtained.

THEORETICAL RESULTS
The graph we obtain by using simulation software are as shown as figure
below.
Input waveform from LTspice simulation :

Output waveform from LTspice simulation :

 Input and output waveform from LTspice simulation:

Filter (capacitors) is used to filter out a large portion of the sinusoidal signal
in order to obtain a DC voltage.

 By using the LTspice simulation software, we have found out the resistor
value needed and designation of the circuit.
From the graph, we can see that the Vout is fully converted into 5V DC in
less than 10ms, which will minimize the time taken to startup the generator
into standby. Hence, the generator seems to be started up instantaneously.
The diodes, capacitors, and resistors we use in the simulation software are
ideal.
Calculation :
For the input voltage 6Vrms AC :
Vp = Vrms 2
= 6 2
= 8.485 V
For the output voltage :
Vavg = ( Vmax + Vmin ) / 2
= ( 5.017 + 4.997 ) / 2
= 5.007 V
From the LTspice, we can obtain the values of
Resistors :
R1 = 1.8k
R2 = 8.2k
R3 = 20k

Input Voltage :
Vrms = 6V
Vmax = 8.485 V

Vmin = -8.485V
Output Voltage :
Vavg = 5.007 V
Vmax = 5.017V
Vmin = 4.997V

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Graph of input waveform from experiment :

Graph of output waveform from experiment :

 Graph of input and output waveforms from experiments :

From the Dual Display Multimeter (DMM), we can obtain the values of :
Resistors :

R1 = 1.797 k
R2 = 8.153 k
R3 = 19.50 k
Input Voltage :
Vrms = 6.006 V
Vmax = 8.438 V
Vmin = -8.594 V
Output Voltage :
Vavg = 5.004 V
Vmax = 5.156 V
Vmin = 4.844 V

CALCULATION
The percentage error are calculated by using the formula below :

Resistors :
1.8 k 1.797 k
1.8 k

100 = 0.17%

8.2k 8.153 k
% error for R2 =
8.2 k

100 = 0.57%

20 k 19.50 k
% error for R3 =
20 k

100 = 2.50%

% error for R1 =

Input Voltage :
6 V 6.006 V
% error for Vrms =
6V

% error for Vmax =

100 = 0.10%

8.485V 8.438 V
8.485 V

100 = 0.55%

8.485 V (8.594 V )
% error for Vmin =
8.485 V

100 = 1.28%

Output Voltage :
5.007 V 5.004 V
% error for Vavg =
5.007 V
5.017 V 5.156 V
% error for Vmax =
5.017 V

100 = 0.06%
100 = 2.77%

4.997 V 4.844 V
% error for Vmin =
4.997 V

100 = 3.06%

DISCUSSION
In the design of the circuit, a more constant DC and a smaller ripple voltage,
Vr are obtained. We can minimize the Vr by making the discharge time to be small
compared to the time constant, =RC following the formula we learned,
V min =V max et / RC

There is some percentage error when we constructed the same circuit as the
one we had drawn in simulation software, this is because we cannot have ideal
resistor, diode, and capacitor. There will be slight difference in value as the one we
want. In the circuit, we have used the function of capacitor, charging and
discharging to implement the filter. The capacitor acts as filter to filter out the
sinusoidal signal and left with a constant DC power supply.

CONCLUSION

Following the project, we have further our understanding about how to

design a circuit by using different components to convert a sinusoidal signal into a
desired DC voltage level. We have exposed ourselves into the application of the
knowledge that we gained from previous labs and microelectronics lectures
through this project. Moreover, we have learnt how to use a filter which consists of
capacitor and resistor to convert a sinusoidal signal into a desired DC voltage level.
Before we construct the circuit using hardware, we were advised to use simulation

software to build the circuit.This has exposed us to the simulation software, the
way to operate it,which is important for us to test out circuit we have planned.