EEE 54 HXY

29 September 2016

B. Clamper

Design Problem #1:

Voltage Multiplier for a Filter
Denise D. Soriano, 2012-21120
Darl John Philip B. Mendoza, 2012-46038
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute
University of the Philippines, Diliman
AbstractThis document will state the steps made to design
a voltage multiplier for a high pass filter. It will show the
calculations made to find the correct values for the capacitors
and resistors used in the circuit. The tests used to determine
that each sub-circuit of the voltage multiplier is working and
within specifications.

I.

The clamper is a circuit that holds either the positive or

negative peak voltage of the input signal. This is done by
introducing a DC offset to the signal which will keep the
positive or negative peak at the desired voltage value. In this
circuit the clamper is to hold the positive peak to half of the
Vpp of the doubler output. The clamper circuit is shown
below.

INTRODUCTION

HIS design project shows off the capabilities of

diodes used in two different circuits as well as the
attributes of a filter. This design project tests ones
knowledge on diodes and filters as proper understanding is
needed to implement the circuit perfectly.

II. MATERIALS

2 22F Capacitors
2 47nF Capacitors
1 1M Resistor
1 3.3k Resistor
3 1n4148 Diodes
III. SPECIFICATIONS

The specifications for this design project was for it to

double the input voltage of 2.5 V AC from a 5 kHz square
wave supply. Then this doubled voltage will be clamped to
+Vpp/2 which would be +2.5 VDC. This would then be passed
through a high pass filter with a critical frequency of 1 kHz.
The output of the multiplier, which will be referred to as the
doubler, should have a voltage ripple that does not exceed
that of 0.1 V.

For the value of the capacitor C and resistor R used in the

circuit is computed such that the time constant = RC is 10
times the signal period 1/fc = 1/1k = 1ms. Therefore RC
1ms. The time constant for the clamper circuit is equal to
RC = (47nF)*(1M) = 47ms which justifies the requirement
for RC.
C. High Pass Filter
The high pass filter is a circuit that allows only high
frequencies, relative to its critical frequency, to pass and be
displayed. The high pass filter also acts as a DC block,
preventing DC voltage to pass taking away any DC offset
from the signal. The high pass circuit used in the project is
shown below.

IV. DESIGN AND CALCULATIONS

A. Voltage Doubler
The voltage doubler is a voltage multiplier that doubles
the magnitude of the input voltage hence its name. The
voltage doubler model we used in the project is as shown in
the figure below. We used 2 2.2F capacitors which collects
charges which will be eventually used by the voltage to ride
and output a doubled value of the input.

The computation for the values of the capacitor and

resistor used in the circuit is as follows:

f c=

1
=1 kHz
2 RC

Choosing a capacitor value similar to the one used in the

clamper circuit, the resistor value can be solved using the
equation above which would result in 3.3 k.

V. EXPERIMENT
First set-up the voltage doubler. It is easy to see if the
doubler is working. The output signal should be double the
magnitude of the input. For the experiment, a 2.5 V, 5 kHz
square wave is fed through the input terminals of the voltage
doubler. The output signal should be a constant line as it

EEE 54 HXY
rides the peaks of the square wave.
Once the voltage doubler is working, set-up the clamper
circuit. Connect the output of the voltage doubler to the
input of the clamper and test if the signal has gained a DC
offset of Vpp/2 = 2.5 V. During the experiment, a DC bias
was need to be connected to the diode of the clamper to
bring-up the output voltage. To check that the output
voltage is correct, use the formula Vout = Vin + (Vdc+Vbias).
Finally, if the two previous circuits are working, connect
them to the HPF (High Pass Filter). The HPF will act as a
DC block and take away the DC offset introduced by the
clamper circuit from the output signal. To check it the
circuit works, test different frequencies. At lower
frequencies the signal should start to distort as the HPF does
its job.

2
The complete schematic of the working circuit is shown
below:

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The design project was relatively easy to visualize but to
accomplish it, knowledge on how diodes and filter work is a
must. There must also be prior knowledge on how the
graphs would look like else you will be confused in the
oscilloscope is displaying the right signal.