Which amplifies the signal

An amplifier has three main properties:-

* Input Resistance or (Rin)
* Output Resistance or (Rout)
* Gain or (A).

No matter how complicated an amplifier circuit is, a
general amplifier model can be used to show the
relationship of these three properties.
Ideal Amplifier Model
Amplifier Gain

The gain of an amplifier can be said to be the
relationship that exists between the signal
measured at the output with the signal measured
at the input.

There are three different kinds of Amplifier Gain:-
Voltage Gain (Av), Current Gain (Ai) and Power
Gain (Ap)
Voltage Amplifier Gain

Power Amplifier Gain

Current Amplifier Gain
To calculate the gain of the amplifier in
Decibels or dB, we can use the following
expressions:
Voltage Gain in dB: a
v
= 20 log Av
Current Gain in dB: a
i
= 20 log Ai
Power Gain in dB: a
p
= 10 log Ap


Power Amplifiers
* Introduction of Power Amplifier
* Power and Efficiency
* Amplifier Classification
* Basic Class A Amplifier
* Transformer Coupled Class A
Amplifier

* Power amplifiers are used to deliver a relatively
high amount of power, usually to a low resistance
load.
* Sometimes an amplifier is required to drive a motor
or feed a loudspeaker and for these types of
applications where high switching currents are
needed Power Amplifiers are required.
The main function of Power amplifiers (also
known as large signal amplifiers) is to deliver
power, which as we know , is the product of the
voltage and current applied to the load. The
power amplifier works on the basic principle of
converting the DC power drawn from the power
supply into an AC voltage signal delivered to the
load. Although the amplification is high the
efficiency of the conversion from the DC power
supply input to the AC voltage signal output is
usually poor.
* Ideal power amplifier will deliver 100%
of the power it draws from the supply to
load. In practice, this can never occur.

* The reason for this is the fact that the
components in the amplifier will all
dissipate some of the power that is
being drawn form the supply.
Amplifier Power Dissipation
P
1
= I
1
2
R
1
P
2
= I
2
2
R
2
I
CQ
R
C
R
E
R
1
R
2
V
CC
I
1
I
2
I
CC
P
C
= I
CQ
2
R
C
P
T
= I
TQ
2
R
T
P
E
= I
EQ
2
R
E
I
EQ
The total amount of power
being dissipated by the
amplifier, P
tot
, is
P
tot
= P
1
+ P
2
+ P
C
+ P
T
+ P
E


The difference between this
total value and the total
power being drawn from the
supply is the power that
actually goes to the load i.e.
output power.

Amplifier Efficiency q
13
Amplifier Efficiency
A figure of merit for the power amplifier is its efficiency, q .
Efficiency ( q ) of an amplifier is defined as the ratio of ac
output power (power delivered to load) to dc input power .
By formula :


As we will see, certain amplifier configurations have much
higher efficiency ratings than others.
This is primary consideration when deciding which type of
power amplifier to use for a specific application.

% 100
) (
) (
% 100 = =
dc P
ac P
power input dc
power output ac
i
o
q
Power Amplifier Efficiency

CLASSES
For the transistor to operate within its "Active Region"
some form of "Base Biasing" was required. This small
Base Bias voltage added to the input signal allowed the
transistor to reproduce the full input waveform at its
output with no loss of signal. However, by altering the
position of this Base Bias voltage, it is possible to
operate an amplifier in an amplification mode other
than that for full waveform reproduction. By changing
the amplifiers Base bias voltage different ranges or
modes of operation can be obtained and these are
categorized according to their Class.

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 16
Amplifier Classifications
Power amplifiers are classified according to the percent of
time that collector current is nonzero.
The amount the output signal varies over one cycle of
operation for a full cycle of input signal.
v
in
v
out
A
v
Class-A
v
in
v
out
A
v
Class-B
v
in
v
out
A
v
Class-C
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 17
Efficiency Ratings
The maximum theoretical efficiency ratings
of class-A, B, and C amplifiers are:

Amplifier Maximum Theoretical
Efficiency, q
max

Class A 25%
Class B 78.5%
Class C 99%
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 18
Class A Amplifier
voutput waveform same shape vinput

waveform + t
phase shift.

The collector current is nonzero 100% of the time.
inefficient, since even with zero input signal, ICQ is
nonzero
(i.e. transistor dissipates power in the rest, or quiescent,
condition)
v
in
v
out
A
v
19
Basic Operation
Common-emitter (voltage-divider) configuration (RC-coupled amplifier)
R
C
+V
CC
R
E
R
1
R
2
R
L
v
in
I
CQ
I
1
I
CC
Class A Amplifier operation is where the entire
input signal waveform is faithfully reproduced
at the amplifiers output as the transistor is
perfectly biased within its active region,
thereby never reaching either of its Cut-off or
Saturation regions.
Class A Output Waveform
Here, the Class A amplifier uses the same transistor for
both halves of the output waveform and due to its biasing
arrangement always has current flowing through it, even if
there is no input signal. In other words the output
transistors never turns "OFF". This results in the class A
type of operation being very inefficient as its conversion of
the DC supply power to the AC signal power delivered to
the load is usually very low. Generally, the output
transistor of a Class A amplifier gets very hot even when
there is no input signal present so some form of heat
sinking is required. The DC current flowing through the
output transistor (Ic) when there is no output signal will be
equal to the current flowing through the load.
23
Typical Characteristic Curves for
Class-A Operation
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 24
Typical Characteristic
Previous figure shows an example of a
sinusoidal input and the resulting collector
current at the output.
The current, I
CQ
, is usually set to be in the
center of the ac load line.


Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 25
DC Input Power
R
C
+V
CC
R
E
R
1
R
2
R
L
v
in
I
CQ
I
1
I
CC
The total dc power, P
i
(dc) , that an amplifier
draws from the power supply :

CC CC i
I V dc P = ) (
1
I I I
CQ CC
+ =
CQ CC
I I ~ ) (
1
I I
CQ
>>
CQ CC i
I V dc P = ) (
Note that this equation is valid for most amplifier power analyses. We can rewrite for the
above equation for the ideal amplifier as
CQ CEQ i
I V dc P 2 ) ( =
26
AC Output Power
R
1
//R
2
v
ce
v
in
v
o
i
c
R
C
//R
L
r
C
AC output (or load) power, P
o
(ac)


Above equations can be used to
calculate the maximum possible
value of ac load power.

L
rms o
rms o rms c o
R
v
v i ac P
2
) (
) ( ) (
) ( = =
Disadvantage of using class-A amplifiers is the fact that their efficiency
ratings are so low, q
max
~ 25% .
Why?? A majority of the power that is drawn from the supply by a
class-A amplifier is used up by the amplifier itself.

27
Transformer-Coupled Class-A Amplifier
Input
+V
CC
R
E
R
1
R
2
R
L
N
1
:N
2
Z
2
= R
L
Z
1
A transformer-coupled class-A amplifier
uses a transformer to couple the output
signal from the amplifier to the load.
The relationship between the primary
and secondary values of voltage,
current and impedance are summarized
as:
L
R
Z
Z
Z
N
N
I
I
V
V
N
N
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
= =
|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
N
1
, N
2
= the number of turns in the primary and secondary
V
1
, V
2
= the primary and secondary voltages
I
1
, I
2
= the primary and secondary currents
Z
1
, Z
2
= the primary and seconadary impedance ( Z
2
= R
L
)
28
Transformer-Coupled Class-A Amplifier
An important characteristic of the transformer
is the ability to produce a counter emf, or kick
emf.
When an inductor experiences a rapid change
in supply voltage, it will produce a voltage with
a polarity that is opposite to the original voltage
polarity.
The counter emf is caused by the
electromagnetic field that surrounds the
inductor.
29
One of the primary advantages of using the
transformer-coupled class-A amplifier is the
increased efficiency over the RC-coupled class-A
circuit.
Another advantage is the fact that the
transformer-coupled amplifier is easily converted
into a type of amplifier that is used extensively in
communications :- the tuned amplifier.
A tuned amplifier is a circuit that is designed to
have a specific value of power gain over a specific
range of frequency.
Class B Operation
Unlike the Class A amplifier above that uses a single transistor
for its output stage, the Class B Amplifier uses two
complimentary transistors (an NPN and a PNP) for each half of
the output waveform. One transistors for the positive half of the
waveform and another for the negative half of the waveform.
This means that each transistor spends half of its time in the
Active region and half its time in the Cut-off region. Class B
operation has no DC bias voltage instead the transistor only
conducts when the input signal is greater than the base-emitter
voltage and for silicon devices is about 0.7v. Therefore, at zero
input there is zero output. This then results in only half the input
signal being presented at the amplifiers output giving a greater
efficiency as shown below. Most audio power amplifiers use a
Class B configuration which employs two common collector
(emitter-follower) stages

active for
positive
portion
of signal
active for
negative portion
of signal
V
V
Vin
VE = Vin-Vd
VE = Vin+Vd
Class B Amplifier
Class B Output Waveform
Neither transistor remains on for the entire
cycle, giving each transistor time to rest and
cool during the waveform cycle. This makes for
a more power-efficient amplifier circuit, but
leads to a distinct type of nonlinearity known as
crossover distortion. Distortion occurs because
there is a delay between the time one
transistor turns off and the other transistor
turns on.
One common approach to remove crossover distortion
is to insert a base biasing network
This method biases the transistors so that their turn-
on/off points actually overlap. That is, both transistors are
in a state of conduction for a brief moment
during the crossover period. The addition of the resistor
and diode effectively raises the
base voltage a diode drop above/below the emitter
junction of the NPN/PNP transistors.

HARMONIC DISTORTION
One type of distortion that is common to most
of the amplifiers is called the harmonic or
amplitude distortion , which is caused due to
non-linearity of the active device employed for
amplification.
Harmonic distortion increases as we go from
class A operation to class C.

When non linearity distortion is present the
output waveform contains components of
frequency which are harmonic(integer
multiples) of the input signal frequency.

Such distortion may be greatly reduced by
using push pull operation employing two
transistors in a single stage.
PUSH-PULL AMPLIFIER
Non-linear distortion is eliminated
( Employs two transistors)
Transistors driven by signals of
opposite polarity
Transistors conduct in alternate half
cycles
Even harmonics are cancelled out