1160 Elements of Electrical Engg. & Electronics
of ae Capacitor Cy: Its behaviour is similar to the capacitor Cy. It bypasses the a.c. component
¢ rectifier output which could not be blocked by an inductor L. As a result, only the dc
component is available at the output, a
Tthas been found that the ripple factor in a n-filter is dependent only on the product of the
capacitance values of the capacitors C, and Cp, (and not on the individual values of C, and C).
But the d.c. output voltage will be high only if the value of capacitor C; is large. Hence, for,
given ripple factor, the x-filter is designed with a large value of C;. The ripple factor (for 50 Hz
supply) of a x-filter is given by the relation.
a L ___ 5700
u W2OGQGLR, AGLR
where C, and C, are in wF, Lin Henry, and R, in ohm.
Advantages :
(i) It can be used with half-wave as well as full-wave rectifier.
(ii) More output voltage is obtained.
Gii) Output is almost pure d.c.
Disadvantages :
(i) Cost, size and weight is more because of inductor applied in the circuit.
Note : To overcome the disadvantages, an inductor may be replaced by a resistor (100 to
200 Q). It is then called a capacitor input RC filter. But this reduces the output dic. voltage
because of voltage drop in the resistor.
19.14 BLEEDER RESISTOR :
It is acommon practice to use a resistor (called oe a
bleeder resistor) across the filter output as shown in
fig. 19.30. Such a resistor provides the following From rectifier C= Rg;
three advantages :
@)_Itmaintains the minimum current necessary iaa0'b0 Goss Taices pooed
for optimum operation of the inductor. ‘at the filter output
(ii) Itimproves voltage regulation of the supply
by acting as preload on the supply.
(ii) It provides safety to the persons handling the equipment, by acting as a discharging path
for capacitors.
19.15 SPECIAL DIODES :
We have already discussed about rectifiers or general purpose diodes in the previous
sections. Now we shall discuss several other types of diodes which are used for spec
ications. Such diodes are zener, varactor, Schottky, tunnel, photodiode, light emitting diode
GED) ‘These diodes are also called special purpose diodes or simply special diodes.
49.15.1 Zener Diode : ge
these materials are very poor in emitting light radiations.
*~ 148 (05)
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The LEDs radiate light in different colours such as red, green, yellow, blue, orange, o,,
Some of LEDs emit infrared (ic. invisible) light also. The colour of the emitted light depen,
Uupon the type of the semiconductor used. Thus, gallium arsenide emits infrared radiation,
gallium arsenide phosphide produces either red or yellow light, gallium phosphide emits req ,°
green light and gallium nitrite produces blue light. ;
‘The LEDs which emit one colour of light when foryry
biased and another when reverse biased are Calleg
multicoloured LEDs. One commonly used symbol for 4
7, tulticolour LED is as shown in fig. 19.45.
ae Multicolour LEDs actually contain two PN junctions
y K that connected in reverse parallel i.e. they are in paral
4 with the anode of one being connected to the cathode of ihe
“ other. Multicolour LEDs are typically red when biased in
one direction and green when biased in the other direction
Incidently, if a multicolour LED is switched fast, the Lep
will produce a third colour. For example, a red/green LED
LP raring nal will produce a yellow light when rapidly switched back anj
forth between biasing polarities.
Applications : The LEDs operate at low voltages i.e. from 1.5 V to 2.5 V. They have a
life of about 10,000 hours and can be switched 'ON' and 'OFF' ata very fast speed (= Ins). These
features make LEDs very important electronic device. Following are the important applications ci
the LEDs.
- In 7-segment, 16-segment and dot matrix displays. Such displays are used to indicate
alphanumeric characters and symbols in various systems such as digital clocks, microwave-
ovens, stereo tuners, calculators, etc,
For indicating power ON/OFF conditions, power level indicators or stereo amplifiers.
In optical switching applications,
For solid state video displays, which are rapidly replacing cathode ray tubs. (CRT).
In the field of optical communication, where LEDs are used to transfer (or couple) enet
from one circuit to another. They are also used to send light energy to fibre optical cable,
which transmits energy by means of total internal reflection. ‘The fibre optical cable so!
light weight, flexible, often transparent and as small
. For image sensing circuits in picturephone.
+ In burglar alarm systems; In such applications, LEDs radiating infrared light
preferred.
19.15.6 Photo diodes :
A photodiode is a two terminal PN junction device whi
a smalll transparent window which allows light to strike 1
device, also called photodetectors which converts light signals into electrical signals. Fi. 1:
(a) and (b) shows the structure and schematic symbol of a photodiode, The basic bi”
arrangement of a photodiode is as shown in fig. 19.46 (c), .
yYaryp
20.043 mm in diameter.
sa
ich operates in a reverse bias: It ™
the PN junction. It is a light sens!" ‘
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1179
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Fig. 19.46 Photodiode
We know that a rectifier diode has a very small reverse current when it is reverse biased. The
canes true fora photodiode also. The reverse biased current is produced by thermally generated
tleeton-hole pairs in the depletion layer, which are swept across the junction by the electric field
created by the reverse voltage. In a rectifier diode, the reverse-current increases with the
temperature due to an increase in the number of electron — hole pairs.
= Reverse Voltage V_(V) —
“2 “1
200 1 (HA)
» 7ia.19.47 Characteristic curves of a photodiode
= 3
DBs igre = 12 KD
A photo diode differs from a rectifier
diode in a sense that its reverse current
increases with the light intensity at the PN
junction. When there is no incident light,
the reverse current is almost negligible and
is called the dark current. An increase in the
amount of light energy produces an increcse
in the reverse current. For a given value of
reverse-bias voltage, fig. 19.47 shows the
characteristic curves for a typical diode. It
may be noted from the characteristic curve
that the dark current, for this particular
device is approximately 25 tA at a reverse
bias voltage of 3V. Therefore, resistance of
the device with an incident light.
aig 0000 Imim2, the current is approximately 300 j1A at 3V. The resistance under this
= 3
300x105, & = 10 kQ
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These calculations show that photodiode can be used as a variable resistance devicg
Controlled by light intensity. A photodiode can be used to switch on the current at a very fast rate
(in nanosecond). Thus, itis one of the fastest photo detectors.
Applications :
Some of the important applications of a photodiode are as follows :
Optical communication systems,
Character recognition etc,
1. Photo detection (both visible and invisible)
2. Demodulation
3. Logic circuits
4. Switching
5.
6.
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