Operational Amplifier-
Applications
TARGET AUDIENCE: 1 ST YEAR BACHELOR’S IN MEDICAL
LAB. TECHNOLOGY
Summing Amplifier Circuit
In this simple summing amplifier circuit, the output
voltage, ( Vout ) now becomes proportional to the
sum of the input voltages, V1, V2, V3, etc.
Then we can modify the original equation for the
inverting amplifier to take account of these new
inputs thus:
However, if all the input impedances, ( RIN ) are equal in
value, we can simplify the above equation to give an output
voltage of:
Summing Amplifier Equation
Op-amp Integrator Circuit
As its name implies, the Op-amp Integrator is an
operational amplifier circuit that performs the
mathematical operation of Integration, that is we
can cause the output to respond to changes in the
input voltage over time as the op-amp integrator
produces an output voltage which is proportional to
the integral of the input voltage.
In other words the magnitude of the output signal is
determined by the length of time a voltage is present
at its input as the current through the feedback loop
charges or discharges the capacitor as the required
negative feedback occurs through the capacitor.
When a step voltage, Vin is firstly applied to the input
of an integrating amplifier, the uncharged
capacitor C has very little resistance and acts a bit like
a short circuit allowing maximum current to flow via
the input resistor, Rin as potential difference exists
between the two plates.
No current flows into the amplifiers input and
point X is a virtual earth resulting in zero output.
As the impedance of the capacitor at this point is very
low, the gain ratio of XC/RIN is also very small giving
an overall voltage gain of less than one, ( voltage
follower circuit ).
As the feedback capacitor, C begins to charge up due
to the influence of the input voltage, its
impedance Xc slowly increase in proportion to its
rate of charge.
The capacitor charges up at a rate determined by the
RC time constant, ( τ ) of the series RC network.
Negative feedback forces the op-amp to produce an
output voltage that maintains a virtual earth at the
op-amp’s inverting input.
Since the capacitor is connected between the op-
amp’s inverting input (which is at virtual ground
potential) and the op-amp’s output (which is now
negative), the potential voltage, Vc developed across
the capacitor slowly increases causing the charging
current to decrease as the impedance of the capacitor
increases.
This results in the ratio of Xc/Rin increasing
producing a linearly increasing ramp output voltage
that continues to increase until the capacitor is fully
charged.
At this point the capacitor acts as an open circuit,
blocking any more flow of DC current. The ratio of
feedback capacitor to input resistor ( XC/RIN ) is now
infinite resulting in infinite gain.
The result of this high gain (similar to the op-amps open-
loop gain), is that the output of the amplifier goes into
saturation as shown below.
(Saturation occurs when the output voltage of the amplifier
swings heavily to one voltage supply rail or the other with
little or no control in between).
The rate at which the output voltage increases (the
rate of change) is determined by the value of the
resistor and the capacitor, “RC time constant“.
By changing this RC time constant value, either by
changing the value of the Capacitor, C or the
Resistor, R, the time in which it takes the output
voltage to reach saturation can also be changed for
example.
If we apply a constantly changing input signal such as a
square wave to the input of an Integrator Amplifier then
the capacitor will charge and discharge in response to
changes in the input signal.
This results in the output signal being that of a sawtooth
waveform whose output is affected by the RC time constant
of the resistor/capacitor combination because at higher
frequencies, the capacitor has less time to fully charge.
This type of circuit is also known as a Ramp Generator
We know from first principals that the voltage on the
plates of a capacitor is equal to the charge on the
capacitor divided by its capacitance giving Q/C.
Then the voltage across the capacitor is
output Vout therefore: -Vout = Q/C.
If the capacitor is charging and discharging, the rate
of charge of voltage across the capacitor is given as:
But dQ/dt is electric current and since the node voltage of
the integrating op-amp at its inverting input terminal is
zero, X = 0, the input current I(in) flowing through the
input resistor, Rin is given as:
The current flowing through the feedback capacitor C is
given as:
Assuming that the input impedance of the op-amp is
infinite (ideal op-amp), no current flows into the op-amp
terminal.
Therefore, the nodal equation at the inverting input
terminal is given as:
From which we derive an ideal voltage output for the Op-
amp Integrator as:
Op-amp Differentiator Circuit
The input signal to the differentiator is applied to the
capacitor.
The capacitor blocks any DC content so there is no
current flow to the amplifier summing
point, X resulting in zero output voltage.
The capacitor only allows AC type input voltage
changes to pass through and whose frequency is
dependant on the rate of change of the input signal.
At low frequencies the reactance of the capacitor is
“High” resulting in a low gain ( Rƒ/Xc ) and low
output voltage from the op-amp.
At higher frequencies the reactance of the capacitor
is much lower resulting in a higher gain and higher
output voltage from the differentiator amplifier.
However, at high frequencies an op-amp
differentiator circuit becomes unstable and will start
to oscillate.
This is due mainly to the first-order effect, which
determines the frequency response of the op-amp
circuit causing a second-order response which, at
high frequencies gives an output voltage far higher
than what would be expected.
To avoid this the high frequency gain of the circuit
needs to be reduced by adding an additional small
value capacitor across the feedback resistor Rƒ.
Since the node voltage of the operational amplifier at
its inverting input terminal is zero, the
current, i flowing through the capacitor will be given
as:
The charge on the capacitor equals Capacitance
times Voltage across the capacitor
Thus the rate of change of this charge is:
but dQ/dt is the capacitor current, i
from which we have an ideal voltage output for the
op-amp differentiator is given as:
Therefore, the output voltage Vout is a constant –
Rƒ*C times the derivative of the input
voltage Vin with respect to time.
The minus sign (–) indicates a 180o phase shift
because the input signal is connected to the inverting
input terminal of the operational amplifier.
References
Basic Electrical Science and Technology
by K. Murugesh Kumar
Electronics Fundamentals & Applications
by D. Chattopadhyay and P.C. Rakshit
