RC Low Pass Filter

NI Multisim 10
Design of a RC Low Pass Filter
Bode Plotter

 Open Multisim 10
XBP1

IN OUT

and start building 0

Function Generator
the LPF like in XFG1

figure. 2 R1

0O
1

 Press CTRL+W to 0

open the C1
0F

Component
0

Library.
RC Low Pass Filter Calculation

 Regardless of the component values we use in our filter,

there will be one particular frequency at which
R = XC (for the RC filter)
 At this frequency,
VOUT/VIN = 0.707,
and the calculation above will indicate a ratio of -3 db.
 The frequency at which the two components have equal
individual impedances (without regard to phase shift) is
called the cut-off frequency of that filter, designated f or
ω
RC Low Pass Filter Calculation

 We perform our calculations without

considering the loading effects of any
circuit connected to VOUT.
 In the case of the RC filter, ZOUT = XC.
RC Low Pass Filter Calculation

 We are using normalized values for these

calculations. This means that we arbitrarily
assign values as follows:
R = 1Ω.
 C = 1f.
RC Low Pass Filter Calculation
 We begin at the cut-off frequency, since that is what controls our component values.
We know that
, at cut-off frequency,
so we have:
R = X c
1 So, 1
R = Xc = ω=
ωC RC
Since R = 1Ω and C = 1f, we can immediately calculate that ω = 1 radian/second. Then, at the cut-off
frequency we have:

1 1


XC =
1
ωC 1
Thus, at the cut-off
1
= = 1F
frequency,
(
Z = R2 + X C 2 ) = (1
2
2
+ 12 ) 2
= 2Ω
Xc 1
as we determined above. To calculate the
=
VOUT/VIN
=at0all.707
ratio frequencies, we leave ω as a
Z 2
variable. We can also make it complete with R and C accounted for, as follows:

VOUT Xc 1
= =
(( RωC ) + 1)
V IN Z 1
2 2
RC Low Pass Filter Calculation

 If we use the values R = 1Ω and C = 1f as we did above, and let ω

vary over a range from 0.01 to 100 radians/second, and then
convert the resulting ratios to db, we will get exactly the curve
shown in the graph below.
Design of a RC Low Pass Filter