FIRST EXPERIENCES WITH AN OP

AMP
ENGR. CYNTHIA V. PLAZA
CEA FACULTY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completing this course on first experiences with an op
amp, you will be a
• Briefly described the task performed by the power supply and
input and output terminals of an op amp
• Show how the single-ended output voltage of an op amp
depends on its open-loop gain and differential input voltage
• Calculate the differential input voltage Ed, and the resulting
output voltage VO
• Draw the circuit schematic for an inverting or noninverting
zero-crossing detector
• Draw the output voltage waveshape of a zero-crossing
detector if you are given the input voltage waveshape
• Draw the output-input voltage characteristics of a zero-
crossing detector
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Sketch the schematic of a noninverting or inverting voltage-
level detector
• Draw the circuit schematic for an inverting or noninverting
zero-crossing detector
• Draw the output voltage waveshape of a zero-crossing
detector if you are given the input voltage waveshape
• Describe at least two practical applications of voltage-level
detectors
• Analyze the action of a pulse-width modulator and tell how it
can interface an analog signal with a microcomputer
• Use voltage reference Ics to design precise voltage-level
detectors
• Use SPICE to analyze a basic comparator circuit
INTRODUCTION
• Operational Amplifier was originally given to early
high-gain vacuum-tube amplifiers designed to
perform mathematical operations
• Modern successor of these amplifiers are now called
linear integrated-circuit op amp
• Present day applications are in the fields of signal
conditioning, process control, communications,
power and signal sources, displays, and testing or
measuring systems
• The op-amp is still basically a very good high-gain DC
amplifier
OP AMP TERMINALS

The ideal op amp has infinite gain and input

resistance plus zero output resistance
POWER SUPPLY TERMINALS

• All voltage measurements are made with respect to power supply

common
• It is called a bipolar or split supply and has typical values of 15V,
some op amps can operate from single-polarity supply such as 5V
or 15V and ground.
• Maximum voltage is typically 36V 0r +18V and –18V
OUTPUT TERMINAL

• The op amp’s output terminal is connected to one side of the load RL

• Output voltage VO is measured with respect to ground.
• There is limits to both output voltage and current levels, usually on
the order of 5 to 10 mA.
• Output transistors need about 1 to 2V from collector to emitter.
• Output terminal can rise approximately 1V of +V and drop to within 2V
of -V
INPUT TERMINALS
• There are two input
terminals, labeled as – and
+ , called differential input
terminals
• The output terminal is
positive with respect to
ground when the (+) input is
positive with respect to, or
above, the (-) input.
• The polarity of VO depends
only on the difference in
voltage between inverting
and noninverting inputs.
• Ed = votage at the (+) input
– voltage at the (-) input
• VO = AOLEd
OPEN LOOP VOLTAGE GAIN
• Definition: output voltage = differential input voltage x open-loop gain
• Differential Input Voltage, Ed
– The value of AOL is extremely large, often 200,000 or more;
that VO can never exceed the positive or negative
saturation votages +Vsat and – Vsat.
• Three important conclusions drawn from these brief comments;
– First, VO in the circuit shown, either will be at one of the limits +
Vsat or – Vsat or will be oscillating between these limits
– Second, to maintain VO between these limits , a feedback type
circuit is used to force VO to depend on stable, precision elements
such as resistors and capacitors
– Third, adapt basic comparator applications. In a comparator
applications, the op amp performs not as an amplifier but as a
device that tells when an unknown voltage is below, above, or just
equal to a known reference voltage.