What are the Functions of the Resistors and Diodes in this Circuit?

[cjm181]

Hey up, ok i will have a look tonight at some waveforms and feed back. I did assume the graph C in post 26 was correct. I am guessing it is not.

I know a little about PWM control of LEDs. I have had a dabble at the arduino, and also fly rc helis where i believe the servo position is obtained by PWM.

Are you saying the zener produces a square wave in this setup?I understand it will output a steady voltage, and i know it will resist flow at a voltage less than its knee voltage. Let me draw some stuff out later tonight.

I didnt estimate the brightness of the led was an issue with a normal DC suppy. I know from athe arduino if you give it full DC, or 100% pwm, then the led is on full. (edit, almost 100% PWM, significantly more on duty time than off)

Also as the opto isolator is only reading high or low, there will be a threshold to an amount of light it will call as on, and an amount of light it calls off?, so as long as when we want a high output the light from the led exceeds this then we are good?

I will come back with some wave forms later tonight

 

[NascentOxygen]

I did assume the graph C in post 26 was correct. I am guessing it is not.

In post #26, voltage waveform (c) is seen on the circuit in (a), provided the filter capacitor is not present. That is correct.

 

[cjm181]

so is that waveform in C present in our circuit. Going to have a look at this tonight and draw some waveforms

 

[NascentOxygen]

so is that waveform in C present in our circuit

In post #27 I pointed to the similarity of the two circuits, so, yes, waveform (c) is found in your circuit.

 

[cjm181]

This is what i reckon! After D1 might look a little strange. The reason i have drawn a small 0 inbetween is because the zener does not allow anything thru until the voltage hits the knee voltage, or at least very little. This drop may be instantanious, or atleast very quick, so the zero sections may well be not to scale. The zener will allow the voltage to increase after the knee voltage is hit, as the voltage goes up from the rectifier. After this, the zener will only permit so much voltage through, in other words hold the voltage steady. This is when the curve goes to a flat line. Once the supply starts to drop, below the voltage output, the curve will come back and the voltage will drop.

My drawing is poor, but the output is almost a square wave.

 

[NascentOxygen]

It sounds good, though I'm not sure what you mean by "after D1". Your final sketch, is this a voltage across a component?

Most helpful would be the voltage waveform you'd be expecting to see across the optoisolator LED (with that LED between the zener and ground).

If you are to convince an examiner that you deserve high marks because you are able to show a good understanding of circuit operation, you would sketch your waveforms either superimposed or at least accurately one underneath the other.

Read again helpful hint in my post #25.

 

[cjm181]

Hey

Yes 100% agree with the graphs. I quickly scribbled them down. I understand exactly what you mean with that.

Not sure what u mean by "If component values are well chosen, it should do so---though by "squaring off" you may be thinking of something quite different from what I mean!"

Right, so if we take different values of Vz, say 5v and 50v as you said. With the larger 50v example, i would expect the gradients either side of the flat at the top to be longer. But the flat at the top would be shorter. So i would guess that this would mean the led would not be as bright as a 5v one, as the pwm signal would be longer, and have less 'duty' time on.

Kr
Craig

 

[cps.13]

ok, so to summarise there are 4 things,

1. what's limiting the current going through the circuits for the led and D2
2. Whats the zener doing?
3. what is r1 doing
4. what's d2 doing.

1) The are no current limiting devices for the LED in this circuit. The opto-coupler would have a maximum input current rating, which if necessary would require a resistor, but depending on your circuit may not always require one. The LED is contained within the coupler, its not an LED you can see, and this activates the phototransistor. So the two circuits are only connected by light and nothing else. Helps prevent damage/ground loops/interference etc.

2) There is no zener. Google avalanche diode.

3) R1 limits the current flowing through D1. Google avalanche diodes.

4) D2 prevents the circuit from momentarily going to a negative voltage as the AC polarity shifts.

p.s. I think the reason for two resistors on the inputs to the bridge rectifier are to ensure that the current is the same entering both sides of the rectifier - however I'm not 100% sure on this one.

I found these websites very useful

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_6.html
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/semiconductors/chpt-3/rectifier-circuits/

 

[NascentOxygen]

2) There is no zener. Google avalanche diode.

These days no one draws a distinction between the Zener and the avalanche diode, in general low voltage devices.