FM BALANCED SLOPE DETECTOR

A balanced slope detector is an improved version of the slope detector. The

drawback of harmonic distortion is removed in this detector by using two slope
detectors instead of one as in a single-tuned slope detector.

Figure (a) shows the circuit diagram of a balanced slope detector.
Circuit Description
The circuit diagram, shown in Figure (a), has two slope detectors marked slope
detector 1 and slope detector 2. Both the slope detractors are called balanced
because they have identical components as follows:
Slope detector 1: It consists of a detector diode D
1
, filter capacitor C
1
,
load resistor R
1
, and variable capacitor C
T1
. The variable capacitor C
T1
is
called the tuning capacitor because it is adjusted to tune the upper
winding of the secondary Winding of the input transformer T.
Slope detector 2: It consists of a detector diode D
2
, that is identical to
D
1
. It also has filter capacitor C
2
, load resistor R
2
, and variable capacitor
C
T2
. The tuning capacitor C
T2
tunes the lower winding of the secondary
winding of the input transformer T.
The two slope detectors are balanced because C
1
= C
2
, R
1
= R
2
, and D
1
is
identical to D
2
. The upper and lower windings of the secondary windings of the
center-tap transformer T are also identical.
The primary winding of the input transformer T is tuned to the central
frequency of the carrier signal f
c
by using the tuning. capacitor C
T
. The
secondary windings are tuned to different frequencies so that the circuit is
staggered tuned. The outputs of the detector diodes D
1
and D
2
, are filtered by
C
1
, R
1
and C
2
, R
2
, respectively. The voltage V
1
. which is developed across R
1
,
and voltage V
2
, which is developed across R
2
are added together between the
points E and F to get the final output voltage V
o
, which is the modulating
voltage e
m
.
Circuit Operation
The operation of the circuit can be explained by considering the two slope
detectors separately.
Slope Detectorn 1
The resonating frequency of slope detector 1 is set to f
1
, by adjusting C
T1
so
that it is greater than f
c
by an amount of f. As a result, slope detector 1 is
tuned to f
c
, given as:
f
1
= f
c
+ f
The signal coupled to the upper winding of the secondary winding of the
transformer T has a central frequency f
c
. If the maximum frequency deviation
of the incoming FM signal, r(t), is f
d
, the operating range of slope detector 1 is
between f
c
and (f
c
+ f
d
), shown in figure (b). Which illustrates the frequency
response curve of both slope detectors.
When the incomning signal frequency deviation between f
c
and (f
c
+ f
d
), diode
D
1
is forward biased becouse voltage V
D1
increases according to the frequency
response response curve of slope detector 1. The diode rectifies this amplitude
and frequency modulated signal. Capacitors C
1
and resistor R
1
then filter the
rectified voltage. The voltage so developed across R
1
is the positive half of the
modulating signal. This can explained by the frequency-deviation curve applied
at f
c
on the frequency-axis of Figure (b). The positive half of the frequency-
deviation curve lies in the response curve of slope detector 1. Therefore, the
frequency deviations that are greater than are converted into coresponding
amplitude by slope detector 1.
Slope Detector 2
Slope detector 2 is tuned to f
2
, by adjusting the tuning capacitor C
2
such that:
f
2
= f
c
- f

The input FM signal whose frequency deviation lies between f
c
and (f
c
df) is
converted into corresponding amplitude variations by slope detector 2 because
this part of the frequency-deviation curve lies toward the frequency-response
curve of slope detector 2. The voltage V
D2
, developed across the lower winding
of the secondary winding of the transformer T is amplitude-and frequency-
modulated, which corresponds to the frequency deviation from f
c
to (f
c
df).
This voltage, V
D2
is rectified by diode D
2
, because it is forward-biased and the
capacitor C
2
, filters this rectified voltage. The filtered voltage is developed
across R
2
and, as a result, the output of the balanced slope detector is the
negative half of the modulating signal corresponding to the frequency
deviations lower than f
c
.
Combined Response of Slope Detectors 1 and 2
The output of the balanced slope detector is the combined output of the
individual slope detectors. Slope detector 1 provides the positive half of the
modulating signal across the Output terminals E and F. When D
1
is forward-
biased, the diode D, is also slightly forward-biased because the voltage
developed across the lower winding is very small. This is because slope
detector 2 is tuned to (f
c
f), while the incoming signal lies
between f
c
and (f
c
+ f)
The conduction of diode D
2
, results in a small current that flows though
R
2
from F to D. The direction of the current due to D
1
is from E to D through R
1

Therefore, when a positive voltage is developed across R
1
a very small
negative voltage also develops across R
2
. The sum of these two voltages
appears between output terminals E and F.
Thus, the final output is sligtly reduced by a negative voltage developed across
R
2
, because: -
V
o
= V
1
- V
2

A similar action takes place when the incoming FM signal contains the
frequency deviations between f
c
and (f
c
- df). The diode D
2
is forward-biased
because appreciable positive voltage V
D2
appears across D
2
. This is because
slope detector 2 is tuned towards (f
c
- df). This frequency-deviation range lies
in the negative half of the modulating signal. As a result, the voltage
developed across R
2
after filtering the rectified output of D
2
is the negative
half of the modulating signal.
During the conduction of D
2
, a small voltage also appears across the upper
winding of the secondary winding of transformer T. This voltage is small
because the upper winding is tuned to (f
c
f), while the incoming voltage
lies in the frequency range f
c
to (f
c
f). Due to this voltage, diode D
2
, also
supplies a positive voltage across R
1
. This positive voltage slightly reduces the
negative voltage appearing across R
2
, when summed up between the output
terminals E and F. The net voltage is still a negative half cycle of the
modulating signal.
The positive and negative halves of he modulating signal are available across
the output terminals of the balanced slope detector marked as shown in Figure
(b). The overall response of both slope detectors is shown in Figure (b), and
the operating range at the curve is marked between the points K and L. This
operating range of the overall response curve is a straight line, and therefore,
the operation is linear. This removes the; nonlinear behavior of a single-tuned
slope detector, and the higher harmonics are not generated in a balanced
slope detector.
The overall response curve takes the shape of the letter S, as shown in the
Figure (b). This is called S-response of the FM detectors.

Drawbacks o Balanced Slope Detector
Although a balanced slope detector is better than a slope detector. it has
following drawbacks:
The detector has three windings in the input transformer T, and all of
them are tuned to different frequencies. The primary winding is tuned
to tha central frequency of the carrier, f
c
, using the tuning capacitor C
T
.
The two secondary windings are tuned to (f
c
+ f) and (f
c
f) using the
tuning capacitors C
T1
and C
T2
. The alignment of three tuned circuits,
called staggered-tuned, is a difficult task that should be accomplished
with accuracy to obtain a linear S-curve.
This slope detector also responds to the amplitude variations of the
input Therefore, it may not provide a true modulating signal.
The operating frequency range is increased after obtaining an S-shape,
but its performance does not improve.