LM 358 Op Amp

Skill Level: Intermediate

OVERVIEW AMPLIFIER
The LM 358 is a duel single supply operational amplifi-
er. As it is a single supply it eliminates the need for a
duel power supply, thus simplifying design and basic
application use. One draw back is that the single supply
does not offer a negative voltage supply. Due to this
the output will not be-able to go below 0V otherwise
the waveform will cutoff also known as clipping.
Clipping happens when a wave hasn't reached the max
amplitude and stops at a point and stays constant caus-
ing a flat peak if you clip a sine wave. Clipping can often
be heard in audio amplifiers when the speaker distorts
small clipping percentages may go unnoticed to the ear
so bare this in mind when using a LM358 for an audio
pre amplifier etc.
If you have small signals and need a more useful read-
ing we could amplify it using the op amp, this is com- Figure 1: LM358 Duel Op-Amp DIP 8
monly used in sensors. The LM358 is a duel op-amp, meaning there’s two
Lets say we have a signal of 50mV and we want it to op amps in one IC. We will only work with one for
interface with a Microcontroller or so on we need to now.
amplify it till we get 5V this allows a small change of the One op amp consists of a Non-inverting input, in-
sensor to have a big change on the Microcontrollers verting input and output as you can see in Figure2.
input this means we have greater accuracy of data
that’s being sampled.
Figure2 : Op-Amp Example
Some of many Op-Amp applications:
 Voltage Buffers
 Wave form generators (square, sine, triangle)
 Differentiators and Integrators
 Low Pass and High pass Filters
 Comparators
The + input represents non-inverting input, - input rep- Figure4: Non-inverting Formula
resents inverting input and +V connects the positive
pole of the power supply and –V connects to the nega-
tive pole (GND). Inverting means the opposite output
Av = 1 + ( Rf/Ri )
of the original input, therefor if you have 5V on the in- Rf = Resistance Feedback ( Ω )
verting input and a gain of 0.5 v/v you will have 2.5V on
Ri = Resistance Input ( Ω )
the output.
Av = Voltage Gain ( V/V ) : volts per volt
For non-inverting if you have 2.5V on the input and a
gain of 2 v/v you will have 5V on the output.
So how do we calculate gain? Well gain is determined Now since we know the values we can substitute
by the Rf and Ri ratios. The resistor Rf forms a feed them into the formula to find the output voltage.
back loop and as one applies Ohms law and the voltage
divider rule a set ratio of the output voltage will cancel
out some of the input. Remember that an op-amp is a Av = 1 + ( 1MΩ /10kΩ )
differential amplifier, amplifying the difference be-
Av = 1 + 100
tween the (-) inverting and (+) non-inverting inputs.
Av = 101

Figure3: Non-Inverting Amplifier

From the equation we determined the gain will be

101 v/v, meaning if we apply 1V to the input we
will theoretically have 101V on the output. This is
true but it is not applicable as the maximum supply
voltage is 32V but we applying 49.5mV to the input
therefor we can use the values calculated.

Vout = Av x Vin
Vout = 101 x 49.5mV
Vout = 4.9995V

In Figure 3 a non-inverting amplifier schematic has So using 49.5mV will give us 5V rounded off, we
been constructed, please note that R2 = Rf and R1 = Ri. will need to calculate the required voltage supply
We will apply 49.5mV to the +Vin and our Rf = 1MΩ to the op-amp. This voltage will be higher than the
and Ri = 10kΩ . max output voltage you require due to a voltage
loss in the op-amp. In the data sheet it will be
There for we can calculate the output for the non-
named Voltage Swing use the typical value in this
inverting op=amp as follows.
case its 5mV which is neglect able but some op-
amps are 1.5V so you would need 6.5V Vcc.
For a single supply op amp the inverting layout is rarely Useful Tips to keep in mind:
used due to the absence of a negative supply rail. Alt-
hough the inverting layout can be used the theory ap-
 Using any amplifier in inverting mode places
plies to duel supply op-amps as well.
your output waveform 180° out of phase
this phase shift will result in sound
Figure5: Inverting Op-Amp Formula cancelation if an existing sound driver is
running at 0° meaning in non-inverting and
Av = - Rf/Ri in phase. When working with AC circuits a
well understanding of AC circuit analysis will
Rf = Resistance Feedback ( Ω ) be helpful especially when capacitors are
Ri = Resistance Input ( Ω ) involved as a capacitor acts as a block for dc
but allows ac to flow, even though ac can
Av = Voltage Gain ( V/V ) : volts per volt
flow through a capacitor its capacitance will
have a certain impedance at different
frequencies.
The same method applies to the inverting amplifier
 An op-amp has an extremely high input
layout except you do not add 1 but a minus sign will be
impedance and thus allowing your signal to
present and the input will now move to where Ri was
have minimal current characteristics around
once grounded and the non-inverting input will now be
20nA is required.
grounded. It isn't recommended to use the LM358 in
inverting orientation as it could result in clipping alt-  The LM358 has around 40mA current out
hough an AC signal layout can be made using capaci- parameters, so stay with in them its
tors and resistors to allow an ac output. This layout is possible to add a transistor to the output if
more complex than a Split power supply layout so for biased correctly you may drive higher
normal dc analysis the LM358 will work perfectly. The current loads staying in the linear region.
UA741 split power supply op-amp will be discussed in
the next article.
Figure6: AC Coupled inverting amplifier
 LM358 EXAMPLE CIRCUIT

In the above example circuit we have a DC analysis op- You may make Rf and Ri potentiometers as well
amp layout. As one can compute the Av of the amplifi- and see what the results are bare in mind to
er is as follows: measure the resistance so you can back up your
readings with a theoretical calculation.
PIN OUT:
Av = 1 + ( 10KΩ /2.2kΩ )
Av = 1 + 4.545
Av = 5.545

Av is 5.545 if we take the Vin put on Pin 3 which is

600mV and multiply it with the Av we get 3.327V at
the output and over the load resistor.
The calculated answers are very close to the simulator,
the simulator does include the tolerances of resistors
which was set in at 5% as that’s your common resistor
tolerances.
 Reference voltage can be created using a voltage
COMPARATOR divider resistor network or a zener diode. There are
One of the simpler circuits and commonly used circuits many ways to create a reference voltage but we
are the op-amp comparators. A comparator basically will use a zener diode for stability even if the supply
compares two voltages and if one is greater than the voltage changes slightly.
other the output of the op-amp is either ON or OFF.
Comparators have found many uses in Day Night Figure7: Zener Diode
switches, simple Analog to Digital Converters, electron-
ic thermostats and even regulated power supply's.
There are two components we will have to work with
in order to determine at what voltage will it switch ON
and at what voltage it will switch OFF.

Component 1: Reference Voltage

The reference voltage is a set voltage that will be used
to compared against the sensing voltage.

Component 2: Sensing Voltage

Sensing voltage will be the input voltage, this voltage
could come off a operational amplifiers output if the
real sensors changes are too small to work with. If we One should note that a zener diode is used in re-
have the sensing voltage created via a potentiometer verse bias compared to a normal diode and the Rs
we may ignore using an op-amp to amplify any signal for the zener is vital otherwise it will get over pow-
as we will have a reasonable voltage difference to work ered and burnout.
with.
Current through a zener can be calculated as fol-
The sensing voltage can be applied to the non-inverting lows:
input, this will ensure that once the sensing voltage
has exceeded the Reference voltage that must be
placed on the inverting input the op-amp will turn ON. Iz = (Vdd—Vz)/Rs
If we apply the sensing voltage to the inverting input
Rs = Resistance Series With Zener ( Ω )
and the reference voltage to the non-inverting input
we will have the op-amp OFF when the sensing voltage Vdd = Supply Voltage ( V )
is above the reference voltage and the op amp ON Vz = Zener Voltage
when the sensing voltage is below the reference volt-
age.
Once the Current through the zener has been calculat- In this comparator circuit the reference voltage was
ed the Power Dissipation must be calculated. taken to the inverting input and the sensing voltage
to the non-inverting input.
Most zeners are 500mW to 1W, we will use a 1W zener
Adding a capacitor as in the schematic helps pre-
vent oscillations when in the switching state. Any
values can be used generally 1uF to 100uF works
Pz = Vz x Iz well.
Pz = Power Dissipation ( Watts )
Iz = Current Zener ( A )
Vz = Zener Voltage

There for if we have a 3.3V 1W zener a 470Ω will work

sufficiently.

COMPARATOR EXAMPLE CIRCUIT

In the circuit bellow the LED is on as you can see the Multi-meter XMM1 reads 7.2V this is the voltage from
the potentiometer. If the voltage is below the 3.3V zener reference the LED will be off.
 TROUBLE SHOOTING PARTS LIST
Once the circuit has been constructed and any prob- ELECTRONICS 123 Stock codes:
lems arise they could often be solved by a few sim-
Quantity Description Stock Code
ple checks as listed:
1x LM358 IC HB084

 Nothings happening: 1x 3.3V 1W Zener HB337

Ensure all connections are correct and make
contact and check for the correct resistor 2x 1 kΩ 1/4 Watt DB056
values. Resistors

Make sure the op-amp wasn't damaged with 2x 470 Ω 1/4 Watt DB052
electrostatic discharge by placing a new one Resistors
in. 1x 2.2kΩ 1/4 Watt DB060
Resistors
1x 5mm Red LED AA380
 No Reference Voltage:
Make sure that the zener is connected the
1x 10uF Cap HB245
right way around with the black stripe facing
the resistor. Replace zener if problem
persists.
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