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    Class D Amplifier

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    Alberto
    Class B amplifiers use two transistors that are biased so each only conducts during half of the input waveform cycle. This improves efficiency over Class A amplifiers by reducing wasted power. Push-pull amplifiers use two complementary transistors, with one amplifying the positive half and the other the negative half of the input signal. Class B amplifiers have higher efficiency than Class A but can suffer from crossover distortion when the transistors switch between conducting halves of the cycle. Class AB amplifiers reduce this by adding small amounts of bias so the transistors conduct slightly above cutoff and through more of each cycle.

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    Class D Amplifier

    Uploaded by

    Alberto
    41 views6 pages
    Class B amplifiers use two transistors that are biased so each only conducts during half of the input waveform cycle. This improves efficiency over Class A amplifiers by reducing wasted power. Push-pull amplifiers use two complementary transistors, with one amplifying the positive half and the other the negative half of the input signal. Class B amplifiers have higher efficiency than Class A but can suffer from crossover distortion when the transistors switch between conducting halves of the cycle. Class AB amplifiers reduce this by adding small amounts of bias so the transistors conduct slightly above cutoff and through more of each cycle.

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    Class B amplifiers use two transistors that are biased so each only conducts during half of the input waveform cycle. This improves efficiency over Class A amplifiers by reducing wasted power. Push-pull amplifiers use two complementary transistors, with one amplifying the positive half and the other the negative half of the input signal. Class B amplifiers have higher efficiency than Class A but can suffer from crossover distortion when the transistors switch between conducting halves of the cycle. Class AB amplifiers reduce this by adding small amounts of bias so the transistors conduct slightly above cutoff and through more of each cycle.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    41 views6 pages

    Class D Amplifier

    Uploaded by

    Alberto
    Class B amplifiers use two transistors that are biased so each only conducts during half of the input waveform cycle. This improves efficiency over Class A amplifiers by reducing wasted power. Push-pull amplifiers use two complementary transistors, with one amplifying the positive half and the other the negative half of the input signal. Class B amplifiers have higher efficiency than Class A but can suffer from crossover distortion when the transistors switch between conducting halves of the cycle. Class AB amplifiers reduce this by adding small amounts of bias so the transistors conduct slightly above cutoff and through more of each cycle.

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    Class D Amplifier

    Class-B Amplifiers use two


    or more transistors biased
    in such a way so that each
    transistor only conducts
    during one half cycle of the
    input waveform

    To improve the full power efficiency of the previous Class A amplifier by


    reducing the wasted power in the form of heat, it is possible to design the
    power amplifier circuit with two transistors in its output stage. This creates
    what is commonly termed as a Class B Amplifier, also known as a push-pull
    amplifier configuration.
    Push-pull amplifiers use two “complementary” or matching transistors, one
    being an NPN-type and the other being a PNP-type with both power
    transistors receiving the same input signal together that is equal in
    magnitude, but in opposite phase to each other. This results in one transistor
    only amplifying one half or 180o of the input waveform cycle while the other
    transistor amplifies the other half or remaining 180 o of the input waveform
    cycle with the resulting “two-halves” being put back together again at the
    output terminal.
    Then the conduction angle for this type of amplifier circuit is only 180 o or 50%
    of the input signal. This pushing and pulling effect of the alternating half
    cycles by the transistors gives this type of circuit its amusing “push-pull”
    name, but are more generally known as the Class B Amplifier as shown
    below.

    Class B Push-pull Transformer Amplifier Circuit


    The circuit above shows a standard Class B Amplifier circuit that uses a
    balanced center-tapped input transformer, which splits the incoming
    waveform signal into two equal halves and which are 180 o out of phase with
    each other. Another center-tapped transformer on the output is used to
    recombined the two signals providing the increased power to the load. The
    transistors used for this type of transformer push-pull amplifier circuit are
    both NPN transistors with their emitter terminals connected together.
    Here, the load current is shared between the two power transistor devices as
    it decreases in one device and increases in the other throughout the signal
    cycle reducing the output voltage and current to zero. The result is that both
    halves of the output waveform now swings from zero to twice the quiescent
    current thereby reducing dissipation. This has the effect of almost doubling
    the efficiency of the amplifier to around 70%.
    Assuming that no input signal is present, then each transistor carries the
    normal quiescent collector current, the value of which is determined by the
    base bias which is at the cut-off point. If the transformer is accurately center
    tapped, then the two collector currents will flow in opposite directions (ideal
    condition) and there will be no magnetization of the transformer core, thus
    minimizing the possibility of distortion.
    When an input signal is present across the secondary of the driver
    transformer T1, the transistor base inputs are in “anti-phase” to each other
    as shown, thus if TR1 base goes positive driving the transistor into heavy
    conduction, its collector current will increase but at the same time the base
    current of TR2 will go negative further into cut-off and the collector current
    of this transistor decreases by an equal amount and vice versa. Hence
    negative halves are amplified by one transistor and positive halves by the
    other transistor giving this push-pull effect.
    Unlike the DC condition, these alternating currents are ADDITIVE resulting in
    the two output half-cycles being combined to reform the sine-wave in the
    output transformers primary winding which then appears across the load.
    Class B Amplifier operation has zero DC bias as the transistors are biased at
    the cut-off, so each transistor only conducts when the input signal is greater
    than the Base-emitter voltage. Therefore, at zero input there is zero output
    and no power is being consumed. This then means that the actual Q-point of
    a Class B amplifier is on the Vce part of the load line as shown below.

    Class B Output Characteristics Curves

    The Class B Amplifier has the big advantage over their Class A amplifier
    cousins in that no current flows through the transistors when they are in
    their quiescent state (ie, with no input signal), therefore no power is
    dissipated in the output transistors or transformer when there is no signal
    present unlike Class A amplifier stages that require significant base bias
    thereby dissipating lots of heat – even with no input signal present.
    So the overall conversion efficiency ( η ) of the amplifier is greater than that
    of the equivalent Class A with efficiencies reaching as high as 70% possible
    resulting in nearly all modern types of push-pull amplifiers operated in this
    Class B mode.

    Transformerless Push-Pull Amplifier


    One of the main disadvantages of the Class B amplifier circuit above is that it
    uses balanced center-tapped transformers in its design, making it expensive
    to construct. However, there is another type of Class B amplifier called
    a Complementary-Symmetry Class B Amplifier that does not use
    transformers in its design therefore, it is transformerless using instead
    complementary or matching pairs of power transistors.
    As transformers are not needed this makes the amplifier circuit much smaller
    for the same amount of output, also there are no stray magnetic effects or
    transformer distortion to effect the quality of the output signal. An example
    of a “transformerless” Class B amplifier circuit is given below.

    Transformerless Output Stage

    The Class B amplifier circuit above uses complimentary transistors for each
    half of the waveform and while Class B amplifiers have a much high gain than
    the Class A types, one of the main disadvantages of class B type push-pull
    amplifiers is that they suffer from an effect known commonly as Crossover
    Distortion.
    Hopefully we remember from our tutorials about Transistors that it takes
    approximately 0.7 volts (measured from base to emitter) to get a bipolar
    transistor to start conducting. In a pure class B amplifier, the output
    transistors are not “pre-biased” to an “ON” state of operation.
    This means that the part of the output waveform which falls below this 0.7
    volt window will not be reproduced accurately as the transition between the
    two transistors (when they are switching over from one transistor to the
    other), the transistors do not stop or start conducting exactly at the zero
    crossover point even if they are specially matched pairs.
    The output transistors for each half of the waveform (positive and negative)
    will each have a 0.7 volt area in which they are not conducting. The result is
    that both transistors are turned “OFF” at exactly the same time.
    A simple way to eliminate crossover distortion in a Class B amplifier is to add
    two small voltage sources to the circuit to bias both the transistors at a point
    slightly above their cut-off point. This then would give us what is commonly
    called an Class AB Amplifier circuit. However, it is impractical to add
    additional voltage sources to the amplifier circuit so PN-junctions are used to
    provide the additional bias in the form of silicon diodes.

    The Class AB Amplifier


    We know that we need the base-emitter voltage to be greater than 0.7v for a
    silicon bipolar transistor to start conducting, so if we were to replace the two
    voltage divider biasing resistors connected to the base terminals of the
    transistors with two silicon Diodes. The biasing voltage applied to the
    transistors would now be equal to the forward voltage drop of these diodes.
    These two diodes are generally called Biasing Diodes or Compensating
    Diodes and are chosen to match the characteristics of the matching
    transistors. The circuit below shows diode biasing.

    Class AB Amplifier
    The Class AB Amplifier circuit is a compromise between the Class A and the
    Class B configurations. This very small diode biasing voltage causes both
    transistors to slightly conduct even when no input signal is present. An input
    signal waveform will cause the transistors to operate as normal in their active
    region thereby eliminating any crossover distortion present in pure Class B
    amplifier designs.
    A small collector current will flow when there is no input signal but it is much
    less than that for the Class A amplifier configuration. This means then that
    the transistor will be “ON” for more than half a cycle of the waveform but
    much less than a full cycle giving a conduction angle of between 180 o to
    360o or 50% to 100% of the input signal depending upon the amount of
    additional biasing used. The amount of diode biasing voltage present at the
    base terminal of the transistor can be increased in multiples by adding
    additional diodes in series.
    Class B amplifiers are greatly preferred over Class A designs for high-power
    applications such as audio power amplifiers and PA systems. Like the class-A
    amplifier circuit, one way to greatly boost the current gain ( Ai ) of a Class B
    push-pull amplifier is to use Darlington transistors pairs instead of single
    transistors in its output circuitry.
    In the next tutorial about amplifiers we will look more closely at the effects
    of Crossover Distortion in Class B amplifier circuits and ways to reduce its
    effect.

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