1

RCFilterCircuits
InvestigatingtheBehaviorandApplicationsof
RCCircuits

PresentedtotheUniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego
DepartmentofMechanicalandAerospaceEngineering
MAE170
4/24/15

Preparedby:
DavidDittmar,JeffreyWang
SectionB07,Fridaymorning

Abstract

Thisexperimentwasconductedtoexaminetheresponseoflowpassandhighpasscircuits
subjectedtosquarewaveandsinewaveinputs,andalsotoinvestigatetheuseofcircuitfiltersin
regardstonoisecancellation.Usingtheresponseofalowpasscircuittoasquarewaveinputthe
valueofa691nFcapacitorwasdeterminedexperimentallytobe68.7nF.The3dBfrequency
ofourlowpassandhighpassfilterwasfoundbyinputtingasinewaveintothedifferentcircuits
1
andfindingthetimeatwhichtheratio VVout
in = 2 .Usingthe3dBfrequenciestwobodeplots(one
forlowpassoneforhighpass)wereproducedinexcel.FinallyusingtheDataAcquisition
System(DAS)andtheSignal&Noisevithecancellationofnoiseinacircuitwasmadepossible
usingalowpassfilter.

TableofContents

PageNumber

Abstract

Introduction

Theory

ExperimentalProcedure

67

Results

89

Discussion

1011

ErrorAnalysis

12

Conclusion

13

Appendices

Figures

1418

Tables

1920

References

21

Introduction

Alowpassfilterisafilterthatallowssignalsatafrequencylowerthanthecutofffrequencyto
passthroughwhiledecreasingtheamplitudeofhigherfrequencysignals.Ahighpassfilter
workstheoppositewayitallowshighfrequencysignalstopassthroughwhileattenuatinglower
frequencysignals.Lowpassandhighpassfiltersareusedinavarietyofapplications,andcan
becombinedtomakebandpassandbandstopfilters(theseallowandattenuatesignalsina
certainrangeoffrequencies,respectively.)Lowpassandhighpassfilterscanbeconstructedin
manydifferentways,includingelectroniccircuits.

Inthislab,weconstructalowpassandhighpassfilterusingRCcircuits.Thisisoftendone,for
example,inaudiosystemswherealowpassRCcircuitisusedtoblockhighfrequenciestothe
subwoofers.Toinvestigatethesecircuits,wefindtheir3dBfrequencyandusemultiple
measurementstoplotaroughBodeplot.

Theory

InordertounderstandhowanyfirstorderRCcircuitworksonemustconsiderthedriving
equationsthatrelatevoltageinandouttothecircuitcomponents(resistorsandcapacitors).To

findtheoutputvoltageduetoastepresponsetheequation V out = V in[1 eRC ] isused.Tau()

isthetimeconstantwhichmeasuresthetimerequiredforacircuittorespondtoasignal.When
tauequalsRC( = RC) thentheequationbecomes V out = V in(1 e1) = 0.632V in .Therefore
byknowingthetimeittakesforthecircuittoreach63%oftheappliedvoltagethenthevalueof
capacitancecanbefoundifthevalueoftheresistorisknown( C = R ) .Ifacircuithasasine
1
waveinputthentheratioofVoutoverVinisdescribedbytheequation VVout
in = 1+(RC)2 .Where
omega()isthefrequencyofthesinewave.

Anotherkeyconceptexaminedinthisexperimentisthedesignanduseoffilters.A
lowpass/highpassfiltercanbecreatedwithoneresistorandonecapacitorconnectedinseries.
Filtersareusedtocutofffrequenciesaboveorbelowacertainfrequency.Infiltersanimportant
transitionpointwhichisdefinedasthe3dBfrequencyisthepointwheretheoutputpoweris
1
halftheinputpower,or VVout
in = 2 .WherethecapacitorisplacedinaRCcircuitiswhat
determineswhattypeoffilteritis.Whenthecapacitorisconnecteddirectlytotheinputvoltage

thecapacitoronlyletshighfrequencysignalspasssincelowfrequencysignalsallowthe
capacitortobecomefullychargedandoncethecapacitorisfullychargedthecurrentstops
runningthroughthecircuit,thisiswhyitiscalledahighpassfilter.Ontheotherhandwhenthe
capacitorisconnectedinparallelwiththeinputvoltage

lowfrequencysignalsdonotgothroughthecapacitor(sincethecapacitorisfullychargedfor
lowfrequencies)andinreturnthelowsignalspasstotherestofthecircuitinsteadofchoosing
theoptionofshortcircuitingandgoingthroughthecapacitor.Thisishowwegettheterm
lowpass.

ExperimentalProcedure

PartI:Focus1
InthispartoftheexperimentweconstructaRCcircuitanduseasquarewaveinputtofindthe
timeconstantofthecircuitbyobservingitsresponse.WithourmeasurementoftheresistanceR,
wearethenabletofindthetheoreticalvalueofthecapacitanceC.

ApparatusUsed:
Inthispart,weuseaDASNI626connectedtoaPCinordertogenerate
squarewavesignal.WealsouseaprotoboardtoassembletheRCcircuitconsistingofa10kOhm
resistorandacapacitor.WeuseaDigitalMultimeter(DMM)tomeasurevariousvalues.Finally,
weuseaAgilentDSO1002Aoscilloscopetomeasurethevoltageacrosstheresistor.

Procedure:
First,wesetuptheRCcircuitontheprotoboard.UsingtheDMM,wemeasurethe
resistanceoftheresistor,includingmuchofthewiring.Theoretically,thevalueofRincludesthe
totalresistanceofthecircuit,sowewanttoincludeasmuchofthecircuitaspossible.Next,we
connecttheRCcircuittotheDataAcquisitionSystem(DAS)andconnecttheoscilloscopesuch
thatChannel1measuresthesignalfromtheDAS(inputvoltage),andChannel2measuresthe
outputvoltagesignal,asshownbelow:

Figure1:SetupofFocus1,takenfromthelabprocedures(seeReferences,inAppendix).

ThenusingaLabviewvirtualinstrument(vi),wegeneratea100Hz.5voltspeaktopeak
voltagewaveformastheinputsignalthisisdisplayedonChannel1onouroscilloscope.Note
thepeaktopeakvalueofthesignal.Channel2thendepictstheoutputsignal.Usingthecursor
(trackingmode),wesetonecursorataminimumintheoutputsignal.Wethenmovetheother
cursoruntilthedeltaYvaluedisplayedequals63%ofthepeaktopeakvaluewenotedbefore.
ThedeltaXvaluedisplayedisthenourtimeconstant.Usingthisvalue,wecanthenfindthe
theoreticalvalueofthecapacitorandcompareittothevaluewemeasuredwiththeDMM.

PartI:Focus2
Inthisportionoftheexperiment,wefindthe3dBfrequencyofourRCcircuit(whichweare
nowusingasalowpassfilter),andotherwisecharacterizethefrequencyresponseofthecircuit
bymeasuringtheoutputvoltagetoanarrayofinputvoltages.

ApparatusUsed:
OtherthanthosementionedinFocus1,theonlyotherpieceofequipmentwe
usedwasExcelsoftwaretoplotthefrequencyresponseofourlowpassfilter.

Procedure:
First,westartedwithalowfrequency(100Hz)asourinputsignal.Increasingthe
frequencyindecreasingincrements,wecontinuouslymeasuredthepeaktopeak(pkpk)values
ofVinonChannel1(ourinputsignal,generatedwiththevi),andVoutonChannel2.Whenthe
ratioofVin/Voutreached 2 ,notethefrequencythatsthecutofffrequency.Thenwetookthe
valueofourcutofffrequencyandmultiplieditby[0.1,0.2,0.4,0.6,0.8,1,2,4,6,8,and10].
WethentooknoteofbothVinandVout(pkpk)atthesefrequencies.UsingExcel,weplotted
thevaluesof20log(Vout/Vin)(yaxis)versusfin/f3dB(frequencyoftheinputsignaldividedby
the3dBfrequency)andsetthexaxistologarithmicscale.

PartI:Focus3
ByswitchingthepositionsoftheresistorandthecapacitorinourRCcircuit,weconstructa
highpassfilter.ThefollowingprocedurethencloselyfollowsFocus2.

Procedure:
Firstweswaptheresistorwiththecapacitor(andvv),beingcarefultonotethe
initialpositionofboth.Startingwithahighfrequency(1000Hz)anddecreasingthefrequencyin
decreasingincrements,wecontinuouslymeasuredthevoltagesinthesamemannerasthe
previousprocedureandobtainedthe3dBfrequency.Wealsomeasuredthefrequencyresponse
inthesameincrementsandproducedasimilarExcelplot.

PartII
Inthissectionoftheweinvestigatetheeffectofalowpassfilteronanoisysignal.

Apparatus:
Weuseadifferentvi(Signal&Noise)togeneratetheinputsignal,butotherwise
equipmentandsetupareequivalenttoPartI:Focus1.

Procedure:
Ontheprotoboard,weswaptheresistorandthecapacitorsuchthatthesetupisnow
identicaltoPartI:Focus1.Thuswehavealowpassfilteragain.Next,weusetheSignal&
Noisevitoconstructourinputwaveform.Weselected5Vpkpkand80HzintheSIGNAL
portionofourvi,and0.5Vpkpkand2153HzforNOISEportion.Wethenruntheviand
observebothchannelsontheoscilloscope,occasionallyvaryingthepkpkvoltageofournoise
portion.

Results

PartI:Focus1
Theresistorselectedwasmeasured(usingtheDMM)tobe99511Ohms.Thetimerequired
forthecircuittoreach63%ofthe5.16peaktopeaksquarewavevoltagewas684s.Thistime
wasdeterminedusingtheoscilloscopeandreadingthechangeinxforachangeinyof3.25V.
Thereforethecalculatedvalueobtainedforcapacitancewas68.7nF.Thiswasverysimilartothe
valueof691nFwhichwastheDMMmeasuredvalueofthecapacitor.Note:thesoftwarefor
capturingscreenshotsoftheoscilloscopewasnotfunctioningwhenwedidourlab,soinsteadwe
tookphotosoftheoscilloscopescreen.Foranillustrationofourresults,seeFigure3inthe
Appendix.

PartI:Focus2
The3dBfrequencyofthelowpassfilterobtainedwas210Hz.Thisfrequencywasobtainedby
1
startingatalowfrequencyandincreasingtheinputfrequencyinsmallstepsuntil VVout
in = 2 .
Aftermultiplyingthe3dBfrequencyby0.1,0.2,0.4,0.6,0.8,1,2,4,6,8,10thesenewvalues
offrequencywereinputtedintothecircuitandthecorrespondingoutputvoltageswererecorded.
fin
Aplotwasmadeinexcelof 20log( VVout
in ) vs f3dB ,seefigure1.

PartI:Focus3
The3dBfrequencyofthehighpassfilterobtainedwas240Hz.Thefrequencywasobtained
thesamewayasinfocus2howeverinsteadofstartingatlowfrequenciesandworkingup,
1
frequenciesstartingfromhighandworkingdownwereinputteduntil VVout
in = 2 .Anotherplot
wasproducedinexcelusingtheexactsameprocedureasinfocus2,seefigure2.

PartII
UsingtheSignal&NoiseviinLabViewasignalvoltageof5Vwithfrequency80Hzandanoise
voltageof0.5Vwithfrequency2153Hzwereinputtedintoalowpassfilter.Theoscilloscope
wasusedtodisplaytheinputsignal(yellowsignalwithnoise)andoutputsignal(greensmooth
signal).

Asshowninthisfigureabovethecircuitwassuccessfulatfilteringoutthehighfrequencynoise
andonlylettingthelowfrequencysignalpassthroughthecircuit.Afterchangingthenoise

voltageto1Vthefilterwasjustassuccessfulatfilteringoutthenoiseasbefore(whichcanbe
seeninthefigurebelow,thegreenoutputsignalremainssmoothandcontainsnonoise).

Afterchangingtheinputsignalfrequencyto160Hzthefilteroutputamplitudechangedfrom
4.92Vto4.24V(seefigurebelow).

10

Discussion

PartI:Focus1
Asshowninthefollowingfigure(Figure3intheappendix),thepeaktopeakvoltageofthe
squarewavesignalisactuallylargerthanthe5voltsspecified,aswellastheoutputpeaktopeak
voltage.Alsointerestingisthefactthatthesquarewaveisnotexactlysquare,butcurvesdown
aftertheinitialjump.Obviouslyitisimpossibletocreateaperfectlysquaresignal,soperhaps
thelargerpeaktopeakvoltageisintendedtooffsettheslightcurvedownwards.

Asfortheunitsofthetimeconstant(andthus,theunitsoftimeinoursetup).aquicklook
suggeststhatsincewereusingallSIunits,timeshouldbeinseconds.Asimplecalculation
confirmsthis:
t/RC isdimensionless,Rhasunits (kgm2)/(sC 2) andChasunits (s2C 2)/(kgm2), soRChas
units s ,andthereforetalsohasunits s .

PartI:Focus2
Itisinterestingtonotethatasthefrequencychanged,theVppofthesignalgeneratedbythe
DASchanged.ObviouslytheVppofthefilteredsignalwouldchange,butthefactthattheVpp
oftheinputsignalchangedreflectsonhowdifficultitistogenerateaconsistentvoltagesignalat
differentfrequencies.SinceweweremerelyinterestedintheratioofVouttoVin,however,it
hadnoimpactonourexperiment.Thefilteringalsohadnoinfluenceonthefrequencyofthe
outputsignalitexactlymatchedtheinputsignal.Therewasaphaseshifthowever:lowpass
filterstendtochangethephaseofthesignal.Also,asyoucanseeinFigure1(appendix),while
theotherpartsofthegraphareniceandsmooth,thethirdtolastdatapointisalittlebitofan
anomaly.LookingatTable1(appendix)revealsthatVindecreasedratherdrastically,perhaps

11

becauseofaquirkoftheDAS.Inanycase,thisdatapointdoesnotinfluencetheprocedureasa
wholemuch.

PartI:Focus3
UsingwhatwelearnedinMAE143A(SignalsandSystems),wecalculatedthetheoretical3dB
frequencyofourhighpassfilter:

Perhapsbecauseofsomeerrorinthetimeconstantweused,itdidnotmatchourexperimental
valueexactly,butitwaswellwithinthemarginoferror(1.2%error).

PartII:
Aswesawwhenwechangedthevoltageofthenoisefrom0.5Vto1V,thefilterwasableto
filteroutthenoisequiteeffectivelyandtheoutputvoltagesignaldidnotreallychange.Whenwe
doubledthefrequencyofthesignalhowever,thesignalitselfbegantobefilteredout,and
consequentlydecreasedinamplitude.Obviously,thisistobeexpectedofalowpassfilter.Also,
therewasaphaseshiftbetweentheinputandoutputsignal.Inallthreescenarios,however,itis
interestingtonotethatthephaseshiftstayedconstant,atleastasfaraswecouldtellbyvisual
inspection.

12

ErrorAnalysis

Infocus1thecapacitorvaluewascalculatedusingthetimeittooktoforthecircuittoreach63%
oftheappliedvoltageandthemeasuredvalueofourresistor.Errorfrombothreadings
propagatesinourcalculatedvalueofcapacitance.

684s
Calculationofcapacitance: C = R = 9951
= 68.7nF

1
1
Errorpropagationforcapacitance: C = (R
|R| + || ) |C | = ( 9951 + 684 )68.7nF = 0.107nF

Thereforethetheoreticalvalueofcapacitanceis68.70.1nF

Theerrorcouldthenbecalculatedusingtheformula

Error = theoreticalmeasured
100% = 68.769
theoretical
68.7 100% = 0.78%

Thissmallerrormaybeduetotheresistornotbeingtheexactvalueofwhatwasreadfromthe
DMMorapossiblemiscalibrationintheDASoroscilloscopethereforecreatingawrong
readingoftau.

Infocus2the3dbfrequencyofthelowpassfilterwasfoundexperimentallytobe210Hzand
240Hzforthehighpass.Thecalculatedvalueforthisfrequencycanbeobtainedusingtheratio
equationofVo/Viandsolvingforomega.

2
1
1
1
|V o | 1
| V i | = 2 = 1+(RC)2 2 = 1 + (RC) 1 = RC = RC = (9951)(69nF) = 1456.4rad/s

f = 2
= 1456.4
2 = 231.8Hz

C
1
1
f = (R
|R| + |C| ) |f | = ( 9951 + 69 )231.8 = 3.383

Thereforethetheoreticalfrequencyvalueis2313Hz

Error(Low pass) = theoreticalmeasured

100% = 231210
theoretical
231 100% = 9.09%

Error(High pass) = theoreticalmeasured

100% = 231240
theoretical
231 100% = 3.9%

Theseerrorsmaybeduetotheresistororcapacitornotbeingexactlywhattheyweremeasured
tobe.

Conclusion

13

Inthefirstpartofthisexperiment,wefoundthetimeconstantofourRCcircuit,thenuseditto
findthetheoreticalvalueofthecapacitorwewereusing.UsingtheDMM,wethenconfirmed
thevalue.

WethenrealizedtheRCcircuitcouldbeusedasalowpassfilter,andbegantocharacterizethe
responseofthecircuitasalowpassfilter.Wefoundthe3dBfrequencytobe210Hz,then
proceededtogenerateaplotillustratingthefrequencyresponseofthefilter(seeFigure1).

Byswappingthepositionsoftheresistorandcapacitor,wethenconstructedahighpassfilter
withtheRCcircuit.Wefoundthe3dBfrequency(boththeoreticallyandexperimentally).It
turnedouttobe240Hz.Wethengeneratedafrequencyresponseplotforthehighpassfilteras
well(seeFigure2).

Finally,weexploredarealworldapplicationofthelowpassfilter:toblockhighfrequency
noise.WeobservedtheresponseoftheRCcircuittoseveraldifferentnoisyinputs,andfound
thatitwasveryeffectiveatfilteringaspecificfrequencyrangeofinputsignals.Howithandles
otherfrequencies,however,couldbeinvestigatedinanotherexperiment.

14

Figures

Figure1:Illustrationofthefrequencyresponseofourlowpassfilter

Figure2:Illustrationofthefrequencyresponseofourhighpassfilter

15

Figure3:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,recordingtheresponseoftheRCcircuittoa
squarewaveinputvoltagesignal

Figure4:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,recordingthecursorsandtheprocessby
whichwefoundthetimeconstantofourRCcircuit

16

Figure5:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,recordingthescreenusedtofindthe3dB
frequencyofourlowpassfilter(210Hz),aswellasthepeaktopeakvoltagesofourinput
(yellow)andoutput(green)

Figure6:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,recordingtheappearanceofournoisysignal
(yellow)andthefilteredresult(green)

17

Figure7:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,againrecordingtheappearanceofournoisy
signal(yellow)andthefilteredresult(green),butwiththenoisemagnitudeincreasedto1volt

Figure8:Aimageofourcomputermonitor,displayingthegraphicswindowofourvishowing
thetheoreticalappearanceofournoisysignal

18

Figure9:Astillimageofouroscilloscopescreen,againrecordingtheappearanceofournoisy
signal(yellow)andthefilteredresult(green),butwiththenoisevoltagereducedbackto0.5V
andthesignalfrequencyincreasedto160Hz(double)

Figure10:Aimageofourcomputermonitor,displayingthegraphicswindowofourvishowing
thetheoreticalappearanceofournoisysignal

19

Tables

Frequency
(Hz)

Vppout
(Volt)

Vppin
(Volt)

21

4.8

4.84

42

4.84

84

4.82

5.24

126

4.56

5.32

168

4.12

5.2

210

3.76

5.16

420

2.44

5.16

840

1.34

5.12

1260

0.92

4.4

1680

0.7

5.08

2100

0.56

5.08

Table1:LowPassfilterfrequenciesinputtedtoobtainbodeplot(figure1)

20

Frequency
(Hz)

Vppout(Volts)

Vppin
(Volts)

24

0.56

4.92

48

1.04

5.08

96

5.28

144

2.76

5.24

192

3.24

5.2

240

3.64

5.16

480

4.52

5.12

960

4.84

5.08

1440

4.88

5.08

1920

4.92

5.08

2400

4.92

5.08

Table2:HighPassfrequenciesinputtedtoobtainbodeplot(figure2)

21

References

1. Experiment3BRCFiltersandSignalConditioningCircuitsLabProcedure,MAE
Department,UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego.October2013