EVALUATION AND QUESTIONS

1. Explain the difference between the clamping and the clipping circuit.
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A circuit that places either the positive or negative peak of a signal diode at a
desire DC level is known as a clamping circuit. The DC component is simply
added or subtracted to/from the input signal. The clamper is also referred to as
an IC restorer and AC signal level shifter.
The Diode Clipper, also known as a Diode Limiter, is a wave
shaping circuit that takes an input waveform and clips or cuts off its top half,
bottom half or both halves together to produce an output waveform that
resembles a flattened version of the input. For example, the half-wave rectifier is
a clipper circuit, since all voltages below zero are eliminated.
In short, clipping is the process of making the output voltage
constant after a certain voltage level. It is a device designed to prevent the output
of a circuit from exceeding a particular voltage level without distorting the
remaining part of the applied waveform.
Clamping is the process of adding a certain amount of dc throughout the ac
waveform. The result is a sinusoidal waveform that is shifted from the symmetric
position about the x-axis to a different dc level. Both clipping and clamping
circuits use the advantages of the unidirectional property of a diode. A basic
clipper circuit requires resistors, diodes, and voltage sources to determine the
level of clipping. A basic clamping circuit diodes, resistors and capacitors. The
capacitor stores the dc factor of the input ac and acts as a dc source for the
clamper.

2. What is the effect of shorting out the capacitor in a clamping circuit?

The impedance of a capacitor is inversely proportional to the
frequency -- that is, for very high-frequency alternating currents the reactance
approaches zero -- so that a capacitor is nearly a short circuit to a very high
frequency AC source. Conversely, for very low frequency alternating currents, the
reactance increases without bound so that a capacitor is nearly an open circuit to
a very low frequency AC source. This frequency dependent behavior[ accounts
for most uses of the capacitor.
For safety purposes, all large capacitors should be discharged
before handling. For board-level capacitors, this is done by placing a bleeder
resistor across the terminals, whose resistance is large enough that the leakage
current will not affect the circuit, but small enough to discharge the capacitor
shortly after power is removed. High-voltage capacitors should be stored with the
terminals shorted, since temporarily discharged capacitors can develop
potentially dangerous voltages when the terminals are left open-circuited.

3. Differentiate the DC level of the input and output signal of the circuit in
Figure 3.3 and Figure 3.4.
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The DC level of input in Figure 3.3 is 0 V and has an DC level

output of 6V while in Figure 3.4 the negative peak is clamped to
1.5 VDC, the waveform appears to be shifted upward. The polarity
of the diode determines which peak is clamped.

REFERENCES:
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http://www.daenotes.com/electronics/digital-electronics/clampingclamper-circuits-positive-negative

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode-clipping-circuits.html

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20070202072736AAAR5hj

http://www.edaboard.com/thread86685.html