Lecture 8

Power Amplifier (Class A)

• Induction of Power Amplifier

• Power and Efficiency
• Amplifier Classification
• Basic Class A Amplifier
• Transformer Coupled Class A Amplifier

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 1

 Introduction
• Power amplifiers are used to deliver a relatively high amount of
power, usually to a low resistance load.
• Typical load values range from 300W (for transmission
antennas) to 8W (for audio speaker).
• Although these load values do not cover every possibility, they
do illustrate the fact that power amplifiers usually drive low-
resistance loads.
• Typical output power rating of a power amplifier will be 1W or
higher.
• Ideal power amplifier will deliver 100% of the power it draws
from the supply to load. In practice, this can never occur.
• The reason for this is the fact that the components in the
amplifier will all dissipate some of the power that is being
drawn form the supply.
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 2
 Amplifier Power Dissipation
V CC

The total amount of power I CC

being dissipated by the
amplifier, Ptot , is

Ptot = P1 + P2 + PC + PT + PE I1
I CQ
2
P 1 = I1 R 1 R1 RC PC = I 2CQ R C
The difference between this
total value and the total power
PT = I 2TQ R T
being drawn from the supply
is the power that actually goes
I EQ
to the load – i.e. output P 2 = I22R 2 R2 RE PE = I 2EQ R E
power.
I2

Amplifier Efficiency η EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A)

⇒ Ref:080327HKN 3
 Amplifier Efficiency η
• A figure of merit for the power amplifier is its efficiency, η .
• Efficiency ( η ) of an amplifier is defined as the ratio of ac
output power (power delivered to load) to dc input power .
• By formula :
ac output power Po ( ac )
η= × 100% = × 100%
dc input power Pi ( dc )
• As we will see, certain amplifier configurations have much
higher efficiency ratings than others.
• This is primary consideration when deciding which type of
power amplifier to use for a specific application.

∀ ⇒ Amplifier Classifications
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 4
 Amplifier Classifications
• Power amplifiers are classified according to the percent of
time that collector current is nonzero.
• The amount the output signal varies over one cycle of
operation for a full cycle of input signal.

v in Av v out Class-A

v in Av v out Class-B

v in Av v out Class-C
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 5
 Efficiency Ratings
• The maximum theoretical efficiency
ratings of class-A, B, and C amplifiers are:
Amplifier Maximum Theoretical
Efficiency, η max
Class A 25%
Class B 78.5%
Class C 99%

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 6

 Class A Amplifier
v in Av v out

∀ νoutput waveform → same shape → νinput waveform + π

phase shift.

• The collector current is nonzero 100% of the time.

→ inefficient, since even with zero input signal, ICQ is
nonzero
(i.e. transistor dissipates power in the rest, or quiescent,
condition)

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 7

 Basic Operation
Common-emitter (voltage-divider) configuration (RC-coupled amplifier)
+V CC

I CC

I CQ RC
I1
R1

RL

v in R2
RE

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 8

 Typical Characteristic Curves
for Class-A Operation

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 9

 Typical Characteristic

• Previous figure shows an example of a

sinusoidal input and the resulting collector
current at the output.
• The current, ICQ , is usually set to be in the
center of the ac load line. Why?
(DC and AC analyses → discussed in previous sessions)

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 10

 DC Input Power +V CC

The total dc power, Pi(dc) , that an I CC

amplifier draws from the power I CQ RC

I1
supply : R1

Pi ( dc ) = VCC I CC RL

I CC = I CQ + I 1
v in R2
I CC ≈ I CQ ( I CQ >> I 1 ) RE

Pi ( dc ) = VCC I CQ
Note that this equation is valid for most amplifier power analyses.
We can rewrite for the above equation for the ideal amplifier as
Pi ( dc ) = 2VCEQ I CQ
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 11
 AC Output Power
AC output (or load) power, Po(ac) ic

vo
vo ( rms )
2

Po ( ac ) = ic ( rms ) vo ( rms ) =
RL vin vce
rC RC//RL

R1//R2
Above equations can be used to
calculate the maximum possible
value of ac load power. HOW??
Disadvantage of using class-A amplifiers is the fact that their
efficiency ratings are so low, η max ≈ 25% .

Why?? A majority of the power that is drawn from the supply by a

class-A amplifier is used up by the amplifier itself.
→ Class-B Amplifier
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 12
 I C(sat) = V CC /(R C +R E ) IC(sat) = ICQ + (VCEQ/rC)

DC Load Line ac load line

IC
IC
(mA)
V CE(off) = V CC
VCE(off) = VCEQ + ICQrC

V CE VCE

ac load line  VCEQ  I CQ  1 VPP2

Po ( ac ) =    = VCEQ I CQ =
IC Q - point  2  2  2 8 RL
dc load line 1
Po ( ac ) VCEQ I CQ
η= × 100% = 2 × 100% = 25%
Pi ( dc ) 2VCEQ I CQ

VCE

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 13

 Limitation

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 14

 Example +VCC = 20V

Calculate the input power [Pi(dc)], output power

RC
[Po(ac)], and efficiency [η ] of the amplifier circuit for an RB IC
20Ω
1kΩ
input voltage that results in a base current of 10mA peak. Vo

VCC − VBE 20V − 0.7V β = 25

IBQ = = = 19.3mA
RB 1kΩ
Vi
ICQ = βI B = 25(19.3mA) = 482.5mA ≅ 0.48 A
VCEQ = VCC − ICRC = 20V − (0.48 A)(20Ω) = 10.4V
V 20V
I c ( sat ) = CC = = 1000mA = 1A
RC 20Ω
VCE ( cutoff ) = VCC = 20V
IC ( peak ) = βIb ( peak ) = 25(10mA peak ) = 250mA peak

Po ( ac ) =
I C2 ( peak )
RC =
( 250 × 10 A)
−3 2

(20Ω) = 0.625W
2 2
Pi ( dc ) = VCC I CQ = (20V )(0.48 A) = 9.6W
Po ( ac )
η= × 100% = 6.5%
Pi ( dc )
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 15
Transformer-Coupled Class-A Amplifier
+VCC
A transformer-coupled class-A amplifier
uses a transformer to couple the output N1:N2
signal from the amplifier to the load. RL
Z1
R1
The relationship between the primary
Z2 = RL
and secondary values of voltage, current
and impedance are summarized as:
N 1 V1 I 2
= =
N 2 V2 I 1 Input R2
 N1
2
 RE
Z Z
  = 1 = 1
 N2  Z 2 RL

N1, N2 = the number of turns in the primary and secondary

V1, V2 = the primary and secondary voltages
I1, I2 = the primary and secondary currents
Z1, Z2 = the primary and seconadary impedance ( Z2 = RL )
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 16
Transformer-Coupled Class-A Amplifier

• An important characteristic of the transformer

is the ability to produce a counter emf, or kick
emf.
• When an inductor experiences a rapid change in
supply voltage, it will produce a voltage with a
polarity that is opposite to the original voltage
polarity.
• The counter emf is caused by the
electromagnetic field that surrounds the
inductor.
Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 17
 Counter emf
SW1 + -

+ +
10V 10V 10V 10V
- -

- +

This counter emf will be present only for an instant.

As the field collapses into the inductor the voltage
decreases in value until it eventually reaches 0V.

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 18

 DC Operating Characteristics
The dc biasing of a transformer-coupled class-A amplifier is very similar to any
other class-A amplifier with one important exception :
→ the value of VCEQ is designed to be as close as possible to VCC.
+VCC

The dc load line is very close to being a vertical line N1:N2

indicating that VCEQ will be approximately equal to R1

Z1 RL

VCC for all the values of IC. Z2 = RL

The nearly vertical load line of the transformer-

R2
coupled amplifier is caused by the extremely low dc Input
RE

resistance of the transformer primary.

VCEQ = VCC – ICQ(RC + RE)

The value of RL is ignored in the dc analysis of the DC load line

transformer-coupled class-A amplifier. The reason for I C

this is the fact that transformer provides dc isolation

between the primary and secondary. Since the load
I B = 0mA
resistance is in the secondary of the transformer it
V
doseRef:080327HKN EE3110
not affect the dc analysis Power
of the Amplifier (Class A)
primary 19 CE
 AC Operating Characteristics
+VCC
1. Determine the maximum possible change in VCE
N1:N2

•Since VCE cannot change by an amount R1

Z1 RL

greater than (VCEQ – 0V), vce = VCEQ. Z2 = RL

2. Determine the corresponding change in IC

Input R2
•Find the value of Z1 for the transformer: Z1 = RE

(N1/N2)2Z2 and ic = vce / Z1 IC

IC(max) = ??
3. Plot a line that passes through the Q-point and
DC load line
the value of IC(max).

•IC(max) = ICQ + ic Q-point

4. Locate the two points where the load line passes ac load line

through the lies representing the minimum and IB = 0mA

maximum values of IB. These two points are then VCE

~ VCEQ ~ VCC ~ 2VCC

usedRef:080327HKN
to find the maximum andEE3110
minimum values(Class
Power Amplifier of A) 20

I and V
 +VCC
N1:N2

Z1 RL
R1
IC
Z2 = RL
IC(max) = ??

DC load line

Input R2
RE

ICQ Q-point

ac load line
ic
IB = 0mA
VCE
Z1 vo ~ VCEQ ~ VCC ~ 2VCC
vin vce

R1//R2

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 21

Maximum load power and efficiency

The Power Supply for the amplifier : PS = VCCICC

Maximum peak-to-peak voltage across the primary of the transformer

is approximately equal to the difference between the values of VCE(max)
and VCE(min) : VPP = VCE(max) – V­CE(min) N : N 1 2

Maximum possible peak-to-peak load voltage VPP RL V(P-P) max

is found by V(P­P)max = (N2 / N1)V PP

The actual efficiency rating of a transformer-coupled class-A amplifier

will generally be less than 40%.

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 22

 There are several reasons for the
difference between the practical and
theoretical efficiency ratings for the
amplifier :
– The derivation of the η = 50% value assumes
that VCEQ = VCC . In practice, VCEQ will always
be some value that is less the VCC .
– The transformer is subject to various power
losses. Among these losses are couple loss
and hysteresis loss. These transformer power
losses are not considered in the derivation of
the η = 50% value.

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 23

• One of the primary advantages of using the
transformer-coupled class-A amplifier is the
increased efficiency over the RC-coupled class-A
circuit.
• Another advantage is the fact that the
transformer-coupled amplifier is easily converted
into a type of amplifier that is used extensively in
communications :- the tuned amplifier.
• A tuned amplifier is a circuit that is designed to
have a specific value of power gain over a specific
range of frequency.

Ref:080327HKN EE3110 Power Amplifier (Class A) 24