Nonlinear damping of the LC circuit using antiparallel diodes

Hellen, Edward H.; Lanctot, Matthew J.

doi:doi:10.1119/1.2710481

Keyword
Volume/Page
DOI
Advanced

Search Content Type

Volume: Page/Article:

article doi:

You are not logged into this journal. Log In

Previous Article | Next Article

American Journal of Physics -- April 2007 -- Volume 75, Issue 4, pp. 326

Nonlinear damping of the LC circuit using antiparallel diodes

Edward H. Hellen and Matthew J. Lanctot

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402

Alerts
- Alert Me When Cited
- Alert Me When Corrected
Tools
Share
- Email Abstract
- Connotea
- CiteULike
- del.icio.us
- BibSonomy
- Tweet this Article
- Add to Facebook

Abstract

References (11)

Related Content

Full Text: Read Online (HTML) | Download PDF | Buy PDF (US$30) | View Cart

We investigate a simple variation of the series RLC circuit in which antiparallel diodes replace the resistor. The result is a damped harmonic oscillator with a nonlinear damping term that is a maximum at zero current and decreases inversely with the current for currents far from zero. Unlike the standard RLC circuit, the behavior of this circuit is amplitude dependent. The transient response makes a transition from underdamped to overdamped behavior, and the resonance response of the steady-state driven oscillator becomes sharper as the source amplitude increases. A set of nonlinear differential equations is derived for the circuit and integrated numerically for comparison with measurements. The equipment is inexpensive and common to upper level physics labs.