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Nonlinear damping of the LC circuit using antiparallel diodes

American Journal of Physics -- April 2007 -- Volume 75, Issue 4, pp. 326-330

Issue Date: April 2007
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 01.50.Pa
    Laboratory experiments and apparatus for education
  • 84.30.-r
    Electronic circuits
  • YEAR: 2007

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PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
0002-9505 (print)  
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef AAPT
Edward H. Hellen and Matthew J. Lanctot
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402
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.

©2007 American Association of Physics Teachers
History: Received 30 June 2006; accepted 26 January 2007
Permalink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2710481

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