Voltage Follower Circuit

Jane Arleth L. dela Cruz

Kyle Steffen Chua
ELC 101.2-Section D
September 10, 2013

I. Title
Voltage Follower Circuit
II. Objective
To construct a voltage follower circuit and demonstrate the principles behind it.
III. Theoretical Information
Voltage Follower
A voltage follower circuit is used to transfer a voltage from a first circuit, having a high
output impedance level, to a second circuit with a low input impedance level. The circuit
essentially just makes a copy - at the output - of the the input voltage, Vin. It does that
without drawing any current from wherever the input voltage terminal is attached. However,
at the output terminal you can draw whatever amount of current the operational amplifier can
supply (and that depends upon the kind of operational amplifier you use). [1]


Operational Amplifier
The operational amplifier (op-amp) is a voltage controlled voltage source with very high
gain. It is a five terminal four port active element. The symbol of the op-amp with the
associated terminals and ports is shown on Figure 1(a) and (b). [2]


IV. Materials and Equipment
3-1kOhm Resistors
2- 1uF Capacitors
NPN Operational Amplifier
10V voltage source
V. Procedure


Construct the circuit above. Compute for the input and output values. Show that they are
equal.

VI. Hypothesis
The first to resistors connected to the transistor's base are forming a voltage divider, in
order to set a biasing point for the transistor to work in our desired range. Then the transistor,
our gain component for the circuit which in this case is only used as a gateway to isolate two
circuit stages. [3]
The resistor in the emitter is used to create a voltage from the current passing from the
transistor; Without it we can't get any voltage as our output would be effectively shorted to
ground (0 volts). [3]
The capacitors that are displayed in the schematic are optional, but very useful to
prevent a wrong operation of the circuit, specially in audio or high frequency uses. they stop
any DC voltage to move or otherwise disrupt the bias point of the transistor, thus causing
undesired operation. If you build this circuit only with dc remove the capacitors, as they will
prevent the circuit from functioning under those conditions. [3]

VII. Simulations:

VIII. References
[1]The Unity Gain Buffer Amplifier. Exploring Electrical Engineering. Bucknell
University.http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mastascu/elessonshtml/OpAmps/OpAmp
3Note1Buffer.html. 8 Sept. 2013
[2] Chaniotakis and Cory. Operational Amplifiers. 6.071 Spring 2006
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-071j-
introduction-to-electronics-signals-and-measurement-spring-2006/lecture-
notes/22_op_amps1.pdf. 8 Sept. 2013
[3] Zakmata. Voltage Circuit Follower. Electronic Circuits for Beginners. 11 May 2009
http://electroniccircuitsforbeginners.blogspot.com/2009/05/voltage-follower-circuit.
html. 8 Sept. 2013