8.

VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF CLASS-B AMPLIFIERS

Let us consider a push-pull type class-B amplifier that is biased at its cutoff point. Let RL be the load resistance and be the common-emitter current gain. If we assume that is large in order to keep the development simple, then is unity. Since at any given time only one transistor conducts, the load current is the emitter current. For = 1, the collector current is also equal to the emitter current. The ac load line passes through the cutoff point and its intercept on the current axis (yaxis) yields the maximum possible collector (emitter or load) current that can exist when the saturation voltage is zero. Let us denote this current as IACM. Then IACM is

I ACM =

VCC RL

(8.1)

iC I ACM I O ( MAX ) I O ( AVG )

Time

iC

Load Line

Q-Point

VCC

v CE v CE

Time

Figure 8.1: Load current and the corresponding collector-to-emitter voltage When the input signal reaches its positive peak value, the collector current in the NPN transistor also reaches at its positive peak value ( I O (MAX)). Its collector-to-emitter voltage is at its minimum as shown in Figure 8.1. Note that I O (MAX) is zero when the input signal is zero and I O (MAX) can be as high as IACM. Our aim is to determine the maximum value of I O (MAX) that results in the maximum power dissipated by the transistor.
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We can express the power input and the power output per transistor as
PS1 = I O ( AVG ) VCC = PO1 = 1 2 I O ( MAX ) R L 4 1 I O ( MAX ) VCC

(8.2) (8.3)

Note that for the push-pull amplifier, the total power input is 2 PS1 and the total power output is 2 PO1. Consequently, the power dissipated by each transistor is
PT1 = PS1 PO1 = 1 1 2 I O ( MAX ) VCC I O ( MAX ) R L 4

(8.4)

The only variable in the above equation is the maximum load current IO(MAX) corresponding to the maximum input signal. In order to determine the maximum value of the load current that yields maximum power dissipation in the transistor, we need to differentiate the above equation with respect to I O (MAX) and set it to zero. Differentiating (8.4) and equating it to zero, we obtain

I O ( MAX ) =

2 VCC 2 = I ACM RL

(8.5)

As is evident from Figure 8.1, IACM is the theoretically maximum value of the collector (load) current that can exist when the saturation voltage is zero and it is given as

I ACM =
Substituting in (8.5) in (8.4), we get

VCC RL
2 1 I ACM VCC 2 I 2 R L ACM 2

(8.6)

PT1( MAX ) =

This equation can be simplified with the help of (8.6) and can be written as
PT1( MAX )
2 VCC 1 = 2 I ACM VCC = 2 RL

(8.7)

This equation yields the maximum power that is dissipated by a single transistor used in the pushpull configuration. The total maximum power dissipated by the two transistors is twice as much as that for the single transistor. If the total power dissipated by the two transistors is known, we can use (8.7) to determine the maximum collector current per transistor that it can safely deliver to the load. This places the limit upon the minimum load resistance and the maximum output current.

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Let us sketch the total power supplied by the two dc sources, total power output, total power dissipated by the two transistors, and the efficiency of the push-pull amplifier. Total power supplied by the dc supply: Total power output: The efficiency of the amplifier:
PS = 2 PS1 = PO = 2 PO1 = = 2 I O ( MAX ) VCC 1 2 I O ( MAX ) R L 2

(8.8) (8.9) (8.10)

PO I O ( MAX ) R L = PS 4 VCC

To sketch the waveforms using MathCAD, let us assume that RL = 100 and VCC = 15 V. The waveforms are given in Figure 8.2 below. Note that the theoretical maximum value of the collector current is

I ACM =

VCC 15 = = 0.15 A R L 100

1.5 1.35 1.2 1.05 0.9 PS ( I ) 0.75 0.6 0.45 0.3 0.15 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 I 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15

Figure 8.2a:

Power supplied by both the dc sources (in watts) as a function of maximum collector current (in mA)

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1.5 1.35 1.2 1.05 0.9 PO ( I ) 0.75 0.6 0.45 0.3 0.15 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 I 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15

Figure 8.2(b): Output power (in watts) as a function of maximum collector current (in mA)

0.5 0.45 0.4 0.35 0.3 PT ( I ) 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 I 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15

Figure 8.2c: Power dissipated by both the transistors (in watts) as a function of maximum collector current (in mA).

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1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 ( I) 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 I 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15

Figure 8.2d:

Efficiency of the push-pull amplifier as a function of maximum collector current (in mA).

From (8.10) and (8.5) we obtain that the efficiency is 0.5 or 50% at the point of maximum power dissipation by each transistor. This result can now be verified from the waveform shown in Figure 8.2d above.

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