DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

ANDHRA PRADESH
Name of the faculty : D Saritha
Designation : Lecturer
Branch : D.A.E.I.E
Institute : Govt Polytechnic, Kothagudem
Year/Semester : V Semester
Subject : Linear IC Applications
Sub-Code : AEI-505
Topic : Other Applications of OP-Amp
Duration : 100 min
Sub-Topic : Voltage to Frequency and Frequency
to Voltage converters
Teaching Aids : Diagrams
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 Objectives
Upon the completion of this topic the student will
be familiar with

• Voltage To Frequency converter circuit using op-amp

• Frequency To Voltage converter circuit using op-amp

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 Voltage to frequency converter
• The voltage to frequency (V/F) and frequency to voltage
(F/V) converter can be constructed across IC 9400

• A complete V/F or F/V system can be formed by using

two external capacitors, three resistors and a reference
voltage

• The 9400 series consists of CMOS and bipolar devices

that can operate on dual or single supply voltages

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Circuit diagram of v/f converter

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Pin diagram for 9400

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 Construction
• The 9400 is designed for pulse and square wave
outputs having frequency range of 1 Hz to 100 kHz

• The input can be either current or voltage, and the

output can interface with most forms of logic

• The circuit consists of an integrator, comparators, a

delay network, a divide-by-2 network, and open-
loop collector output transistors
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 Working

• The input current Iin = Vin/Rin is converted to a charge by

the integrating capacitor Cint and shows up as a linearly
decreasing voltage VA at the output of the op-amp
integrator.
• In equation from VA = -( Iin/Cin) t

• where Iin = input current (amperes)

Cint = integrating capacitor (farads)

t = time (seconds)
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• The output VA of the integrator is sensed by the

comparator.

• The output of the comparator is then applied via the 3µs

delay network to the output transistor Q1, the divide-by-2

network, and the Cref charge/discharge control circuit.

• The output of the divide-by-2 network drives the output

transistor Q2.

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• When the output VA of the op-amp is positive, the output
VC of the on-inverting comparator is high, or = +5V, and
the output VB1 of the 3µs delay network is low or 0V.

• Since VB1 is low , the transistor Q1 is off, and the output

Fo is high, or = +5V.

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• The divide-by-2 network is a negative-edge-triggered flip-
flop whose output voltage VB2 is a complement
(inversion) of VB1;

• hence the transistor Q2 will be on, and output F0/2 will

low.
• Finally, with VB1 low, the Cref charge/discharge control
circuit is disabled, and capacitor Cref remains discharged
(is shorted out).
• From the equation it is clear that the output VA of the op-
amp is linearly decreasing.
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• When VA goes slightly below 0V, the output VC of

the comparator switches “low” to 0V.

• Three microseconds after VC goes low, VB1 switches

from low to high.

• This forces output F0 low and enables the Cref

charge/discharge control circuit, which connects Cref

to the reference voltage Vref of -5V.

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•At this instant the negative voltage at the (-) input

causes the output of the op-amp to step up to a finite

amount

•The reference capacitor Cref remains connected to Vref

for a time period long enough to virtually charge it to Vref.

•The charging path for Cref is through the output

terminal of the op-amp through Cref , through Cref and
finally through the negative reference voltage.
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• Since the output of the op-amp VA is positive, the output
of the comparator switches from low to high, and 3µs
later VB1 goes low.
• This disables the Cref charge/discharge circuit, and Cref
shorted out, dissipating the store reference charge.
• When VB1 goes low the output F0 goes high, the output of
the divide by -2 circuit goes low, and output F0/2
therefore goes high.

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• The integrating capacitor Cint again begins converting the
input current Iin to a charge, and in turn the output of the
op-amp goes slightly below 0V, the output of the
comparator goes from high to low, and hence the cycle
repeats.

• As the input voltage of Vin increases, the rate of

decrease of output voltage VA also increases, causing
the output frequency F0 to also increase.
• Since each positive voltage increment in VA is fixed, the
increase in frequency with voltage is linear.
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• The 9400 contains a “Self-start” circuit which assures
proper V/F operation when power is first applied.

• If the op-amp output VA is below the comparator

threshold of 0V and Cref is already charged, then when
then when the power is first applied, a positive voltage
step will not occur.
• In this situation the output VA of the op-=amp continues
to decrease until it crosses the 2.5V of the self-start
comparator.

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• When this happens, the self-start comparator connects
through the 20-kΩ resistor a negative supply voltage
Vss to the (-) input of the op-amp, which in turn causes
the output of the op-amp to quickly go positive.
• As soon as VA goes positive, the self-start comparator
is disabled, and the 9400 resumes its normal operation
mode.

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Input and output waveforms of
voltage to frequency converter

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 Applications of v/f converter

• The V/F converter is used in instrumentation and control,

digital, and communication systems

• Used in temperature sensing and control, transducer

encoding, analog-to-digital (A/D) converters,
microprocessor data acquisition, digital panel meters,
phase-locked loops, and analog data transmission and
recording.

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 Frequency to voltage converter

• In a frequency to voltage converter the 9400 generates

an output voltage that is linearly proportional to the input
frequency waveform

• The features of the 9400 F/V converter include dc to

100kHz operation, op-amp output, programmable scale
factor, high input impedance (>10 MΩ), and , above all,
its capability to accept any voltage wave shape.

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Circuit diagram of f to v converter

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 Working
• The input frequency is applied to the (+) input of the
comparator (pin 11).
• Since the comparator hysteresis voltage is ±200mV, the
input signal amplitude must be greater than ±200mV in
order to trip the comparator.
• If only a unipolar input signal is available, it can be
converted into bipolar waveform by using the offset
circuit.

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F to V converter output waveform

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• Each time the input signal crosses zero in the negative
direction, the output of the comparator goes low.
• Three microseconds later the Cref charge/discharge
control circuit is enabled, which is instantaneously
connects the reference capacitor Cref to the reference
voltage Vref.
• This action charges Cint each time with a precise
amount of voltage until the voltage across it can no
longer increase.
• The charging path is through the output terminal of the
op-amp, through Cint , through Cref , and finally through
Vref.
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• Each time the input waveform crosses zero in the
positive direction, the output of the comparator switches
high.

• This disables the Cref charge/discharge control circuit,

and Cref is shorted out.

• However, the voltage across Cint is retained because the

only discharge path for Cint is through Rint, which is very
large (1 MΩ ). The voltage across Cint is the output
voltage Vo.
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• The amount of ripple on Vo is inversely proportional to
Cint and the frequency of the input Fin.
• This means that for low frequencies Cint can be
increased in the range from 1 to 100µF to reduce the
ripple.
• To eliminate the ripple on Vo, an extra op-amp that is
operating in the common mode configuration can be
connected to the output of the F/V converter
• The ac ripple is canceled at the output of an op-amp
provided that both (+) and (-) inputs equal due to the
common mode configuration.

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• As the circuit has a dc gain of unity, so output voltage is
equal to input

• In the F/V converter, outputs Fo and Fo /2 are optional

because these outputs are useful in only some
applications

• The output Fo follows the input frequency waveform with

a 3µ s delay on the rising edge. Fo /2 is a square wave
with a frequency one-half of Fo .

• If Fo and Fo /2 outputs are not used, pins 8 and 10 may

be connected to ground
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• Although F/V converter accepts any input wave shape,
the circuit will work only if the positive pulse width of the
input waveform is at least 5µ s and the negative pulse
width is 0.5 s.
• When Fin max is less than 1 KHz, the duty cycle should
be greater than 20% to ensure that Cref is fully charged
and discharged

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 Applications of F to V converter
Used in applications such as

• Frequency meters and tachometers

• Speedometers,
• rpm (revolution per minute ) indicators
• FM demodulation frequency multipliers and dividers
• Motor control

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 Summary

We have discussed about

• Circuit diagram of voltage to Frequency converter
and input-out put waveforms
• Circuit diagram of Frequency to Voltage converter
and input-output waveforms

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 Quiz

1. The Teledyne 9400 can be used as V/F or F/V

converter simply by using

c) Two external capacitors

d) Three resistors
e) A reference voltage
f) All the above

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1) The V/F converter is used in applications such as

c) Frequency meters
d) Temperature sensing and control
e) Speedometers
f) Frequency multipliers/dividers

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1) The F/V converter is used in applications such as

c) A/D converters
d) Digital panel meters
e) Phase locked loops
f) Frequency meters

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1) The 9400 is designed for pulse and square wave
outputs having a frequency range of

c) 1Hz to 10kHz
d) 1Hz to 100kHz
e) 100Hz to 10kHz
f) 100Hz to 1kHz

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 Frequently asked questions

1. Draw the circuit of V/F converter and explain with

waveforms
2. List the applications of V/F converter
3. Draw the circuit of F/V converter and explain with
waveforms
4. List the applications of F/V converter

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