The basic action of clipper circuits is to remove the certain portions of the waveform, above or below the certain levels, as per the requirements.
Note : Thus the circuits which are used to clip of unwanted portion of the waveform, without distorting the remaining part of the waveform are called clipper circuits or clippers.
The half wave rectifier is the best and simplest type of clipper circuit which clips off the negative portion of the input signal. By changing the orientation of the diode in the circuit, positive or negative portion of the input signal can be clipped off.
The clipper circuits are also called limiters or slicers. The clipper circuits are mainly classified depending upon the orientation of the diode in the circuit.
Note : When the diode is connected in series with the load, such circuit is called Series Clipper. When the diode is connected in a branch which is parallel to the load, it is called Parallel Clipper.
1.1 Steps to Analyse Clipper Circuits
The various clipper circuits can be analysed using the following steps,
1. Replace the diodes by one of its equivalent models.
2. Identify ON and OFF states of the diodes and the clipping levels of Vin.
3. Derive the equation for transfer characteristics of the circuit.
