Half wave clipper

Clipper circuits are the circuits that clip off or remove a portion of an input signal, without causing any distortion to the remaining part of the waveform. These are also known as clippers, clipping circuits, limiters, slicers, etc. Clippers are basically wave shaping circuits that control the shape of an output waveform. It consists of linear and non-linear elements but does not contain energy storing elements. The basic operation of a diode clipping circuit is such that, in forward biased condition, the diode allows current to pass through it, clamping the voltage. But in reverse biased condition, no current flows through the diode, and thus voltage remains unaffected across its terminals. Clipper circuits are basically termed protection devices. As electronic devices are voltage sensitive and voltage of large amplitude can permanently destroy the device. So, in order to protect the device clipper circuits are used. Usually, clippers employ resistor–diode combination in their circuitry Applications of clipper Circuits:- 1. To generate and shape the waveforms, clippers are used. 2. Power supply units consist of clipping circuits. 3. FM transmitters to remove the excess amount of ripples clipping circuits are used. 4. To protect the transistors from the transients the diodes are connected in a parallel manner with the load that is inductive by nature. There are many more uses.