Damping factor explained - or not?

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I also discussed the Tc(jc) with Ian Hegglun and he provided me with a sim model that calculates and integrates this. Next I will try to integrate it in my circuit and see where it leads, so I an estimate when the SOA will be exceeded depending on pulse width and prf.

This could even be fun! :cool:

Edit: my app is a 1500V RMS 100mA RMS output stage to directly drive ESLs...

Jan
 
I also discussed the Tc(jc) with Ian Hegglun and he provided me with a sim model that calculates and integrates this. Next I will try to integrate it in my circuit and see where it leads, so I an estimate when the SOA will be exceeded depending on pulse width and prf.

This could even be fun! :cool:

Edit: my app is a 1500V RMS 100mA RMS output stage to directly drive ESLs...

Jan

Nice, gets rid of the xfmr...

I found that by examining the drive signal to the outputs, I could see secondary breakdown as it started. When the circuit started dropping it's drive to the pre's, it was because the output device(s) gain was increasing.

Course, that was bipolars, not fets..

You thinking of any foldback protection?
edit: also, is the output going to provide dc offset as well?

John
 
When I am attempting to discharge an inductance of energy, I have a particular problem..that of where the energy goes.

If I put a short across it, all the energy will be absorbed by the inductor (more specifically, the resistance within the inductor.)
If I use a resistor to discharge the inductor, there will be a terminal voltage, and the resistor will dissipate based on that. There is a tradeoff between dissipation within the inductor and dissipation outside the inductor in the resistor. That tradeoff includes the speed at which the energy will be removed. High resistance dissipates faster..but that is for step functions...edit: just ask CERN about high resistance and dissipation....I have pics of the damage..)

How about transferring the energy to a cap thru a diode (so it doesn't go back ) and let a parallel resistor burn it off.
 
Back emf in an ac motor ( like a 120v synchronous) is what keeps the current, and thus power adjusted for the load. Lots of load, little back emf and most of the 120v is across the windings. Little load, lots of back emf.

V across windings = Vin-Vback emf

Not sure how this relates to drivers but it's probably similar. So more Back emf at resonance where the load is smaller? Or not.
 
And if you push on the motor the back emf is greater than the Vin and you have a generator. Which hapens in a driver when the spider pulls the voice coil back after an impulse. This is the energy the amp has to dissipate and what damping factor is about.
 
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How about transferring the energy to a cap thru a diode (so it doesn't go back ) and let a parallel resistor burn it off.

That is not useable with a speaker.

Back emf in an ac motor ( like a 120v synchronous) is what keeps the current, and thus power adjusted for the load. Lots of load, little back emf and most of the 120v is across the windings. Little load, lots of back emf.

V across windings = Vin-Vback emf

Not sure how this relates to drivers but it's probably similar. So more Back emf at resonance where the load is smaller? Or not.
It is similar to drivers.

And if you push on the motor the back emf is greater than the Vin and you have a generator. Which hapens in a driver when the spider pulls the voice coil back after an impulse. This is the energy the amp has to dissipate and what damping factor is about.
The spider is not the primary push restoring the driver position at useable frequencies, the air load is.

John
 
When an amplifier is driving a reactive load like a woofer, it causes the pass transistors to dissipate more energy. This is because an amplifier's output node, even with a zero impedance, does not achieve zero impedance by shunting the current to ground. It does so by using the pass transistors to force the node to zero.

If the amp has to pull 1 ampere to keep the output node at zero volts, it does so by conducting one ampere from the power supply rail.

John
 
Damping factor is in the best case a misunderstanding. Amps with super-low output impedance becomes even moore sensitive to cable/filter resistanse.

The cure? Thicker cables, from ac to output, trafos included. Makes the amp never run out of breathe
What you've stated, in terms of amplifier design understanding, doesn't mean anything to me.

Can you elaborate with a technical explanation?

John
 
Damping factor is in the best case a misunderstanding.

Damping factor is related to source impedance by a simple and direct mathematical relationship. If you understand one, understanding the other should be at worst, doable and at best easy.

Amps with super-low output impedance becomes even more sensitive to cable/filter resistance.

Not a good generality. For one thing, conflating resistance with impedance is at best an approximation, and at worst an error. The load on an amplifier is composed of several elements, the largest of which is generally the loudspeaker. Changing the impedance of the loudspeaker will therefore make the biggest changes on the system.

The cure? Thicker cables, from ac to output, trafos included.

There may be no disease to cure. It is all about quantification, and the optimal quantities are not difficult to obtain.

Makes the amp never run out of breathe

Must be some kind of romantic metaphor.
 
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When an amplifier is driving a reactive load like a woofer, it causes the pass transistors to dissipate more energy. This is because an amplifier's output node, even with a zero impedance, does not achieve zero impedance by shunting the current to ground. It does so by using the pass transistors to force the node to zero.

If the amp has to pull 1 ampere to keep the output node at zero volts, it does so by conducting one ampere from the power supply rail.

John

Yes but that energy doesn't come from the EMF so from the speaker perspective no energy is removed, so no damping of that speaker.
I mean, energy is removed by dissipation in the'virtual' Zout of he amp (like 0.1 ohm or whatever) but all the watts dissipated internally in the amp to 'make' that 0.1 ohms are irrelevant for the damping.

Jan
 
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This is cool....


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PaleRider said:
Damping factor is in the best case a misunderstanding. Amps with super-low output impedance becomes even moore sensitive to cable/filter resistanse.

The cure? Thicker cables, from ac to output, trafos included. Makes the amp never run out of breathe
Not even wrong.

jneutron said:
When an amplifier is driving a reactive load like a woofer, it causes the pass transistors to dissipate more energy.
True, but this energy comes from the PSU not the speaker. (I know you know that, but others might not.)

arnyk said:
Must be some kind of romantic metaphor.
I think he must have heard a man in a pub say something like "use thicker cables for mains and speakers; this increases the current driving capabilities of the output stage - we know that base current into the output stage is set by the mains cable".
 
Jan,

From speaker perspective, it always exist the physical resistance of the wire of the voice coil. Which is roughly 75% of the nominal impedance, 6 ohms for a 8 ohms speaker.

Even if the speaker is electrically shorted, i.e. infinite damping factor, the actual damping cannot be infinite, this is why very high damping factors are useless. Moreover, wiring resistance between amp and speaker can be as high as, say, 0.6 ohm before we can hear audible deterioration of transient response (1 dB) Same things occur with amp output impedance.

The only way to reach further damping is to make negative the output impedance of the amp. This can be done by positive current feedback. I have experimented this 30 years ago. Recently, Nelson Pass has refloated this idea...
 
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