Selecting the correct oscillator/multivibrator circuit

Thread Starter

Ilya Gulko

Joined Jul 13, 2016
7
Hi everyone,

I am not experienced with electronics, but my project requires to purchase/build a device that:
1. Will convert a DC signal of few volts to AC signal of few volts.
2. Will have a frequency in the range 50kHz - 170kHz (variable frequency preferred).
3. Will generate a clean and stable square or sine wave of the specified frequency.
4. Is compact and lightweight.

The closest devices I found were oscillator circuits and multivibrators, but there are many types and many ways to build them into a circuit. Could anyone recommend a device and circuit that will best satisfy the above requirements?

Thank you so much!
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Hi everyone,

I am not experienced with electronics, but my project requires to purchase/build a device that:
1. Will convert a DC signal of few volts to AC signal of few volts.
2. Will have a frequency in the range 50kHz - 170kHz (variable frequency preferred).
3. Will generate a clean and stable square or sine wave of the specified frequency.
4. Is compact and lightweight.

The closest devices I found were oscillator circuits and multivibrators, but there are many types and many ways to build them into a circuit. Could anyone recommend a device and circuit that will best satisfy the above requirements?

Thank you so much!
There were various TTL VCO chips, but I'm not sure how many are still available, 74LS629 might be one of them. There's almost certainly CMOS types available.

Probably the simplest you can cobble together is the basic 2 transistor astable. Just gang the 2 base resistors to the wiper of a pot across the supply rails and you can vary the frequency - its a basic VCO, but the input range isn't rail to rail. If you take it too low the oscillator will stop.

If you need more than logic level output voltage - buffer the output with an open collector buffer and put a casc-ode style common base on it.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,264
The simplest square-wave generator, ~30kHz-200kHz :-
SquareGen.JPG
Operates from a 3-15V DC supply (not shown).
A clean, stable sine-wave of that frequency range is much trickier to generate.
 

hp1729

Joined Nov 23, 2015
2,304
Hi everyone,

I am not experienced with electronics, but my project requires to purchase/build a device that:
1. Will convert a DC signal of few volts to AC signal of few volts.
2. Will have a frequency in the range 50kHz - 170kHz (variable frequency preferred).
3. Will generate a clean and stable square or sine wave of the specified frequency.
4. Is compact and lightweight.

The closest devices I found were oscillator circuits and multivibrators, but there are many types and many ways to build them into a circuit. Could anyone recommend a device and circuit that will best satisfy the above requirements?

Thank you so much!
Buy one. Do you have a budget it has to fit in?
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Here's a start then, XR2206. carried by Jameco Electronics and others.. Price about $8.00, Jameco used to have a kit about in your price range.
There used to be the ICL8038 and the "improved" MAX038, sadly both discontinued.

There maybe NOS vendors (expensive) or they occasionally turn up in discarded waveform generators - as does the XR2206.

The 4046 CMOS PLL also contains a VCO.
 

AlbertHall

Joined Jun 4, 2014
12,338
There used to be the ICL8038 and the "improved" MAX038, sadly both discontinued.

There maybe NOS vendors (expensive) or they occasionally turn up in discarded waveform generators - as does the XR2206.
Also see post #6, £2 to £3 (UK) from ebay, kit or assembled
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,971
What is this for?
What does the output signal drive?
What is the available power source (volts, amps)?
Is this a school project? If so, which school?

ak
 
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