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# Astable Multivibrator using Transistors

27 Nov

## Astable Multivibrator using Transistors

By Ligo George Basic Electronics, Electronics Astable, Multivibrator, Transistor 34 Comments

Contents

- 1 Astable Multivibrator using Transistors – Circuit
- 2 Working
- 3 Design
  - - 3.0.1 R – Collector Resistor
    - 3.0.2 R1 & R2 – Base Resistors
    - 3.0.3 T1 & T2 – Time Period
    - 3.0.4 Duty Cycle
- 4 Calculator
- 5 Making Edges Sharp

An Astable Multivibrator or a Free Running Multivibrator is the multivibrator which has no stable states. Its output oscillates continuously between its two unstable states without the aid of external triggering. The time period of each states are determined by Resistor Capacitor ( RC ) time constant.

# Astable Multivibrator using Transistors – Circuit

Astable Multivibrator Using Transistors

In the above diagram we can find two transistors which is wired as a switch. Please do read the article Transistor as A Switch. When a transistor is ON, its collector and emitter act as a short circuit. But when it is OFF they acts as open circuit. So in the above circuit when a transistor is in OFF state its collector will have the voltage Vcc and when it is ON its collector will be grounded. When one transistor is ON the other will be OFF. The OFF time of transistor is determined by RC time constant.

When the circuit is switched on, one of the transistor will be more conducting than the other due imbalance in the circuit or difference in the parameters of the transistor. Gradually the more conducting transistor will be driven to Saturation and the less conducting transistor will be driven to Cutoff.

# Working

- When the circuit is switched on one transistor will driven to saturation (ON) and other will driven to cutoff (OFF). Consider Q1 is ON and Q2 is OFF.
- During this time Capacitor C2 is charging to Vcc through resistor R.
- Q2 is OFF due to the -ive voltage from the discharging capacitor C1 which is charged during the previous cycle. So the OFF time of Q2 is determined by R1C1 time constant.

Astable Multivibrator using Transistors Working

- After a time period determined by R1C1 time constant the capacitor C1 discharges completely and starts charging in reverse direction through R1.
- When the Capacitor C1 charges to a voltage sufficient provide base emitter voltage of 0.7V to the transistor Q2, it turns ON and capacitor C2 starts dischargeing.

Astable Multivibrator using Transistor Working

- The negative voltage from the capacitor C2 turns off the transistor Q1 and the capacitor C1 starts charging from Vcc through resistor R and base emitter of transistor Q2. Thus the transistor Q2 remains in ON state.
- As in the previous state, when the capacitor C2 discharges completely it starts charging towards opposite direction through R2.
- When the voltage across the capacitor C2 is sufficient to turn ON transistor Q1, Q1 will turn ON and capacitor C1 starts discharging.
- This process continuous and produces rectangular waves at the collector of each transistors.
- Note : Charging time is very less compared to discharging time.

# Design

### R – Collector Resistor

The resistance R should be designed to limit the collector current Ic with in a safe limit.

R = V/Ic , where V is the voltage across the resistor R.

In normal cases, V = (Vcc – Vce) = (Vce – 0.3) but when an emitter load like LED is connected,

V = (Vcc – Vce – Vled) , where Vled is the voltage drop across LED.

Usually the maximum collector current Ic will be much higher than than the current required for emitter load such as LED. In these cases Ic should be chosen in such a way that it should not exceed the max current limit of emitter load.

So,

- R = (Vcc – Vce – Vload) / Ic

### R1 & R2 – Base Resistors

R1 & R2 should be chosen such that it should give the required collector current during saturation state.

- Min. Base Current, Ibmin = Ic / β, where β is the hFE of the transistor
- Safe Base Current,Ib = 10x Ibmin= 3 x Ic / β
- R1, R2 = (Vcc – Vbe) / Ib

### T1 & T2 – Time Period

- T2 = OFF Period of transistor Q1 = ON Period of Transistor Q2 = 0.693R2C2
- T1 = OFF Period of transistor Q2 = ON Period of Transistor Q1 = 0.693R1C1

From these equations we can find the value of C1 and C2.

### Duty Cycle

Duty Cycle

It is the ratio of time Tc during which the output is high to total time period T of the cycle.

Thus here, Duty Cycle = Toff/(Toff + Ton) when the output is taken from the collector of the transistor T.

# Calculator

Time Period, T1 :
Seconds
Time Period, T2 :
Seconds
Supply Voltage, Vcc :
V
Base Emitter Voltage, Vbe :
V
Collector Emitter Voltage, Vce :
V
Amplification Factor hFE, β:
Required Collector Current, Ic :
mA
Voltage Required for Emitter Load :
V Please enter 0 if there is No Emitter Load

# Making Edges Sharp

Due to the initial capacitor charging current, LOW -> HIGH edge of output is not sharp. If you need sharp edges you can use 2 additional resistors and diodes.

Astable-Multivibrator-Using-Transistors with Sharp Edges

The diodes D1, D2 will prevent charging of capacitor through collector resistor R’. Thus capacitors C1, C2 will charge through R”, makes the output waves sharp.

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### Comments (34)

- sandyblore

  Well explained and easily comprehensible. Especially the graphical illustration of the working should be appreciated. Thanks a lot!

  June 10, 2013 at 7:12 pm
- Ligo George

  Thanks for the feedback…

  June 10, 2013 at 8:20 pm
- Ayvin

  Can Anyone.. Design Astable multivibrator using OP-AMP to generate a square wave of 5 KHz with 70% duty cycle ?

  November 19, 2014 at 2:11 pm
- Ligo George

  Hello,
  Sorry, the above article is about transistors. If you want more support please use our forums, http://electrosome.com/forums

  November 21, 2014 at 10:01 am
- Abdulkarim

  How can I design a circuit for 3 traffic lights
  Note:
  Voltage source 12 battery
  12 relays
  Time
  59s red
  3s orange
  59s green

  March 26, 2015 at 6:46 pm
- sanjit siriguppi

  why cant both the transistors Q1 and Q2 be in the ON stage coincidentally?

  March 27, 2015 at 10:16 pm
- Ligo George

  The best way is to use a small microcontroller.. otherwise the circuit will become very complex.

  March 29, 2015 at 11:19 am
- Ligo George

  There is no chance for both sides to be in proper balance. Each resistors will have slight difference in their values and each transistors will have changes in beta, base resistance etc.

  March 29, 2015 at 11:26 am
- vivek j

  dear sir ,
  how design the astable multivibrator with round off noise remover

  January 6, 2016 at 1:24 pm
- Ligo George

  You mean to make sharp edges ?

  January 24, 2016 at 12:06 pm
- anon

  it works!!!!!

  February 15, 2016 at 7:44 am
- Ligo George

  Thanks for the compliment.

  February 27, 2016 at 7:48 pm
- Anik

  sir,
  these two capacitor are charging through resistor R but its frequency depend upon resistor R1 , R2 why and how it happen? I have a Buzzer circuit using Astable multivibrator…pls explain.

  March 4, 2016 at 2:00 pm
- tarun prakash

  hello….. please provide me the value of R and C for 500KHz and 1MHz frequency.

  March 14, 2016 at 5:49 pm
- Ligo George

  Good Question.
  It is the discharging time matters.. not charging time.

  March 19, 2016 at 10:52 am
- Ligo George

  Just calculate it using the equations or use the above calculator for that.

  March 19, 2016 at 11:17 am
- tarun prakash

  ya i done …. i have one problem , i have designed a proper PCB for this circuit and soldered and it is a circuit for RF…. but i have a problem … initially i connected multi-meter to power supply and fixed it to 4 volt then i connected this 4 volt to my circuit then suddenly multi-meter is showing 1.2 volt… i m not getting why it is happening ….. is it the problem with impedance mismatch ??… if you have any idea then please help me

  April 9, 2016 at 10:56 pm
- sachhidanand kishore singh

  Can you please elaborate the reason why we are not getting a sharp edge in the first case ??

  April 14, 2016 at 4:54 pm
- Ligo George

  You mean the power supply of this circuit ?

  Any component is getting heated ?

  April 15, 2016 at 8:17 am
- Ligo George

  LOW to HIGH transition means, it is an impulse (or ac with very high frequency). For this capacitor acts like a short circuit or it consumes good current during that transition. So that loading effect will come on output voltage.

  April 15, 2016 at 8:28 am
- mohamed ali

  Great Explanation!!
  But i’ve seen other videos saying that the capacitor C1 will charge through resistance R1 when Q1 is ON and i’m so confused about this ,Can you explain ?

  May 7, 2016 at 7:08 pm
- Ligo George

  Value of R1, R2 is high compared the collector resistor R”. So it will charge through collector resistor R only.

  June 2, 2016 at 6:33 pm
- Gebefte

  Upon my word, i’ve never seen such good explanations as the ones you give here. Thank you for sharing.
  PS: Sorry for my english.

  August 23, 2016 at 8:36 am
- Ligo George

  Thanks for the feedback

  August 27, 2016 at 9:49 pm
- Tuffy Loh Poh Siong

  Hi may i know what is the maximum frequency it can achieve?
  Is there any maximum frequency limitation?

  October 2, 2016 at 7:25 am
- tharun shujaat

  Thanks for this u helped me to score 10marks in my exam thanks a lott

  October 26, 2016 at 8:48 pm
- Ligo George

  It depends on the transistor you are using. Check the datasheet of transistor for me details.

  November 27, 2016 at 1:02 pm
- Ligo George

  Thanks a lot for the feedback.

  November 27, 2016 at 2:24 pm
- Krishna Kumar

  the OFF time of Q2 is determined by R1C1 time constant.( how it is true then)

  u r saying that charging through collector resistor

  January 20, 2017 at 4:09 pm
- Krishna Kumar

  For ON transistor base also connected to -ve plate of capacitor then how it is on

  January 21, 2017 at 8:49 am
- ashish roy

  decent. Though you should also explain why the initial conditions have been set as thus.a switch turning on because of differences is ok.However how one of the caps is pre-charged to Vcc is important to understand.

  March 27, 2017 at 4:00 am
- Irshad Shaik

  please take the topic on Astable and Monostable Blocking oscillators

  April 26, 2017 at 9:39 pm
- kevin kotadiya

  what is the values of resistors in Making Edges Sharp circuit

  May 6, 2017 at 2:31 pm
- joseph rob

  Discharging is done via R1 and R2. Keep in mind to use electron and not hole flow.

  October 3, 2017 at 6:30 am

Comments are closed.

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