On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:08:15 +0000, John Woodgate
wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Reg Edwards
wrote (in
et.com) about 'Extracting the 5th Harmonic', on Fri, 12 Mar 2004:
According to Fourier, at some mark-space ratios of a square wave certain
harmonics may be missing from the spectrum.


For a waveform like this (use Courier font):
_____
/ \ /
_____/ \____________/

with rise-time f, dwell time d, fall time r and period T, the harmonic
magnitudes are given by:

Cn = 2Aav{sinc(n[pi]f/T)}{sinc(n[pi][f+d]/T)}{sinc(n[pi][r-f]/T)},

where sinc(x)= {sin(x)}/x

There seems to be a number of opportunities for a harmonic to 'hide' in
a zero of that function.

Great. So without a spectrum analyser there's no way to tell? If I
examine the output of the multiplier, it's very messy. There's a
dominant 3rd harmonic alright (my frequency counter resolves it
without difficulty) but the scope trace reveals a number of 'ghost
traces' of different frequencies and amplitudes co-incident with the
dominant trace. All rather confusing. I suppose the only answer is to
build Reg's band pass filter and stick it between the inverter output
and the multiplier input? shrug
--

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