STEM – Op-amp experiment kit

Description

Educational kit for hands-on study of operational amplifiers, complete with components and ready to use. It includes the TL082 and LM324 ICs, a breadboard and discrete components for building the circuits without soldering, so you can assemble and test the circuits on the spot.

The course covers the fundamental configurations: inverting and non-inverting amplifiers, comparators, summing amplifiers, oscillators and measurement applications, and it goes into real-world parameters such as gain, feedback, saturation and offset.

The kit is rounded off by a 104-page full-colour manual, packed with schematics, illustrations and guided exercises, written to walk you step by step through analysing and building the circuits.

10 experiments of increasing difficulty

The manual included in our kit sets out ten experiments of increasing difficulty, each one built around one of the classic operational amplifier configurations. The course starts from the simplest, most fundamental behaviour and leads step by step to more complex, working circuits.

1. Simple comparator: introduces the basic open-loop behaviour, showing the output switching according to the input voltage, with a clear visual indication from an LED.
2. Unity-gain non-inverting amplifier (voltage follower): presents negative feedback in its simplest form, illustrating impedance matching and how the output “follows” the input voltage.
3. Non-inverting amplifier with a gain of 2: applies the classic gain formula for a non-inverting configuration, turning theory into a mathematical relationship you can check with a multimeter.
4. Inverting amplifier with a gain of -1: introduces the inverting configuration and the key concept of the “virtual earth” at the inverting input.
5. Inverting amplifier with a gain of -4.7: extends the previous exercise, showing how the gain depends on the ratio between the feedback and input resistors.
6. Inverting summing amplifier: shows how an op-amp can carry out an analogue mathematical operation, adding two input signals algebraically.
7. Comparator used as a Set-Reset flip-flop: explains how the op-amp is used on the digital side, building an elementary one-bit memory cell.
8. Positive half-wave rectifier: illustrates a practical signal-conditioning application, removing the negative half-cycle with “ideal” precision thanks to feedback.
9. Square-wave oscillator: combines positive and negative feedback to generate a signal on its own, teaching the principles of oscillators and switching thresholds.
10. Level meter (LED voltmeter): uses several op-amps (with the LM324) in a comparator configuration to build a visual measuring instrument, drawing together much of what has been learned.

What our kit contains

The kit includes every component needed to build the experiments described: TL082 (dual) and LM324 (quad) op-amp ICs, a solderless breadboard, a selection of resistors, capacitors and LEDs and 4 x 9 V batteries.

The package is completed by a 104-page full-colour manual, with detailed schematics, illustrations and guided exercises, written to walk you step by step through analysing and building the circuits.