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Running Google Chrome on Ubuntu 12.04 Linux with 2GB RAM and 4GB cache, and with 87 GB of free disk space.

This circuit crashes on out-of-memory error:

<https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/mh84td/sweep_tahk_circuit/>

Is this a problem with CircuitLab program memory allocation, or is CircuitLab not making use of cache memory on my computer?

Doesn't help you directly but it runs OK in Chrome Version 23.0.1271.91 m on 32 bit Win XP Pro SP3 on a Dell Vostro with 4 core i5 with 3G RAM.

Question:

Is D1 the right way round?

At DC it is reverse biased.

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D1 is deliberately reverse biased with a variable voltage. That way it functions as a varactor (voltage variable capacitor) to tune the LC network. This is a rather common technique.

It may be that your 3GB of RAM versus my 2GB of RAM is what lets it run to completion. I will try decreasing number of displayed points and decreasing the number of voltage steps to see if this allows it to run in 2GB.

SOLVED. It runs flawlessly using Firefox, but fails on memory error using Chrome.

Equally, using a forward biased diode as a small signal attenuator is a rather common technique.

With no description of the purpose of your circuit and the diode symbol showing it to be an LED, I think it was a reasonable question.

:)

I did wonder about the number of stepped plots you were asking for.

Did reducing them help?

BTW: I just ran your circuit OK in the rekonq browser of Kubuntu 12.04 on a Toshiba laptop with a dual core i3 and 4 GB of RAM.

There is no such thing as a bad question. 8-)

Using Firefox I was able to run successfully with the already defined voltage steps, and even increased it in subsequent runs.

Purpose of the circuit and the experiment was to see the effect of changing resistance between the variable DC source and the LED which tunes the tank circuit. Result verified that 6X tank impedance is as low as I could go without decreasing Q-factor of the tank circuit. Reason for the test was that if the resistor is too high it allows some rectified RF which affects tuning and decreases oscillator stability under varying load conditions. Stiffening the LED/Varacap DC seems to minimize amount and thus the effect of rectified RF.