I can solve the circuit for given DC input voltage with transistors Ies and alfa values. It amplifies the input signal for like 13 times. (Not linearly). But i couldn't understand the purpose of this circuit. Could you help me with that? Thanks in advance
This is a standard textbook building block- an antilog amplifier. You'd normally have a diode from the emitter to ground to prevent the input from going too far negative and possibly damaging the transistor (by reverse B-E breakdown).
How it works:-
The transistor base-collector voltage is maintained at 0V by the op-amp through virtue of negative feedback.
Collector current is \$i_C = I_S e^{(\frac{V_{BE}}{V_T})}\$, so
\$Vo = -(100K) I_S e^{(\frac{V_{i}}{V_T})}\$
There is a temperature dependency, obviously in the thermal voltage \$V_T = kT/q\$, but also in the saturation current \$I_S\$, so practical antilog circuits use something like a thermistor to compensate for temperature variations.
It is an Antilog Amplifier.
The output voltage will be proportional to the antilog of input voltage.
The best way to understand and explain a circuit is to divide it into its constituent building blocks. Here we can think of this circuit as of a voltage-to-voltage converter (amplifier) consisting of two consecutively connected (cascaded) converters: an exponential voltage-to-current converter (the transistor) and a perfect current-to-voltage converter (the op-amp + resistor).
