Looks like a schmitt trigger oscillator. By the way the resistors and capacitor are used it is probably a saw-tooth wave generator with R2 & R3 determining the slope of the rising and trailing edges. The zener helps control the amplitude between 0 to 3V *OR* maybe it chops off the tops of the sawtooth wave thereby creating an output that has a trapezoidal waveform.
It indeed looks like a sawtooth/rectangular wave generator depending on where you take the output from. From the op-amp's o/p you get a rectangular wave and from the point marked "B" (or "T-node" in the circuitlab schematic) we get a sawtooth wave with slopes depending on R2, R3 & C.
Well, yes I do agree that its not true sawtooth because the waveshape doesn'e exactly have linear sides. But I guess for the purpose where the slope isn't too critical, I guess we can term it as sawtooth. The o/p waveform basically is the charge/discharge profile of the capacitor and since it is via resistors it will have an exponential function.
An oscillator circuit using an op-amp and a zener diode generates a stable frequency by producing a pulsed output waveform, typically a square or trapezoidal wave rather than a pure sinusoid. The circuit functions similarly to a Schmitt trigger oscillator, where resistors and a capacitor set the timing characteristics. The zener diode limits the output amplitude, clipping the waveform peaks to maintain a consistent voltage range, often between 0 to 3V. The output waveform can be observed as a rectangular wave at the op-amp output and a sawtooth-like waveform at an intermediate node, shaped by the charging and discharging of the capacitor through resistors. Although the waveform is not a true sawtooth or triangle wave due to its exponential charge/discharge profile, it is sufficient for applications where precise linear slopes are not critical. Simulation tools like CircuitLab can be used to analyze and verify the waveform behavior and frequency stability. Summary generated by the language model.
