FROM http://www.electronic-factory.co.

uk

Half-wave rectifiers
A rectifier converts AC voltage into DC voltage. Rectifiers are found in all power supplies that operate from an ac voltage source.

a) Basic power supply

Converts standard 110 Vac into constant dc voltage. All electronic devices (TVs, VCRs, DVDs, etc) have one. A rectifier converts the ac input voltage to a pulsating dc voltage. The filter eliminates the fluctuations in the rectified voltage. The regulator maintains a constant dc voltage for different inputs and loads. The load is the circuit (or device) receiving power from the source.

Figure: Block diagram of a rectifier and a dc power supply with a load.

a) Half-wave rectifier - The process of

half-wave rectification

is illustrated below.

Figure: Operation of a half-wave rectifier.

When sinusoidal input (Vin) goes positive, diode is forward biased, thus conducts current. The output voltage keeps the shape of the input voltage. When Vin becomes netagive (second half of cycle), diode is reverse biased. There is no current. Thus, voltage across resistor RL is 0V. Net result is a pulsating dc voltage with same frequency as input. Average value of pulsating wave is

VAVG = Vp/
Note that we also have to take the 0.7 V from the barrier potential into account. Thus we sould

get: Vp(out) = Vp(in) 0.7 V a) Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV)

PIV equals the peak value of the input voltage. Diode MUST be able to withstand this amount of repetitive reverse voltage.

PIV = Vp(in)

Full-wave rectifiers
Half-wave rectifiers have some applications. However, full-wave rectifiers are the most commonly used ones for dc power supplies. A full-wave rectifier is exactly the same as the half-wave, but allows unidirectional current through the

load during the entire sinusoidal cycle (as opposed to only half the cycle in the half-wave).

Average value of output becomes twice that of the half wave rectifier output:

VAVG = 2Vp/
There are two main types of full wave rectifiers:

i) Center-tapped full-wave rectifier.

Two diodes connected to the secondary of a center-tapped transformer. Half of Vin shows up between the center tap and each secondary. At any point in time, only one of the diodes is forward biased. This allows for continuous conduction through load.

 Note that the peak inverse voltage (PIV) across D2 is:

PIV = (Vp(sec)/2 0.7) (-Vp(sec)/2) = (Vp(sec)/2 + Vp(sec)/2 0.7) = Vp(sec) 0.7

Since Vp(out) = Vp(sec)/2 0.7, we get:

Vp(sec) = 2Vp(out) + 1.4

Thus, the PIV across each diode becomes:

PIV = 2Vp(out) + 0.7 V ii) Bridge full-wave rectifier.

 When the input cycle is positive, diodes D1 and D2 are forward biased. When the input cycle is negative, diodes D3 and D4 are the ones conducing. The output voltage becomes:

Vp(out) = Vp(sec) 1.4 V

The reason wed rather use a full bridge rectifier than a center-tap, is that the PIV is a lot

smaller: PIV = Vp(out) + 0.7 V