Rectification:
Let us now come to the most popular application of diode i.e.
rectification. It is conversion of alternating current to direct
current. This involves a device that only allows one way flow
of electric charge. The simplest kind of rectifier circuit is the
half wave rectifier circuit.
Half wave Rectifier Circuit:
It is the simplest form of rectifier and requires only one diode
for the construction of half wave rectifier circuit. This circuit
consists three main components; a diode, a transformer and a
resistive load. It is defined as a type of rectifier that allows
only one half cycle of an AC voltage wave form to pass while
blocking the other half cycle.
The efficiency of half wave circuit is
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝐷𝐶 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝐷𝐶
𝜌= = = 40.6% → (𝑖)
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝐴𝐶 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝐴𝐶
The Ripple Factor
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 2
𝛾= ( ) − 1 = 1.21 → (𝑖𝑖)
𝑉𝐷𝐶
Fig 1
Fig 2
The form factor is
𝑅𝑀𝑆 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
The application of half wave circuit are as follows
• Signal demodulation purpose
• Rectification of signal
• Signal peak application
The disadvantage of half wave rectifier circuit are
• Power Loss
• Low input voltage
• Output contains lot of ripples
Full Wave Rectifier Circuit:
A full wave rectifier circuit is defined as a rectifier that
converts the complete cycle of alternating current into
pulsating DC. Significant power lost while using half wave
rectifier is not feasible in application that needs a smooth and
steady supply. Therefore full wave rectifier circuit is used. A
full wave rectifier utilize the full cycle. The lower efficiency of
half wave rectifier can be overcome by the full wave rectifier.
In this method a centre taped transformer is used. This circuit
consist of a step down transformer and two diodes that are
connected and centre taped. The output voltage is obtained
across the load resistance. The input AC supplied to the full
wave rectifier is very high.
Fig 3
Fig 4 : Input Waveform Fig 5 : Output Waveform
The step down transformer in the rectifier circuit converts the
high voltage AC into low voltage AC. The anode of the centre
taped diodes is connected to the secondary windings and
connected to the load resistor. During the positive half cycle of
the alternating current the top half of the secondary winding
becomes positive while second half of the secondary winding
becomes negative. During the positive half cycle the diode
𝐷1 is forward biased as it is connected to top of the secondary
winding while 𝐷2 is reverse biased as it is connected to the
bottom of the secondary winding. Due to this Diode 𝐷1 will
conduct acting as short circuit and 𝐷2 will not conduct acting
as an open circuit. During the negative half cycle the diode 𝐷1
is reverse biased and diode 𝐷2 is forward biased.
Because the top half of the secondary circuit becomes
negative and bottom half of the circuit becomes positive. Thus
a full wave rectifier, DC voltage is obtained for the both
positive and negative half cycle. The peak inverse voltage of
full wave rectifier is double that of a half wave rectifier. The
peak inverse voltage across 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 is 2𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 .
The DC output voltage is
2
𝑉𝐷𝐶 = 𝐼 𝑅 → (𝑖𝑖𝑖)
𝜋 𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐿
The form factor
𝑅𝑀𝑆 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = = 1.11 → (𝑖𝑣)
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡
The peak factor is
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = = = 2 → (𝑣)
𝑅𝑀𝑆 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥
2
The efficiency of full wave rectifier is
𝐷𝐶 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝜌= = 81.2% → (𝑣𝑖)
𝐴𝐶 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
The ripple factor is
𝛾 = 0.482
Advantage :
The efficiency is double than half wave rectifier.
The ripple factor is low than half wave rectifier.
The output voltage and output power obtained in the full
wave rectifier are higher than that obtained in half wave
rectifier.
Disadvantage:
The only disadvantage of full wave rectifier is that they need
more circuit elements that of half wave rectifier that make it
costly.
Bridge Rectifier Circuit:
Bridge rectifier circuits that convert alternating current (AC)
into direct current (DC) using diodes in bridge circuit
configuration. Bridge rectifier typically comprises of four or
more diodes. The output wave generated is of the same
polarity irrespective of the polarity in input.
A
Fig 6
Fig 7
Bridge rectifier can be defined as a type of full wave rectifier
that uses four or more diodes in a bridge circuit configuration
to efficiently convert AC to DC current. Asa shown in 𝑓𝑖𝑔 6 the
bridge rectifier circuit is made up of four diodes
𝐷1 , 𝐷2 , 𝐷3 , 𝐷4 and a load resistor 𝑅𝐿 . The four diodes are
connected in a closed loop configuration. The main advantage
of this configuration is the absence of expensive transformer.
Therefore the size and cost are reduced. The input signal is
applied into point A and B. The output DC signal is obtain at
the other two terminal through load resistance 𝑅𝐿 . The four
diodes are connected in such a way that only two diodes are
conducted for each half cycle. The 𝐷1 , 𝐷2 are conducted for
positive half cycle and 𝐷3 , 𝐷4 conduct for negative half cycle.
When AC signal is applied across the bridge rectifier, during the
positive half cycle terminal A becomes positive and terminal B
becomes negative. This results the diode 𝐷1 and 𝐷3 become
forward biased, while 𝐷2 and 𝐷4 are in reverse biased. During the
negative half cycle the terminal B becomes positive while terminal
A becomes negative. This causes diode 𝐷2 and 𝐷4 to become
forward biased, while 𝐷1 and 𝐷3 becomes reverse biased. The
current flow across the load resistance 𝑅𝐿 is the same during
positive and negative half cycle.
The ripple factor for bridge rectifier circuit is
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 2
𝛾= − 1 → (𝑣𝑖𝑖)
𝑉𝐷𝐶
It is equal to i.e.
𝛾 = .48
The efficiency is
𝐷𝐶 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝜂= = 81.2% → (𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖)
𝐴𝐶 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
Advantage:
The efficiency is better than half wave rectifier circuit.
The DC output signal is smother.
In this case output signal is almost same with the input signal.
Disadvantage:
It is a complex circuit rather than half and full wave circuit.
When more diodes are used more power loss occur. In bridge
rectifier two diodes connected in series conduct in each half
cycle, then voltage drop is higher in this case.
