DIODE

RECTIFIER
Meta Yantidewi
Jurusan Fisika-FMIPA-Unesa
 What is rectifier?
• A rectifier is a circuit which converts
the Alternating Current (AC) input power
into a Direct Current (DC) output power.
• The rectifiers are mainly classified into two
types:
o Half wave rectifier
o Full wave rectifier
 Half wave rectifier

• This type of circuit is called a “half-wave”

rectifier because it passes only half of the
incoming AC power supply, and the
remaining half signal (negative half cycle)
is blocked or lost. In half wave rectifier
circuit, we use only a single diode.
Half wave rectifier circuit

• The half wave rectifier is made up of an AC

source, transformer (step-down), diode,
and resistor (load). The diode is placed
between the transformer and resistor (load).
• In half wave rectifier, we generally use a
step-down transformer because
the voltage needed for the diode is very
small.
• In the step-down transformer, the primary
winding has more turns than the
secondary winding. So the step-down
transformer reduces the voltage from
primary winding to secondary winding.
Positive half wave rectifier

• The positive half wave rectifier

allows positive half cycles and
blocks negative half cycles.
• The output DC current or DC
signal produced by a positive
half wave rectifier is a series of
positive half cycles or positive
sinusoidal pulses.
• During each “positive” half cycle of the AC sine
wave, the diode is forward biased as the anode is
positive with respect to the cathode resulting in
current flowing through the diode.
• During each “negative” half cycle of the AC
sinusoidal input waveform, the diode is reverse
biased as the anode is negative with respect to the
cathode. Therefore, NO current flows through the
diode or circuit. Then in the negative half cycle of
the supply, no current flows in the load resistor as
no voltage appears across it so therefore, Vout = 0.
• During the rectification process the
resultant output DC voltage and current
are therefore both “ON” and “OFF” during
every cycle. The variation of the rectified
output waveform between this “ON” and
“OFF” condition produces a waveform
which has large amounts of “ripple” which
is an undesirable feature.
Negative half wave rectifier

• Unlike the positive half wave rectifier, the

negative half wave rectifier allows electric
current during the negative half-cycle of input
AC signal and blocks electric current during the
positive half-cycle of the input AC signal.
• During the negative half cycle, the diode is forward
biased and during the positive half cycle the diode is
reverse biased, so the negative half wave rectifier allows
electric current only during the negative half cycle.
• The negative half wave rectifier does not completely
block the positive half cycles. It allows a small portion of
positive half cycles or small positive current. This current
is produced by the minority carriers in the diode.
• In an ideal diode, the positive half cycle or positive
current is zero.
Half-wave Rectifier with
Smoothing Capacitor

• Usually when choosing a smoothing capacitor, an

electrolytic capacitor is used from anywhere from 10µF
to a few thousand µF. The greater the amplitude of the
fluctuations and the greater the waveform, the larger
capacitor will be necessary.
Characteristics of half wave rectifier

• Ripple factor
The ripple factor tells us the amount of ripples present
in the output DC signal. A large ripple factor
indicates a high pulsating DC signal while a low
ripple factor indicates a low pulsating DC signal. In
simple words, the lower the ripple factor the
smoother the output DC signal.
• DC current
Where Imax = maximum DC load current
• Output DC voltage (VDC)
The output DC voltage (VDC) is the voltage appeared at
the load resistor (RL).
VDC = IDC RL
• Peak inverse voltage (PIV)
Peak inverse voltage is the maximum reverse bias
voltage up to which a diode can withstand. If the
applied voltage is greater than the peak inverse
voltage, the diode will be destroyed.
Full-wave rectifier Design

• A type of rectifier which converts the full

AC input signal (positive half cycle and
negative half cycle) to pulsating DC output
signal.
Full-wave rectifier Design
• When point A of the transformer is positive with
respect to point C, diode D1 conducts in the forward
direction as indicated by the arrows.
• When point B is positive (in the negative half of the
cycle) with respect to point C, diode D2 conducts in
the forward direction and the current flowing through
resistor R is in the same direction for both half-
cycles. As the output voltage across the resistor R is
the phasor sum of the two waveforms combined,
this type of full wave rectifier circuit is also known as
a “bi-phase” circuit.
Disadvantages of Full-wave
rectifier Design

• The necessity of a transformer with a

center-tapped secondary winding. If the
circuit in question is one of high power, the
size and expense of a suitable transformer
is significant. Consequently, the center-tap
rectifier design is only seen in low-power
applications.
 Diode Bridge Rectifier

• The four diodes labeled D1 to D4 are arranged in

“series pairs” with only two diodes conducting current
during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle
of the supply, diodes D1 and D2 conduct in series
while diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased and the
current flows through the load as shown below.
Application of diode rectifier

• The AC adapters of laptop and

smartphone consist of all the essential
components needed for AC to DC
conversion.
• These components are a transformer,
capacitor, and several diodes.
• The transformer in the AC adapter reduces the
high AC voltage to a low AC voltage.
• The rectifier (made up of diodes) converts this
low AC voltage or AC current into low DC
voltage or DC current. However, the converted
current is not pure DC current. It is a pulsating
DC current.
• The capacitor filters this pulsating DC current to
pure DC current.