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JOJO
AUGUST - 25 - 2009
44 COMMENTS
A simple Half Wave Rectifier is nothing more than a single pn junction diode connected in series
to the load resistor. If you look at the above diagram, we are giving an alternating current as
input. Input voltage is given to a step down transformer and the resulting reduced output of
transformer is given to the diode D and load resistor RL. The output voltage is measured across
load resistor RL.
As part of our Basic Electronics Tutorial series, we have seen that rectification is the most
important application of a PN junction diode. The process of rectification is converting
alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).
theory behind a half wave rectifier, you need to understand the pn junction and the
characteristics of the pn junction diode. We have developed two articles to help you
understand both of them.
1)Understanding the PN Junction - This article will help you to understand the pn
junction and the underlying theory behind using pn junction as a rectifier.
2) Characteristics of PN junction diode This article will help you to understand the
characteristics of a pn junction diode with help of graphs. You can understand the behavior
of a diode across various voltage levels and how it conducts.
Note:- There is an interesting story behind the invention of PN junction diode. The
story revolves around the perseverance of a young scientist at Bell Laboratories in USA, Mr.
Russel Ohl. In the story you will learn how great inventions happen and how some bright
minds of the 1930s like Walter Brattain (one among the 3 who invented transistor) worked
together to bring great inventions t our life
Output of half wave rectifier is not a constant DC voltage. You can observe from the output
diagram that its a pulsating dc voltage with ac ripples. In real life applications, we need a
power supply with smooth wave forms. In other words, we desire a DC power supply with
constant output voltage. A constant output voltage from the DC power supply is very
important as it directly impacts the reliability of the electronic device we connect to the
power supply.
We can make the output of half wave rectifier smooth by using a filter (a capacitor filter or
an inductor filter) across the diode. In some cases an resistor-capacitor coupled filter (RC)
is also used. The circuit diagram below shows a half wave rectifier with capacitor filter.
Half Wave Rectifier with Capacitor Filter Circuit Diagram & Output Waveform
Half Wave Rectifier Analysis
The following parameters will be explained for the analysis of Half Wave Rectifier:1.
Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV) rating of a diode is important in its design stages. It is the
maximum voltage that the rectifying diode has to withstand, during the reverse biased
period.
When the diode is reverse biased, during the negative half cycle, there will be no current
flow through the load resistor RL. Hence, there will be no voltage drop through the load
resistance RL which causes the entire input voltage to appear across the diode. Thus V SMAX,
the peak secondary voltage, appears across the diode. Therefore,
Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV) of half wave rectifier = V SMAX
2.
By assuming that the voltage across the transformer secondary be sinusoidal of peak values
VSMAX, instantaneous value of the voltage given to the rectifier can be written as
DC Output Current
DC Output Voltage
Rectification Efficiency
Rectification efficiency is defined as the ratio between the output power to the ac input
power.
Efficiency, = DC power delivered to the load/AC input power from the transformer =
Pdc/Pac
DC power delivered to the load, Pdc = I2dc RL = (Imax/pi)2 RL
AC power input to the transformer, Pac = Power dissipated in diode junction + Power
dissipated in load resistance RL
= I2rms RF + I2rms RL = {I2MAX/4}[ RF + RL]
So, Rectification Efficiency, = Pdc/Pac = {4/2}[ RL/ (RF + RL)] = 0.406/{1+ RF/RL }
The maximum efficiency that can be obtained by the half wave rectifier is 40.6%. This is
obtained if RF is neglected.
8.
Ripple Factor
9.
Regulation
The variation of the output voltage as a function of dc load current is called regulation.
Percentage regulation is given as
% Regulation = {(Vno-load Vfull-load)/ Vfull-load}* 100
Fror an ideal power supply, the output voltage should be independent of load current and
the percentage regulation should be equal to zero.
Uses of Half wave rectifier
Any rectifier is used to construct DC power supplies. The practical application of any
rectifier (be it half wave or full wave) is to be used as a component in building DC power
supplies. A half wave rectifier is not special than a full wave rectifier in any terms. In order
to build an efficient & smooth DC power supply, a full wave rectifier is always preferred.
However for applications in which a constant DC voltage is not very essential, you can use
power supplies with half wave rectifier.