Diode Rectifiers and its

Performance Parameters

Objectives
Understand the operation of diode rectifiers
Understand and examine the performance
parameters of diode rectifiers.
Examine the harmonic distortion of voltage and
current on the load and supply caused by diode
rectifiers.

Single-Phase Half-Wave Rectifier

1
Vm
sin
V O (dc ) =
V

tdt
=
m
2 0

V
I O (dc ) = m
R

V O ( rms )

Vm
1
2
2
sin
=
V

tdt
=
m
2 0
2

I O ( rms ) =

Vm
2R

Disadvantages:
DC output voltage is discontinuous and contain
harmonics.
Input current is not sinusoidal
The performance of this half-wave rectifier with
resistive load is examined using performance
parameters

The performance of rectifiers are evaluated

using the following parameters

The average value of output (load) voltage

given by Vdc

The average value of output (load) current given

by Idc

The output dc power given by Pdc = VdcIdc

The rms value of output voltage given by Vrms

 The rms value of output current given by Irms

The output ac power given by Pac = VrmsIrms
The efficiency or rectification ratio of a rectifier
given by

Pdc
=
Pac

 The output voltage consists of 2 components,

an ac component and a dc component
The effective or (rms) value of the ac
component of output voltage is given by

V ac = V

2
rms

2
dc

The form factor which is a measure of the

shape of the output voltage is given by

V rms
FF =
V dc

The ripple factor which is a measure of the

ripple content is given by

V ac
RF =
V dc

By substituting the equation for the effective

value of the ac component of the output
voltage into the ripple factor equation, we can
express the ripple factor as
2

V rms
2
RF =
1 = FF 1
V dc

 The transformer utilization factor is defined as

Pdc
TUF =
VsI s
where Vs and Is are the rms voltage and rms
current of the transformer secondary respectively.
The crest factor is a measure of the peak input
current Is(peak) as compared with its rms value IS
and it is defined by

CF =

I s( peak )
Is

vs is the sinusoidal input voltage

is is the instantaneous input current
is1 is the fundamental component of is

The displacement angle () is the angle

between fundamental components of input
current and voltage

The displacement factor (DF) or displacement

power factor (DPF) is defined as

DF = cos

The input power factor (PF) is defined as

VsI s 1
Is1
Real Power
PF =
=
cos = cos
Apparent Power V s I s
Is

For a pure sinusoidal input current and voltage,

input power factor is defined as the cosine of the
load angle (displacement power factor), i.e.

V S I S cos
Real Power
PF =
=
= cos
Apparent Power
VS IS

The harmonic factor (HF) also known as total

harmonic distortion (THD) is a measure of the
distortion of a waveform. The harmonic factor of
the input current is given as
12

I s2 I s21
HF =

2
Is1

= s 1
I s 1

12

where both currents are recorded as rms values

An ideal rectifier should have:

= 100%
Vac = 0
RF = 0
TUF = 1
HF = THD = 0
PF = DPF = 1

Half-Wave Rectifier
with Inductive Load
Load current extends beyond
the half-cycle until it becomes
zero at wt =

V O (dc )

1
Vm
=
V m sin tdt =
(1 cos )

2 0
2

 During diode conduction the circuit is defined by:

di
L
+ Ri =V m sin(t )
dt
which yields the load current

Vm
i =
{sin(t ) + sin exp(t / tan )}
Z
during

0 t (rad)

where

Z =

2
2 2
R
+

L ) (ohm)
(

tan = L / R

and the following load current

i =0
during

t 2 (rad)

The current extinction angle is determined by

the load impedance and can be solved using the
following equation when i = 0 and t =

sin( ) + sin exp( / tan ) = 0

This is a transcendental equation and solved by
iteration techniques

The figure below can be used to determine angle

for any load impedance angle

Half-Wave Rectifier with Inductive

Load and Free Wheeling Diode
Inductive load current is characterized:
Discontinuous current
High ripple content

Using free wheeling diode D2 will eliminate the

first draw back & second is reduced.

 Prevents negative voltage

appearing across the load
Load current becomes
continuous with high inductive
load

V O (dc )

Vm
1
=
V m sin tdt =

2 0

 The supply current (load current) is given by

Vm
Vm
iO =
sin(t ) + (I o 2 +
sin ) exp(t / tan )
Z
Z

during

0 t (rad)

 The diode current and hence load current is

given by

i O = i D = I o 1 exp {(t ) / tan }

during

t 2 (rad)

Single-Phase Full-Wave
Rectifiers
Two types of full wave rectifiers exist:
That formed with a center-tapped transformer and
two diodes and
That formed with or without a transformer and
four diodes, also known as a bridge rectifier.

Full-Wave Rectifier with CentreTapped Transformer

Each diode conducts on alternate half cycles of

supply voltage producing a full-wave output
voltage across the load

The average output voltage is given by:

V O (dc )

2
2V m
=
V m sin tdt =

2 0

The peak inverse voltage of the diodes is 2Vm

Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier

The average output voltage is given by:

V O (dc )

2
2V m
=
V m sin tdt =

2 0

The peak inverse voltage of the diodes is only Vm