Project Report on Rectifier

INTRODUCTION
Although in our daily life we use A.C. current devices. But rectifier is a ‘Electronic device

which converts A.C. power into D.C. power’.

The study of the junction diode characteristics reveals that the junction

diode offers a low resistance path, when forward biased, and a high resistance path,
when reverse biased. This feature of the junction diode enables it to be used as a

rectifier.

The alternating signals provides opposite kind of biased voltage at the junction after
each half-cycle. If the junction is forward biased in the first half-cycle, its gets reverse
biased in the second half. It results in the flow of forward current in one direction
only and thus the signal gets rectified.
In other words, we can say, when an alternating e.m.f. signal is applied

across a junction diode, it will conduct only during those alternate half cycles, which
biased it in forward direction.

TYPE OF RECTIFIER

Mainly we have two types of rectifier :

1. Half wave rectifier.

2. Full wave rectifier.

JUNCTION DIODE AS HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

When a single diode is used as a rectifier, the rectification of only one-half of

the A.C. wave form takes place. Such a rectification is called half-wave rectification. The

circuit diagram for a half-wave rectifier is shown in Fig.

Principle :
 It is based upon the principle that junction diode offers low resistance path

when forward biased, and high resistance when reverse biased.

Arrangement :-

The A.C. supply is applied across the primary coil(P) of a step down
transformer. The secondary coil(S) of the transformer is connected to the junction

diode and a load resistance RL. The out put D.C. voltage is obtained across the load
resistance(RL)

Theory :
Suppose that during the first half of the input cycle, the junction diode gets

forward biased the conventional current will flow in the direction of the arrow-
heads. The upper end of RL will be at positive potential w.r.t. the lower end. During

the negative half cycle of the input a.c. voltage, the diode is reverse biased. No current
flows in the circuit, and therefore, no voltage is developed across (RL). Since only the

positive half cycle of the input appears across the load, the a.c. input is converted into
pulsating direct current (d.c.).

Disadvantage of Half-Wave-Rectifier :
1. Half wave rectification involves a lot of wastage of energy and hence it

is not preferred.
2. A small current flows during reverse bias due to minority charge

carriers. As the output across (RL) is negligible.

3. The resulting d.c. voltage is not steady enough for some purpose. The

following device is used when a very steady d.c. voltage is required.

JUNCTION DIODE AS A FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

“A rectifier which rectifies both waves of the a.c. input is called a full wave

rectifier”.
Principle :- It is based upon the principle that a junction diode offers low resistance
during forward biased and high resistance, when reverse biased.
Difference from half-wave-rectifier :- The main difference is that in full wave

rectifier we use two diodes. For this when we apply a.c. current to the rectifier then
the first half wave get forward biased due to first diode. And when the second half

wave comes. Then at that time the second diode comes in action and gets forward
biased. Thus output obtained during both the half cycles of the a.c. input

Arrangement :- The a.c. supply is applied across the primary coil(P) of a step down
transformer. The two diodes of the secondary coil(S) of the transformer are connected

to the P-sections of the junction diodes (D1) and (D2). A load resistance (RL) is
connected across the n-sections of the two diodes and at centre of the secondary

coil. The d.c. output will be obtained across the load resistance (RL).
Theory :-

Suppose that during first half of the input cycle, upper end of (S) coil is at
positive potential. And lower end is at negative potential. The junction diode (D1)

gets forward biased, while the diode. (D2) get reverse biased. When the second half
of the input cycle comes, the situation will be exactly reverse. Now the junction diode

(D2) will conduct. Since the current during both the half cycles flows from right to left
through the load resistance (RL) the output during both the half cycles will be of same

nature.
Thus, in a full wave rectifier, the output is continuous but pulsating in

nature. However it can be made smooth by using a filter circuit.

REVERSE BIASING ON A JUNCTION DIODE

A P-n junction is said to be reverse biased if the positive terminal of the external

battery B is connected to n-side and the negative terminal to p-side of the p-n
junction. In reverse biasing, the reverse bias voltage supports the potential barrier VB.

(Now the majority carriers are pulled away from the junction and the depletion region
become thick. There is no conduction across the junction due to majority

carriers. However, a few minority carriers (holes in n-section and electrons in p-

section) of p-n Junction diode cross the junction after being accelerated by high
reverse bias voltage. Since the large increase in reverse voltage shows small increase

in reverse current, hence, the resistance of p-n junction is high to the flow of current
when reverse biased.

MATERIAL REQUIRED

1. Transformer :
It is device which is used to increase or decrease the alternating current

and alternating voltage. For the rectifier, it may be step down or step up.
2. Junction Diode :

It is made up of p-type and n-type semiconductor which conducts when

the p terminal of diode to connect to positive terminal of battery and n region is

connected to negative terminal of battery i.e. during forward biased and does not
conduct during reverse biased.

FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

While this method may be suitable for low power applications it is unsuitable to applications
which need a “steady and smooth” DC supply voltage. One method to improve on this is to
use every half-cycle of the input voltage instead of every other halfcycle. The circuit which
allows us to do this is called a Full Wave Rectifier.

Like the half wave circuit, a full wave rectifier circuit produces an output voltage or current
which is purely DC or has some specified DC component. Full wave rectifiers have some
fundamental advantages over their half wave rectifier counterparts. The average (DC) output
voltage is higher than for half wave, the output of the full wave rectifier has much less ripple
than that of the half wave rectifier producing a smoother output waveform.

Vs = Vmsinwt i.e sinusoidal input voltage

In a Full Wave Rectifier circuit two diodes are now used, one for each half of the cycle. A is
used whose secondary winding is split equally into two halves with a common centre tapped
connection, (C). This configuration results in each diode conducting in turn when its anode
terminal is positive with respect to the transformer centre point C producing an output
during both half-cycles, twice that for the half wave rectifier so it is 100% efficient as shown
below.

The full wave rectifier circuit consists of two power diodes connected to a single load
resistance (RL) with each diode taking it in turn to supply current to the load. 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, diodeD2
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.

Circuit Of Full Wave Rectifier

Characteristics of Full Wave Rectifier

Figure: Characteristics Of Full Wave Rectifier

Applications of Full Wave Rectifier

Mobile and Laptop Chargers

Advantages of Full Wave Rectifier

 The rectification efficiency of full-wave rectifier is double of that of a half-wave rectifier.

The ripple voltage is low and of higher frequency in case of full-wave rectifier so simple
filtering circuit is required.

Higher output voltage, higher output power and higher Transformer Utilization Factor (TUF)
in case of a full-wave rectifier.

In a full-wave rectifier, there is no problem due to dc saturation of the core because the dc
current in the two halves of the two halves of the transformer secondary flow in opposite
directions.

Half Wave Rectifier:

The half wave rectifier is a type of rectifier that rectifies only half cycle of the
waveform. This area describes the half wave rectifier circuit working. The half rectifier
consist a step down transformer, a diode connected to the transformer and a load
resistance connected to the cathode end of the diode. The circuit diagram of half
wave transformer is shown below:

The main supply voltage is given to the transformer which will increase or decrease
the voltage and give to the diode. In most of the cases we will decrease the supply
voltage by using the step down transformer here also the output of the step down
transformer will be in AC. This decreased AC voltage is given to the diode which is
connected serial to the secondary winding of the transformer, diode is electronic
component which will allow only the forward bias current and will not allow the reverse
bias current. From the diode we will get the pulsating DC and give to the load
resistance RL.

Working of Half Wave Rectifier:

The input given to the rectifier will have both positive and negative cycles. The half
rectifier will allow only the positive half cycles and omit the negative half cycles. So first
we will see how half wave rectifier works in the positive half cycles.

Positive Half Cycle:

 In the positive half cycles when the input AC power is given to the primary
winding of the step down transformer, we will get the decreased voltage at the
secondary winding which is given to the diode.
 The diode will allow current flowing in clock wise direction from anode to
cathode in the forward bias (diode conduction will take place in forward bias)
which will generate only the positive half cycle of the AC.
 The diode will eliminate the variations in the supply and give the pulsating DC
voltage to the load resistance RL. We can get the pulsating DC at the Load
resistance.

Negative Half Cycle:

 In the negative half cycle the current will flow in the anti-clockwise direction and
the diode will go in to the reverse bias. In the reverse bias the diode will not
conduct so, no current in flown from anode to cathode, and we cannot get any
power at the load resistance.
 Only small amount of reverse current is flown from the diode but this current is
almost negligible. And voltage across the load resistance is also zero.

Characteristics of Half Wave Rectifier:

There are some characteristics to the half wave rectifier they are

1. Efficiency: The efficiency is defined as the ratio of input AC to the output DC.

Efficiency, Ƞ = P dc / Pac

DC power delivered to the load, Pdc = I2dc RL = ( Imax/pi ) 2 RL

AC power input to the transformer, Pac = Power dissipated in junction of diode +
Power dissipated in load resistance RL

= I2rms RF + I2rms RL = {I2MAX/4}[RF + RL]

Rectification Efficiency, Ƞ = Pdc / Pac = {4/ 2}[RL/ (RF + RL)] = 0.406/{1+ RF/RL }

If RF is neglected, the efficiency of half wave rectifier is 40.6%.

2. Ripple factor: It is defined as the amount of AC content in the output DC. It

nothing but amount of AC noise in the output DC. Less the ripple factor,
performance of the rectifier is more. The ripple factor of half wave rectifier is about
1.21 (full wave rectifier has about 0.48). It can be calculated as follows:

The effective value of the load current I is given as sum of the rms values of
harmonic currents I1, I2, I3, I4 and DC current Idc.

I2 =I2dc+I21+I22+I24 = I2dc +I2ac

Ripple factor, is given as γ = I ac / Idc = (I2 – I2dc) / Idc = {( I rms / Idc2)-1} = Kf2 – 1)

Where Kf is the form factor of the input voltage. Form factor is given as

Kf = Irms /Iavg = (Imax/2)/ (Imax/pi) = pi/2 = 1.57

So, ripple factor, γ = (1.572 – 1) = 1.21

3. Peak Inverse Voltage: It is defined as the maximum voltage that a diode can with
stand in reverse bias. During the reverse bias as the diode do not conduct total
voltage drops across the diode. Thus peak inverse voltage is equal to the input
voltage Vs.

4. Transformer Utilization Factor (TUF): The TUF is defined as the ratio of DC

power is delivered to the load and the AC rating of the transformer secondary. Half
wave rectifier has around 0.287 and full wave rectifier has around 0.693.

Half wave rectifier is mainly used in the low power circuits. It has very low performance
when it is compared with the other rectifiers.
APPLICATIONS OF 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.

The primary application of the rectifier is to derive DC power from AC power. Rectifiers are used
inside the power supplies of almost all electronic equipment. In power supplies, the rectifier is
normally placed in series following the transformer, a smoothing filter and possibly a voltage
regulator. Below, we have discussed a few rectifier applications:

Rectifier is used for powering appliances

As we are aware that all electrical appliances uses DC power supply to function. Using a rectifier
in the power supply helps in converting AC to DC power supply. Bridge rectifiers are widely used
for large appliances, where they are capable of converting high AC voltage to low DC voltage.

These are used with transformers

Use of a half wave rectifier can help us achieve the desired dc voltage by using a step down or
step up transformers. Full wave rectifiers are even used for powering up motor and led, which
works on DC voltage.

Uses of rectifier while soldering

Half wave rectifier are used in soldering iron types of circuit and is also used in mosquito
repellent to drive the lead for the fumes. In electric welding, bridge rectifier circuits are used to
supply steady and polarized DC voltage.

It is also used in AM radio

A half wave rectifiers are used in AM radio as a detector because the output consists of an audio
signal. Due to the less intensity of current, it is of very less use to the more complex rectifier.
Uses of Rectifier in circuits
A half wave rectifier is used in firing circuits and pulse generating circuits.

It is used for modulation

For demodulating the amplitude of a modulated signal, a half wave rectifier is used. In a radio
signal, to detect the amplitude of a modulating signal, a full wave bridge rectifier is used.

It is used in voltage multiplier

For the purpose of voltage multiplier, a half wave rectifier is used.