Electronic Devices and Circuits

(EL-324)
LABORATORY MANUAL
FALL 2016

(LAB# 05)
IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATED POWER SUPPLY USING
BRIDGE RECTIFIER

Engr. Muhammad Sajjad

Student Name: ___________________________

Roll No: _____________ Section: ___________

Date performed: _____________________, 2016

Manual Submission Date: ______________, 2016

_______________________________
LAB ENGINEER SIGNATURE & DATE

MARKS AWARDED: /10

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COMPUTER AND EMERGING SCIENCES, ISLAMABAD

Prepared by: Engr. Naveed Iqbal Version: 2.1

Last Edited by: Engr. Muhammad Sajjad Updated: FALL 2016
Verified by: Dr. Durdana Habib
 Electronic Devices National University Roll No: __________

Lab #
& Circuits
(EL-324)
of Computer and Emerging Sciences
Islamabad FALL 2016
05
_________________________________________________________________________________

LAB: 06 IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATED POWER SUPPLY USING

BRIDGE RECTIFIER

Objectives of the Exercise:

 To understand the working of bridge rectifier.
 To understand the ripple filtering process in power supplies.
 To understand the working of zener diode as a regulator
 To understand the effect of varying load on the output of power supply.
Equipment Required:
 Centre-tap Transformer 12+12 V.
 Rectifier diode/
 Zener diode
 Resistors
 Multi-meter.
 Bread board
 Oscilloscope.
 Capacitor
Theory:
Full Wave Rectification Using Bridge Circuit:

The Diode Bridge Rectifier:

The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only two diodes conducting
currenturing 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.

Fig 6.1: The Diode Bridge Rectifier:

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05
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The Positive Half-cycle:

During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes D3 and D4 conduct in series, but diodes D1 and
D2 switch “OFF” as they are now reverse biased. The current flowing through the load is the same
direction as before.

Fig 6.2: The Diode Bridge Rectifier during the Positive half Cycle

The Negative Half-cycle:

As the current flowing through the load is unidirectional, so the voltage developed across the load is
also unidirectional the same as for the previous two diode full-wave rectifier, therefore the average
DC voltage across the load is 0.637Vmax.

Fig 6.3: The Diode Bridge Rectifier during the Negative half Cycle
However during each half cycle the current flows through two diodes instead of just one so the
amplitude of the output voltage is two voltage drops ( 2 x 0.7 = 1.4V ) less than the input VMAX
amplitude. The ripple frequency is now twice the supply frequency (e.g. 100Hz for a 50Hz supply).

The Smoothing Capacitor:

The full-wave bridge rectifier gives a greater mean DC value (0.637 Vmax) with less superimposed
ripple while the output waveform is twice that of the frequency of the input supply frequency as

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Islamabad FALL 2016
05
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compared to half wave rectification. We can therefore increase its average DC output level even
higher by connecting a suitable smoothing capacitor across the output of the bridge circuit as shown
below.

Fig 6.4: Ripple Filtering using Capacitor

Selection of Smoothing Capacitor:

There are two important parameters to consider when choosing a suitable smoothing capacitor and
these are its Working Voltage, which must be higher than the no-load output value of the rectifier and
its Capacitance Value, which determines the amount of ripple that will appear superimposed on top
of the DC voltage. Too low a capacitance value and the capacitor has little effect on the output
waveform. But if the smoothing capacitor is sufficiently large enough (parallel capacitors can be used)
and the load current is not too large, the output voltage will be almost as smooth as pure DC.

Maximum Ripple Voltage:

The maximum ripple voltage present for a Full Wave Rectifier circuit is not only determined by the
value of the smoothing capacitor but by the frequency and load current, and is calculated as:
Vripple = Iload / f * C
Where: I is the DC load current in amps, ƒ is the frequency of the ripple or twice the input frequency
in Hertz, and C is the capacitance in Farads.
The main advantages of a full-wave bridge rectifier is that it has a smaller AC ripple value for a given
load and a smaller reservoir or smoothing capacitor than an equivalent half-wave rectifier. Therefore,
the fundamental frequency of the ripple voltage is twice that of the AC supply frequency (100Hz)
where for the half-wave rectifier it is exactly equal to the supply frequency (50Hz).
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05
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Zener diode:

The Zener diode is like a general-purpose signal diode consisting of a silicon PN junction. When
biased in the forward direction it behaves just like a normal signal diode passing the rated current, but
as soon as a reverse voltage applied across the zener diode exceeds the rated voltage of the device, the
diodes breakdown voltage is reached at which point a process called Avalanche Breakdown occurs in
the semiconductor depletion layer and a current starts to flow through the diode to limit this increase
in voltage.

Fig 6.5: Symbolic Representation and Characteristic curve of Zener Diode

The current now flowing through the zener diode increases dramatically to the maximum circuit value
(which is usually limited by a series resistor) and once achieved this reverse saturation current
remains fairly constant over a wide range of applied voltages. The voltage point at which the voltage
across the zener diode becomes stable is called the “zener voltage” for zener diodes this voltage can
range from less than one volt to hundreds of volts.

The Zener Diode Regulator:

Zener Diodes can be used to produce a stabilised voltage output with low ripple under varying load
current conditions. By passing a small current through the diode from a voltage source, via a suitable

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current limiting resistor (RS), the zener diode will conduct sufficient current to maintain a voltage
drop of Vout.

A zener diode is always operated in its reverse biased condition. A voltage regulator circuit can be
designed using a zener diode to maintain a constant DC output voltage across the load in spite of
variations in the input voltage or changes in the load current. The zener voltage regulator consists of a
current limiting resistor RS connected in series with the input voltage VS with the zener diode
connected in parallel with the load RL in this reverse biased condition. The stabilized output voltage
is always selected to be the same as the breakdown voltage VZ of the diode.

Fig 6.7: Power supply

Terminologies Half Wave Rectifier Full Wave Rectifier

RMS voltage (Vrms) Vrms = Vm / √2 Vrms = Vm / √2
Average voltage (Vavg) Vavg = 0.318 Vm Vavg = 0.636 Vm
Input Power (Pac) Pac = Vrms X Irms Pac = Vrms X Irms
Output Power (Po (avg)) Po (avg) = Vavg X Iavg Po (avg) = Vavg X Iavg
Efficiency (Ƞ) Ƞ = Po (avg) / Pin Ƞ = Po (avg) / Pin
Ripple Factor (RF) RF=Vrms/Vavg RF=Vrms/Vavg

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LAB TASKS
Task 1:
Construct Full wave rectifier circuit and calculate the parameters given in the table.

SNo. Parameters Observed Values

1. Peak Input Voltage

2. Peak Output Voltage

3. RMS Value Of Input Voltage

4. Average Input Voltage

5. Average Output Voltage

6. Input Ac Power

7. Average Output Power

8. Efficiency Of Rectifier

9. Ripple Factor

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Task 2:
Sketch the input and output waveforms observed on the CRO.

Task 3:
Connect different values of capacitors in parallel across the load resistor and calculate the following
parameters.
 47uF 100uF 470uF
Ripple p-p
Ripple frequency
Ripple factor

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Task 4:
Sketch the input and output waveforms observed on the CRO for all different values of capacitors.

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Task 5:
Implment a zener regulator circuit and find the voltage regulation for varying loads.

SNo. Load Resistor (K-Ohm) Inpur Voltage Output Voltage

RL Vin Vo
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

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Lab #
& Circuits
(EL-324)
of Computer and Emerging Sciences
Islamabad FALL 2016
05
_________________________________________________________________________________

Student's feedback: Purpose of feedback is to know the strengths and weaknesses of the
system for future improvements. This feedback is for the 'current lab session'. Circle your
choice:

[-3 = Extremely Poor, -2 = Very Poor, -1 = Poor, 0 = Average, 1 = Good, 2 = Very Good, 3 =
Excellent]:
The following table should describe your experience with:
S# Field Rating Describe your experience in words
1 Overall Session -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
2 Lab Instructor -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
3 Lab Staff -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
4 Equipment -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
5 Atmosphere -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

Any other valuable feedback:

__________________________________________________________________________
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Student's Signature: _________________________________

AWARDED

Correctness

Conclusion
Originality
of results

Initiative
Neatness
MARKS

Attitude

TOTAL

TOTAL 10 10 10 20 20 30 100

EARNED

Lab Instructor's
Comments:_________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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Lab Instructor's Signature: ________________________

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