Electronic Devices and Circuits

(EL-1004)
LABORATORY MANUAL
FALL 2023

(LAB # 06) (For the Assessment of LLO: 1)

Analysis and Implementation of Half wave and Full

wave Rectification Circuits

Student Name: Muhammad Tabish, Muhammad Salar

Roll No: 22i-2223, 22i-2240. Section: A

Date performed: _____________________, 2023

Manual Submission Date: ______________, 2023

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COMPUTER AND EMERGING SCIENCES,ISLAMABAD

Prepared by: Engr. Maria Nasir Version: 2.14

Last Edited by: Engr.Kashif Ullah Updated: Fall 2023
Verified by: Dr. Awais Ayub
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_______________________________
LAB ENGINEER SIGNATURE & DATE

MARKS AWARDED: /10

LAB: 06 Analysis and Implementation of Half wave and Full
wave Rectification Circuits
Objectives of the Exercise:
⮚ To analyze the working and implementation of half wave rectifier.
⮚ To analyze the working and implementation of full wave (bridge) rectifier.
⮚ To analyze the ripple filtering process in power supplies.
Equipment Required:
⮚ Centre-tap Transformer 12+12 V.
⮚ Rectifier diode (1N4007)
⮚ Resistors (2.2kΩ (2))
⮚ Multi-meter.
⮚ Bread board
⮚ Oscilloscope.
⮚ Capacitor (10uF, 47uF, 100uF)
Theory:
Half Wave Rectification:

Diode s Rectifier: A rectifier circuit converts AC voltage into DC voltage. Diodes are used in rectifier
circuits because of their ability to conduct in one direction and block current in other direction.
The half-wave rectifier utilizes alternate half cycles of the sinusoidal input. The half-wave signal of
Figure-5.1 normally established by a network with a single diode has an average or equivalent DC level
equal to 31.8% of the peak value, Vm.

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Fig-5.1: Half wave rectification

Diode Selection: In selecting diode for a rectifier design, the peak inverse voltage (PIV) or zener
breakdown voltage parameter must be considered carefully. For typical single-diode half wave
rectification systems, the required PIV level is equal to the peak value of the applied sinusoidal signal.
For the four-diode full-wave bridge rectification system, the required PIV level is again peak value, but
for a two-diode center tapped configuration, it is twice the peak value of the applied signal. The PIV
voltage is the maximum reverse-bias voltage that a diode can handle before entering the breakdown
region.

Working of the circuit:

During positive half of the cycle of AC signal, diode will be forward biased and allow the current to
pass. Thus the output voltage will be almost equal to input voltage when diode is forward biased, as
show in the circuit below.

Fig-5.2: Diode Rectifier Circuit

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Fig-5.3: AC signal at the input of diode rectifier circuit

Fig-5.4: Diode behaving as short circuit during positive half cycle

Fig-5.5: Output wave

During negative half of cycle diode will be reversed biased and will not allow current to flow and hence
output voltages will be zero. This can be seen below.

Fig-5.6: Diode behaving as open circuit during negative half cycle

Full Wave Rectification Using Bridge Circuit:

The full-wave rectifier utilizes both halves of the input sinusoid. The full-wave rectified signal of Figure-
1 has twice the average or DC level of the half-wave signal, or 63.6% of the peak value, Vm.

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For large sinusoidal inputs (Vm>>VO, VO is the cut-in-voltage of the diode) the forward-biased transition
voltage of a diode can be ignored. However, for situations when the peak value of the sinusoidal signal
is not that much greater than VO, it can have a noticeable effect on VDC.

Fig 5.7: Full wave rectification

The Diode Bridge Rectifier:
The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only two diodes conducting current
during each half cycle.

Fig 5.8: The Diode Bridge Rectifier

SThe Positive 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.

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Fig 5.9: The diode

bridge rectifier during the positive half cycle
The Negative 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.
As the current flowing through the load is unidirectional, so the voltage developed across the load is
also the same as for the previous two diodes, therefore the average DC voltage across the load is
0.637Vmax.

Fig 5.10: 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 Vm 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 (0.637Vm) with less superimposed ripple
while the output waveform is twice that of the frequency of the input supply frequency as 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.

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Fig 5.11: 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 / (2fin * C) = Iload / (fripple * C)
Where: I is the DC load current in amps, ƒ is the frequency of the input waveform 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). fripple = 2fin
Terminologies Half Wave Rectifier Full Wave Rectifier
RMS voltage (Vrms) Vrms = Vp / √2 Vrms = Vp / √2
Average voltage (Vavg) Vavg = 0.318 Vp = Vp/π Vavg = 0.636 Vp = 2Vp/π
Input Power (Pac) Pac = Vrms * Irms Pac = Vrms * Irms
Output Power (Po (avg)) Po (avg) = Vavg * Iavg Po (avg) = Vavg * Iavg
Efficiency (𝜂) (%) 𝜂 = (Po (avg) / Pac)*100% 𝜂 = Po (avg) / Pac)*100%
Ripple Factor (RF) RF=Vrms/Vavg RF=Vrms/Vavg
DC Power Supply (combining the concepts learned above):
A diode rectifier forms an essential building block of the dc power supplies required to power electronic
equipment. A block diagram of such a power supply is shown in figure 5.12. As indicated, the power
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supply is fed from the 120-V (rms) 60-Hz ac line, and it delivers a dc voltage VO (usually in the range
of 5 V to 20 V) to an electronic circuit represented by the load block. The dc voltage VO is required to
be as constant as possible in spite of variations in the ac line voltage and in the current drawn by the
load.
The diode rectifier converts the input sinusoid vS to a unipolar output, which can have the pulsating
waveform indicated in fig below. Although this waveform has a nonzero average or a dc component, its
pulsating nature makes it unsuitable as a dc source for electronic circuits, hence the need for a filter. The
variations in the magnitude of the rectifier output are considerably reduced by the filter block in Fig.
5.12.
The output of the rectifier filter, though much more constant than without the filter, still contains a time-
dependent component, known as ripple. To reduce the ripple and to stabilize the magnitude of the dc
output voltage of the supply against variations caused by changes in load current, a voltage regulator is
employed. Such a regulator can be implemented using the zener shunt regulator configuration (covered
in your previous experiment)

Figure 5.12: A DC Power supply

LAB TASKS
Task 1: Half wave rectifier
1. Construct half wave rectifier circuit in figure below:

Figure 5.13

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2. Set the input to 1000 Hz, 8 Vp-p sinusoidal volts. Sketch the input and output waveforms on the
graphs given below:

Input sine wave Output waveform

Vavg (calculated): 943.40 mV Vavg (observed):943.25 mV.

3. Reverse the diode of Figure-5.13 and sketch the output waveform obtained on the oscilloscope:

Input sine wave Output waveform

Vavg (calculated): -994.21 mV Vavg (observed): -994.39 mV.

Observations:

In this task, half wave rectification is performed. In the first half of forward biasing, the voltage is 8 Vp-p with the
frequency of 1 kHz. The observations from the output waveform were that only the half wave of the positive cycle of the
waveform was observed in the oscilloscope. This is because of the half wave rectification. In the second half of reverse
biasing, the voltage and frequency are same as the first half of forward biasing. In this case, only the half wave of the
negative cycle of the waveform was observed in the oscilloscope. This is because of the reverse biasing of the diode which
means that simply the path is opened rather than short circuit.

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Task 2: Full wave rectifier
1. Construct full wave rectifier circuit in fig 5.14 below:

Fig-5.14
2. Using the oscilloscope obtain the waveform for Vin and Vout and record below. Also label the
maximum and minimum values of the waveform.

Input sine wave Output waveform

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1. Using the results obtained above, calculate the parameters in the table below:

SNo. Parameters Calculated Value Observed Value

1. Peak Input Voltage 9.812 V 9.81 V

2. Peak Output Voltage 1.70 V 1.7 V

3. RMS Value Of Input Voltage +2 V / -2 V +2 V / -2 V

4. RMS Value Of Input Current 0A 0A

5. Average Input Voltage 0A 0V

6. Average Output Voltage 3.07 V 3.05 V

7. Average Input Current 0A 0A

8. Average Output Current 1.29*10-3 mA 1.3*10 -3 mA

9. Input Ac Power 2.856 W 2.84 W

10. Average Output Power 2.939 W 2.944 W

11. Efficiency Of Rectifier 1.029 1.03

12. Ripple Factor 1 1

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Task 3: Full-wave rectifier with filter capacitor:

In Task 2 circuit (Fig 5.14), connect different values of capacitors (from 10uF to 470uF) in parallel
across the load resistor and draw their output waveforms respectively. Also calculate the parameters in
the table given below.

Output waveform for C = 10uF Output waveform for C = 100uF

Output waveform for C = 470uF

Parameter: C1 = 10 u F C2 = 100 u F C3 = 470 u F

Ripple (p-p) (Vr) 288 mV 80 mV 60 mV

Ripple frequency 50.51 Hz - -

Ripple factor 1.01 1 1

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Q. Explain the reason for difference in values of Vr for different capacitance values.
The reason for difference in the values of Vr is time constant (tao) and the capacitance values itself. This
is because the values of capacitance of the capacitors may vary the charging and discharging which
effects the values of Vr.

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