Addis Ababa University

Faculty of Technology
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laboratory Report
Course number: Eceg: - 2205 - Electrical Engineering Laboratory II

Experiment Number: 04

Title: Regulated DC power Supply

Figure A: Waveform generated by a filtered rectified signal

By: Besufekad Mekuria

Group: 1B, Subgroup 5, ID: TCR/0590/01

Date of Lab. session: November 25, 2009

Date of submission: December 09, 2009

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Section Sub-Title Location

NO
1.1 Introduction Page Two

1.2 Objective Page Two

1.3 Preparation Page Two

1.4 Used Equipment Page Two

1.5 Components used Page Three

1.6 Theory Page Three

1.7 Procedure Page Four

1.8 Results Page Five

1.9 Conclusion Page Six

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 Regulated DC power
Supply
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In most electrical power generation stations, power is usually generated in the
form of alternating current (AC) this is due to its relatively cheaper cost and its
importance in industrial machines. However when it comes to lower scale electrical
devices that are used in our homes like televisions, Computers, Radios, etc, they can
only operate on a constant Direct Current supply (DC) and since generating DC on a
wide commercial scale is very expensive, another method had to be devised to obtain
the required DC voltage from the supplied AC Voltage and integrate this mechanism into
the circuitry of this devices.

This important process usually involves the following sequential steps:

Input AC waveform RectificationFilteringRegulationOutput DC

Therefore it is this process of converting AC to DC that we will mainly be
concerned about in this booklet.

1.2 OBJECTIVE
A. To introduce the concepts of Rectification, Filtering and Regulation.
B. To develop the skill of using diodes for clipping away the non-required negative cycle (Half wave
Rectification).

C. Also to notice how diodes can be arranged in a bridge like structure to get a Full wave rectified
signal.

D. To notice the use of zener diodes and capacitors in this process

1.3 PRE-LAB PREPARATION

The laboratory manual that was supplied by the Laboratory instructors included detailed theory about
the procedures that would have to be undergone in order to obtain a DC output.

1.4 USED EQUIPMENT

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 No Description Code/Lab Reference Quantity
1 Leybold AC power source - 1
2 Multimeter (VOM) - 1
3 Cathode Ray Oscilloscope - 1
4 Conducting Wires - 13
5 Variable Resistor - 1
6 Rectifying Diodes - 1
7 Capacitors - 1
Table 1: Electrical Equipments that were used to set up the circuit for the laboratory procedure
.

1.5 USED COMPONENTS

No Description Type Quantity
1 Resistor 56 Ω 1
2 Resistor 1,000 Ω 1
3 Resistor (Decade) 0.1 Ω 1
2 Capacitor 1000 μF 1
Table 2: Electrical Components that were used to set up the circuit for the laboratory procedure

1.6 THEORY
The Process of generating a DC source begins with the Rectification phase, one of the most
important properties of the semiconductor diode is that of rectification, which permits the conversion of
AC voltages and currents to DC voltages and currents. Diode rectifiers can be of the half-wave type, or
they can be full-wave. Full-wave rectifiers can be constructed in a conventional two-diode configuration,
or in a bridge configuration. Diode rectifiers are an essential part of DC power supplies and are usually
employed in conjunction with filter capacitors to obtain a relatively smooth DC voltage waveform. In
addition to rectification and smoothing, it is also necessary to regulate the output of a DC power supply;
Zener diodes accomplish this task by holding a constant voltage when reverse-biased above the Zener
voltage.

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 Figure 1: A two Diode – Full wave Rectifying Network

Figure 2: A bridge Rectifying Network

Figure: A Figure: A bridge Rectifying Network with a reduced ripple Factor due to the parallel Capacitor.

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 1.7 PROCEDURE
1. The session included two separate sub-sessions,

2. The First sub-session included a demonstration of “Rectification” and “Filtering”.

3. The Second sub-session included experimentation on “Regulation”.

4. All of the according steps and procedures carried out in the class were done accordingly to the
laboratory manual supplied to us by the laboratory instructors.

1.8 Results
After completing the laboratory session, the determined results have been tabulated, the data
collected is:

5.12

Without filter circuit: Ripple AC Voltage: 4.4V, DC Value = 1.6V

With Capacitive filter circuit: Ripple AC Voltage: 1.2V, DC Value = 3.6V

5.1.4

A. AC = 3.8V, DC = 2.2 V B. AC = 1V, DC = 3 V C. IC1=0.05*4.8= 0.24A, IC=0.23 A

5.2.2

AC = 4V, DC = 2 V, frequency = (1/0.01) = 100Hz = 2* input frequency (50Hz)

5.2.3

AC = 0.36V, DC = 3.8 V

5.2.4

DC = 3.8V, AC = 0.32 V

5.2.5

AC = 0.18V, DC = 3.8 V

5.3.1

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  The network for the procedure was set up so that the voltage-current relationship of the zener
diode from Iz = 0 to 200mA

V 3V 3.26 3.41 3.52 3.6 3.67 3.72 3.76 3.8 3.84

mA 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Table 3: voltage-current measurements from procedure 5.3.1

5.3.3

Ammeter Reading: 47.7 mA, Voltage reading 6.67V

5.3.4

Diode current: 32mA

E1: AC=0.8V, DC = 5.6 E2: AC =0.2V, DC = 3.6 V

5.3.5 Where C2//C2

E1: AC=0.46V DC=5.6V E2: AC= 0.51V, DC=3.6 V

Where C2//Zener Diode

E1: AC = 0.8V, DC=5.6V E2: AC = 0.09V, DC=3.6 V

5.3.6 When Rx = 0, I = 63.2 mA, and when Rx = 1KΩ, I = 7.1mA

5.3.7

E2 Rx = 200Ω VDC = 3.6V I = 17 mA

E2 Rx = 400Ω VDC = 4V I = 11.6mA
E2 Rx = 600Ω VDC = 3.6V I = 9.2 mA
E2 Rx = 800Ω VDC = 3.6V I = 7.9 mA
E1 Rx = 0 Ω (Open Circuit) VDC = 5.6V I = 63.2 mA
E1 Rx = 600 Ω VDC = 5.6V I = 7.1 mA

5.3.8

AC Value = 4V, DC = 2.6V

1.9 Conclusion
Upon completion of the laboratory session, many observations were made; these observations have been
dealt with here under their own subheading.

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 Observations made about Applications of rectifying diodes
Since rectifying diodes operate in the forward biased situation they allow the positive phase of the sinusoidal
input through them, but after that, when the negative phase begins, they become reverse biased and therefore stop
operating and start acting like open circuits to the system, therefore, by utilizing this special properties of rectifying
diodes and arranging them in special predetermined positions, the negative phase of the sinusoidal input can be
clipped off in both the Half-Wave and Full-Wave rectifying networks.

Observations made about importance of Capacitors.

Once an alternating voltage has been rectified and rid off of the negative voltages, a waveform
similar to this is obtained.

Figure6: A Full-wave Rectified Waveform

And even though this process takes a huge step forward in modifying the AC input, it can be observed
that it is not a straight line DC, since it contains AC component bumps (Ripples), and the main purpose of
connecting capacitors in parallel to the bridge network is to apply the transient property of capacitors to
further modify the rectified wave into a more linear approximated form (Similar to figure 5). It is this
process that we refer to as Filtering.

Figure 5: A Rectified and filtered waveform

Observations made about practical errors

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 It is a well known fact that there does not exist a circuit element that functions with a hundred percent
efficiency. Therefore slight deviations of the measured values from the calculated ones are to be expected under
any circumstances. However the possible causes for these irregularities include:

 The DC voltmeter does not give rise to a potential difference with a magnitude that it is programmed to do.
This is generally due to manufacturing defects, defects from improper usage and gradual wearing off.

 The leads are not of Zero Resistance; this is because of factors like: Temperature change, corrosion, etc…

 The Ammeter used was an analog device; therefore readings are perceptible to be misconstrued. And also
continuous mistreatment of the device leads to incorrect readings in the future.

End of Report

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