Diode Rectifiers

A rectifier is a circuit that converts an ac signal into a unidirectional signal. A rectifier is a type of ac–dc converter.
Depending on the type of input supply, the rectifiers are classified into two types:
(1) single phase (can be either a half wave or a full wave).
(2) three phase.
For the sake of simplicity, the diodes are considered to be ideal (the reverse recovery time trr and the forward
voltage drop VD are negligible).

Performance Parameters
Although the output voltage of a rectifier in Figure 3.1a should ideally be a pure dc, the output of a practical
rectifier contains harmonics or ripples as shown in Figure 3.1b.

Rectifier Requirements:
1. dc output voltage with a minimum amount
of harmonic contents.
2. maintain the input current as sinusoidal as
possible and in phase with the input voltage
so that the power factor is near unity.
The performances of a rectifier are normally evaluated in terms of the following parameters:

It should be noted that 𝜂 is not the power efficiency. It is the conversion efficiency which is a measure of the quality
of the output waveform. For a pure dc output, the conversion efficiency would be unity.
The output voltage can be considered as composed of two components: (1) the dc value and (2) the ac component
or ripple.
where Vs and Is are the rms voltage and rms current of the transformer secondary, respectively.
The input power can be determined approximately by equating input power with the output ac power. That is, the
power factor is related by

Crest Factor
Single-Phase Full-Wave Rectifiers
A full-wave rectifier circuit with a center-tapped transformer is shown in Figure 3.2a.
The average output voltage is
Instead of using a center-tapped transformer, we could use four diodes, as shown in Figure 3.3a.
Some of the advantages and disadvantages for the circuits in Figures 3.2 and 3.3 are listed in Table 3.1.
Example 3.1 finding the performance parameters of a full-Wave rectifier with a Center-tapped transformer
If the rectifier in Figure 3.2a has a purely resistive load of R, determine (a) the efficiency, (b) the FF, (c) the RF, (d) the TUF,
(e) the PIV of diode D1, (f) the CF of the input current, and (g) the input power factor PF.
Example 3.2 finding the Fourier series of the output voltage for a full-Wave rectifier

The rectifier in Figure 3.3a has an RL load. Use the method of Fourier series to obtain expressions for output voltage v0(t).
Single-phase full-Wave rectifier with RL load
In practice, most loads are inductive to a certain extent and the load current depends on the values of load resistance R
and load inductance L. This is shown in Figure 3.4a.
A battery of voltage E is added to develop generalized equations. If 𝑣𝑠 = 𝑉𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑡 = 2 𝑉𝑠 sin 𝜔𝑡 is the input voltage,
the load current i0 can be found from

where load impedance Z = [R2 + (ωL)2]1/2, load impedance angle θ = tan-1(ωL/R), and Vs is the rms value of the input
voltage.
Case 1: continuous load current. This is shown in Figure 3.4b. The constant A1 in Eq. (3.13) can be determined from the
condition: at ωt = π, i0 = I0.

Under a steady-state condition, i0(ωt = 0) = i0(ωt = π). That is, i0(ωt = 0) =

I0. Applying this condition, we get the value of I0 as
Case 2: discontinuous load current. This is shown in Figure 3.4d. The load current flows only during the period α ≤ ωt
≤β. Let us define x=E/Vm=E/ 2Vs as the load battery (emf) constant, called the voltage ratio. The diodes start to
conduct at ωt=α given by
Example 3.3 finding the performance parameters of a full-Wave rectifier with an RL load
The single-phase full-wave rectifier of Figure 3.4a has L = 6.5 mH, R = 2.5 Ω, and E = 10 V. The input voltage is Vs = 120 V
at 60 Hz. (a) Determine (1) the steady-state load current I0 at ωt = 0, (2) the average diode current ID(av), (3) the rms diode
current ID(rms), (4) the rms output current Io(rms), and (5) the input power factor PF.
Solution
Assume that the load current is continuous and proceed with the solution. If the assumption is not correct, the load
current is zero and then moves to the case for a discontinuous current.
Single-Phase full-Wave rectifier With a highly Inductive load

If the load is highly inductive, the load current will remain almost constant with a small amount of ripple content and
the input current will be like a square wave.
Let us consider the waveforms of Figure 3.8, where vs is the sinusoidal input voltage, is is the instantaneous input
current, and is1 is its fundamental component.
Φ is the angle between is1 and vs , ϕ is called
the displacement angle. The displacement
factor is defined as
MULTIPHASE STAR RECTIFIERS
We have seen in Eq. (3.11) the average output voltage that could be obtained from single-phase full-wave rectifiers is
0.6366Vm and these rectifiers are used in applications up to a power level of 15 kW.
For larger power output, three-phase and multiphase rectifiers are used.
The rectifier circuit of Figure 3.2a can be extended to multiple phases by hav- ing multiphase windings on the
transformer secondary as shown in Figure 3.10a.
The waveforms for the voltages and currents are shown in Figure 3.10b. The conduction period of each diode is 2π/q.
It can be noticed from Figure 3.10b that the current flowing through the secondary winding is unidirectional and
contains a dc component.
Only one secondary winding carries current at a particular time, and as a result the primary must be connected in delta
to eliminate the dc component in the input side of the transformer. This minimizes the harmonic content of the primary
line current.
Assuming a cosine wave from π/q to 2π/q, the average output voltage for a q-phase rectifier is given by

If the load is purely resistive, the peak current through a diode is Im = Vm/R and we can find the rms value of a diode
current (or transformer secondary current) as
Example 3.5 Finding the Performance Parameters of a Three-Phase Star Rectifier
A three-phase star rectifier has a purely resistive load with R ohms. Determine (a) the efficiency, (b) the FF, (c) the RF, (d)
the TUF factor, (e) the PIV of each diode, and (f) the peak current through a diode if the rectifier delivers Idc = 30 A at an
output voltage of Vdc = 140 V.
Solution For a three-phase rectifier q = 3 in Eqs. (3.25) to (3.27)
Example 3.6 Finding the Fourier Series of a q-Phase Rectifier
a. Express the output voltage of a q-phase rectifier in Figure 3.10a in Fourier series.
b. If q = 6, Vm = 170 V, and the supply frequency is f = 60 Hz, determine the rms value of the dominant harmonic
and its frequency.
Solution
a. The waveforms for q-pulses are shown in Figure 3.10b and the frequency of the output is q times the fundamental
component (qf). To find the constants of the Fourier series, we integrate from -π/q to π/q and the constants are

After simplification and then using the following trigonometric relationships,

For a rectifier with q-pulses per cycle, the harmonics of the output voltage are: qth, 2qth, 3qth, and 4qth, and Eq.
(3.29) is valid for n = 0, 1q, 2q, 3q. The term sin(nπ/q) = sin π = 0 and Eq. (3.29) becomes

The dc component is found by letting n = 0 and is

which is the same as Eq. (3.25).

The Fourier series of the output voltage v0 is expressed as
Three-Phase Bridge Rectifiers
A three-phase bridge rectifier is commonly used in high-power applications, and it is shown in Figure 3.11.

• This is a full-wave rectifier. It can operate with or without a trans former and gives six-pulse ripples on
the output voltage.
• The diodes are numbered in order of conduction sequences and each one conducts for 120°.
• The conduction sequence for diodes is D1- D2, D3- D2, D3- D4, D5- D4, D5- D6, and D1- D6.
• The pair of diodes which are connected between that pair of supply lines having the highest amount of
instantaneous line-to-line voltage will conduct.
• The line-to-line volt age is 13 times the phase voltage of a three-phase Y-connected source.
The wave forms and conduction times of diodes are shown in Figure 3.12
If Vm is the peak value of the phase voltage, then the instantaneous phase volt ages can be described by

Because the line–line voltage leads the phase voltage by 30°, the instantaneous line–line voltages can be described by

The average output voltage is found from

where Vm is the peak phase voltage. The rms output voltage is

If the load is purely resistive, the peak current through a diode is Im= 3 Vm/R and the rms value of the diode current is

and the rms value of the transformer secondary current,

For a three-phase rectifier q=6, Eq. (3.32) gives the instantaneous output volt age as

Note: To increase the number of pulses in the output voltages to 12, two three-phase rectifiers are connected in series.
The input to one rectifier is a Y-connected secondary of a transformer and the input to the other rectifier is a delta
connected secondary of a transformer.
Example 3.7: Finding the performance parameters of a three-phase Bridge rectifier
A three-phase bridge rectifier has a purely resistive load of R. Determine
(a) the efficiency, (b) the FF, (c) the RF, (d) the TUF, (e) the peak inverse (or reverse) voltage (PIV) of each diode,
and (f) the peak current through a diode.
The rectifier delivers Idc = 60 A at an output voltage of Vdc = 280.7 V and the source frequency is 60 Hz.
The average current through each diode is ID(av) = 60/3 = 20 A; therefore, the peak current is Im = 20/0.3183 =
62.83 A.
Three-phase Bridge rectifier With RL load
a three-phase rectifier with an RL load (as shown in Figure 3.13).

It can be noted from Figure 3.12 that the output voltage becomes
where Vab is the line-to-line rms input voltage. The load current i0 can be found from
Example 3.8: Finding the performance parameters of a three-phase Bridge rectifier with an RL load
The three-phase full-wave rectifier of Figure 3.13 has a load of L = 1.5 mH, R = 2.5 Ω, and E = 10 V. The line-to-line input
voltage is Vab = 208 V, 60 Hz. (a) Determine:
(1) the steady state load current I0 at ωt = π/3, (2) the rms output current Io(rms), and (3) the input power factor PF.

Solution

1. The steady-state load current at ωt = π/3, I0 = 105.77 A.

2. The rms output current ID(rms) = 3Io(rms) = 3 * 62.53 = 108.31 A.

2
3. The ac load power is Pac = 𝐼𝑜(𝑟𝑚𝑠) R = 108.312 * 2.5 = 29.3 kW. The input power factor is
Comparisons of Diode rectifiers
The important parameters are summarized in Table 3.4
Example 3.9: Finding the Diode ratings from the Diode Currents
A three-phase bridge rectifier supplies a highly inductive load such that the average load current is Idc = 60 A and the
ripple content is negligible. Determine the ratings of the diodes if the line to-neutral voltage of the Y-connected supply is
120 V at 60 Hz.
Example 3.10: Finding the Diode average and rms Currents from the Waveforms
The current through a diode is shown in Figure 3.19. Determine: (a) the rms current
(b) the average diode current if t1=100 μs, t2=350 μs,
t3=500 μs, f=250 Hz, fs=5 kHz, Im=450 A, and Ia=150 A.