Basic

Electronics
Course instructor
Rida Shifa
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Rectifier
Rectifier is a device which is used for
converting alternating current/voltage into
direct current /voltage.
A rectifier is an electrical device composed of
one or more diodes that converts alternating
current (AC) to direct current (DC).
A diode is like a one-way valve that allows an
electrical current to flow in only one direction.
This process is called rectification.
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Applications of rectifier
A rectifier can take the shape of several
different physical forms such as solid-state
diodes, vacuum tube diodes, mercury arc
valves, silicon-controlled rectifiers and
various other silicon-based semiconductor
switches
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Usage in Devices
Rectifiers are used in various devices, including:
DC power supplies
Radio signals or detectors
A source of power instead of generating
current
High-voltage direct current power
transmission systems
Several household appliances use power
rectifiers to create power, like notebooks or
laptops, video game systems and televisions.
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Power diode
Power Diode is the two terminal(namely anode
and cathode) two layer(P-N) device which is used
in most of the power electronics circuits.
The power semiconductor diode is similar to low
power PN junction diode (signal diode).
In fact, power diode is more complex in structure
and in operation than their low power
counterparts.
This complexity happens because low power
device must be modified to make them suitable
for high power applications
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Recalling the PN junction

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Ripple Factor
Ripple factor () may be defined as the
ratio of the root mean square (rms) value
of the ripple voltage to the absolute value
of the DC component of the output
voltage, usually expressed as a
percentage.
However, ripple voltage is also commonly
expressed as the peak-to-peak value.
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Ripple Factor
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Biasing
Biasingin electronics means establishing
predetermined voltages or currents at
various points of an electronic circuit for
the purpose of establishing relationships
between the voltage and current
in electronic components
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Biasing types
When we connect p-type region of a junction
with the positive terminal of a voltage
source and n-type region with the negative
terminal of the voltage source, then the
junction is said to be forward biased
When positive terminal of a voltage source is
connected to the n-type region and the
negative terminal of the source is connected
to the p-type region then the p-n junction is
said to be in reverse biased condition
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Forward biasing
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Reverse biasing
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PN junction as Rectifier
The main application of p-n junction diode is
in rectification circuits.
Diode rectifier gives an alternating voltage
which pulsates in accordance with time.
The filter smoothens the pulsation in the
voltage and to produce d.c voltage.
There are two primary methods of diode
rectification:
Half Wave Rectifier
Full Wave Rectifier
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Half wave rectifier

The input power supply may be either a
single-phase or a multi-phase supply with the
simplest of all the rectifier circuits being that of
the Half Wave Rectifier.
The power diode in a half wave rectifier
circuit passes just one half of each complete
sine wave of the AC supply in order to
convert it into a DC supply. Then this type of
circuit is called a half-wave rectifier
because it passes only half of the incoming
AC power supply
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Working
The half wave rectifier has both positive and
negative cycles. During positive half of the
input, the current will flow from positive to
negative which will generate only positive half
cycle of the a.c supply.
When a.c supply is applied to the
transformer, the voltage will be decreasing at
the secondary winding of the diode.
All the variations in the a.c supply will reduce
and we will get the pulsating d.c voltage to
the load resistor.
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Pictorial Representation
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Advantages
Though a half wave rectifier is not a good
choice in most cases, it is cheap, and
simple to construct.
The reason why it is cheap is because it
needs a low number of components,
while simple is because its circuit design is
straight forwardness.
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Disadvantages
The output current in the load contains, in addition
to dc component, ac components of basic frequency
equal to that of the input voltage frequency.

Ripple factor is high and an elaborate filtering is,

therefore, required to give steady dc output.

The power output and, therefore, rectification efficiency

is quite low.

Transformer utilization factor is low

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Applications
In practice, the half-wave rectifier is used
most often in low-power applications.
The output amplitude is less than the input
amplitude, there is no output during the
negative half cycle so half the power is
wasted and the output is pulsed DC resulting
in excessive ripple.
To overcome these disadvantages a number
of Power Diode are connected together to
produce a Full Wave Rectifier
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Full wave rectifier

Full wave rectifier utilizes both halves of each
a.c input.
When the p-n junction is forward biased, the
diode offers low resistance and when it is
reversing biased it gives high resistance.
The circuit is designed in such a manner that
in the first half cycle if the diode is forward
biased then in the second half cycle it is
reverse biased and so on.
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Pictorial Representation
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Advantages
The rectification efficiency is double than
half wave rectifier.
Ripple factor is less and ripple frequency is
doubled hence easy to filter out.
DC output voltage and current is higher
hence output power is higher.
Better transformer utilization factor
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Disadvantages
Requires center tap transformer.
Requires two diodes compared to one diode in
half wave rectifier.
It is expensive to manufacture a center tapped
transformer
The output voltage is half of the secondary
voltage, as each diode utilizes only one half of the
transformer secondary voltage.
The PIV (peak inverse voltage) of a diode
used twice that of the diode used in the half
wave rectifier, so the diodes used must have high
PIV.
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Efficiency
The rectifier converts the AC to DC, which
isn't to say that the voltage isn't varying,
it's just that the current isn't going both
ways.
Full wave rectifiers are definitely more
better than half wave rectifiers because
they give you power during both halves of
the cycle.
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Applications
Bridge is a type of electrical circuit.
Bridge rectifier is a type of rectifier in
which diodes were arranged in the form
of a bridge.
This provides full wave rectification and is
of low cost
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Bridge Rectifier
A bridge rectifier is an arrangement of
four or more diodes in a bridge circuit
configuration which provides the same
output polarity for either input polarity.
It is used for converting an alternating
current (AC) input into a direct current
(DC) output.
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Bridge Rectifier
A bridge rectifier provides full-wave
rectification from a two-wire AC input,
therefore resulting in lower weight and
cost
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Bridge Rectifier
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Types
There are many different kinds of bridge
rectifiers and at Future Electronics we
stock many of the most common types
categorized by maximum average
rectified current, maximum reverse
voltage, maximum peak current, forward
voltage, packaging type and maximum
reverse current.
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Size
The most common sizes for maximum
average rectified current are 1A, 1.5 A, 4 A,
25 A and 35 A.
We also carry bridge rectifiers with maximum
average rectified current as high as 1000 A.
Forward voltage can range from 450 mV to
1.1 kV, with the most common bridge rectifier
semiconductor chips having a forward
voltage of 1.1 V or 1 V.
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Bridge rectifier in future

Future Electronics has a full selection of
bridge rectifier chips from several
manufacturers that can be used to
design a full wave bridge rectifier circuit,
half wave rectifier or any other type of
circuits that may require a bridge rectifier.
Fairchild, IXYS, Micro Commercial Comp
or Vishay, among other manufacturers.
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Applications
The primary application of bridge rectifiers
is to transform an AC supply into DC
power.
Bridge rectifiers are also used for
detecting the amplitude of modulated
radio signals.
Rectifiers are also used to supply polarized
voltage for welding applications.
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Advantages
The rectification efficiency of full-wave rectifier is double
of that of a half-wave rectifier.
Higher output voltage, higher output power and higher
Transformer Utilization Factor in case of full-wave
rectifier.
The ripple voltage is low and of higher frequency in
case of full-wave rectifier so simple filtering circuit is
required
No center tap is required in the transformer secondary
so in case of a bridge rectifier the transformer required is
simpler. If stepping up or stepping down of voltage is
not required, transformer can be eliminated even.
For a given power output, power transformer of smaller
size can be used in case of the bridge rectifier
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Disadvantages
Itrequires four diodes.
The use of two extra diodes cause an
additional voltage drop thereby reducing
the output voltage.
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Daily life
A rectifier is an electrical device that
converts alternating current (AC), which
The best example of rectifier that is used
in our daily life is in the mobile phone
charge
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Overview