Output Current Ripple Factor Performance of Half-Wave

Half-Wave Rectifier
Rectifier

With and Without Freewheeling Diode

Diode

Taufik 0.Shaban
Ali O. Shaban Ahmad Nafisi

Department
Department of Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering

Engineering
California Polytechnic
California Polytechnic State University
University
University

Obispo, CA 93407

San Luis Obispo, 93407

-
Abstract - The objective
objective of this work is to investigate
investigate ripple
ripple knowledge
knowledge of the ripple factor before hand will aid us in
factor of half-wave
half-wave rectifier circuits. The ripple
rectifier circuits. factor is one of
ripple factor designing a cost-effective
designing cost-effective converter sircuit,
circuit, such determining
determining
characteristic necessary
important characteristic necessary when designing
designing a power the need of having an extra freewheeling
freewheeling diode used in a half-
half­
half­
electronic converter.
converter. The ripple factorfactor measures how much much wave rectifier to improve the quality of output waveform.
waveform.
deviation
deviation the converter output parameter
converter output parameter has, such as the
current, from
output current, from its nominal designed
designed value. In this paper
the ripple factor output current of half-wave
factor of the output half-wave rectifiers
rectifiers will In most dc applications,
applications, the output ripple represents
represents both a
be investigated.
investigated. More specifically,
specifically, the ripple
ripple factor output
factor of output variation around the desired dc level and a possible
variation around possible energy
current from more practical
current half-wave rectifiers
practical half-wave rectifiers that include
include effect at undesired frequencies [1].
undesired frequencies [l]. In a standard
standard dc supply,
supply, it
inductive load with or withoutwithout a freewheeling
freewheeling diode will be specify the maximum peak to peak ripple, and
is common to specify
analyzed and then compared to that of the basic half-wave half-wave often the ripple rms magnitude
magnitude as well.
well. For example,
example, typical
rectifier consisting
rectifier consisting only of a resistive
resistive load. Derivation
Derivation of the numbers for peak to peak ripple fall in the 50-100
numbers 50-100 mv range
equations for
equations for the ripple factor for
ripple factor for the three half-wave
half-wave rectifier
rectifier for low dc voltages.
fo.r voltages. A good rule of thumb is that the ripple
ripple
circuits will first
circuits first be presented. From these results,
presented. From results, plots will be WIll be about 11%
will % of the nominal output.
output.
generated using Pspice that will allow us to conveniently conveniently
compare the ripple
compare ripple factor
factor performance
performance of each of the rectifiers.
rectifiers.
II. THE
THE BASIC HAW-WAVE
HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER

INTRODUCTION
I. INTRODUCTION Rectification is the process of converting ac power to dc
Rectification
power.
power. An uncontrolled
uncontrolled rectifier uses only diodes diodes as
In power conversion
conversion circuits, the actual
actual output waveform rectifying elements. The dc output voltage
rectifying elements. voltage is fixed in
of any converter constructed
constructed from the input sources will in magnitude
magnitude by the amplitude
amplitude of the ac supply voltage. voltage.
general be different from the input. This tells us that the
different from However,
However, the dc output is not pure, that is, it contains contains
output must contain unwanted components along with the significant ac components
significant components or ripple. To suppress
suppress this ripple, a
wanted components.
components. These unwanted components are filter is typically
typically inserted
inserted after the rectifier. The simplest
simplest
unfortunately
unfortunately unavoidable
unavoidable and they can be described
described as the configuration of rectifier is the half-wave
circuit configuration half-wave rectifier and
Fourier components.
components. The complete collection of unwanted
unwanted is shown in figure 1. Here, the half-wave
figure 1. half-wave rectifier circuit
wh?s~ source
whose volta~e is a sine wave is supplying
source voltage supplying a purely
components defines distortion. The terms harmonic distortion
components defines distortion
simply harmonics
or simply harmonics refer to this unwanted
unwanted behavior.
behavior. resistive load. During
reSIstive load. Durmg the positive half cycle, cycle, when the
Particularly in dc application
Particularly application such as that of rectifier circuits, voltage at the anode is positive with respect to the cathode,cathode,
the collected
collected unwanted
unwanted· components are typically referred to the diode turns on. on. This allows current through
through the load
by the term ripple. A more specific definition is ripple factor resistor. Thus, the load voltage follows
follows the positive
positive half sine
sine
which is a tool to measure
measure how much deviation
deviation the converter wave.
wave. During the negative half-cycle, the voltage
negative half-cycle, voltage at the anode
anode
output parameter
parameter has from its nominal
nominal designed value.
value. becomes negative
negative with respect to the cathode and the diode diode
turns off. There is no current flows flows through
through R. R. Figure 2
Due to the fact that ripple is closely related to distortion
distortion of shows the output voltage
shows voltage waveform of the half-wave rectifier
half-wave rectifier
waveform, it is therefore crucial to consider
the output waveform, consider waveform of i,sin
using an input waveform v, 0Jt and with frequency
sinm frequency of
addressing the questions
addressing questions about distortions
distortions in the initial steps 60Hz.
60Hz.
converter design.
of converter design. How much the load can tolerate, whether
or not there
there are specific
specific frequencies
frequencies that are especially
especially bad
and should be avoided,
avoided, the necessity for filtering,
filtering, and
specifying distortion
specifying distortion limits are some of the ripple-related
ripple-related
issues that might be brought up prior to designing designing the
converter.
converter. Moreover, prior knowledge
knowledge of the ripple factor is
also very significant since it can be used as an indicator of the
also
quality of the output waveform.
quality waveform. From practical point of view,view, Fig. 1. Half-wave rectifier with resistive load
Fig.

0-7803-6401-5/00/$10.00 Q 2000
0-7803-6401-5/00/$10.00 © EEE
2000 IEEE
1186
1186
 12 .. .,.......,~--~----::----."..---~-----;:----,
( 5 ) into equation
Substitutions of equations (1) and (5) (4) yields:
equation (4) yields:

to" K r = 1.21
IS,= 1.21 (6)
(4)
::
t
0'" which tells us that the ripple factor for a half-wave rectifier
half-wave rectifier
with resistive
resistive load is constant.
constant.
1111r.i 2D11S 311M _IRS SIllS 611lts 7-.s 8116 9111tS
rill
Ti_ Iv. THE HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER
IV. RECTIFIER WITH INDUCTIVE
INDUCTIVE LOAD

Fig. 2. Load voltage

Fig. 2. voltage waveform half-wave rectifier with resistive
wavefonn of half-wave resistive load improved version of the basic half-wave
An improved half-wave rectifier circuit
figure 3, whereby an inductive
is depicted in figure inductive load is
current, IIR,
The load current, R, which is equal to the diode current will connected rather than just a simple resistive load.
load.
be periodic
periodic since
since the input signal is periodic. However,
similar to the output voltage,
voltage, the load current is also a very
poor de
dc with its value equal to its average:
average: P+---l

I R =-
2,.
I
a
_--L
A

1 V "
f iR(t)drot = 2,. R f sin rotdrot = -1CR'
21t+a

0
V
A

(1)
t Half-wave rectifier with inductive load
Fig. 3. Half-wave

Equation (1) shows that with this type of rectifier the average
steady state, the output current IR(t)
In steady IR(t) must be periodic
periodic
1/3 of its peak value.
load current is less than 1/3
sinusoidal input waveform is a periodic
since the sinusoidal periodic waveform.
waveform.
III.
KVL:
By applying KVL:
111.THE
THE RIPPLE
RIPPLE FACTOR

Using the previous example,

example, we can easily see that the ioad diR(t)
di, (t) RR. V,.
--+-1 vs
+ -i,R (t)=-smwt
(1) = -sin
L OX (7)
current will have ripple, and if we define this ripple to be: dt L L

It can be shown that the solution for the this differential

differential
(2)
is:
equation is:

where:
where:
2lt+a (8)
11RI= 2~ fi;(t)drot (3)
a
where:
where:
is the rms value of the load current,
current, then we can define
define the
normalized ripple or ripple factor which is given by;
</l = tan _[WL]
I Ii (9)
(9)

(4)
(4) equation (1),
Using the same method as was done in equation ( l ) , the
average value of the current described by equation (8) with
conduction angle a
c1 is found to be:
The ripple factor is dimensionless
dimensionless and is useful in measuring
how much deviation the output parameter has from from its
nominal designed
nominal designed value,
value, and therefore plays an important role (10)
designing a converter circuit.
in designing circuit.

determine the ripple factor of our previous example,

To determine example, the equation (8) can be derived by using the same
The rms of equation
rms value of the load current needs to be calculated:
calculated: ( 5 ) which yields to:
definition in equation (5)
definition

(5) (1 I)

1187
1187

.
where:
able to investigate which scheme yields the smallest rippie
ripple
factor. Recall that for the case where the half-wave rectifier
+ ~ [(a-t/l)-t sin 2(a-t/l)] (12) has resistive load only, the ripple factor is found to be
4Lsm 2 t/l
constant as shown in (6).

As previously done in the case of of the purely resistive load, The three different circuit configurations for the half-wave
once the expressions for the average value and the rms are rectifier, as shown in figures 1, I, 3, and 4 are then simulated
obtained, the ripple factor may then be derived using (4). and the results are recorded and compiled to produce several
plots from which we can conveniently check to see which
half wave rectifier is illustrated in figure
A more practical half configuration gives us the best performance in terms of of the
4. Here the insertion of
of an extra diode allows the load current ripple factor. Overall, five different cases are provided using
to continue to flow, or in other words to freewheel
freewheel the different values of of either the resistor load or the inductor.
inductor. The
current.
current. Henceforth, this additional diode is called the first three cases, the value of of the resistor
re::istor is kept constant at
freewheeling diode. For continuous conduction, that is the
freewheeling R=O.10,10, and l0Q
R=O.lQ,lQ, 100 for cases 1,2,
1, 2, and 3 respectively.
respectively. In the
current never decays to zero, it can be shown that the ratio of of last two cases, the inductor values are fixed at kL=30mH 3 0 m H and
the inductor and the load resistor has to be greater than Ida.
1t!ro. 300mH for cases 4 and 5 respectively. The results of of the
computer simulations for all five cases are shown in figures
The load current for this particular circuit can be described 55,6,7,8
, 6 , 7 , 8 and 9.
as::
as
V [ sin(rot-(/»+--:z;-e
iR(t)=-!... sin(/> L -~I] (13) Normalbul
Normalized ~ ipple
Ripple Factor wlth R=O.10 Ohm
with R-0.10

Z l-e 1L
0.8 y---------------...,
when 0 << rot
O o t < 1t
x t 0.7 I\". Without FD

And, ~ 0.6 ----------------1

~
V[ sin (/>
(/> _.!1.(Lt)] (14)
jO.5 wim Fb

J lVr
iR(t)=--.!.. R eL'
Z l-e -u ' 0.4
0.3

< orott e < 2n 0.2 -I---.._

-I---.._ _
where 1t xc 21t
21t
0.24 I , .
~

, ' ,
--l
I
with:
with:
0.0 0.1
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.29 0.3
0 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.6
.6 0.7 0.8
0.8 0.9 1.0
1.0

Z= =~r-R-;:-2
Z Inductence V.lw.8
Indust.llcaValuea fhl
[HI
& q+-:(wL---:-:;-Y
z y (15)

(15)

The same procedure can again be conducted to yield the Fig. 5. Ripple factor with and without Freewheeling Diode (FD)
(FD)
average and rms values of the currents in (13) and (14), as when Rd.lOf2
R=O.lOO -Case
- Case 11
were done in the previous two cases using the same

I
definitions as shown in (3) and ((5)
definitions respectively. Once these
5 ) respectively. NormaliZed Ripple Factor with R-1
Normailzed R=1 Ohm
values
values are obtained,
obtained, then the ripple factor equation for these
currents
currents can be derived using equation (4). 1
1.0,. 0 . . - - - - - . , . . . _ - - - - - - - - - - - ,
I
0.9
0.9

v.
V. COMPUTER SIMULATIONS
,Q :::1'-...
SIMULATIONS ~ 0.8
~ 0.7
Without FD
without FD

To aid the analysis

analysis of the ripple factors
factors of the three cases, 1 --------------j
.66
00.
ii!
ii!

V
namely, 3 0.5
namely, the half-wave rectifier with resistive load, with
inductive
inductive load,
load, and with freewheeling diode, a computer I 0.4
)0.4
wim FD
With FD

simulation
simulation using Pspice is used.
used. Using this tool, we will be
IP ~::",I
I
0.1
0.0 ~_- _ _-
_- _ _-
_- _ _-
_- __ ~

O ' l I
0.0
0.0 0.1
0.1 0.2
0.2 0.3
0.3 0.4
0.4 0.5
0.5 0.6
0.6 0.7
0.7 0.6 0.9
0.8 1.0
1.0
Values M
Inductance Value.lHl
O.O

Fig. 6. Ripple Factor with and

Fig.6. and without Freewheeling (FD)
Freewheeling Diode (FD)
Fig.
Fig. 4.
4. Half-wave
Half-waverectifier
rectifier with inductive
inductive load
load when R=10·
when R=lQ Case
Case 22 -

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1188
 The results show that in general the half-wave rectifier
The
~~

Normalized Ripple Factor R=10 Ohm

Factor with R=10 Ohm I
with freewheeling diode performs the best in terms of the
1.o
1.0
.0 t-----------------..., ripple factor
factor of its output current.
current. In the case of half-wave
0.9 rectifier with resistive load, the value of the ripple factor is
resistive load,
8
~ 0.8
0.8 WlthoutFD
constant at 1.21
1.21 and is independent of the load resistor and
2 0.7 the amplitude of the input voltage source.
source. However, as the
%..
:.
0.6
~ 0.6 results further
further show, this is not true for the other two
.-
~
a o0.5s
...4.~ 0.4 rectifiers with inductive
inductive load where the ripple factor is
dependent upon both the load impedance and the input
$~ 0.3 0.3 With FD source. In the half-wave rectifier with freewheeling diode,
source. diode, if
e~ 02 0.2 1 the load resistor is kept constant
constant while inductance value is
0.1
varied, the ripple factor of half-wave rectifier with
OO.o.J---_-_-.,..-_-_-_-..--_---!
.'
0.0
0.0 0.1
0.0 0.1
~

0.2
0.2 0.3
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.70.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
0.8
freewheeling diode is always lower than those of the other
freewheeling
Inductance Values
Inductance [HI
Values [H]
two rectifiers. Moreover, its minimum ripple factor is found
to be about 0.25. Another interesting observation is that the
higher the value of the load resistor, the higher the value of
Fig. 7. Ripple
Fig. Freewheeling Diode (FD)
Ripple Factor with and without Freewheeling (FD) the inductance needed to reach its minimum ripple factor
when R=lOQ -- Case 3 point. In another case where the inductance is fixed but the
load resistor is varied, the ripple factor for both half-wave
rectifiers with inductive
inductive load will reach its lowest value and
then converges to the ripple factor of the half-wave rectifier

1 ,
NormallzedRipple
Normalized Factor wlth
Ripple Factor L-30
with L..

1.2 . 2 . , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,I /
mH
30 mH
I with resistive load.

~ 1.0 -
1.0
Without FD
WllhoulFO VI. CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
t
EL.a0.8
I-ii:Ba 0.6
I

In this paper, the ripple factor

factor characteristics of three
0.6 - different circuit configurations
different configurations of the half-wave rectifiers
Ij1 were investigated. Several examples on how to derive derive the
r·6
z
4 -
0.4

0.2
equations for the average and rms values were presented from
which the expression for the ripple factor can further be
obtained. Results from
obtained. from computer simulations were provided
0.0 I----_---_---.,..------.---~
o0 10
10 20 30 40 50 and several plots were included from five five different cases.
Resistance Vaiuea
Resistance [Ohms]
Values [Ohms] From these results, it is clear that the smallest
smallest and therefore
the best ripple factor
factor can be obtained when inductive load
with the extra freewheeling
freewheeling diode is used. Further work for
Fig.
Fig. 8. Ripple Factor
8. Ripple (FD)
Factor with and without Freewheeling Diode (FD) this project will include,
include, but not limited to, to, lab
3 O m H - Case 4
when kL=30mH
implementations and measurements
implementations measurements of these circuits to
supply us with empirical results which can then be compared
NormalizedRipple
Normalized Factor wlth
RIpple Faclor L-300 mH
with L=300 mH I with those results that are obtained from the computer
simulations.
simulations.
1.2 r--------------------,
~ 1.0
Withoul
WllhoUIFO
FD REFERENCES
REFERENCES

J5-
.!!
n
0.8
0.8 [ l ] P.T. Krein, Elements of
[I] st
Electronics, 1lst
of Power Electronics, ed.,
ed.,
!l: Oxford, New York, 1998.
1998.
E 0.6
ii: 0.6
I5j 0.4
~ 0.4
o6
=z 0.2
0.2

0
0.0 1. 0 . J - - - _ - - _ - - _ - - _ - - _ - - - lI
o0 100
100 200 300
300 400 500
500 600
[Ohms]
ResistanCBValues [Ohms]
Resistance

Fig. 9. Ripple
Fig. 9. Ripple Factor with and (FD)
and without Freewheeling Diode (FD)
L300mH -- Case 5
when L=300mH

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