Heaven’s Light is Our Guide

Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Course No: MTE 3202

Course Title: Power Electronics and Drives Sessional

No of Experiment: 01
Name of Experiment: Observation of a single-phase half wave rectifier circuit
with R-load.

Submitted By
Kamrul Hasan
Roll: 1708006
Date of Submission: 06-06-2022

Submitted to
Zinat Tasneem
Assistant Professor,
&
Subrata Kumar Sarkar
Lecturer,
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, RUET
Experiment No.: 01
Experiment Name: Observation of a single-phase half wave rectifier circuit with R-load.
Objectives
• To observe the rectification of AC to DC.
• To observe the principle of semiconductor diode in a half wave rectifier circuit.
• To observe the voltage output and generate waveform out of that.

Theory
A rectifier is an electronic device that converts AC voltage into DC voltage. In other words, it
converts alternating current to direct current. A rectifier is used in almost all electronic devices.
Mostly it is used to convert the mains voltage into DC voltage in the power supply section. By
using DC voltage supply electronic devices work.

A half wave rectifier is defined as a type of rectifier that only allows one half-cycle of an AC
voltage waveform to pass, blocking the other half-cycle. Half-wave rectifiers are used to convert
AC voltage to DC voltage, and only require a single diode to construct.

A half wave rectifier is the simplest form of rectifier available. We will look at a complete half
wave rectifier circuit later – but let’s first understand exactly what this type of rectifier is doing.

The diagram below illustrates the basic principle of a half-wave rectifier. When a standard AC
waveform is passed through a half-wave rectifier, only half of the AC waveform remains. Half-
wave rectifiers only allow one half-cycle (positive or negative half-cycle) of the AC voltage
through and will block the other half-cycle on the DC side, as seen below.

Figure 1.01: Pulsating DC current

Only one diode is required to construct a half-wave rectifier. In essence, this is all that the half-
wave rectifier is doing.

Since DC systems are designed to have current flowing in a single direction (and constant voltage
– which we’ll describe later), putting an AC waveform with positive and negative cycles through
a DC device can have destructive (and dangerous) consequences. So, we use half-wave rectifiers
to convert the AC input power into DC output power.
But in the circuit board all the components are placed. All we need to do is wiring or connecting
as the circuit diagram.

A half wave rectifier circuit diagram looks like this:

Figure 1.02: A half wave rectifier circuit diagram with pulse

Figure 1.03: A half wave rectifier circuit diagram

Working Procedure
1. The circuit as shown in the circuit diagram was connected.
2. The input signal as specified was given.
3. The power supply was switched on.
4. The values of AC and DC voltages were noted down.
5. The necessary waveforms were observed.
Circuit Connections

Figure 1.04: Circuit board with wiring

Output Waveform

Figure1.05: I/P & O/P Waveform of a single-phase half wave rectifier

Calculations
𝑽𝑽𝒎𝒎
𝑽𝑽𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 = = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓
𝝅𝝅
𝑽𝑽𝒎𝒎
𝑽𝑽𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓 = = 𝟐𝟐. 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓
𝟐𝟐
𝑽𝑽𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓 𝟐𝟐. 𝟓𝟓
𝑭𝑭𝑭𝑭 = = = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓
𝑽𝑽𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 𝟏𝟏. 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓

𝑽𝑽𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓 𝟐𝟐 𝟐𝟐. 𝟓𝟓 𝟐𝟐
𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹 = �( ) − 𝟏𝟏 = �( ) − 𝟏𝟏 = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐
𝑽𝑽𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 𝟏𝟏. 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓

Table 1.01
Vm (max) Frequency, f Vdc(avg) FF RF

5V 21.26 Hz 1.59V 1.572 1.213

Discussions
The graph above actually shows a positive half wave rectifier. This is a half-wave rectifier which
only allows the positive half-cycles through the diode, and blocks the negative half-cycle.
Conversely, a negative half-wave rectifier will only allow negative half-cycles through the diode
and will block the positive half-cycle. The only difference between a positive and negative half
wave rectifier is the direction of the diode.

Again, when a diode conducts there is about a 0.7 volt drop across it, it varies with temperature
and current. For this we get a voltage drop in output.