It can be shown that β increases with φ. From Equation (9.

29), V0AV decreases with

increasing β while V0RMS increases with β. Therefore, with increasing φ (and hence increasing
L) the form factor and the ripple factor of v0 worsens. However, the ripple factor of i0 decreases
with increasing L. Therefore, in certain applications, where a smooth dc current is of prime
importance (e.g. the field supply of a dc motor) this configuration of the rectifier is preferred.

The problem of poor form factor (ripple factor) of the output voltage can be solved to
some extent by connecting a capacitor across the load resistance of Fig 9.2 (a). This single phase
half wave rectifier supplying a capacitive load is shown in Fig 9.5 (a). Corresponding
waveforms are shown in Fig 9.5 (b).

If the capacitor was initially discharged the diode “D” is forward biased when the switch
S is turned on at ωt = 0. The output voltage follows the input voltage. The diode D carries both
the capacitor charging current and the load current. At ωt = β the sum of these two currents
becomes zero and tends to grow in the negative direction. At this point the diode becomes

Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 12