FULL WAVE

RECTIFIER

1
 INDEX
S.No. Topic Page no.
1. Introduction – What is a
full wave rectifier
2. Centre tapped full wave
rectifier
 Construction of
centre tapped full
wave rectifier
 Working of
centre-tapped full
wave rectifier
 Output waveforms
 Filter circuit
3. Full wave bridge rectifier
 Construction of
full wave bridge
rectifier
 Principle of full
wave bridge
rectifier
 Filter circuit
4. Full wave rectifier
formula
 Ripple factor od a
full wave rectifier
 Efficiency factor of
a full wave
rectifier
 Form factor of a fu
wave rectifier
5. Advantages of a full wave
rectifier
6. Disadvantages of a full
wave rectifier
Conclusion
7.

2
FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

Introduction
A full wave rectifier is defined as a type of rectifier that converts both halves of each
cycle of an alternating wave (AC signal) into a pulsating DC signal. Full-wave
rectifiers are used to convert AC voltage to DC voltage, requiring multiple diodes to
construct. Full wave rectification is the process of converting an AC signal to a DC
signal.
Circuits that convert alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) are known as
rectifiers. If such rectifiers rectify both the positive and negative half cycles of an input
alternating waveform, the rectifiers are full-wave rectifiers.
Full-wave rectifiers achieve this by using a group of diodes. A diode permits current in
one direction only and blocks the current in the other direction. We use this principle to
construct various rectifiers.
We can classify rectifiers into two types:

1. Half Wave Rectifier

2. Full Wave Rectifier
When we use a half-wave rectifier, a significant amount of power gets wasted as only
one half of each cycle passes through, and the other cycle gets blocked. Moreover, the
half-wave rectifier is not efficient (40.6%), and we can not use it for applications that
need a smooth and steady DC output. For a more efficient and steady DC output, a full
wave rectifier is used.

3
We can further classify full wave rectifiers into:

 Centre-tapped Full Wave Rectifier

 Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

4
Centre-tapped Full Wave Rectifier
Construction of Centre-tapped Full Wave Rectifier
A centre-tapped full-wave rectifier system consists of:

1. Centre-tapped Transformer
2. Two Diodes
3. Resistive Load
Centre-tapped Transformer: – It is a normal transformer with one slight
modification. It has an additional wire connected to the exact centre of the
secondary winding.
This type of construction divides the AC voltage into two equal and opposite
voltages, namely +Ve voltage (Va) and -Ve voltage (Vb). The total output voltage
is

The circuit diagram is as follows -

5
We apply an AC voltage to the input transformer. During the positive half-cycle
of the AC voltage, terminal 1 will be positive, centre-tap will be at zero
potential, and terminal 2 will be negative potential.

This will lead to forwarding bias in diode D1 and cause current to flow through it.
During this time, diode D2 is in reverse bias and will block current through it.

6
During the negative half-cycle of the input AC voltage, terminal 2 will become
positive relative to terminal 2 and centre-tap. This will lead to forwarding bias in
diode D2 and cause current to flow through it. During this time, diode D1 is in
reverse bias and will block current through it.

During the positive cycle, diode D1 conducts, and during the negative cycle,
diode D2 conducts and during the positive cycle.

As a result, both half-cycles are allowed to pass through. The average output
DC voltage here is almost twice the DC output voltage of a half- wave
rectifier.

7
Output Waveforms

Filter Circuit
We get a pulsating DC voltage with many ripples as the output of the centre-
tapped full wave rectifier. We cannot use this pulsating for practical
application.

So, to convert the pulsating DC voltage to pure DC voltage, we use a filter circuit
as shown above. Here we place a capacitor across the load.

The working of the capacitive filter circuit is to short the ripples and block the DC
component so that it flows through another path and is available across the load.

8
During the positive half-wave, the diode D1 starts conducting. The capacitor is
uncharged.
When we apply an input AC voltage that happens to be more than the
capacitor voltage, it charges the capacitor immediately to the maximum value
of the input voltage. At this point, the supply voltage is equal to capacitor
voltage.

When the applied AC voltage starts decreasing and less than the capacitor, the
capacitor starts discharging slowly, but this is slower when compared to the
charging of the capacitor, and it does not get enough time to discharge entirely,
and the charging starts again.
So around half of the charge present in the capacitor gets discharged. During the
negative cycle, the diode D2 starts conducting, and the above process happens
again.
This will cause the current to flow in the same direction across the load.

9
Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
Construction of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
A full wave bridge rectifier is a rectifier that will use four diodes or more than
that in a bridge formation. A full wave bridge rectifier system consists of

1. Four Diodes
2. Resistive Load
We use the diodes, namely A, B, C and D, which form a bridge circuit. The
circuit diagram is as follows.

Principle of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

We apply an AC across the bridge. During the positive half-cycle, terminal 1
becomes positive, and terminal 2 becomes negative.

10
This will cause the diodes A and C to become forward-biased, and the
current will flow through it. Meanwhile, diodes B and D will become
reverse-biased and block current through them. The current will flow from 1
to 4 to 3 to 2.

During the negative half-cycle, terminal 1 will become negative, and

terminal 2 will become positive.

This will cause the diodes B and D to become forward-biased and will allow
current through them. At the same time, diodes A and C will be reverse-biased
and will block the current through them. The current will flow from 2 to 4 to 3
to 1.

11
Filter Circuit
We get a pulsating DC voltage with many ripples as the output of the full wave
bridge rectifier. We can not use this voltage for practical applications.

So, to convert the pulsating DC voltage to pure DC voltage, we use a filter circuit
as shown above. Here we place a capacitor across the load. The working of the
capacitive filter circuit is to short the ripples and block the DC component so that
it flows through another path, and that is through the load.

During the half-wave, the diodes A and C conduct. It charges the capacitor
immediately to the maximum value of the input voltage. When the rectified
pulsating voltage starts decreasing and less than the capacitor voltage, the
capacitor starts discharging and supplies current to the load.

This discharging is slower when compared to the charging of the capacitor, and it does
not get enough time to discharge entirely, and the charging starts again in the next pulse
of the rectified voltage waveform.

12
So around half of the charge present in the capacitor gets discharged. During the
negative cycle, the diodes B and D start conducting, and the above process
happens again. This causes the current to continue to flow through the same
direction across the load.

Full Wave Rectifier Formula

We will now derive the various formulas for a full wave rectifier based on the
preceding theory and graphs above.

Ripple Factor of a Full Wave Rectifier (γ)

‘Ripple’ is the unwanted AC component remaining when converting the AC
voltage waveform into a DC waveform. Even though we try out best to remove
all AC components, there is still some small amount left on the output side
which pulsates the DC waveform. This undesirable AC
component is called ‘ripple’.

To quantify how well the half-wave rectifier can convert the AC voltage into
DC voltage, we use what is known as the ripple factor (represented by γ or r).

The ripple factor is the ratio between the RMS value of the AC voltage (on the
input side) and the DC voltage (on the output side) of the rectifier.

13
The formula for ripple factor is:

Where Vrms is the RMS value of the AC component, and Vdc is the DC component
in the rectifier.
The ripple factor of a centre-tapped full-wave rectifier is equal to 0.48 (i.e.
γ = 0.48).

Note: To construct a good rectifier, we need to keep the ripple factor as

minimum as possible. We can use capacitors or inductors to reduce the ripples
in the circuit.

Efficiency of a Full Wave Rectifier (η)

Rectifier efficiency (η) is the ratio between the output DC power and the input
AC power. The formula for the efficiency is equal to:

The efficiency of a centre-tapped full-wave rectifier is equal to 81.2% (i.e.

ηmax = 81.2%).

Form Factor of a Full Wave Rectifier (F.F)

The form factor is the ratio between RMS value and average value. The
formula for form factor is given below:

The form factor of a centre-tapped full wave rectifier is equal to 1.11 (i.e. FF =
1.11).

14
Advantages of Full Wave Rectifiers
The advantages of full wave rectifiers include:

 Full wave rectifiers have higher rectifying efficiency

than half-wave rectifiers. This means that they convert AC to DC
more efficiently.
 They have low power loss because no voltage signal is wasted in the
rectification process.
 The output voltage of a centre-tapped full wave rectifier has lower
ripples than a halfwave rectifiers.

Disadvantages of Full Wave Rectifiers

The disadvantages of full wave rectifiers include:

 The centre-tapped rectifier is more expensive than a half-

wave rectifier and tends to occupy a lot of space.
 It is difficult to locate the centre tap on the secondary
winding.
 The DC output is small as each diode utilizes only one half of the
transformer's secondary Voltages.
 The diodes used have high peak inverse voltage.
 Full wave rectifier requires more diodes ie two for centre tap
rectifier and four for bridge rectifier
 When a small voltage is required to be rectified this full wave
rectifier circuit is not suitable.

15
 CONCLUSION

To design and simulate a Full Wave Rectifier circuit

with working theory and the analysis for the full- bridge rectifier circuit. The full-
wave rectifier allows us to convert almost all the incoming AC power to DC.

16
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

I MATHESH of class XII,Sun (PCM) hereby declare

that I have done this project with the help of my parents, friends and subject
teacher.
For finalizing thus project I have used the following sources –
 Physics ncert book

 electrical4u.com
 electronicpost.com
 dhana.com

17