ARCHIES HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL

600,Ghurwakhera Sanigawan
Kanpur

SESSION
2023 - 24
PHYSICS

INVESTIGATORY PROJECT WORK

RECTIFIER

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Mr. Sujeet Kumar Dwivedi Tanisha Bajpai
( PGT Physics ) XII - A
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Tanisha Bajpai,a student

of class XII, ARCHIES HIGHER SECONDARY
SCHOOL has successfully completed the
project titled RECTIFIER during the academic
year 2023 - 24 towards partial fulfillment of
Physics practical examination conducted by
CBSE.

Teacher’s signature Principal’s signature

External Examiner’s Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my physics teacher, MR.

SUJEET KUMAR DWIVEDI, whose valuable
guidance has been the ones that helped me
patch this project and make it a full proof
success. Their suggestions and instructions
had served as the major contributor towards
the completion of the project.
Then I would like to thank my family and
friends who have helped me with their
valuable suggestions and guidance has been
helpful in various phases of completion of the
project.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my

classmates who’ve helped me a lot.
 INDEX

 Certificate
 Acknowledgement
 Aim of project
 Introduction
 Principle of rectifier
 Types of rectifiers
 Half wave rectifier with output
waveform
 Full wave rectifier with output
waveform
 Applications of rectifiers
 Bibliography

AIM OF PROJECT
A brief introduction about

RECTIFIER

INTRODUCTION
Many electronic circuits used DC voltage for operation.
We can easily convert AC voltage or current into DC
voltage or current by using a device known as p-n
junction diode. A p-n junction diode allows electric
current to flow in forward bias condition and blocks
the current in reverse bias condition. Simple, a diode
allows electric current to flow in one direction only.
This unique property of diode allows it to act as a
rectifier. Let us learn more about rectifiers in this
article…

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts

alternating current ( AC ), which periodically reverses
direction, to direct current ( DC ), which flows only in
one direction. This process is known as rectification.
Rectification produces a type of DC that encompasses
active voltages and current, which are then adjusted
into a type of constant voltage DC, although this varies
depending on the current’s end-use. The current is
allowed to flow uninterrupted in one direction, and no
current is allowed to flow in opposite direction.

PRINCIPLE
When a p-n junction diode is forward biased, it offers
less resistance and current flows through it; but when
it is reverse biased, it offers high resistance and
almost no current flows through it. This uni-directional
property of diode enables it to be rectifier. When A.C
signal is fed to a diode, the diode is forward biased
during the positive half cycle and current flows
through it. During the negative half cycle, the diode is
reverse biased and it does not conduct. Thus the signal
is rectified.

TYPES OF RECTIFIERS
The rectifiers are mainly classified into two types as:
 Half wave rectifier
 Full wave rectifier

HALF WAVE
RECTIFIER
A Half wave rectifier is the simplest form of rectifier
and requires only one diode for the construction of a
half wave rectifier circuit.
It consists of three main components as follows:
 A diode
 A transformer
 A resistive load

WORKING
A high AC voltage is applied to the primary side of the
step-down transformer. The obtained secondary low
voltage is applied to the diode.The diode is forward
biased during the positive half cycle of the AC voltage
and reverse biased during the negative half cycle. The
diode D is forward biased and a current I flows
through RL. As the input voltage increases or
decreases, the current I also increases or decreases
and so does output voltage ( =IRL ) across the load RL.
Output voltage across RL is same waveform as the
positive half wave of the input.
During the negative half cycle, the end A becomes
negative and B positive. No voltage appears across R L.
In the next positive half cycle, again we get output
voltage. The output voltage is uni-directional but
pulsating. Since the voltage across the load appears
only during the positive half cycle of the output A.C,
this process is called half wave rectification and the
arrangement is known as half wave rectifier.

OUTPUT WAVEFORM

FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

The circuit of the full wave rectifier consists of a
step-down transformer and two diodes D1 and D2that
are connected and centre tapped. The output voltage is
obtained across the connected load resistor RL.

WORKING

The input AC supplied to the full wave rectifier is very

high. The step-down transformer in the rectifier
circuit converts the high voltage AC into low voltage
AC. The anode of the centre tapped diodes is
connected to the transformer’s secondary winding and
connected to the load resistor. During the positive half
cycle of the alternating current, the top half of the
secondary winding becomes positive while the second
half of the secondary winding becomes negative.

During the positive half cycle, diode D1 is forward

biased as it is connected to the top of the secondary
winding while diode D2 is reverse biased as it is
connected to the bottom of the secondary winding. Due
to this, diode D1 will conduct acting as a short circuit
and D2 will not conduct acting as an open circuit.

During the negative half cycle, the diode D1 is reverse

biased and the diode D2 is forward biased because the
top half of the secondary circuit becomes negative and
the bottom half of the circuit becomes positive. Thus
in a full wave rectifiers, DC voltage is obtained for
both positive and negative half cycle.

OUTPUT WAVEFORM

APPLICATIONS
The primary application of the rectifier is to derive DC
power from AC power. Rectifiers are used inside the
power supplies of almost all electronic equipment. In
power supplies, the rectifier is normally placed in
series following the transformer, a smoothing filter,
and possibly a voltage regulator. Some other
applications of rectifiers are discussed below:

 All electrical appliances use a DC power supply to

function. Using a rectifier in the power supply helps
in converting AC to DC power supply.
 Using a half wave rectifier can help us achieve the
desired DC voltage by step-down or step-up
transformer.
 A half wave rectifier is used in soldering iron types
of circuits and is also used in mosquito repellent to
drive the lead for the fumes.
 They are also used in AM radio as a detector
because the output consists of an audio signal.
 Full wave rectifiers are used in Uninterrupted Power
Supply ( UPS ) circuits to convert AC to DC.
 Car alternators make use of rectifiers to charge the
batteries during the running of the car.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
@ New Simplified Physics S.L Arora CLASS XII
@ www.google.com
@ https://byjus.com
@ https;//en.wikipedia.org