Islamic University of Technology

COURSE NO: EEE 4204

COURSE TITLE : Electronics- I (Software) Lab

EXPERIMENT NO. : 02
Study of Half Wave and Full Wave Rectifier and its
Applications

Submitted by: MD ROUFUR RAHIM HANJALA

Student ID: 210021130

Section: A
Date of submission: 11-02-23
Task 01:
Theory:
The process of converting an alternating current into direct current is known as
rectification. The unidirectional conduction property of semiconductor diodes
(junction diodes) is used for rectification. Rectifiers are of two types: (a) Half
wave rectifier and (b) Full wave rectifier. In a half wave rectifier circuit (Fig. 1),
during the positive half-cycle of the input, the diode is forward biased and
conducts. Current flows through the load and a voltage is developed across it.
During the negative half-cycle, it is reverse bias and does not conduct. Therefore,
in the negative half cycle of the supply, no current flows in the load resistor as no
voltage appears across it. Thus the dc voltage across the load is sinusoidal for the
first half cycle only and a pure ac input signal is converted into a unidirectional
pulsating output signal.

Fig.1: Half-wave rectifier circuit

Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

Alternative Procedure:

Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

Task 02:

Theory:
The output of a rectifier gives a pulsating dc signal (Fig.1) because of presence of
some ac components whose frequency is equal to that of the ac supply frequency.
Very often when rectifying an alternating voltage we wish to produce a "steady"
direct voltage free from any voltage variations or ripple. Filter circuits are used to
smoothen the output. Various filter circuits are available such as shunt capacitor,
series inductor, choke input LC filter and π-filter etc. Here we will use a simple
shunt capacitor filter circuit (Fig. 2). Since a capacitor is open to dc and offers
low impedance path to ac current, putting a capacitor across the output will make
the dc component to pass through the load resulting in small ripple voltage.

Fig.2: Half-wave rectifier circuit with capacitor filter

The working of the capacitor can be understood in the following manner. When
the rectifier output voltage is increasing, the capacitor charges to the peak voltage
Vm. Just past the positive peak the rectifier output voltage tries to fall. As the
source voltage decreases below Vm , the capacitor will try to send the current back
to diode making it reverse biased. Thus the diode separates/disconnects the source
from the load and hence the capacitor will discharge through the load until the
source voltage becomes more than the capacitor voltage. The diode again starts
conducting and the capacitor is again charged to the peak value Vm and the
process continues. Although in the output waveform the discharging of capacitor
is shown as a straight line for simplicity, the decay is actually the normal
exponential decay of any capacitor discharging through a load resistor. The extent
to which the capacitor voltage drops depends on the capacitance and the amount
of current drawn by the load; these two factors effectively form the RC time
constant for voltage decay. A proper combination of large capacitance and small
load resistance can give out a steady output.

Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

After increasing capacitance value 1000 times:

Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

So, After increasing the value of capacitance the ripples become almost straight.

Task 03:

Theory:
A half-wave rectifier circuit is unsuitable to applications that need a "steady and
smooth" dc supply voltage. One method to improve on this is to use every half-
cycle of the input voltage instead of every other half-cycle. The circuit which
allows us to do this is called a Full-wave Rectifier. Here, unidirectional current
flows in the output for both the cycles of input signal and rectifies it. The
rectification can be done either by a center tap full wave rectifier (using two
diodes) or a full wave bridge rectifier (using four diodes). In this experiment we
will study a full wave bridge rectifier.
Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

Task 04:
Theory:
The full-wave rectifier circuit with capacitor filter is shown in Fig. 3. The
smoothing capacitor converts the full-wave rippled output of the rectifier into a
smooth dc output voltage. The detailed description of its filtering action is already
explained .

Fig.3: Full-wave rectifier circuit with capacitor filter

Circuit Diagram:

Graph:
 Assignments

(1)
Half-Bridge Rectifier:
Circuit Diagram:

Graph:
Full-Bridge Rectifier:
Circuit Diagram:

Graph:

(2)

As the source voltage reaches its positive peak, the coil will be saturated with energy,
creating a magnetic field. During the negative half-cycle, this field collapses and a
voltage is induced in the coil in the opposite direction, causing a current to flow. This
process is known as electromagnetic induction.

Circuit Diagram:
Graph:

The shape of the wave indicates that the output is almost a complete sine wave,
which is not typical for a diode. This is due to the presence of an inductor in the
circuit. The inductor acquires this energy during the positive half-cycle. This negative
voltage is created by the inductor due to its property of storing energy in the form of
a magnetic field. As the diode blocks the current flow, the energy stored in the
magnetic field is released, creating a negative voltage that nearly creates a full sine
wave.
(3)
Circuit Diagram:

Graph:

This is the reason for the irregularity in the waveform. The inductor is unable to instantly discharge
its stored energy, and instead releases it slowly, leading to the sine wave shape. This creates an
irregularity in the waveform, as the inductor takes longer to discharge its energy compared to the
other components in the circuit.The inductor is essentially a storage device, it collects energy as the
voltage rises and then releases it as the voltage falls. The gradual decline of the waveform is a
result of the inductor's releasing of the stored energy, which causes the waveform to return to 0V.
Discussion:
The experiment provided a hands-on experience in understanding basic principles of
rectifiers and power supplies.The results showed that the full wave rectifier had a
greater output voltage than the half wave rectifier, and that the capacitor smoothed
out the DC pulses, making a more consistent DC output. These findings demonstrate
how rectifiers and capacitors can be used to convert AC to DC power, and how
capacitors can be used to improve the consistency of the output.