Experiment No: Date:

Half Wave Diode Rectifier

Objectives

1. To study and analyse the operation of half-wave rectifiers.

2. Determine the average value of a half-wave rectified voltage

Components and Equipment required

CRO, function generator, multimeter, bread board, Carbon film resistor, diode, connecting
wires, BNC probes tweezer, wire stripper etc.

Circuit Diagram

Half wave diode rectifier

Input waveform Output waveform

Theory

Rectifier may be defined as an electronic device used to convert ac voltage or current

into unidirectional voltage or current. Essentially rectifier needs unidirectional device. Diode
has unidirectional property hence suitable for rectifier. Rectifier broadly divided into two
categories: Half wave rectifier and full wave rectifier.
One of the very important applications of diode is in DC power supply as a rectifier to convert
AC into DC. DC Power supply is the important element of any electronic equipment. This is
because it provides power to energize all electronic circuits like oscillators, amplifiers and so
on. In electronic equipment, D.C. Power supply is must.
During each “positive” half cycle of the AC sine wave, the diode is forward biased as the anode
is positive with respect to the cathode resulting in current flowing through the diode.
Since the DC load is resistive (resistor, R), the current flowing in the load resistor is therefore
proportional to the voltage (Ohm´s Law), and the voltage across the load resistor will therefore
be the same as the supply voltage, Vs, that is the “DC” voltage across the load is Vout = Vs.
During each “negative” half cycle of the AC sinusoidal input waveform, the diode is reverse
biased as the anode is negative with respect to the cathode. Therefore, NO current flows
through the diode or circuit. Then in the negative half cycle of the supply, no current flows in
the load resistor as no voltage appears across it so therefore, Vout = 0.
The current on the DC side of the circuit flows in one direction only making the circuit
Unidirectional.
.
Procedure

1. Rig up the half wave rectifier circuit after testing all the components.
2. Connect the CRO channel I across the function generator to view the input waveform and
the channel II across the resistor for viewing output waveform.
3. Set the function generator output at 6V (1000 Hz) peak to peak sine wave and feed it to the
input of the circuit.
4. Observe the input and output waveform of the circuit on the CRO screen. Voltage: Voltage
is shown on the vertical y-axis and the scale is determined by the Y AMPLIFIER (VOLTS/CM)
control. Usually peak-peak voltage is measured because it can be read correctly even if the
position of 0V is not known. The amplitude is half the peak-peak voltage.
5. Plot the input and output waveform on a graph sheet.

Observations
a) Measurement of input voltage

Peak Amplitude =…………. div X ………….V/div =…………..

b) Measurement of output voltage

Peak Amplitude =…………. div X …………. V/div =…………..

 Input Peak voltage Output peak voltage

Result & Inference