Experiment Name:

Diode Rectifier circuits.

Objective:
Study of different diode rectifier circuits.

List of Equipment:

No Component Details Specification Quantity

1. p-n junction diode 1N4007 4 pieces
2. Resistor 10KΩ 1 piece
3. Capacitor 0.22µF, 10µF 1 piece each
4. Signal generator 1 unit
5. Trainer Board 1 unit
6. Oscilloscope 1 unit
7. Digital Multimeter 1 unit
8. Chords and wire as required

Theory:

Rectifier: Rectifiers generally converts an AC signal into a DC signal. We know that, if allows the current to
flow when it is in the forward bias only (according to the characteristic curve of a diode). In the reverse
bias the act is zero (0) so it remains open. So, when an alternating signal is applied across a diode it allows
only the half cycle (positive half cycle depending on the orientation of diode in the circuit) during its forward
bias condition, other half cycle will be clipped off. In the output the load will get DC signal.
Diode rectifier can be categorized in two major types. They are -
1. Half-wave rectifier.
2. Full-wave rectifier.

Half - Wave Rectifier: The diode only conducts when it is forward biased, therefore only half of the
AC cycle passes through the diode to the output. It can be built by using a single diode.

Half wave rectifier

Disadvantages of Half wave rectifier:

i) In this circuit the load receives approximately half of input power.

 ii) Average DC voltage is low.

iii) Due to the presence of ripple output voltage is not smooth

one. iv)Harmonics are generated.

Full-wave: The rectification process can be improved by using a full-wave rectifier circuit. Full-
wave rectification produces a greater DC output. In the full-wave rectifier both the half cycle is
present in the output. Two circuits are used as full-wave. They are-
a) Full-wave rectifier using center-tapped transformer.
b) Full-wave bridge rectifier.

Full-wave rectifier using center-tapped transformer: Here, only two diodes but requires a center-tapped
(CT) transformer to establish the input signal across each section of the secondary of the transformer.

Full Wave Rectifier Using Center Tapped Transformer

Full-wave rectifier using center-tapped transformer circuit has some advantages over full-wave rectifier.
i) Wastage of power is less.
ii) Average DC output increase significantly.
iii) Wave shape becomes smoother.

The disadvantages of full-wave rectifier using center-tapped transformer are -

i) Requires more space and becomes bulky because of the transformer.
ii) Not cost effective (for using transformer).

Full-wave bridge rectifier: This rectifier overcomes all the disadvantages of described above. Here,
four diodes are connected in a bridge configuration.

Full-wave bridge rectifier

Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
Name : Merazul Hassan Moon
ID:2222407043
 Data Table:

Theoretical value: R = 10 kΩ
Measured value: R = 10.06 kΩ
Peak to Peak Output Voltage:
Half Wave Rectifier Full Wave Rectifier
Without Capacitor 4.88 V 4.24 V
With 0.22 μF 1.60 V 1.84 mV
With 10 μF 0.32 mV 0.34mV

Without Capacitor:

Type Input Halfwave Full wave Bridge

Rectifier Output Rectifier Output
Vp-p 10.00 V 4.60 V 4.16V
Vmax 5.12 V 4.72 V 4.2V
Vmin -4.96 V 0.00 mV 80mV

For 0.22 μF:

Type Input Halfwave Full wave Bridge

Rectifier Output Rectifier Output
Vp-p 10.00 V 1.52 V 720mV
Vmax 5.12 V 4.64V 4.08V
Vmin -4.96 V 3.30 V 3.36V

For 10 μF:

Type Input Halfwave Rectifier Full wave Bridge

Output Rectifier Output
Vp-p 10.00 V 240 mV 80mV
Vmax 5.12 V 4.40 V 3.92V
Vmin -4.96 V 4.16 V 3.84V
Questions & Answers:

1. For Fig 2.4 and Fig 2.5, draw the input-output wave shape without
capacitor, with 0.22μF capacitor and 10μF capacitor.
Answer: Graph (a) to (f).

2. Compare the change in the wave shape and peak to peak values for no
capacitor at the output to 0.22 μF to 10 μF.
Answer:
Halfwave rectifier: In the case of a halfwave rectifier without capacitor provides a waveform of a positive
half cycle of a sinusoidal function only. The negative half-cycle is blocked by the diode. The amplitude of
the positive half cycle is 0.4V less than the amplitude of the input signal. Since the peak-to-peak voltage is
4.6V, the output voltage varies between 0V to 4.6V

After connecting the 0.22µF capacitor the output waveform changed, this time it doesn’t looks like a sinusoidal
function. It became like a sawtooth waveform with rounded corner at the top. Here the vmax reduced (4.72V-
4.64V) =0.08V and the falling slope became more horizontal than before. Then the vmin raised from 0V to
3.3V. And the peak-to-peak voltage is reduced from 4.6V to 1.52V that means the output ripple became less
than the before.
Changing the capacitor from 0.22uF to 10uF the output waveform looks like a horizontal line. That means
the output voltage is almost a constant voltage. The amplitude of the output voltage became 4.4V and peak
to peak voltage is 240mV therefore the output voltage variation reduced significantly compare to the output
voltage at 0.22uF capacitor and the output ripple too.

Full wave bridge rectifier: With no capacitor, the output signal is the form of a |sin x| function. Also, here the
output peak to peak to voltage is 4.16V. But the amplitude is 0.91V less than the input, because two diodes
are conducting at the same time and the output voltage will be (2×Vd) less than the input. After connecting
the 0.22uF capacitor at the output the waveform became close to horizontal containing moderate voltage ripple
with a peak-to-peak voltage 720mV. And then changing the capacitor to 10uF the output graph became
horizontal line with a voltage ripple 80mV peak to peak which is veery little compare to the before, that
means now we can consider the output voltage as a pure DC voltage.

3. Explain the effect on the output signal for changing the frequency of the input signal

Answer: As we start to reduce the source frequency the output ripple period was getting longer also the
voltage variation will be higher in all the cases, because the capacitance at the output is not sufficient enough
to hold the charge for longer ripple period. Bigger capacitance will hold the charge for longer time and will
do better job at filtering and to reduce the voltage variation. For increasing frequency 0.22uF and 10uF
capacitor will to much better than before because the capacitor will charge up more frequently and the ripple
period will also decrease. Resulting the peak-to-peak voltage variation to reduce.

4. Between half wave and full wave which circuit produces smoother output? Briefly explain in context
with your data collection.
Answer: Full wave bridge rectifier produces smoother output, because the output of the halfwave rectifier
has the same frequency of the input, but the output frequency of the full wave rectifier is double of the input
frequency. That means the full wave rectifier has a shorter period compare to the half wave rectifier and the
capacitor of the full wave rectifier will charge up more frequently and the ripple period is also half of the half
wave rectifier. Thus, the output voltage variation is also small. Also our experiment result shows that the
peak to peak voltage ripple on half wave rectifier is 240 mV, on the other hand the peak to peak voltage
variation of the full wave rectifier is 80mV. Also, full wave rectifier provides more average power than the
half wave rectifier. Which means full wave rectifier provides smoother output and better for rectification.

Discussion: In this experiment, we learned about different diode rectifier circuits, how they work, their
output waveform, and how we can get a DC signal out of an AC signal. The first part of our experiment was
a half-wave rectifier and the second part was a full-wave rectifier.
At the beginning of the experiment, we gathered theoretical knowledge about the half-wave rectifier and the
full-wave rectifier. According to our list of equipment, we collected the electrical equipment needed to
conduct our experiment. Since the real value of our circuit elements may differ a little, we measured the
resistors and capacitors and noted them on a data table. Following the manual provided circuit we built the
circuit on a breadboard and double-checked every connection. while connecting the function generator to the
input of our circuit we did make sure the source waveform is sinusoidal, the frequency is 1Khz and the
amplitude is 10V peak to peak. In the case of halfwave rectifier, the input and output ground are the same
node so we can use both channels of our oscilloscope simultaneously. But for the full wave bridge rectifier,
there is no common node between input and output for that we can’t connect the oscilloscope ground on two
different nodes of our circuit, otherwise the nodes will be sorted through oscilloscope ground. We can use
one channel at a time or the math function to take measurement. Another caution is the oscilloscope’s
coupling setting, while measuring the circuit output the oscilloscope channel will be DC coupled. After taking
all the measurement we wrote then on the data table. And Compare to our theoretical calculation our
practically measured values have a little error, this is because of the imperfection of our circuit element.
Every resistor and capacitor value have temperature effect and accuracy limitation. Precise circuit elements
and measurement tools will help to reduce the measurement error significantly. After-all our experiment went
well as we expected according to our theoretical knowledge. We are sure that full wave rectifier is better for
rectification because it provides smoother output voltage and more average power.