Experiment-7
Object- To study the application of Diode as a Rectifier.
Apparatus Required-
S. No. Name of Equipment Quantity Specifications
1 Single Phase Transformer 01 230/115V
2 Rectifier 01 --------
3 C. R. O. 01 20 Mz
4 Connecting Wires 10 ---------
Theory- The electrical power is generated, transmitted and distributed as a. c. for economical reasons.
As such, an alternating voltage is available at the mains. But most of the electronic circuits need d. c.
voltage for their operation.
Therefore, now a days almost all electronic equipment included a circuit that converts a. c. voltage
mains supply, in to d. c. voltage. This part of the equipment is known as Rectifier.
The following two rectifier circuits are generally used.
(A). Half-wave rectifiers (B). Full-Wave rectifiers
(A). Half-wave Rectifier- In half wave rectification, when a. c. supply is applied at input, positive half
cycle appears across the load, whereas the negative half cycle is suppressed.
Circuit- For half wave rectification, only one diode is used. It is connected in the circuit as shown in fig
5.18. The a. c. supply to be rectified is generally given through a transformer. It also isolate the rectifier
circuit from power lines and thus reduce the risk of electrical shock.
Operation- When a. c. supply is switched ON the alternating voltage (Vin), as shown in fig 5.19(a),
appears across the terminal AB at secondary winding. During positive half cycle the terminal A is positive
w.r.t. B and the diode is forward biased. Therefore, it conducts and current (i) flows through the load
resistor RL. This current varies in magnitude as shown in the wave diagram in fig5.19(b). Thus, a positive
half cycle of out put voltage (Vout = iRL) appears across load resistors as shown in fig. 5.19(c). During
negative half cycle, the terminal A is negative w.r.t. B and the diode is reverse biased. Under this
condition, the diode does not conduct and no current flows through the circuit. Therefore, no voltage
appears across the load in the negative half cycle of the input.
(B). Full-wave Rectifier- In full wave rectification, when a. c. supply is applied at the input, during both
the half cycles current flows through the load in the same direction. This can be achieved by using at
least two diodes, conducting current alternatively.
To obtain same direction of flow of current in the load during both half cycles of input, following two
circuits are commonly used.
1. Centre tap full wave rectifier 2. Full wave bridge rectifier
1. Centre tap full wave rectifier – A center tap, full wave rectifier circuit is shown in fig 5.23. It
employs,a transformer with secondary winding AB tapped at the centre point C. The two diodes D1 and
D2 are connected in the circuit so that each one of them uses one half cycle of input a. c. voltage. The
diode D1 utilises the a. c. voltage appearing across the positive half cycle (AC) of secondary winding for
rectification while D2 uses the negative half cycle (CB)of secondary winding .
Operation- When a. c. supply is switched ON the alternating voltage Vin appears across the terminal AB
of secondary winding of transformer. During positive half Cycle at secondary voltage, the end A
becomes positive and end B negative. This makes the diode D1 forward biased and diode D2 reverse
biased. Therefore, diode D1 conducts while diode D2 does not. Thus, current (i) flows through diode D1 to
load resistor and the positive half cycle of secondary as shown in fig 5.23 by bold arrow heads. During
negative half cycle the end B becomes positive and end A becomes negatives. This makes diode D2
forward biased and diode D1 reverse biased. Therefore, diode D2 conducts while diode D1 does not.
Thus, the current (i) flows through diode D2 to load resistor and the negative half cycle of secondary
winding as shown in fig 5.23 by dotted arrow. It may be seen that the current flows through the load
resistors in the same direction during both half cycles of a. c. input voltage. Therefore, d. c. output
voltage (Vout = iRL) is obtained across the load resistor R L. The wave diagram of input voltage and output
voltage is shown in fig 5.24 (a), (b) and (c).
2. Full wave bridge rectifier- Fig 5.26 shows the circuit of a full wave bridge rectifier. In this circuit, an
ordinary transformer is used in place of a centre tap transformer. The circuit contains four diodes D1, D2,
D3 and D4 connected to form a bridge. The a. c. supply to be rectified is applied to the diagonally
opposite ends of the bridge. Whereas, the load resistance RL is connected across the remaining two
diagonally opposite ends of the bridge.
Operation-When an a. c. supply is switched on, the alternating voltage Vin appears across the terminal
AB of secondary winding of transformer which needs rectification.
During positive half cycle of secondary voltage, the end A becomes positive and end B negative. This
makes diodes D1 and D3 forward biased and diodes D2and D4 reverse biased. Therefore, diode D1 and D3
conduct while diodes D2 and D4 do not. Thus, current (i) flows through diodeD1, load resistor RL, diode D3
and secondary winding of transformer. The output of current is shown in fig 5.27 (b).
During negative half cycle, the end A becomes negative and end B positive. This brings diodes D2 and D4
under forward bias and diodes D1 and D3 under reverse bias. Therefore, diodes D2 and D4 conduct while
diodes D1 and D3 do not. Thus, current (i) flows through diodes D2, load resistor RL, diode D4 and
secondary winding of transformer. The wave shape of the out put is shown in fig 5.27 (c).
