dr.

nalli kuppuswami
vivekanada vidyalaya junior
college

physics project
2022-2023
By
k. niranjan
xii-b1
 content

➢ Certificate
➢ Acknowledge
➢ Aim
➢ Intoduction
➢ Mateial Required
➢ Theory
➢ Circuit Diagram
➢ Procedure
➢ Working Principle
➢ Application
➢ conculsion
➢ Bibliography
 Aim

To construct a full wave and half wave

rectifier and show that alternating
current is rectified into a direct current.
 Introduction
A rectifier is an electrical device
that converts alternating current (AC), which
periodically reverses direction, to direct
current (DC), which flows in only one direction.
The reverse operation is performed by
the inverter.
The process is known as rectification, since it
"straightens" the direction of current. Physically,
rectifiers take a number of forms, including vacuum
tube diodes, wet chemical cells, mercury-arc
valves, stacks of copper and selenium oxide
plates, semiconductor diodes, silicon-controlled
rectifiers and other silicon-based semiconductor
switches. Historically, even synchronous
electromechanical switches and motor-generator
sets have been used. Early radio receivers,
called crystal radios, used a "cat's whisker" of fine
wire pressing on a crystal of galena to serve as a
point-contact rectifier or "crystal detector".
Rectifiers have many uses, but are often found
serving as components of DC power
supplies and high-voltage direct current power
transmission systems. Rectification may serve in
roles other than to generate direct current for use
as a source of power. As
noted, detectors of radio signals serve as rectifiers.
In gas heating systems flame rectification is used to
detect presence of a flame.
Depending on the type of alternating current
supply and the arrangement of the rectifier circuit,
the output voltage may require additional
smoothing to produce a uniform steady voltage.
Many applications of rectifiers, such as power
supplies for radio, television and computer
equipment, require a steady constant DC voltage
(as would be produced by a battery). In these
applications the output of the rectifier is smoothed
by an electronic filter, which may be
a capacitor, choke, or set of capacitors, chokes
and resistors, possibly followed by a voltage
regulator to produce a steady voltage. More
complex circuitry that performs the opposite
function, that is converting DC to AC, is called
an inverter.

➢ Full Wave Rectifier:-

While this method may be suitable for low power
applications it is unsuitable to applications which
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.
Like the half wave circuit, a full wave rectifier circuit
produces an output voltage or current which is
purely DC or has some specified DC component.
Full wave rectifiers have some fundamental
advantages over their half wave rectifier
counterparts. The average (DC) output voltage is
higher than for half wave, the output of the full
wave rectifier has much less ripple than that of the
half wave rectifier producing a smoother output
waveform.
In a Full Wave Rectifier circuit two diodes are
now used, one for each half of the cycle. A multiple
winding transformer is used whose secondary
winding is split equally into two halves with a
common centre tapped connection, (C).
This configuration results in each diode conducting
in turn when its anode terminal is positive with
respect to the transformer centre
point C producing an output during both half-
cycles, twice that for the half wave rectifier so it is
100% efficient as shown below.
➢ Half Wave Rectifier:-
A half wave rectifier is a type of rectifier which
converts the positive half cycle of the input signal
into pulsating DC output signal. The half wave
rectifier is the simplest form of the rectifier. We
use only a single diode to construct the half wave
rectifier.
Half-wave rectifiers transform AC voltage to DC
voltage. A half wave rectifier circuit uses only one
diode for the transformation. A half wave rectifier
is defined as a type of rectifier that allows only one-
half cycle of an AC voltage waveform to pass while
blocking the other half cycle. In this session, let us
know in detail about the half-wave rectifier.
A rectifier is a device that converts alternating
current (AC) to direct current (DC). It is done by
using a diode or a group of diodes. Half wave
rectifiers use one diode, while a full wave rectifier
uses multiple diodes.
The working of a half wave rectifier takes advantage
of the fact that diodes only allow current to flow in
one direction.
 Material required

• Transformer 12 v
• Diode 4007
• Capacitor 25 v
• Resistance 220 ohm
• Led Light (5mm)
• Connecting Wire
• Soldering Iron
• Multi-metre
 Theory
The full wave rectifier circuit consists of two power
diodes connected to a single load resistance (RL)
with each diode taking it in turn to supply current
to the load. When point A of the transformer is
positive with respect to point C, diode D1
conducts in the forward direction as indicated by
the arrows. When point B is positive (in the
negative half of the cycle) with respect to point C,
diode D2 conducts in the forward direction and
the current flowing through resistor R is in the
same direction for both half-cycles. As the output
voltage across the resistor R is the phasor sum of
the two waveforms combined, this type of full wave
rectifier circuit is also known as a "bi-phase" circuit.

As the spaces between each half-wave developed

by each diode is now being filled in by the other
diode the average DC output voltage across the
load resistor is now double that of the single half-
wave rectifier circuit and is about 0.637 Vmax of the
peak voltage, assuming no losses.
Where, VMAX is the maximum peak value in one half
of the secondary winding and VRMS is the rms value.
The peak voltage of the output waveform is the
same as before for the half-wave rectifier provided
each half of the transformer windings have the
same rms voltage value. To obtain a different DC
voltage output different transformer ratios can be
used. The main disadvantage of this type of full
wave rectifier circuit is that a larger transformer
for a given power output is required with two
separate but identical secondary windings making
this type of full wave rectifying circuit costly
compared to the "Full Wave Bridge Rectifier"
circuit equivalent.

A half wave rectifier is the simplest form of rectifier

available. We will look at a complete half wave
rectifier circuit later – but let’s first understand
exactly what this type of rectifier is doing. When
a standard AC waveform is passed through a half-
wave rectifier, only half of the AC waveform
remains. Half-wave rectifiers only allow one half-
cycle (positive or negative half-cycle) of the AC
voltage through and will block the other half-cycle
on the DC side. Only one diode is required to
construct a half-wave rectifier. In essence, this is all
that the half-wave rectifier is doing.

Since DC systems are designed to have current

flowing in a single direction (and constant voltage –
which we’ll describe later), putting an AC
waveform with positive and negative cycles
through a DC device can have destructive (and
dangerous) consequences. So we use half-wave
rectifiers to convert the AC input power into DC
output power.

Ripple Factor-Ripple factor determines how well a

half wave rectifier can convert AC voltage to DC
voltage. Ripple factor can be quantified using the
following formula:
 Circuit diagram

The full wave rectifier circuit consists of two power

diodes connected to a single load resistance (RL)
with each diode taking it in turn to supply current
to the load. When point A of the transformer is
positive with respect to point C,
diode D1 conducts in the forward direction as
indicated by the arrows.
When point B is positive (in the negative half of the
cycle) with respect to point C, diode D2 conducts
in the forward direction and the current flowing
through resistor R is in the same direction for both
half-cycles. As the output voltage across the
resistor R is the phasor sum of the two waveforms
combined, this type of full wave rectifier circuit is
also known as a “bi-phase” circuit.

The output waveform of a half wave rectifier is a

pulsating DC waveform. Filters in half wave
rectifiers are used to transform the pulsating
waveform into constant DC waveforms. A
capacitor or an inductor can be used as a filter.
The circuit diagram below shows how a capacitive
filter is used with half wave rectifier to smoothen
out a pulsating DC waveform into a constant DC
waveform.
 Procedure
✓ Full wave rectifier:-
Connection are done as in circuit diagram. The
A.C. supply is given to both the input wire of the
transformer and the two ends of secondary coil is
given to P side of the two diodes and the n side of
diodes are
twined and then
connected to
one end of the
capacitor and
the other end to
the centre
tapped lead and
to the resistor.
Further, the other end of capacitor with the diode
connect ion is connected to the other end of the
resistor. Connect 2 leads on both the ends of the
resistor to measure the output and this is connect
to the positive and negative terminal of the led
light.
✓ Half wave rectifier:-
Connection are done as in circuit diagram. The
A.C. supply is given to the both input wire of the
transformer and the two end of secondary coil is
given to P side of the single diodes and the n side
of diodes are
twined and
then
connected to
one end of the
capacitor and
the other end
to the centre
tapped lead and to resistor. Further, the other end
of capacitor with the diode connect ion is
connected to the other end of the resistor.
Connect 2 leads on both the ends of the resistor
to measure the output this is connect to the
positive and negative terminal of the led light.
 Working

✓ Full wave rectifier:-

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.

✓ Half wave rectifier:-

The half-wave rectifier has both positive and
negative cycles. During the positive half of the
input, the current will flow from positive to
negative which will generate only a positive half
cycle of the A.C. supply. When A.C. supply is
applied to the transformer, the voltage will be
decreasing at the secondary winding of the diode.
All the variations in the A.C. supply will reduce, and
we will get the pulsating D.C. voltage to the load
resistor.
In the second half cycle, the current will flow
from negative to positive and the diode will be
reverse biased. Thus, at the output side, there
will be no current generated, and we cannot get
power at the load resistance. A small amount of
reverse current will flow during reverse bias due
to minority carriers.
 Application
• The amplitude for the modulating radio signal
is detected using the full-wave bridge rectifier
circuit.
• In electric wielding to supply steady DC voltage
in a polarized way, this circuit is preferred.
• As the efficiency of rectification is high in this
rectifier circuit, it is used in various appliances
as a part of the power supply unit.
• It has the capability of converting high AC
voltage to low DC value.
• In case of powering up of the devices like
motors and LED devices these are used.
The above are some of the advantages and the
applications of the full-wave rectifier circuit. It is
used in various applications. These rectifiers are
utilized more effectively compare to that of the
half-wave rectifiers. The efficiency is high in these
rectifiers and this is the main reason behind its wide
usage in various application scenarios of power
supply circuitry.
Full-wave rectifiers have more advantages
compare to disadvantages in the power supply
sector. The only disadvantage of this circuit is that
the centre-tapped transformer utilized here is
costly. To overcome this disadvantage bridge
rectifier circuit is constructed where the four
diodes are connected in a bridge topology.

• They are used for signal demodulation purpose

• They are used for rectification applications
• They are used for signal peak application
A half wave rectifier is rarely used in practice.
It is never preferred as the power supply of an
audio circuit because of the very high ripple
factor. High ripple factor will result in noises in
input audio signal, which in turn will affect audio
quality. Advantage of a half wave rectifier is only
that its cheap, simple and easy to construct. It is
cheap because of the low number of components
involved. Simple because of the straight
forwardness in circuit design. Apart from this,
a half wave rectifier has more number of
disadvantages than advantages.
 Conclusion
• As conclusion, we can conclude that half-wave and
full-wave rectifier circuits can be built. The full-
wave rectifiers are most commonly used in the
rectification process because they are more
efficient compared to half-wave rectifiers. Next,
the influences of load resistor and capacitor on DC
output voltage is investigate. Half- and full-wave
rectifiers are used to convert AC into DC voltage.
This is the primary function of the rectifier in
industrial applications. For example, AC is used
across the power grid, but to use electricity for
welding, electroplating and as a DC source for
motors with special speed controls, the AC must
be changed to DC. Therefore, it is importance to
carried out this experiment to increase the
understanding on rectifier in industries
 Bibliography
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.scribd.com
• NCERT Textbook
• https://www.electronics-
tutorials.ws/diode/diode_6.html