MODULE 1

Block Diagram of a Power Supply

A basic DC power supply consists of the following blocks:

1. Transformer – Steps up or steps down the AC voltage.

2. Rectifier – Converts AC to pulsating DC (Half-wave or Full-
wave).
3. Filter – Smoothens the rectified DC output (Capacitor or
Inductor).
4. Voltage Regulator – Maintains a constant DC output voltage.
5. Load – The device consuming the regulated DC power.

PN Junction Diode Characteristics

A PN junction diode is formed by joining P-type and N-type

semiconductors.
 1. VI Characteristics of PN Junction Diode

• Forward Bias: Low resistance, current increases exponentially

after threshold voltage (~0.7V for Si, ~0.3V for Ge).
• Reverse Bias: High resistance, negligible leakage current,
breakdown occurs at high voltage.

Here's a more detailed breakdown of diode characteristics:

1. Forward Bias:
• Conduction:
 When a diode is forward biased, it allows current to flow easily
through it.
• Forward Voltage Drop:
A small voltage drop (typically around 0.7V for silicon diodes)
occurs across the diode when it's conducting.
• Forward Current:
The current flowing through the diode when forward biased is
directly proportional to the applied voltage.
• Forward Characteristic Curve:
The relationship between forward voltage and current is typically
exponential, with a sharp increase in current beyond a certain
voltage (the "knee" of the curve).
2. Reverse Bias:
• Blocking:
When a diode is reverse biased, it blocks the flow of current.
• Reverse Leakage Current:
A very small amount of current (reverse leakage current) flows due
to minority carriers in the semiconductor material.
• Reverse Breakdown Voltage:
If the reverse voltage across the diode exceeds a certain threshold
(the breakdown voltage), the diode can enter a state of
breakdown, allowing a large current to flow in the reverse
direction, potentially damaging the diode.
• Depletion Layer:
Under reverse bias, the depletion region (a region with few free
charge carriers) at the pn junction widens, increasing the diode's
resistance.
•

2. Applications

• Used in rectifiers, voltage regulators, clippers, clampers, and

signal demodulation.

Half-Wave Rectifier

• Uses a single diode to rectify AC.

• Allows only one half of the AC waveform.
• Output voltage (V_dc) ≈ 0.45 × V_rms.
• Efficiency ≈ 40.6%, Ripple factor is high.
Working of Half Wave Rectifier
In a half-wave rectifier, the AC supply is connected in series to a p-n
junction diode and load resistor. An Alternating current (AC) consists of
two half-cycles: Positive half-cycle and Negative half-cycle. Let us take a
look at the working of the half-wave circuit at each half-cycle separately.

• In a positive half-cycle, the Diode is forward-biased and hence acts

like a short circuit. Therefore in a positive half-cycle, current flows
through the circuit and produces whole AC input as such in DC
output. In the real world, the output voltage is less than the input
voltage considering the Diode voltage drop.
•
• In a negative half-cycle, the Diode is reverse-biased and hence acts
like an open circuit. Therefore, in a negative half-cycle current does
not flow through the circuit. And output does not consist of input
negative half-cycle.

Full-Wave Rectifiers

Center-Tapped Full-Wave Rectifier

 • Uses two diodes and a center-tapped transformer.
• Output voltage (V_dc) ≈ 0.9 × V_rms.
• Efficiency ≈ 81.2%, Ripple is lower than half-wave.

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.

Bridge Rectifier

• Uses four diodes for full-wave rectification.

• Does not require a center-tapped transformer.
 • More efficient than a half-wave rectifier.

The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only two
diodes conducting current during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle
of the supply, diodes D1 and D2 conduct in series while diodes D3 and D4 are
reverse biased and the current flows through the load

During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes D3 and D4 conduct in
series, but diodes D1 and D2 switch “OFF” as they are now reverse biased. The
current flowing through the load is the same direction as before.

Full Wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

Filters

• Used to smoothen the rectified DC output.

• Capacitor Filter – Stores charge to reduce ripple.
• Inductor Filter – Blocks AC and allows DC.
• RC and LC Filters – Improve voltage stability.

Voltage Regulators

• Maintains a stable DC output despite input/load variations.

• Types:
o Zener Diode Regulator – Uses a Zener diode.
o Series/Linear Regulators – Uses a transistor for regulation.
o Switching Regulators – Converts DC-DC efficiently.

Zener Diode Regulator

A Zener diode regulator is a simple voltage regulation circuit that uses

a Zener diode to maintain a constant output voltage despite variations in
input voltage or load current.
Working Principle

• A Zener diode operates in reverse breakdown region, where it

maintains a nearly constant voltage across its terminals.
• When the input voltage increases beyond the Zener breakdown
voltage, the diode conducts and stabilizes the output.
• If the input voltage drops below the breakdown voltage, the diode
turns off, and no current flows through it

Circuit Diagram

Components

1. Series Resistor (Rs) – Limits the current flowing into the Zener
diode.
2. Zener Diode (Dz) – Regulates the voltage.
3. Load (RL) – The circuit or device receiving regulated voltage.

Operation

• When Vin > Zener Voltage (Vz) → The Zener diode conducts,
maintaining Vout ≈ Vz.
 • When Vin < Vz → The Zener diode is OFF, and output voltage
drops.

Formulae

• Series Resistor Calculation: RS = VIN-VZ / IZ+IL

where:

o Iz = Zener current
o
o IL = Load current
o
• Power Dissipation in Zener Diode:

Pz = Vz×Iz

The Zener diode must be rated for at least Pz watts.

Advantages

✔ Simple design
✔ Provides voltage regulation
✔ Quick response to voltage changes

Disadvantages

✖ Not efficient for high-power applications

✖ Works best for small load currents

Voltage Multipliers

• Used to obtain higher DC voltage using diodes and capacitors.

• Types:
o Voltage Doubler – Doubles input AC voltage.
o Voltage Tripler – Triples input AC voltage.
o Voltage Quadrupler – Quadruples input AC voltage.
 • Full-Wave Voltage Doubler Operation Analysis
• The bottom rectifier charges C1 on the negative half cycle of
input. The top rectifier charges C2 on the positive half-cycle.
Each capacitor takes on a charge of 5 V (4.3 V considering
diode drop). The output at node 5 is the series total of
C1 + C2 or 10 V (8.6 V with diode drops).
•

OR

Circuit of Voltage Multiplier

The circuit of a simple voltage multiplier is shown in

Figure-1. It is clear that a voltage multiplier is simply a
combination of diodes and capacitors. The low voltage AC
signal is input to the circuit from the power source
(transformer in this case). This AC voltage is converted
into DC voltage by diodes and increased by capacitors. In
this way, the voltage multiplier gives a DC voltage of high
 value. This output DC voltage can be several times higher
than the input voltage, hence, the load circuit must have
high impedance.

Types of Voltage Multipliers

Based on the ratio of the input voltage to the output

voltage, the voltage multipliers are classified into the
following three types −

• Voltage Doubler
• Voltage Tripler
• Voltage Quadrupler

Let us discuss each of these three types of voltage

multipliers one by one.
Voltage Doubler

As the name implies, a voltage doubler is a type of voltage

multiplier that doubles the input voltage. The circuit of a
voltage doubler is shown in Figure-2.

It consists of two capacitors and two diodes. Thus, the

voltage doubler circuit is a two-stage voltage multiplier. A
typical example of a voltage doubler is found in the
switch mode power supply which contains a SPDT (single
pole double throw) switch to select either 120 V or 240 V
power supply.

Voltage Tripler

A voltage tripler, as its name suggests, is a three stage

voltage multiplier. The voltage tripler is one of the most
popular type of voltage multipliers. The voltage tripler
uses three capacitors and three diodes, connected, as
shown in Figure-3, to produce an output DC voltage
approximately equal to the three times of the maximum
value of the input AC voltage.

In actual practice, the output DC voltage of a voltage

tripler circuit is always below the three times of the
maximum input voltage because of their high impedance
and voltage loses in different stages due to partial
discharges.

Some common applications of voltage tripler are in CRT

color TVs, photo copier machines, laser printers,
electroshock weapons, etc.

Voltage Quadrupler

A voltage quadrupler is a voltage multiplier circuit which

gives an output DC voltage that is approximately equal to
 the four times of the maximum input voltage. The
voltage quadrupler is a simply a stacked combination of
two voltage doubler circuits as shown in Figure-4.

Applications of Voltage Multipliers

The voltage multipliers are used to produce a DC voltage

of few volts for electronic circuits to millions of volts for
applications like high energy physics experiments.

Some common applications of voltage multipliers are as

follows −

• Cathode ray tubes used in TV receivers, computer monitors,

oscilloscopes, etc.
• Laser printers and photo copier machines
• X-ray machines
• Photo multiplier tubes
• Travelling wave tubes
• Ion pumps
• Bug zappers
• Voltage multiplier is also used in Cockcroft-Walton Generator, etc.
• In automobile manufacturing industries, the high voltage multipliers are
used in spray painting machine

Common Base Configuration:

The common-base configuration with npn transistor.

The common-base terminology is derived from the fact that the base is
common to both the input and output sides of the configuration. In
addition, the base is usually the terminal closest to, or at, ground
potential. all current directions will refer to conventional (hole) flow
rather than electron flow. The result is that the arrows in all electronic
symbols have a direction defined by this convention. Recall that the
arrow in the diode symbol defined the direction of conduction for
conventional current. For the transistor: The arrow in the graphic
symbol

All the current directions appearing in Fig are the

actual directions as defined by the choice of conventional flow. Note in
each case that IE = IC + IB. Note also that the applied biasing (voltage
sources) are such as to establish current in the direction indicated for
each branch. That is, compare the direction of I E to the polarity of V EE
for each configuration and the direction of I C to the polarity of V CC .
To fully describe the behavior of a three-terminal device such as the
common-base amplifiers of Fig. 3.6 requires two sets of
characteristics—one for the driving point or input parameters and the
other for the output side. The input set for the common-base amplifier
as shown in Fig. 3.7 relates an input current ( I E ) to an input voltage ( V
BE ) for various levels of output voltage ( V CB ).

The output set relates an output current ( I C ) to an output voltage ( V

CB ) for various levels of input current ( I E ) as shown in Fig. 3.8 . The
output or collector set of characteristics has three basic regions of
interest, as indicated in Fig. 3.8 : the active , cutoff , and saturation .The
active region is the region normally employed for linear (undistorted)
amplifiers. In particular: In the active region the base–emitter junction
is forward-biased, whereas the collector– base junction is reverse-
biased.

COMMON EMITTER CONFIGURATION:

The most frequently encountered transistor configuration appears in Fig. for the npn transistor. It is
called the common-emitter configuration because the emitter is common to both the input and output
terminals (in this case common to both the base and collector terminals). Two sets of characteristics are
again necessary to describe fully the behavior of the common-emitter configuration: one for the input or
base–emitter circuit and one for the output or collector–emitter circuit.

In the active region of a common-emitter amplifier, the base–emitter junction is forward-biased,

whereas the collector–base junction is reverse-biased.
Voltage Divider Bias: In the previous bias configurations the bias current ICQ and voltage VCEQ
were a function of the current gain b of the transistor. However, because b is temperature sensitive,
especially for silicon transistors, and the actual value of beta is usually not well defined, it would be
desirable to develop a bias circuit that is less dependent on, or in fact is independent of, the transistor
beta. The voltage-divider bias configuration of Fig. 4.28 is such a network. If analyzed on an exact basis,
the sensitivity to changes in beta is quite small. If the circuit parameters are properly chosen, the
resulting levels of ICQ and VCEQ can be almost totally independent of beta. Recall from previous
discussions that a Q -point is defined by a fixed level of ICQ and VCEQ as shown in Fig. 4.29 . The level of
IBQ will change with the change in beta, but the operating point on the characteristics defined by ICQ
and VCEQ can remain fixed if the proper circuit parameters are employed. As noted earlier, there are
two methods that can be applied to analyze the voltage-divider configuration. The reason for the choice
of names for this configuration will become obvious in the analysis to follow. The first to be
demonstrated is the exact method , which can be applied to any voltage-divider configuration. The
second is referred to as the approximate method and can be applied only if specific conditions are
satisfied. The approximate approach permits a more direct analysis with a savings in time and energy. It
is also particularly helpful in the design mode to be described in a later section. All in all, the
approximate approach can be applied to the majority of situations and therefore should be examined
with the same interest as the exact method.
Consider Fig. 4-8. A pnp transistor is shov^oi connected with its baseterminal common to both the input
(EB) voltage and the output (CB)voltage. For this reason, the transistor is said to be connected in
common base configuration. Voltmeters and ammeters are connected to meastire inputand output
voltages and currents. Figure 4-8. Circuit for determining common base characteristics.

COMMON BASE CHARACTERISTICS:

COMMON EMITTER COFIGURATION: