EE 341 Fall 2004

EE 341

Fourier Series for Rectified Sine Wave

Consider the signal

x(t) = A| sin(ω1 t)|

Rectified Sine and Sine

A
|sin (ω1 t)|

−A
−2 T −T 0 T 2T

A
sin (ω1 t)

−A
−T1 0 T1

The period of the sinusoid (inside the absolute value symbols) is T 1 = 2π/ω1 . The period of the rectified
sinusoid is one half of this, or T = T1 /2 = π/ω1 . Therefore,

2π π ωo
ω1 = = =
T1 T 2

Thus we can write

ωo t 
  

x(t) = A sin
2 

The Fourier series coefficients are:

1 T
Z
cxk = x(t) e−jkωo t dt
T 0
1 T  ωo t  −jkωo t
Z   
= A sin e dt
T 0 2 

From 0 to T , |sin(ωo t/2)| = sin(ωo t/2). Also, replace ωo by 2π/T :

1
Z T πt
 
cxk = A sin e−j2πkt/T dt
T 0 T

1
EE 341 Fall 2004

!
A T ejπt/T − e−jπt/T
Z
cxk = e−j2πkt/T dt
T 0 j2
A
Z T  
= ejπt(1−2k)/T − e−jπt(1+2k)/T dt
j2T 0
" #T
A ejπt(1−2k)/T e−jπt(1+2k)/T
= −
j2T jπ(1 − 2k)/T jπ(1 + 2k)/T 0
" #
A ejπ(1−2k) e−jπ(1+2k)
1 1
= − + − −
2T π(1 − 2k)/T π(1 + 2k)/T π(1 − 2k)/T π(1 + 2k)/T

But ejπ(1−2k) = ejπ e−j2πk . ejπ = −1 and e−j2πk = 1, so ejπ(1−2k) = −1. Similarly, e−jπ(1+2k) = −1,
so:

A −1 −1 1 1
 
cxk = − + − −
2T π(1 − 2k)/T π(1 + 2k)/T π(1 − 2k)/T π(1 + 2k)/T
A −2 2
 
= − −
2 π(1 − 2k) π(1 + 2k)
A 1 1
 
= +
π 1 − 2k 1 + 2k
2A 1
 
=
π 1 − 4k 2

For k = 0

1 T πt
Z  
cx0 = A sin dt
T 0 T
A − cos(πt/T ) T
 
=
T π/T 0
2A
=
π

Note: Because the signal is even, you could also find c xk by:

2
Z T /2
cxk = x(t) cos(kωo t) dt
T 0

For an odd signal,

j2
Z T /2
cxk =− x(t) sin(kωo t) dt
T 0