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Subject: Homemade Circuit Designs Just for You

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Saturday, November 28, 2015 12:49 AM

Homemade Circuit Designs Just for You

What's Ripple Current in Power Supplies
Posted: 27 Nov 2015 07:12 AM PST
The post explains regarding what's ripple current in power supply circuits, what causes it and how it can be
reduced or eliminated using smoothing capacitor.

What's Ripple in Power Supply Circuits

In all AC to DC power supplies the DC output is acquired by rectifying the AC input power and filtering through a
smoothing capacitor.
Although the process cleans the AC to almost a pure DC, a small content of unwanted residual alternating current
is always left over within the DC content, and this unwanted interference in the DC is termed ripple current or
ripple voltage.
This remaining unwanted AC content in DC mostly is due to inadequate filtration or suppression of the rectified
DC, or sometimes due to some other complex phenomenon such as feedback signals from inductive or capacitive
loads associated with the power supply or also could be from high frequency signal processing units.

The above explained residual ripple factor () is technically defined as the ratio of the root mean square (RMS)
magnitude of the actual ripple voltage to the absolute amount introduced in the DC line of the power supply
output, and is normally represented in percentage.
There's also an alternative method of expressing the ripple factor, and that is through the peak-to-peak voltage
value. And this method appears to be much easier to express and measure by using an oscilloscope, and can be
much easily evaluated through an available formula.

Before we understand the formula for evaluating the ripple content in DC, it would be first important to
understand the process of converting an alternating current into a direct current using rectifier diodes and
capacitors.
Normally a bridge rectifier which comprises of four diodes is used for converting an alternating current into a full
wave direct current.
However even after rectifying, the resultant DC may have a huge amount ripple due to the large peak-to-peak
voltage (deep valley) still persistent in the DC. This is because the function of the rectifier is limited only upto
converting the negative cycles of the AC to positive cycles as shown below.

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The persistent deep valleys between each rectified half cycle introduces maximum ripple, which can be tackled
only by adding a filter capacitor across the output of the bridge rectifier.
This large peak-to-peak voltage between the valleys and the peak cycles are smoothed or compensated using filter
capacitors or smoothing capacitors across the output of the bridge rectifier.
This smoothing capacitor is also called the reservoir capacitor since it functions like a reservoir tank and stores
the energy during the peak cycles of the rectified voltage.
The filter capacitor stores the peak voltage and current during the rectified peak cycles, simultaneously the load
also receives the peak power during these cycles, however during the falling edges of these cycles or at the valleys,
the capacitor instantly kicks back the stored energy to the load ensuring the compensation to the load, and the
load is allowed to receive a fairly consistent DC with a reduced peak to peak ripple as compared with the actual
ripple without the capacitor.
The cycle continues, as the capacitor charges and discharges in the process in an attempt to minimize the
difference of the actual peak-to-peak ripple content for the connected load.
The above smoothing efficiency of the capacitor greatly relies on the load current, as this increases the smoothing
ability of the capacitor proportionately decreases and that's the reason larger loads demand larger smoothing
capacitor in power supplies.
The above discussion explains what's ripple in a DC power supply and how it can be reduced by inserting a
smoothing capacitor after the bridge rectifier.
In the next article we will learn how to calculate the ripple current or simple the peak-to-peak difference in a DC
content through the association of a smoothing capacitor.
In other words we will learn how to calculate the correct or the optimal capacitor value so that the ripple
in a DC power supply is reduced to the minimum level.

Calculating Filter Capacitor for Smoothing Ripple in Power Supply Circuits

Posted: 27 Nov 2015 07:11 AM PST
In the previous article we learned about ripple factor in power supply circuits, here we continue and evaluate the
formula for calculating ripple current, and consequently the filter capacitor value for eliminating the ripple
content in the DC output.

The previous post explained how a DC content after rectification may carry the maximum possible

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amount of ripple voltage, and how it may be reduced significantly by using a smoothing capacitor, although
the final ripple content which is the difference between the peak value and the minimum value of the smoothed
DC, never seem to eliminate completely, and directly relies on the load current, that is if the load is relatively
higher, the capacitor begins losing its ability to compensate or correct the ripple factor.
In the following section we will try to evaluate the formula for calculating filter capacitor in power supply circuits
for ensuring minimum ripple at the output (depending on the connected load current spec).
C = I / 2 x f x Vpp
where I = load current
f = input frequency of AC
Vpp = the minimum ripple (the peak to peak voltage after smoothing) that may be allowable or OK for the user,
because practically it's never feasible to make this zero, as that would demand an unworkable, non-viable
monstrous capacitor value, probably not feasible for anybody to implement.

Let's try to understand the relation between load current, ripple and the optimal capacitor value from the
following evaluation.
In the mentioned formula we can see that the ripple and the capacitance are inversely proportional, meaning if
the ripple needs to be minimum, the capacitor value needs to increase and vice versa.
Suppose we agree to a Vpp value that's, say 1V, to be present in the final DC content after smoothing, then the
capacitor value may be calculated as shown below:
C = I / 2 x f x Vpp (assuming f = 50Hz and load current requirement as 2amp))
= 2 / 2 x 50 x 1
= 0.02 Farads or 20,000uF (1Farad = 1000000 uF)
Thus, the above formula clearly shows how the required filter capacitor may be calculated with respect to the load
current and the minimum allowable ripple current in the DC component.
By referring to the above solved example, one may try varying the load current, and/or the allowable ripple
current and easily evaluate the filter capacitor value accordingly for ensuring an optimal or the intended

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smoothing of the rectified DC in a given power supply circuit.

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