Electronic Circuits I Laboratory

3 RECTIFIERS

3.1 Objective
Understanding the principles and features of half-wave, full-wave and bridge
rectifier.

3.2 Basic Description

DC Power Supply
Electronic equipments mostly require DC power as the power supply. Besides the
secondary battery and dry battery, the transformation from ACV to DCV is the most
frequently used method for DC power supply. The complete DC power supply shall consist
of blocks such as voltage transformation, rectifiying, filtering and voltage regulating.
The AC electricity will be transformed into the required voltage through the transformer,
then will be rectified as the pulsating DC by the rectifier. The pulsating DC will be turned
into DC with minimum ripple by the filter. If the DC signal will be applied to a load with
considerable verification of resistance, a voltage regulator shall be added. The most
frequently used rectifiers are:
Half-wave rectifier,
Full-wave rectifier,
Bridge rectifier.

3.2.a Half-wave Rectifier

The half-wave rectifier is shown in Fig. 3.1 (a). During the positive half-cycle of input
waveform Vi, the diode will be turned on, and the equivalent circuit is illustrated in Fig. 3.1
(a) which has V0=Vi. During the negative half-cycle, the diode will be cut-off and the
equivalent circuit is illustrated in Fig. 3.1 (b). As shown in Fig. 3.1 (d), V0 only appears in
positive half-cycle. Here

0,636iVm
VDC = Vave = = 0,318iVm
2

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Fig. 3.1
Half-wave Rectifier with a Filter Capacitor
The output waveform of the half-wave rectifier without a filter capacitor is shown in
Fig. 3.1 (d). The circuit of half-wave rectifier with a filter capacitor is shown in Fig. 3.2 (a)
and (b) which represent the situations of charge and discharge respectively. The output
waveforms are shown in Fig. 3.2 (c) and (d) which represent the situations of RL= 1K and
RL= 8K respectively. The larger RL will result in the longer discharge interval, which
will make the output voltage smoother.

Fig. 3.2

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3.2.b Full-wave Rectifier

The full-wave rectifer circuit is shown in Fig. 3.3 (a). Note that a center-tapped
transformer, with VAC1= VAC2 must be used in this circuit.
During the positive half-cycle, the input voltage VAC1 is shown in Fig.
3.3 (b). As the upper end of VAC1 is positive and the lower end of VAC1 is negative, D1 will
be forward conducted, whereas D2 will be reversely cut off. The equivalent circuit is shown
in Fig. 3.3 (c) and V0 is shown in Fig. 3.3 (d).

(a)

(b) (c) (d)

(e) (f) (g)

Fig. 3.3

During the negative half cycle, the input voltage VAC2 is shown in Fig. 3.3 (e). As the
upper end of VAC2 is negative and the lower end of VAC2 is positive, D2 will be forward
conducted, whereas D1 will be reverselt cutoff. The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 3.6 (f)
in which the direction of the current flowing through RL is same as positive half cycle and V0
is shown in Fig. 3.3 (g). We have

VDC = Vave = 0,636iVm

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3.2.c Bridge Rectifier

The bridge rectifier circuit is shown in Fig. 3.4 (a), where in four diodes are utilized.
During the positive half cycle, the input voltage VAC is shown in Fig. 3.4 (b). D1, D2 are
forward conducted and D3, D4 are reversely cut-off. The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.
3.4 (c) and Vo is shown in (d).

Fig. 3.4
During the negative half cycle, the input voltage VAC is shown in Fig. 3.4 (e). D1, D2
are reversely cut off and D3, D4 are forward conducted. The equivalent circuit is shown in
Fig. 3.4 (f) and V0 is shown in Fig. 3.4 (g).

3.3 Experiment Equipments

KL-200 Linear Circuit Lab. Device,
Experiment Module: KL-23002,
Experiment Instruments: Oscilloscope, Multimeter,
Connection cables and short-circuit clips.

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3.4 Procedures

Procedure 1: Half-wave Rectifier Circuit

Half-wave Rectifier Circuit without a filter capacitor

(1) Locate block c of module KL 23001.

(2) Insert short circuit clips by refering to Fig. 3.5.
(3) Apply 9 V AC source (on KL-200) to VAC.

Fig. 3.5

(4) Now measure the average and ripple values of Vin and Vout. Adjust multimeter
mode to DC Voltage and AC voltage respectively. Record these in Table 3.1
(5) At the same time observe the output waveform using oscilloscope. Change AC /
DC coupling of channel input and examine the difference. Plot the (uncoupled) waveform in
Graph 3.1 (a).

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Fig. 3.6

Half-wave Rectifier Circuit with a filter capacitor

(6) Rearrange the short circuit clips by refering to Fig. 3.6.

(7) Apply 9 V AC source to VAC.
(8) Adjust VR4 ( use VR 1M) to minimum, then repeat measurement steps. Record
these in Table 3.1.
(9) Observe the change in the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.1 (b).
(10) Adjust VR4 to maximum, then repeat measurement steps. Also record these in
Table 3.1.
(11) Again, observe the change in the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.1 (c).

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VDC(Average) VAC(Ripple)
VIN

VOUT (Without Capacitor)

Wave
Half-

VOUT (220 uF Capacitor and VR4 min)

VOUT (220 uF Capacitor and VR4 max)

Table 3.1

a-) Without capacitor b-) With capacitor, VR4 minimum

c-) With capacitor, VR4 maximum

Graph 3.1 Half-wave Rectifier Outputs

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Procedure 2: Full-wave Rectifier Circuit

Full-wave Rectifier Circuit without a filter capacitor

Fig. 3.7

(1) Locate block c of module KL-23001.

(2) Insert short-circuit clips by refering to Fig. 3.7
(3) Now you will apply + 9 V and -9 V AC to TP1 and TP2 respectively. Do not forget
to connect the GND (located between TP1 and TP2). These connections represent the
outputs of a symmetrical transformator.
(4) Using multimeter, measure the DC and AC voltages of OUT terminal and record
them in Table 3.2.
(5) Observe the output waveform on the oscilloscope and plot this on Graph 3.2 (a).

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Full-wave Rectifier Circuit with a filter capacitor

(6) Turn off main module voltage and rearrange short circuit clips according
to Fig. 3.8

Fig. 3.8
(7) Adjust VR4 to minimum.
(8) Measure the DC and AC values of output voltage and record them in Table 3.2.
(9) Observe the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.2 (b).
(10) Adjust VR4 to maximum and repeat step 8.
(11) Observe the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.2 (c).

VDC(Average) VAC(Ripple)
VOUT (Without Capacitor and RL=1K)
Wave
Full-

VOUT (220 uF Capacitor and VR4 min)

VOUT (220 uF Capacitor and VR4 max)

Table 3.2

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a-) Without capacitor b-) With capacitor, VR4 minimum

c-) With capacitor, VR4 maximum

Graph 3.2 Full-wave Rectifier Outputs

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Procedure 3: Bridge Rectifier Circuit

Bridge Rectifier without a filter capacitor

Fig. 3.9

(1) Insert short-circuit clips by refering to Fig. 3.9

(2) Now apply + 9 V and -9 V AC to TP1 and TP2 respectively. Different from the
previous procedure you directly apply 18 Vac voltage as input. So there is no need to
connect the GND (located between TP1 and TP2).
(3) Using multimeter, measure the DC and AC voltages of OUT terminal and record
them in Table 3.3.
(4) Observe the output waveform on the oscilloscope and plot this on Graph 3.3 (a).

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Bridge Rectifier with a filter capacitor

(5) Turn off main module voltage and rearrange short circuit clips according to
Fig. 3.10

Fig. 3.10
(6) Adjust VR4 to minimum.
(7) Measure the DC and AC values of output voltage and record them in Table 3.3.
(8) Observe the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.3 (b).
(9) Adjust VR4 to maximum and repeat step 8.
(10) Observe the output waveform and plot it on Graph 3.3 (c).

VDC(Average) VAC(Ripple)
VOUT (Without Capacitor and RL=1K)
Rectifier
Bridge

VOUT (100 uF Capacitor and VR4 min)

VOUT (100 uF Capacitor and VR4 max)

Table 3.3

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a-) Without capacitor b-) With capacitor, VR4 minimum

c-) With capacitor, VR4 maximum

Graph 3.3 Bridge Rectifier Outputs

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