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Rectifier Characteristics and Functions

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction and changes magnitude, into direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction and has a constant magnitude. It does this by using diodes to allow currents to easily flow in only one direction, resulting in a pulsating DC output voltage. Rectifiers have applications in power supplies, battery chargers, and other devices that operate on DC power.

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344 views4 pages

Rectifier Characteristics and Functions

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction and changes magnitude, into direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction and has a constant magnitude. It does this by using diodes to allow currents to easily flow in only one direction, resulting in a pulsating DC output voltage. Rectifiers have applications in power supplies, battery chargers, and other devices that operate on DC power.

Uploaded by

Dinesh Vel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

RECTIFIER

RECTIFIER

Any electrical device which offers a low resistance to the current in one direction but a high
resistance to the current in the opposite direction is called rectifier. Such a device is capable of
converting a sinusoidal input waveform, whose average value is zero, into a unidirectional
Waveform, with a non-zero average component. A rectifier is a device, which converts a.c.
voltage (bi-directional) to pulsating d.c. voltage (Unidirectional).

Rectifier is a device which converts the sinusoidal AC voltage into either positive or negative
pulsating DC Rectifier

Characteristics of a Rectifier Circuit:

Any electrical device which offers a low resistance to the current in one direction but a
high resistance to the current in the opposite direction is called rectifier. Such a device
is capable of converting a sinusoidal input waveform, whose average value is zero, into
a unidirectional waveform, with a non-zero average component.

A rectifier is a device, which converts a.c. voltage (bi-directional) to pulsating d.c..Load


currents: They are two types of output current. They are average or d.c. current and
RMS currents.

Average or DC current: The average current of a periodic function is defined as the


area of one cycle of the curve divided by the base.

It is expressed mathematically as

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RECTIFIER

Area over one period


i) Average value/dc value/mean value=
Total time period

T
1
Vdc   V d ( wt )
T 0

ii) Effective (or) R.M.S current:

The effective (or) R.M.S. current squared ofa periodic function of time is given by the
area of one cycle of the curve, which represents the square of the function divided by
the base.

T
1
T 0
Vrms  V 2 d ( wt )

iii) Peak factor:

It is the ratio of peak value to Rms value

peakvalue
Peak factor =
rmsvalue

iv) Form factor:

It is the ratio of Rms value to average value

Rmsvalue
Form factor=
averagevalue

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RECTIFIER

v) Ripple Factor (  ): It is defined as ration of R.M.S. value of a.c. component to the d.c.
component in the output is known as “Ripple Factor”.

Vac

Vdc

Vac  Vrms
2
Vdc2

vi) Efficiency ( ):

It is the ratio of d.c output power to the a.c. input power. It signifies, how efficiently the
rectifier circuit converts a.c. power into d.c. power.

o / p power

i / p power

vii) Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV):

It is defined as the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can withstand without
destroying the junction.

viii) Transformer Utilization Factor (UTF):

The d.c. power to be delivered to the load in a rectifier circuit decides the rating of the
Transformer used in the circuit. So, transformer utilization factor is defined as

Pdc
TUF 
p ac(rated )

ix) % Regulation:

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RECTIFIER

The variation of the d.c. output voltage as a function of d.c. load current is called
regulation. The percentage regulation is defined as

V NL  VFL
% Re gulation  * 100
VFL

For an ideal power supply, % Regulation is zero.

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