LAB#3a: FULL-WAVE BRIDGE RECTIFIER CIRCUIT WITHOUT
AND WITH FILTER
Objectives:
1. To construct a full-wave bridge rectifier circuit and analyze its output.
2. To analyze the rectifier output using a capacitor in shunt as a filter.
Overview:
As you have seen already a half-wave rectifier circuit is unsuitable to applications
which need a "steady and smooth" dc supply voltage. One method to improve on this is
to use every half-cycle of the input voltage instead of every other half-cycle. The circuit
which allows us to do this is called a Full-wave Rectifier. Here, unidirectional current
flows in the output for both the cycles of input signal and rectifies it. The rectification can
be done either by a center tap full wave rectifier (using two diodes) or a full wave bridge
rectifier (using four diodes). In this experiment we will study a full wave bridge rectifier.
The Full-wave Bridge Rectifier
Another type of circuit that produces the same
output as a full-wave rectifier is that of the
Bridge Rectifier (Fig. 1). This type of single
phase rectifier uses 4 individual rectifying
diodes connected in a "bridged" configuration to
produce the desired output but does not require
a special centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing
its size and cost. The single secondary winding is connected to one side of the diode
bridge network and the load to the other side as shown in figure. The 4 diodes labeled 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
Fig. 1: Full-wave Bridge Rectifier
