Electronics is a branch of Physics, which deals with the development of electron emitting devices.
Their utilization and controlling electron flow in electrical circuits designed for various purposes.
Semi-Conductor is a substance whose electrical resistance lies between those of conductors and
insulators.
Doping is mixing of any tetravalent element into a trivalent or pentavalent so that its conductivity
increases.
N-Type Substance is a pure semiconductor with a valence of three, doped with a pentavalent
element. It is also call n-type semiconductor.
P-Type substance is a pure semiconductor with a valence of three doped with a trivalent
element. It is also called p-type semiconductor.
Diode is the common boundary of n-type and p-type regions in a semiconductor. It is called
p-n junction diode. It allows the current to flow in one direction.
Forward biased
If the p-type material of a semiconductor diode is at a positive potential and the n-type is at a
negative potential then the diode is forward biased. I t has a very low electrical resistance.
Reverse biased
If the p-type material of a semiconductor diode is at a negative potential and n-type material
is at a positive potential then the diode is reverse biased. It has a very high electrical
resistance.
Rectification is the process of conversion of alternating current into direct current.
Rectifier is a device that converts alternating current into direct current.
Transistor is a semiconductor, which consist of a thin layer of one type of semiconductor
material sandwiched between two relatively thick pieces of the other type of conductor. The
central part is known as the base and the pieces at either sides are called the emitter and the
collector.
npn transistor has a thin piece of p-type substance sandwiched between two pieces of n-type
semiconductors.
pnp transistor has a thin piece of n-type substance sandwiched between two pieces of p-type
semiconductors.
Full wave rectifier
A full wave rectifier is defined as a rectifier that converts the complete cycle of
alternating current into pulsating DC.
Unlike half wave rectifiers that utilize only the half wave of the input AC cycle,
full wave rectifiers utilize the full cycle. The lower efficiency of the half wave
rectifier can be overcome by the full wave rectifier.
Full Wave Rectifier Circuit
The circuit of the full wave rectifier can be constructed in two ways.
1. The first method uses a centre tapped transformer and two diodes. This
arrangement is known as a centre tapped full wave rectifier.
2. The second method uses a standard transformer with four diodes arranged as a
bridge. This is known as a bridge rectifier.
The circuit of the full wave rectifier consists of a step-down transformer and
two diodes that are connected and centre tapped. The output voltage is obtained
across the connected load resistor.
Working of Full Wave Rectifier
The input AC supplied to the full wave rectifier is very high. The step-down
transformer in the rectifier circuit converts the high voltage AC into low voltage
AC. The anode of the centre tapped diodes is connected to the transformer’s
secondary winding and connected to the load resistor. During the positive half
cycle of the alternating current, the top half of the secondary winding becomes
positive while the second half of the secondary winding becomes negative.
During the positive half cycle, diode D1 is forward biased as it is connected to
the top of the secondary winding while diode D2 is reverse biased as it is
connected to the bottom of the secondary winding. Due to this, diode D1 will
conduct acting as a short circuit and D2 will not conduct acting as an open
circuit
During the negative half cycle, the diode D1 is reverse biased and the diode
D2 is forward biased because the top half of the secondary circuit becomes
negative and the bottom half of the circuit becomes positive. Thus in a full wave
rectifiers, DC voltage is obtained for both positive and negative half cycle.
Full Wave Rectifier Formula
Peak Inverse Voltage
Peak inverse voltage is the maximum voltage a diode can withstand in the
reverse-biased direction before breakdown. The peak inverse voltage of the full-
wave rectifier is double that of a half-wave rectifier. The PIV across D1 and
D2 is 2Vmax.
DC Output Voltage
The following formula gives the average value of the DC output voltage:
RMS Value of Current
The RMS value of the current can be calculated using the following formula:
Form Factor
The form factor of the full wave rectifier is calculated using the formula:
Peak Factor
The following formula gives the peak factor of the full wave rectifier:
Rectification Efficiency
The rectification efficiency of the full-wave rectifier can be obtained using the following
formula:
The efficiency of the full wave rectifiers is 81.2%.
Advantages of Full Wave Rectifier
The rectification efficiency of full wave rectifiers is double that of half wave
rectifiers. The efficiency of half wave rectifiers is 40.6% while the rectification
efficiency of full wave rectifiers is 81.2%.
The ripple factor in full wave rectifiers is low hence a simple filter is required. The
value of ripple factor in full wave rectifier is 0.482 while in half wave rectifier it is
about 1.21.
The output voltage and the output power obtained in full wave rectifiers are higher
than that obtained using half wave rectifiers.
The only disadvantage of the full wave rectifier is that they need more circuit elements than
the half wave rectifier which makes, making it costlier.