FULL-WAVE FILTER

We can carry out the exact analysis of a full-wave filter just like the analysis of a
half-wave filter. Instead of citing the final equations, let us repeat the process
because it will help you understand the analysis better.

Exact Analysis
A center-tapped secondary winding full-wave rectifier circuit with a capacitor C
across the load is given in Figure 1. A similar circuit can also be drawn using a
bridge rectifier. The input voltage on the secondary side of the transformer is
v S ( t ) = VSM sin(ωt ) V, 0 ≤ ωt ≤ 2 π

Figure 1: A full-wave rectifier with a filtering capacitor

Let us assume that the initial charge on the capacitor is zero. As the
positive cycle of the input voltage v S ( t ) begins, the diode D1 starts conducting.
The load voltage also appears across C and the capacitor begins to charge.
When the input voltage reaches its maximum value VSM , so does the voltage

across C as long as the diode is ideal. As the input voltage v S ( t ) begins to

decrease from its maximum value, the diode D1 stops conducting because it is
now reverse biased by the voltage across C . The diode current becomes zero.
The capacitor C begins to discharge exponentially through the load resistor R
with a time constant RC . Since we want the output voltage to be nearly
constant, the RC time constant should be much greater than the time period T
of the input voltage.

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 1 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

 The capacitor continues to discharge until the negative-half cycle of the
input voltage appears as the positive half-cycle on the output side. As the output
voltage begins to go positive again, the diode D 2 will start conducting only when
the output voltage becomes equal to the capacitor voltage. Thereafter, the
capacitor begins to charge again toward the maximum value VSM . Once the

capacitor has charged to the maximum value, the diode D 2 stops to conduct and
another cycle of capacitor discharge begins as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Filtered voltage across the load

Let us assume that at an angle α (rad/s), the positive going output

voltage is equal to the minimum voltage Vmin to which the capacitor has
discharged. The angle α can then be determined from the input voltage as
Vmin = VSM sin(α )

V 
or α = sin −1  min  (1)
 VSM 
As is evident from Figure 2, the discharge time for the capacitor is
1
TD = ( 0 .5 π + α ) (2)
ω
Let us move the reference to the center of the first peak as shown. Then, the
unfiltered waveform follows a cosine function such that
v O ( t ) = VSM cos(ω t )

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 2 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

The capacitor discharge equation can also be written as
t
−
RC
v C ( t ) = VSM e

We obtain the minimum voltage across the capacitor when t = T D . That is

TD
−
RC
Vmin = VSM e

V 
or TD = R C ln  M 
 Vmin 
Substituting for T D from (2.61) and after some rearranging, we obtain an
expression for C as
0 .5 π + α
C = (3)
V 
ω R ln  M 
 Vmin 
Finally, we substitute for α and obtain an exact expression for C as
V 
0.5 π + sin −1  min 
C =  VM  (4)
V 
ω R ln  M 
 Vmin 
We now illustrate the use of above equations with a design example.

EXAMPLE ___________________________________________________
A full-wave rectifier supplies power to a resistive load with a resistance of 20-
k Ω . The input voltage to the rectifier is given as v S ( t ) = 34 sin(120 π t ) V. A

capacitor is placed across the load to control the voltage ripple to about 10%.
Determine the size of the capacitor.
Solution: We defined percent ripple as
V − Vmin 
%VR =  SM  100
 VSM 
where
VSM = 34 V.

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 3 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

Substituting %VR = 10, we obtain
Vmin = 0.9 VSM = 30.6 V .
From (1), the angle at which the capacitor begins to charge is
V 
α = sin −1  min  = sin −1 (0.9) ≈ 1.12 rad
 VSM 
Using (4), we obtain the required capacitance as
0.5 π + sin −1 (0.9 )
C= = 3.39 µF
3  1 
120 π 20 × 10 ln  
 0 .9 
Let us select a commonly available 4 µ F capacitor for this application. For the
safe operation, the minimum voltage rating of the capacitor must be 34 V.
Prior to computing the average value of the output voltage, let us first define an
angle β such that

V 
β = ω TD = 0.5 π + α = 0.5 π + sin −1  min 
 VM 
Substituting Vmin = 0.9 VSM = 30.6 V, we obtain β = 2.691 rad.

The dc value of the output voltage many now be computed as

V  β − ωωRtC π

VO,DC = SM ∫ e d ω t + ∫ − cos ( ω t ) d ω t 
π  0 β 

VSM    
β
−
= 
ω R C 1 − e ωR C 
+ sin β (5)
π    
  

For VSM = 34 V

and
ω R C = 120π × 20 × 10 3 × 4 × 10 - 6 = 30.16 rad
The average output voltage is
VO ,DC = 32.6 V.

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 4 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

As expected, the average value of the output voltage is almost the same as that
obtained earlier for the half-wave capacitor filter. However, the capacitor size
has been reduced to almost one-half of that of the half-wave capacitor filter.
Thus, a full-wave rectifier does not only have twice the rectification efficiency of
a half-wave rectifier, it also reduces the size of the capacitor by about one-half
to obtain the same percent ripple.
_________________________________________________________________

An Approximate Expression for C for a Full-wave Rectifier

When the percent ripple is less than 10% or so, we can simplify the analysis to
determine the size of a capacitor by making the following assumptions:

(a) Capacitor discharge time is nearly equal to the time-period of the input
waveform.
(b) Capacitor discharge is linear.
(c) The time taken by the capacitor to charge from its minimum voltage to the
maximum voltage is so small that it can be neglected.
With the above assumptions, the modified output voltage is given in Figure 2.34.

Figure 3: Filtered waveform of a full-wave rectifier when the capacitor

discharges linearly

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 5 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

 Once again, let us set our reference axis at the peak of the first unfiltered
waveform as shown in the figure. Then, the capacitor discharge equation can be
written as
t
−
RC
v C ( t ) = VSM e
At t = T /2, where T is the time-period of the input voltage source, the
capacitor discharges to its minimum value Vmin . That is,

T
−
2RC
Vmin = VSM e

For small changes in the voltage across the capacitor the above equation may
be approximated as

 T 
Vmin = VSM 1 − 
 2 RC 

From this equation, we can obtain C as

VSM T
C= (6)
2 R (VSM − Vmin )

Substituting VSM − Vmin = VR PP and T = 1/f in the above equation, we

obtain an expression for C in terms of the peak-to-peak voltage and the
frequency of the input wave as
VSM
C = (7)
2 f R VR PP
Using the definition of percent ripple as

 V − Vmin 
% VR =  SM  100
 VSM 
we can also express C from (7) in terms of the percent ripple as
100
C= (8)
2 f R (% VR )

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 6 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter

 There are three approximate equations at our disposal, (6), (7) and (8), to
compute C . Once again, each of these equations yields an acceptable value of
C as long as percent ripple (%VR) is 10% or so.

Let us see the error introduced by using the approximate equation to

compute C for the above example where the percent ripple was given as 10%.
Since we know the percent ripple, we use (8) to compute C as

100
C= = 4.17 µF
2 × 60 × 20 × 10 3 × 10

In the above example, we obtain C as 3.39 µ F but we selected a standard

4 µ F capacitor for our circuit. Once again, the value of C using the approximate
method is somewhat higher than that obtained using the exact expression. A
large value of C is better from the voltage regulation point of view but may not
be desirable from the cost point of view.

Since the capacitor discharge is treated as linear, it is rather simple to

determine the average value of the filtered waveform as

VSM + Vmin
VO,DC =
2

For the values given in the above example, we have

VSM = 34 V

and

Vmin = 30.6 V.

Using these values, we obtain

VO,DC = 32.3 V

Compare it with the average value of 32.6 V obtained using the exact equation
(2.64) in the above example.

P E/ 424 UC R/ F W R C/ F ebr u ar y 9, 200 6 7 F ull - w ave r e ct ifi er wi th a c apa cit or f i lter