Sree Ayyappa education

centre [CBSE]

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

Session-2022-23

Project on Full wave bridge

rectifier circuit with and
without filter

Name: Gokul.c
Class: Xii A
Certificate
 Acknowledgement
In the accomplishment of this project successfully, many people
have best owned upon me their blessings and the heart pledged
support, this time I am utilizing to thank all the people who have
been concerned with project.
Primarily I would thank god for being able to complete this
project with success. Then I would like to thank my principal
Mrs. Kamala Selvarajan and physics teacher Mrs. Salma
Shivadas whose valuable guidance has been the ones that helped
me patch this project and make it full proof success his
suggestions and his instructions has served as the major
contributor towards the completion of the project.
Then I would like to thank my parents and friends who have
helped me with their valuable suggestions and guidance has been
helpful in various phases of the completion of the project.
 Content
*Objective of project
*Overview of project
*Introduction about topic
*Theory about topic
*Full-Wave Rectifier -Working and operation
*Bridge Rectifier circuit analysis
*Merits and Demerits of Bridge Rectifier over center-tap rectifier
*Application of Full-Wave bridge Rectifier
Practical Analysis
*Objective
*Circuit components or equipments
*Circuit diagram
*Procedure
*Conclusion Report
*Precautions
*Bibliography
Overview of project:
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 centre 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.

Objective:
(a)To construct a full-wave bridge rectifier circuit and
analyse its output.
(b) To analyze the rectifier output using a capacitor in
shunt as a filter.
 Introduction about topic
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current
(AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current
(DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is known as
rectification. Rectification produces a type of DC that
encompasses active voltages and currents, which are then adjusted
into a type of constant voltage DC, although this varies
depending on the current’s end-use. The current is allowed to
flow uninterrupted in one direction, and no current is allowed to
flow in the opposite direction.
Physically, rectifiers take a number of forms, including vaccum
tube diodes, mercury-arc valves, copper and selenium oxide
rectifiers, semiconductor diodes, silicon-controlled rectifiers and
other silicon-based semiconductor switches.
Rectifier circuits may be single-phase or multi-phase. Most low
power rectifiers for domestic equipment are single-phase, but
three-phase rectification is very important for industrial
applications and for the transmission of energy as DC.
Theory

Power Diodes can be connected together to form a full wave rectifier that
convert AC voltage into pulsating DC voltage for use in power supplies
The Full wave rectifier converts both halves of each waveform cycle into
pulsating DC signal using four rectification diodes. In the previous
power diodes tutorial we discussed ways of reducing the ripple or voltage
variations on a direct DC voltage by connecting smoothing capacitors
across the load resistance.
While this method may be suitable for low power applications it 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
.Like the half wave circuit, a full wave rectifier circuit produces an
output voltage or current which is purely DC or has some specified DC
component. Full wave rectifiers have some fundamental advantages over
their half wave rectifier counterparts. The average (DC) output voltage
is higher than for half wave, the output of the full wave rectifier has
much less ripple than that of the half wave rectifier producing a
smoother output waveform.
In a Full Wave Rectifier circuit two diodes are now used, one for each
half of the cycle. A multiple winding transformer is used whose
secondary winding is split equally into two halves with a common centre
tapped connection, (C).
This configuration results in each diode conducting in turn when its
anode terminal is positive with respect to the transformer centre point C
producing an output during both half-cycles, twice that for the half
wave rectifier so it is 100%
Full-Wave Rectifier-Working and operation
When the AC signal is applied to bridge rectifier the step-down
transformer converts the high voltage AC signal into low voltage
AC signal. The AC signal is applied to the primary winding of
the transformer and through

Diodes operation during Positive Half of AC the mutual

induction it is applied to secondary windings of the transformer:

When positive half of AC signal is applied to bridge rectifier,

the top of the secondary winding of the transformer is positive and
bottom of the secondary winding is negative. Thus, in this
condition the anode terminal of diode D1 is positive and the
cathode terminal of diode D3 is negative.
Therefore, diode D1 and diode D3 will be forward biased during
positive half or first half of AC cycle. And diode D2 and diode
D4 will be reversed biased because cathode terminal of diode D4
is connected to the terminal having positive voltage and anode
terminal of diode D2 is connected to positive voltage.
Diagram below – the green arrows indicate the beginning of
current flow from the source (transformer secondary) to the load
resistance. The red arrows indicate the return path of current
from load resistance to the source, thus completing the circuit
Diodes operation during Negative Half of AC:
When negative cycle or second half of AC signal approaches
bridge rectifier, the top of the secondary winding of a transformer
is negative while the bottom half of secondary winding of the
transformer is positive. Thus, in this situation, the anode
terminal of diode D1 is negative while cathode terminal of D3 is
positive. This makes the diode D1 and D3 to operate in reversed
biased condition.
During the negative half cycle of AC signal, the cathode terminal
of diode D4 is negative and the anode terminal of diode D2 is
positive. Thus, diode D4 and diode D2 are forward biased
during the negative half of AC. While during this negative half
cycle the anode terminal of diode D1 is negative and the cathode
terminal of diode D3 is positive, this makes the diode D1 and
D3 reverse biased.
Thus, the bridge rectifier conducts for both half of AC input
signal i.e. for positive half as well as negative half. The
direction of current flowing through load resistor remains same for
positive half of AC cycle as well as for negative half of AC
cycle.
Diagram below – the green arrows indicate the beginning of
current flow from the source (transformer secondary) to the load
resistance. The red arrows indicate the return path of current
from load resistance to the source, thus completing the circuit.
 Bridge Rectifier Circuit Analysis

The only difference in the analysis between full wave and centre
tap rectifier is that
1.In a bridge rectifier circuit, two diodes conduct during each
half cycle and the forward resistance becomes double (2RF).
2.In a bridge rectifier circuit, Vsmax is the maximum voltage
across the transformer secondary winding whereas in a centre tap
rectifier Vsmax represents that maximum voltage across each half
of the secondary winding.

The different parameters are explained with equations below:

1.Peak Current
The instantaneous value of the voltage applied to the rectifier is
given as
Vs = Vsmax Sin wt
2.Output Current
Since the current is the same through the load resistance RL in
the two halves of the ac cycle, the magnitude of dc current Idc,
which is equal to the average value of ac current, can be obtained
by integrating the current i1 between 0 and pi or current i2
between pi and 2pi.
3.DC Output Voltage
The average or dc value of voltage across the load is given as

4.Root Mean Square (RMS) Value of Current

RMS or effective value of current flowing through the load
resistance RL is given as

5.Root Mean Square (RMS) Value of Output Voltage

RMS value of voltage across the load is given as
6.Ripple factor:
Ripple factor is a measure of purity of the d.c. output of a
rectifier and is defined as

In case of a full-wave rectifier Vrms = Vmax/√2 =

0.707Vmax. The ripple frequency is now Twice the supply
frequency (e.g. 100Hz for a 50Hz supply).
7.Rectification Efficiency:
Rectification efficiency, η, is given by

Where rd is the forward resistance of diode. Under the

assumption of no diode loss (rd<<), the rectification efficiency
in case of a full-wave rectifier is approximately 81.1%, Which is
twice the value for a half-wave rectifier.
8.Filter

The full-wave rectifier circuit with capacitor filter is shown in

Fig.The Smoothing capacitor converts the full-wave rippled
output of the rectifier into a smooth Dc output voltage. The
detailed description of its filtering action is already explained in
Half-wave rectifier handout. Two important parameters to
consider when choosing a Suitable a capacitor are its working
voltage, which must be higher than the no-load output
Value of the rectifier and its capacitance value, which determines
the amount of ripple That will appear superimposed on top of the
dc voltage.
Merits of Bridge Rectifier
(1) Transformer utilization factor, in case of the bridge rectifier,
is higher than that of a center tap rectifier.
*If stepping up or stepping down of the AC voltage is not
needed, and it does not even require any transformer
*The PIV is one half that of center tap rectifier. Hence bridge
rectifier is highly suited for high voltage applications
Demerits of Bridge Rectifier
(1) Two diodes in series conduct at a time on alternate half-
cycles. This creates a problem when low DC voltages are
required. This leads to poor voltage regulation.
(2) Internal resistance voltage drop is twice than that of the
centre tap circuit.
(3) If stepping up or stepping down of voltage is not needed, we
may even do without a transformer.
Application of Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier
Full-wave rectifier finds uses in the construction of
constant dc voltage power supplies, especially in
general power supplies. A bridge rectifier with an
efficient filter is ideal for any type of general power
supply applications like charging a battery,
powering a dc device (like a motor, led etc) etc.
However, for an audio application, a general power
supply may not be enough. This is because of the
residual ripple factor in a bridge rectifier. There
are limitations to filtering ripples. For audio
applications, specially built power supplies (using
IC regulators) may be id
 Practical Analysis

Objective:
(1) To construct a full wave bridge rectifier circuit and
analyse it’s output.
(2) To analyse the rectifier output using a capacitor in shunt
as filter.

Circuit Components or Equipments:

(i) A step-down transformer, (ii) 4 junction

diodes, (iii) 3 Load resistors, (iv)
Capacitor, (v) Oscilloscope, (vi) Multimeters,
(vii) Connecting wires, (viii) Breadboard
Circuit Diagram
Procedure
(i) Configure the full-wave rectifier circuit as shown in the
circuit diagram. note down all the values of the components being
used.
(ii) Connect the primary side of the transformer to the a.c.
Mains and secondary to the Input of the circuit.
(iii) Measure the input a.c. voltage (Vac) and current (Iac) and
the output a.c. (Vac) and d.c. (Vdc) voltages using millimetre
for at least 3 values of load resistor.
(iv) Feed the input and output to the oscilloscope (we will use
oscilloscope here only to trace the output waveform) and save the
data for each measurement.
MEASURE THE INPUT AND OUTPUT VOLTAGES
SEPARATELY.
(v) Multiply the Vac at the input by √2 to get the peak value
and calculate Vdc using The formula Vdc = 2Vmax/ π. Compare
this value with the measured Vdc at the Output.
(vi) Calculate the ripple factor and efficiency.
(vii) Connect the capacitor across the output for each load
resistor. Measure the output a.c. and d.c. voltages once again
and calculate the ripple factor. Trace the input and output
waveforms in oscilloscope and notice the change.

Observation
1.Code number of diode = ________
2.Input Voltage: Vac = _________ Volt
Table(i): Full-wave rectifier with filter (C = ____ μF)
Sl.No Load Rl Output Voltage Ripple
(k ohm) Factor
(r)

Vac(Volt) Vdc(Volt)

O1.
Table(ii):Full wave rectifier without filter.

Sl.N Loa Input Output Rippl

o d Rl current Voltage e
(k Iac(mA factor
ohm) ) (r)

Vac(Volt Vdc(Volt 2Vmax/p

) ) i
(Volt)
O1.

Input and output waveforms:

(i) Waveforms without Filter:

RL = ______
Input Output graph

(ii) Waveforms with Capacitor Filter:

RL = ______
Input Output graph
Conclusion Report
With a full-wave rectifier, we get power in both the
positive and the negative half-wave for our DC circuit.
The load on the AC source is evenly distributed and
not just on one half-wave. We still need to stabilize the
rectified signal to get a constant DC voltage. However,
for the same load and capacitance, the full-wave
rectifier produces less ripple than a half-wave rectifier.
If the ripple is still too big for the DC circuit, a
voltage regulator can be used to produce a fixed and
more stable voltage for it. Compared with a half-wave
rectifier the full-wave rectifier is the better choice in
most cases. The drawbacks compared to the half-wave
rectifier are a higher component count and twice the
diode losse
Bibliography
• www.electronics-lab.com
• Oer-studentresources.gesci.org
• www.elprocua.com
• www.circuitstoday.com
• www.slideshare.net
• NVERT class12 physics