Power Electronics

Single Phase Uncontrolled Half

Wave Rectifiers

M. Eng. Loc Nguyen

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 Table of contents

1 • Resistive Load

2 • R-L Load

3 • R-L Load with Freewheeling Diode

4 • Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter

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Mr. Loc Nguyen FacultyofEngineering VLUTE University
 Introduction
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC) to direct
current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is known as
rectification.

There are many applications for rectifiers. Some of them are: variable speed dc
drives, battery chargers, DC power supplies and Power supply for a specific
application like electroplating.
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 Resistive Load
 A basic half-wave rectifier with a
resistive load is shown in fig (a). The
source is ac, and the objective is to
create a load voltage that has a
nonzero dc component. The diode is
a basic electronic switch that allows
current in one direction only.

 For the positive half-cycle of the

source in this circuit, the diode is on
(forward-biased).
Considering the diode to be ideal, the
voltage across a forward-biased diode is
zero and the current is positive.

 For the negative half-cycle of the

source, the diode is reverse-biased,
making the current zero. The
voltage across the reverse-biased
diode is the source voltage, which
has a negative value.
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 Resistive Load
The dc component Vo of the output voltage is the average value of a
half-wave rectified sinusoid
The dc component of the current for the purely resistive load is

The rms values of Voand Io can be written as

Mr. Loc Nguyen FacultyofEngineering VLUTE University

 Resistive Load
The Average output dc power is

= = 2 = 2 = 2 2

The rmsoutput dc power is

2 2

= = 2 = =
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Example: For the shown half-wave rectifier, the source is a sinusoid of 120 Vrms at
a frequency of 60 Hz. The load resistor is 5 Ω. Determine (a) the average load
current, (b) the dc and ac power absorbed by the load and (c) the power factor of
the circuit.
(a)

Mr. Loc Nguyen FacultyofEngineering VLUTE University

 Resistive Load
(b)
2

= = 169.72
2 2 × 5 = 583.57

2
= 4.92
8
= 5 = 1441.6
(c)
The rmscurrent in the resistor is

The power factor is

1441.6
= = = 120 ∗ 17 = 0.707

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 R-L Load
 Industrial loads typically contain inductance as well as resistance. As the source
voltage goes through zero, becoming positive in the circuit of fig. a, the
diode becomes forward-biased. The Kirchhoff voltage law equation that
describes the current in the circuit for the forward-biased ideal diode is
The dc component of the output voltage is

=2 0 = 2 (1 − )
The dc component of the output current is

= 2 (1 − )
The solution of equation (1) can be obtained by expressing the current as the
sum of the forced response and the natural response:

Mr. Loc Nguyen FacultyofEngineering VLUTE University

 R-L Load
 The forced response for this circuit is the
current that exists after the natural
response has decayed to zero. In this case,
the forced response is the steady-state
sinusoidal current that would exist in the
circuit if the diode were not present.
 This steady-state current can be found from
phasor analysis, resulting in

Where

 The natural response is the transient that

occurs when the load is energized. It is the
solution to the homogeneous differential
equation for the circuit without the source
or diode.
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 R-L Load

For this first-order circuit, the natural response has the form

Where = A= constant
(2)
Adding the forced and natural responses gets the complete solution.

The constant Ais evaluated by using the initial condition for current:
t= 0 ,i( t)= 0 .
Using the initial condition and equation (2) to evaluate Ayields

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 R-L Load
Substituting for A in equation (2) gives

The final current equation can be written as

(3)

The point when the current reaches zero in Eq. (3-12) occurs when the diode
turns off. The first positive value of t in equation (3) that results in zero
current is called the extinction angle .
To find , substitute t= in equation
(3)
Which reduces to
 There is no closed-form solution for , and some numerical method is required.
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 R-L Load
To summarize, the current in the half-wave rectifier circuit with RL load is
expressed as

The dc component of the output current is

Or it can be found as

=2 0 = 2 (1 ) = =2 (1 )
− −
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 R-L Load
The rmsvalue of Io can be written as

Or it can be written as

2
1
= ( )2 = ( − 1
2 )
2 0 4 2

2
1 ( − 1
= =
2 )
2+ ( )2 = 2+ ( )2 4 2

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 R-L Load
Example: For the RL half-wave rectifier, R=100Ω, L=0.1 H, =377 rad/s, and
Vm=100 V. Determine (a) an expression for the current in this circuit, (b) the
average current, (c) the rms current, (d) the power absorbed by the RL load,
and (e) the power factor.

(a)

Using a numerical root-finding program, is found to be 3.50 rad, or 201o.

(b)

(A numerical integration program is recommended.)

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 R-L Load

Iocan be also found from

=
(c)

Irms can be also found from

2 1002
1 ( − 1 1 (3.5 − 1
=
2 )= 7) = 0.489
A
2+ ( )2 4 2 106.9 4 2
(d)

Note that the power factor is not

(e) cosθ.

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 R-L Load with Freewheeling Diode
 A freewheeling diode D2, can be
connected across an RL load as shown in
fig. a.
 Both diodes cannot be forward-biased at
the same time. Diode D1 will be ON
when the source is positive, and diode D2
will be ON when the source is negative.

For a positive source voltage,

 D1 is on.
 D2 is off.
 The equivalent circuit is the same as
that of fig. b.
 The voltage across the RL load is the
same as the source.

For a negative source voltage,

 D1 is off.
 D2 is on.
 The equivalent circuit is the same at that of fig. c.
 The voltage across the RL load is zero
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 R-L Load with Freewheeling Diode
 Since the voltage across the RL load is
the same as the source voltage when the
source is positive and is zero when the
source is negative, the load voltage is a
half-wave rectified sine wave. Steady-
state load, source, and diode currents
are shown in the fig..

Example: Determine the average load

voltage and current for the circuit, where
R=2 Ω and L=25mH, Vm is 100 V, and the
frequency is 60 Hz.

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
 The purpose of the capacitor is to reduce the variation in the output voltage,
making it more like dc. The resistance may represent an external load, and
the capacitor may be a filter which is part of the rectifier circuit.

 Assuming the capacitor is initially uncharged and the circuit is energized at

t=0, the diode becomes forward-biased as the source becomes positive. With the
diode on, the output voltage is the same as the source voltage, and the
capacitor charges. The capacitor is charged to Vm when the input voltage
reaches its positive peak at t=π/2.

 As the source decreases after t=π/2, the capacitor discharges into the load
resistor. At some point, the voltage of the source becomes less than the output
voltage, reverse-biasing the diode and isolating the load from the source. The
output voltage is a decaying exponential with time constant RC while the
diode is off.

 The angle t=θ is the point when

the diode turns off in the figure.
The output voltage is described by

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
(1)

where

The slopes of these functions are

At t=θ , the slopes of the voltage functions are equal:

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
Solving for θ and expressing θ so it is in the proper quadrant,

In practical circuits where the time constant is large,

The angle at which the diode turns on in the second period, t=2π+α, is the
point when the sinusoidal source reaches the same value as the decaying
exponential
output:

The above equation must be solved numerically for α.

The current in the resistor is calculated from

The current in the capacitor is calculated from

Or
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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
Using vofrom equation (1) we, get

(2)

The source current, which is the same as the diode current, is

Peak capacitor current occurs when the diode turns on at t=2π+α. From
equation (2)

Resistor current at t=2π+α is obtained from equation (1)

Peak diode current is

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
The effectiveness of the capacitor filter is determined by the variation in output
voltage. This may be expressed as the difference between the maximum and
minimum output voltage, which is the peak-to-peak ripple voltage. For the half
wave rectifier with a capacitor filter, the maximum output voltage is Vm. The
minimum output voltage occurs at t=2π+α, which can be computed from Vmsinα.
The peak-to-peak ripple is expressed as

If Vθ ≈ Vm and θ=π/2, then (1) evaluated at α=π/2 is

(3)
The ripple voltage can then be approximated as
the exponential in the above equation can be approximated by the series
expansion:

Substituting the above equation in equation (3). The peak-to-peak ripple is

approximately

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
The output voltage ripple is reduced by increasing the filter capacitor C. As C
increases, the conduction interval for the diode decreases. Therefore, increasing
the capacitance to reduce the output voltage ripple results in a larger peak diode
current.

Example: The half-wave rectifier with a capacitor filter has a 120-V rms source
at 60 Hz, R=500 =Ω, and C=100μF. Determine (a) an expression for output
voltage, (b) the peak-to-peak voltage variation on the output, (c) an expression
for capacitor current, (d) the peak diode current, and (e) the value of C such that
Vo is 1 percent of Vm.

Using numerical solution to get α

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Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor Filter
(a) an expression for output voltage.

(b) the peak-to-peak voltage variation on the output

(c) an expression for capacitor current

(d) the peak diode current

(e) the value of C such that Vo is 1 percent of Vm.

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