Good day dear readers!

Today I will guide you on how to create a simple half-wave rectifier and I will explain the purpose of this circuit and how it affects our daily life.

To begin with, let us know what a rectifier is

Rectifiers are diodes used to change ac (alternating current) signal to dc (direct current) signal. It allows current to flow in only one direction.

How it works

One – half cycle of the applied voltage is connected to the diode in forward-biased connection and the other half cycle will reverse-biased the diode. Then it will produce an output waveform which is a pulsating dc. This means a DC signal with a characteristic of an AC signal, in removing these unwanted AC variations we need to use filters.

In half-wave rectification

When an AC supply is applied at the input of the half wave rectifier circuit, only the Positive Half cycle appears across the load whereas the negative half cycle is suppressed.

Explanation of the process of rectification

During the positive half cycle of the input voltage, the diode is forward bias (which means short connection) and it will conduct current through the load resistor. That is why we can have an output waveform which has the same shape of the positive half cycle input.
During the negative half cycle of the input voltage, the diode is reverse biased (open circuit) and there is no current flowing through the circuit. So we can have zero output.

Total output waveform

The only output waveform that we can have is the positive half-cycle of the input signal.

Half-wave Rectifier Circuit Construction

1. Components needed

♦ signal generator (input)
♦ diode
♦ resistor
♦ oscilloscope (output)

2. Prepare the circuit components in the QUCS software

3. Construct the circuit

Click rotate tool to position the components.

Right click the circuit components to move anywhere in the simulation area.

Click wire to start connecting the circuit.

Then click the desired pins to be connected.

When an oscilloscope is connected to the load resistor an output waveform will display look like this below.

Application of this tutorial

Rectifiers are widely used in power supplies that provide the dc voltage necessary for almost all active devices to work.

Importance in our daily life

One example of this is mobile phone charger in which it converts ac to dc supply for the battery to charge. Most of electronic devices that we had today use dc supply in order to work.

Thanks for the time everyone! Hope you learn something.

Yours Truly,

@rfece143

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Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

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