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INTRODUCTION
A widely used application of this feature and diodes in
general is in the conversion of an alternating voltage
(AC) into a continuous voltage (DC). In other
words, Rectification.
But small signal diodes can also be used as rectifiers in
low-power, low current (less than 1-amp) rectifiers or
applications, but where larger forward bias currents or
higher reverse bias blocking voltages are involved the
PN junction of a small signal diode would eventually
overheat and melt so larger more robust Power
Diodes are used instead.
The power semiconductor diode, known simply as
the Power Diode, has a much larger PN junction area
compared to its smaller signal diode cousin, resulting in
a high forward current capability of up to several
hundred amps (KA) and a reverse blocking voltage of
up to several thousand volts (KV).
Since the power diode has a large PN junction, it is not
suitable for high frequency applications above 1MHz,
but special and expensive high frequency, high current
diodes are available. For high frequency rectifier
applications Schottky Diodes are generally used
because of their short reverse recovery time and low
voltage drop in their forward bias condition.
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Power diodes provide uncontrolled rectification of
power and are used in applications such as battery
charging and DC power supplies as well as AC
rectifiers and inverters. Due to their high current and
voltage characteristics they can also be used as free-
wheeling diodes and snubber networks.
Power diodes are designed to have a forward “ON”
resistance of fractions of an Ohm while their reverse
blocking resistance is in the mega-Ohms range. Some
of the larger value power diodes are designed to be
“stud mounted” onto heatsinks reducing their thermal
resistance to between 0.1 to 1oC/Watt.
If an alternating voltage is applied across a power
diode, during the positive half cycle the diode will
conduct passing current and during the negative half
cycle the diode will not conduct blocking the flow of
current. Then conduction through the power diode only
occurs during the positive half cycle and is therefore
unidirectional i.e. DC as shown.
Power Diode Rectifier
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RECTIFIERS
Power diodes can be used individually as above or
connected together to produce a variety of rectifier
circuits such as “Half-Wave”, “Full-Wave” or as “Bridge
Rectifiers”. Each type of rectifier circuit can be classed
as either uncontrolled, half-controlled or fully controlled
where an uncontrolled rectifier uses only power diodes,
a fully controlled rectifier uses thyristors (SCRs) and a
half controlled rectifier is a mixture of both diodes and
thyristors.
The most commonly used individual power diode for
basic electronics applications is the general
purpose 1N400x Series Glass Passivated type
rectifying diode with standard ratings of continuous
forward rectified current of about 1.0 ampere and
reverse blocking voltage ratings from 50v for the
1N4001 up to 1000v for the 1N4007, with the small
1N4007GP being the most popular for general purpose
mains voltage rectification.
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Half WavE
Rectification
A rectifier is a circuit which converts the Alternating
Current (AC) input power into a Direct Current (DC)
output power. The input power supply may be either a
single-phase or a multi-phase supply with the simplest
of all the rectifier circuits being that of the Half Wave
Rectifier.
The power diode in a half wave rectifier circuit passes
just one half of each complete sine wave of the AC
supply in order to convert it into a DC supply. Then this
type of circuit is called a “half-wave” rectifier because it
passes only half of the incoming AC power supply as
shown below.
Half Wave Rectifier Circuit
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During each “positive” half cycle of the AC sine wave,
the diode is forward biased as the anode is positive
with respect to the cathode resulting in current flowing
through the diode.
Since the DC load is resistive (resistor, R), the current
flowing in the load resistor is therefore proportional to
the voltage (Ohm´s Law), and the voltage across the
load resistor will therefore be the same as the supply
voltage, Vs (minus Vf), that is the “DC” voltage across
the load is sinusoidal for the first half cycle only
so Vout = Vs.
During each “negative” half cycle of the AC sinusoidal
input waveform, the diode is reverse biased as the
anode is negative with respect to the cathode.
Therefore, NO current flows through the diode or
circuit. Then in the negative half cycle of the supply, no
current flows in the load resistor as no voltage appears
across it so therefore, Vout = 0.
The current on the DC side of the circuit flows in one
direction only making the circuit Unidirectional. As the
load resistor receives from the diode a positive half of
the waveform, zero volts, a positive half of the
waveform, zero volts, etc, the value of this irregular
voltage would be equal in value to an equivalent DC
voltage of 0.318*Vmax of the input sinusoidal waveform
or 0.45*Vrms of the input sinusoidal waveform.
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Then the equivalent DC voltage, VDC across the load
resistor is calculated as follows.
VDC and the current IDC, flowing through a 100Ω resistor

connected to a 240 Vrms single phase half-wave rectifier
as shown above. Also calculate the DC power
consumed by the load.
During the rectification process the resultant output DC

voltage and current are therefore both “ON” and “OFF”
during every cycle. As the voltage across the load
resistor is only present during the positive half of the
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cycle (50% of the input waveform), this results in a low
average DC value being supplied to the load.
The variation of the rectified output waveform between
this “ON” and “OFF” condition produces a waveform
which has large amounts of “ripple” which is an
undesirable feature. The resultant DC ripple has a
frequency that is equal to that of the AC supply
frequency.
Very often when rectifying an alternating voltage we
wish to produce a “steady” and continuous DC voltage
free from any voltage variations or ripple. One way of
doing this is to connect a large value Capacitor across
the output voltage terminals in parallel with the load
resistor as shown below. This type of capacitor is
known commonly as a “Reservoir” or Smoothing
Capacitor.
Half-wave Rectifier with Smoothing

Capacitor
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When rectification is used to provide a direct voltage
(DC) power supply from an alternating (AC) source,
the amount of ripple voltage can be further reduced by
using larger value capacitors but there are limits both
on cost and size to the types of smoothing capacitors
used.
For a given capacitor value, a greater load current
(smaller load resistance) will discharge the capacitor
more quickly ( RC Time Constant ) and so increases
the ripple obtained. Then for single phase, half-wave
rectifier circuit using a power diode it is not very
practical to try and reduce the ripple voltage by
capacitor smoothing alone. In this instance it would be
more practical to use “Full-wave Rectification” instead.
In practice, the half-wave rectifier is used most often in
low-power applications because of their major
disadvantages being. The output amplitude is less than
the input amplitude, there is no output during the
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negative half cycle so half the power is wasted and the
output is pulsed DC resulting in excessive ripple.
To overcome these disadvantages a number of Power
Diode are connected together to produce a Full Wave
Rectifier
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Power Diode Rectifier

Half Wave Rectifier Circuit

VDC and the current IDC, flowing through a 100Ω resistor

During the rectification process the resultant output DC

Half-wave Rectifier with Smoothing

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