Power Electronics

Lecture 5: Single Phase Uncontrolled Half

Wave Rectifiers
DR. SALEH ODAT
AL ALBAYT UNIVERSITY
Introduction
 A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).
 Flows in one direction.
 The process is known as rectification.
 There are many applications for rectifiers such as:
 Variable speed dc drives.
 Battery chargers.
 DC power supplies…etc.
AC-DC CONVERSION (RECTIFICATIONS)
 Basic Rectifier Circuits:
 Several types of rectifier circuits are available:
 Single-phase and three-phase half-wave and full-wave, controlled and uncontrolled, etc.
 For a given application, the type used is determined by the requirements of that application.

 In general the types of rectifiers are:

 Uncontrolled Rectifier: Provide a fixed DC output voltage for a given AC supply where diodes are used
only.
 Controlled Rectifier: Provide an adjustable DC output voltage by controlling the phase at which the
devices are turned on, where thyristors and diodes are used. There are two types:
 Half-controlled: allows electrical power flow from AC to DC (i.e. rectification only).
 Fully – controlled: allows power flow in both directions (i.e. rectification and inversion).
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).
 Assuming 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.
Resistive Load
𝑣 = 𝑉 𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡
 The dc component Vdc of the output voltage is the average value of a half-wave rectified sinusoid
1 𝑉
𝑉 =𝑉 = 𝑉 sin 𝜔𝑡 𝑑 𝜔𝑡 =
2𝜋 𝜋
 The dc component of the current for the purely resistive load is
𝑉
𝐼 =
𝜋𝑅
The rms values of Vo and Io can be written as
1 𝑉
𝑉 = 𝑉 sin 𝜔𝑡 𝑑 𝜔𝑡 =
2𝜋 2
𝑉
𝐼 =
2𝑅
Performance parameters
 Resistive Load
The Average output dc power is

𝑃 =𝑉 𝐼 =𝐼 𝑅= =

 The rms output dc power is

𝑉 𝑉
𝑃 =𝑉 𝐼 =𝐼 𝑅= =
𝑅 4𝑅
 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.
𝑉 = 120 2 = 169.7 𝑉
𝑉
𝐼 = = 10.8 𝐴
𝜋𝑅
𝑉
𝑃 = = 583.57 𝑊
𝜋 𝑅
𝑉𝑚
𝑉 = = 84.9𝑉
2
𝑉
𝑃 = = 1441.6
𝑅
𝑃 𝑝𝑎𝑐
𝑝𝑓 = = = 0.707
𝑆 𝑉 𝐼
Example
Single –phase half - wave uncontrolled
rectifier with ( R-L) Load
Example
 R-L Load with Flyback Diode
 A Flyback diode D2 , can be connected across an RL load as shown in fig. a.
(Flyback diode is a diode connected across an inductor also known as snubber diode, commutating
diode, freewheeling diode, suppressor diode, clamp diode, or catch diode).
 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
R-L Load with Flyback 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.
(Flyback diode is a diode connected across an inductor also known
as snubber diode, commutating diode, freewheeling
diode, suppressor diode, clamp diode, or catch diode).
 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.
 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
𝜔t=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 𝜔t=π/2.
 As the source decreases after 𝜔t=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 𝜔t=θ is the point when the diode turns off in the figure. The
output voltage is described by
 Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor
Filter
The angle 𝜔t=θ is the point when the diode turns off in the
figure. The output voltage is described by

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

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, 𝜔t=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
𝑖 =
Half Wave Rectifier with a Capacitor
Filter
Using Vo from previous equation, we get

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

Peak capacitor current occurs when the diode turns on at 𝜔t=2π+α. From equation above

Resistor current at 𝜔t=2π+α is obtained from equation

Peak diode current is

 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 𝜔t=2π+α, which can be computed from Vmsinα. The peak-to-peak ripple is expressed as

If Vθ≈Vm and θ=π/2, and evaluating it at α=π/2 in the main equation, we get

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 above. The peak-to-peak ripple is approximately
 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

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.

Thank you 