Semiconductor Fundamentals Unit 3 – Full-Wave Rectification and Filtering
UNIT 3 – FULL-WAVE RECTIFICATION AND FILTERING
UNIT OBJECTIVE
At the completion of this unit, you will be able to demonstrate full-wave rectification, filtering
and voltage doubling by using calculated and measured circuit conditions.
UNIT FUNDAMENTALS
A full-wave rectifier converts positive and negative alternations of an ac signal into a pulsating
dc signal, as shown above.
A full-wave bridge rectifier is a circuit that performs full-wave rectification. The input to the
bridge rectifier circuit is usually the secondary coil of a power transformer. The transformer
isolates the bridge rectifier from the ac source and serves to step up (increase) or step down
(decrease) the ac input to the bridge rectifier.