Since in a diode electrons can flow in one direction only i.e. As already discussed, a diode is an electronic device consisting of two elements known as cathode and anode. Unless there is an inductance or battery in the circuit, the current will be zero, therefore, for half the time. When a single rectifier diode unit is placed in series with the load across an ac supply, it converts alternating voltage into a uni-directional pulsating voltage, using one-half cycle of the applied voltage, the other half cycle being suppressed because it conducts only in one direction. Explaining Half Wave Rectification in academic words! At the same time output is zero or insignificant during negative half cycles of the input wave. The output is positive and significant during the positive half cycles of the input wave. Since the diode passes current only during one-half cycle of the input wave, we get an output as shown in the diagram. We take the output across load resistor RL. During the positive half cycles of the input wave, the diode ‘D’ will be forward biased and during the negative half cycles of input wave, the diode ‘D’ will be reverse biased. The reduced voltage is fed to the diode ‘D’ and load resistance RL. This input voltage is stepped down using a transformer. The input we give here is an alternating current. The same principle is made use of in a half wave rectifier to convert AC to DC. In other words, a pn junction diode conducts current only when it is forward biased. From the theory part, you should know that a pn junction diode conducts current only in 1 direction. The operation of a half wave rectifier is pretty simple. If you are new to the concepts of a PN junction and its characteristics, I recommend you to read the half wave rectifier theory part first. To understand the operation of a half wave rectifier perfectly, you must know the theory part really well. Simply put, a half wave rectifier removes the negative half cycle of an AC input and allows only the positive cycles to pass creating a DC flow. The process of rectification is converting alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). The output voltage is measured across load resistor RL.Īs part of our “ Basic Electronics Tutorial” series, we have seen that rectification is the most important application of a PN junction diode. Input voltage is given to a step-down transformer and the resulting reduced output of the transformer is given to the diode ‘D’ and load resistor RL. If you look at the above diagram, we are giving an alternating current as input. This property of the diode is very useful in creating simple rectifiers which are used to convert AC to DC. As you know a diode is to electric current like a one-way valve is to water, it allows electric current to flow in only one direction. A simple Half Wave Rectifier is nothing more than a single pn junction diode connected in series to the load resistor.
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