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Worksheet: Bridge Rectifier

<^< Bridge Rectifier | Course Index | Reservoir and Smoothing Circuit >^>

Objective: To investigate the operation of a full-wave bridge rectifier circuit.
Underpinning knowledge: Diodes. Forward and reverse connection. Rectifiers. Peak and r.m.s. values of an alternating voltage. Bridge connection.
Apparatus: TINA circuit file, or apparatus to make the following circuit.
TINA Circuit File: Click here to download circuit file
Initial Settings: Alternating current supply of 10V at 50Hz.
Requires: Paper, Linear graph paper, pen or pencil.
Instructions:

(a) Use the oscilloscope to display two or three cycles of the input and output waveforms using a common time scale.

(b) Sketch the waveforms in (a) and include labelled axes of voltage and time.

Observations:

Comment on the shape of the output voltage produced. Is this what you would have expected? How does the output waveform produced by this circuit differ from that of the half-wave rectifier? What is the advantage of this circuit compared with the bi-phase (two diode) full-wave rectifier circuit?

Further work:

Measure, as accurately as you can, the peak voltage dropped across the load resistor. Justify the voltage measured in terms of the peak value of an alternating voltage having an r.m.s. value of 10V.

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Page last modified on July 28, 2011, at 03:05 PM