Full Wave Bridge Rectifier Ic. But diodes being cheaper than a center tap transformer a bridge rectifier are much preferred in a dc power supply. In our tutorial on half wave rectifiers we have seen that a half wave rectifier makes use of only one half cycle of the input alternating current.
In our tutorial on half wave rectifiers we have seen that a half wave rectifier makes use of only one half cycle of the input alternating current. When the positive half cycle of the input supply is given point p becomes positive with respect to the point q. But diodes being cheaper than a center tap transformer a bridge rectifier are much preferred in a dc power supply.
Therefore the fundamental frequency of the ripple voltage is twice that of the ac supply frequency 100hz where for the half wave rectifier it is exactly equal to the supply frequency 50hz.
The bridge rectifier is an electronic component that is widely used to provide full wave rectification and it is possibly the most widely used circuit for this application. When the positive half cycle of the input supply is given point p becomes positive with respect to the point q. The main advantages of a full wave bridge rectifier is that it has a smaller ac ripple value for a given load and a smaller reservoir or smoothing capacitor than an equivalent half wave rectifier. Using four diodes the bridge rectifier the circuit has a distinctive format with the circuit diagram based on a square with one diode on each leg.
