BOUMERDES UNIVERSITY, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, I.G.E.

E (ex-INELEC)

Diode applications:
Rectifiers (without and with
capacitor filter)
Lab report Active Devices I (EE241L-Lab)

Lab experiment No2

Under the supervision of Mr R.HADOUCHE

Tuesday, 11 October 2022

L2, L03, Group 06

Members:

- BAY Seif-El-Islam
- MELAH Raid Chems Eddine
Introduction:
The diode's most common application is rectification. Simply said,
rectification is the conversion of alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC); this
requires a device that only allows one-way electron passage, which a
semiconductor diode does.

Objectives:
The purpose of this experiment is to :

- Observe the output waveform of a half wave rectifier and a full wave
rectifier (bridge) with and without filter, and finding the ripple factor.

- Compare the result obtained using the Oscilloscope and those measured by
voltmeter.

Equipment and components:

- The function generator (FG). - The oscilloscope (or simply the scope). - A BNC to BNC cable.

- Digital Multimeter. - Cable. - T BNC connector. - Y BNC connector.

Page 1 of 17
 - Bread board. - Power supply.

- Resistor (R = 1KΩ). / - Diode. / - Capacitor (C = 0.47µF).

Part 1: Half wave rectifier

Without a filter capacitor:
1) To display the source signal, set channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the DC
mode. Set the function generator (or the AC voltage source) to produce a
sine wave with a 1 kHz frequency and an 8V peak to peak amplitude.
o Draw the source waveform indicating the voltage and time levels (specify
the used calibrations).

The used calibrations that we have specified are :

• Vertical axis: 250 µs/div
• Horizontal axis: 2 V/div
Page 2 of 17
2) Using the same AC voltage source, construct the circuit given in figure 1
(without the capacitor C), with R=1kΩ. Use the DC mode for both channels of
the oscilloscope.

a. Select "channel 1" after that "channel 2" in the oscilloscope.

o The observation on the screen of the scope:

Page 3 of 17
 o Explanation:
We can see two waveforms on the scope's screen: the source
waveform, which is displayed in yellow, and the output waveform, which is
displayed in blue and represents the voltage across R. As a result of the
diode blocking current in the reverse bias region, where the source voltage
is negative, and the voltage drop on the diode, which causes the output
waveform's peak value to be less than the source peak value, the output
voltage is almost equal to the positive part of the source waveform.
b. Draw the waveform across the load R.
o The peak value of the output signal across the resistor R is:
VP out = 3.44 (v)
o Explanation:
Due to the diode and its voltage drop in the forward bias, which is
approximately 0.5 V
V P out = V P in - V D = 4 - 0.5 = 3.4 (v) ≈ 3.44 (v)
c. Compare the period of the output signal with the period of the input signal:
The output signal's period is equal to the input signal's period, which is 1 ms.
d. Select channel 2 in the scope (with AC mode).

Page 4 of 17
 o Does any part of the output signal appear below the center line? If yes,
give its level and definition.
When using the AC coupling mode and choosing channel 2, a portion
of the output signal is seen below the center line. It has a level of 1 (v). The
DC component of the output signal is what is referred to as the offset (its
average value).
e. Use the DC voltmeter to measure the DC output voltage.

V out (DC) measured = 1.027 (v)

o Compare this value with the previous result and the theoretical value
computed from the formula (VDC = Vpeak /∏).
The value measured by the multimeter (V out (DC) measured = 1.027 (v)) is equal
to the previous offset value (V offset = 1(v)) and close to the theoretical
value (V out (DC) theoretical = V peak / ∏ = 3.44 / ∏ = 1.096 (v)).
So: V out (DC) measured = V out (DC) theoretical = V offset = 1(v)

Page 5 of 17
f. Use the AC voltmeter to measure the AC output voltage.

V out (AC) measured = 2.46 (v)

o Compare this value with the theoretical value computed from the formula
(VRMS = Vpeak /2), what do you remark?
The value measured by the multimeter (V out (AC) measured = 2.46 (v)) is equal
to the theoretical value (V out (AC) theoretical = V peak / 2 = 3.44 / 2 = 1.72 (v)).
So: V out (DC) measured = V out (DC) theoretical
g. Caculate the ripple factor.
The ripple factor is defined as the ratio of the RMS of the AC
component (ripple voltage V r) to the DC component in the output.
r = V r (RMS) / V0 (DC) = 1.29 / 1.096 = 1.18
r = 1.18

Page 6 of 17
 With a filter capacitor:
3) Assemble the circuit shown in figure 1 (with R= 1kΩ and C= 0.47μf) using the
same AC voltage source. Show the output signal across (R//C) using the
oscilloscope's DC mode.

a. The observation on the screen of the scop:

Explanation:
After the capacitor was added, the output signal improved in
smoothness (reduced ripple). When the waveform is positive and rising,
the capacitor charges up to the peak value of Vout; however, when the
source voltage falls or turns negative, the capacitor begins to discharge
in the R, causing the voltage across to fall exponentially as a function of
time (τ = RC). The capacitor begins to charge when the subsequent
positive input wave reaches the voltage across R and C, and the cycle of
charging and discharging then periodically repeats.
Page 7 of 17
 b. Select the AC mode.
o The observation on the screen of the scope:

We see that the output signal's DC component has been filtered while
switching the coupling mode to AC coupling, and we then arrive at the
ripple waveform.
c. Increase the sensitivity of the scope until observing the ripple. Give the
peak to peak ripple voltage.
We observed that the peak to peak ripple voltage is Vripple (pp)= 2.54(v)
as the sensitivity was increased.

Page 8 of 17
d. Use the DC voltmeter to measure the DC output voltage and the AC
voltmeter to measure the AC output voltage.

o Remark:
In the DC mode: 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 (𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷) = 1.87 (v)
In the AC mode: 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴) = 0.82 (v)
We see that the output signal's DC value has increased and its AC value
(the ripple RMS value) has decreased when the capacitor is added. As a
result, adding the capacitor to the output makes the output signal more
stable (the output signal has been enhanced).
e. Calculate the ripple factor:
r = V r (RMS) / V out (DC) = V out (AC) / V out (AC) = 0.82/0.87 = 0.44

Page 9 of 17
Part 2: Full wave rectifier (Bridge)
Without a filter capacitor:
1) Using the same AC voltage source:

- Construct the circuit given in figure below (without the capacitor C) with R=
1kΩ .

Page 10 of 17
a. Using the DC mode for the oscilloscope, show the signal output across the
load R.
o The observation on the screen of the scope is:

o Explanation:
The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in "series pairs," with only two
diodes conducting current during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle of
the supply, diodes D1 and D2 conduct in series, while diodes D3 and D4 are
reverse biased, and the current flows through the load. During the negative half
cycle of the supply, diodes D3 and D4 conduct in series, but diodes D1 and D2
switch "off" as they are now reverse biased. The current flowing through the
load is going in the same direction as before.
b. From the observation of the waveform across the load R.
o The peak value of the output signal across the resistor R is:
V out(peak) = 2.72 (v)
o Explanation:
The total input signal has been rectified in the circuit by passing the
current through two diodes in each half cycle (D2, D3, or D1, D4), resulting
𝟐𝟐𝒗𝒗𝒊𝒊𝒊𝒊(𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒌𝒌)
in: V out(peak) = – 2VD = 4 – (2×0.7) = 2.60 (v) ≈ 2.72 (v).
𝟐𝟐 Page 11 of 17
c. Comparing the period of the output signal with the period of the input signal:
The period of the output (TO = 0,5(ms) ) signal is half the period of the input
signal (T i = 1(ms) ), because: 𝑻𝑻𝟎𝟎 = 1/f O = 1/2fi = ( ½)T i = 0.5 × 1 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 0.5 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚.
d. Select the AC mode, on the scope:

When the coupling is changed to an AC coupling, a portion of the signal

appears below the center line, with a level of 2(v).
e. Using the DC voltmeter to measure the DC output voltage:

V out (DC) measured = 1.87 (v)

Page 12 of 17
 o Compare this value with the previous result and the theoretical value
computed from the formula (VDC = 2Vpeak /∏).
We got: V out (DC) measured = 1.87 (v), and it is equal to the previous value
obtained by the AC coupling (2v).
V out (DC) theoretically = 2V out(peak) / ∏ = 2×3.94 / 3.14159 = 2.51(v), which is
close to the two previous results.
f. Using the AC voltmeter to measure the AC output voltage:

V out (AC) measured = 1.16 (v)

o Compare this value with the previous result and the theoretical value:
We have got: V out (AC) measured = 1.16 (v).
V out (AC) theoretically = V out(peak) / √𝟐𝟐 = 3.94 / √𝟐𝟐= 2.79(v).
The multimeter measures the AC value of the signal without
accounting for its DC component, hence the two results are different (the
multimeter is not a true RMS multimeter, it activates some sort of AC
coupling when we change it to AC mode).
g. Calculating the ripple factor:
r = V r (RMS) / V out (DC) = V out (AC) / V out (DC) = 1.16 / 1.87
r = 0.62

Page 13 of 17
 With a filter capacitor:
2) Using the same AC voltage source, constructing the circuit given (with R=
1kΩ, and C = 0.47µF). Using the DC mode for the oscilloscope, show the signal
output across the load R.

a. The observation on the screen of the scope is:

Page 14 of 17
 o Explanation:
The addition of the capacitor improved the output signal's smoothness (and
reduced its ripple). The capacitor charge rises when the source waveform is
positive and reaches the value. of V out peak, but as the source voltage begins to
drop, the capacitor begins to discharge in the load R. As a result, the voltage
across the load R decreases exponentially over the course of the time
constant (𝜏𝜏 = 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅), and the source waveform's negative half wave repeats
itself. The period of the charging and discharging cycle, which periodically
repeats, is equal to the period of the source waveform.
b. Drawing the waveform across the load R: its same above.
c. Selecting the AC mode, on the scope:

We observe that the output signal's DC component has been filtered when
the coupling mode is switched to AC coupling, resulting in the ripple
waveform.

Page 15 of 17
 o Increasing the sensitivity of the scope until we observe the ripple. Give the
peak to peak ripple voltage:

When increasing the sensitivity, we found that the peak to peak ripple
voltage is: V ripple (p-p) = 1.68(v).
d. Using the DC voltmeter to measure the DC output voltage:

V out (DC) measured = 2.59 (v)

Page 16 of 17
 Using the AC voltmeter to measure the AC output voltage:

V out (AC) measured = 0.47 (v)

o The remark: When a capacitor is added to an output signal, we see that
the output signal's DC value increases and its AC value (the ripple RMS
value) decreases, making the output signal more stable (the output signal
has been enhanced).
e. Calculating the ripple factor:
r = V r (RMS) / V out (DC) = V out (AC) / V out (DC) = 0.47 / 2.59  r = 0.18

Conclusion:
There are substantial differences between half-wave and full-wave rectifiers.
AC voltage is changed into pulsing DC voltage using a rectifier. An electronic circuit
known as a half-wave rectifier transforms only one-half of the AC cycle into pulsing
DC. Only the first half of the AC cycle is used for conversion. A full-wave rectifier, on
the other hand, is an electronic circuit that transforms an entire AC cycle into
pulsating DC. The half-wave rectifier only permits conduction in one direction since
it is unidirectional. Because of this, it can either convert the entire voltage into DC
or just the positive or negative half. This explains why it is referred to as a half-
wave rectifier. A full-wave rectifier conducts in both directions for both the positive
and negative halves of the cycle. Thus, it is termed a "full wave rectifier."

Page 17 of 17