A Level Physics ALTERNATING CURRENTS Rectification and smoothing..

RECTIFICATION
With the aid of a diode which only allows current to flow one way through it a AC supply can be rectified to a DC one. There are two basic types of rectification:

HALF WAVE
Half wave rectification uses a single diode but does leave periods with no current at all.
FULL WAVE
If an A.C. voltage is fed in across A and B, then there is a D.C. voltage as shown in the diagram across the + and -.

SMOOTHING
In order to smooth the current that is decrease the variation of the voltage with time, a capacitor can be put across the output D.C. voltage from above, this charges when the voltage is high and discharges when it is lower, causing the voltage decay curve after the first charge to slow and not get to zero before the voltage has increased again.

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Rob Coles 01 June 1996 10:06:47 1