Diode Rectifier with Capacitive Load

 

Working principle

A single-phase diode rectifier converts an AC voltage at the input to a DC voltage at the output. The working principle of the circuit is analogous to the diode rectifier with inductive load.

Influence of the source inductance and DC capacitor

The main difference to a diode rectifier with inductive load is that the inductor is replaced by a capacitor (Cd) as the energy storing element and that no current commutation interval exists between the two diode pairs D1/D2 and D3/D4. Again, the combination of source inductance, DC capacitor and load resistance acts as a second order low pass filter reducing the voltage ripple at the output.

Experiments

  • Change the DC capacitor value from 1000 µF to 2000 µF and observe the reduction in the ripple of the DC voltage.