Page 67 - Testing Electronic Components

Testing Bridge Rectifier

Using an arrangement of four diodes called a full-wave bridge rectifier in
a power supply is very common. The function of the bridge rectifier in
the power supply is to convert the AC supply voltage into DC voltage.
For full-wave rectification, it is not necessary to use four individual
diodes since all four diodes can be obtained in one package as shown in
Fig 1. Each package has two AC input terminals and two Dc output
terminal marked (+) and (-).

A schematic for the full wave bridge rectifier is drawn in Fig 2. Bridge
rectifiers are classified in the same way as single diodes, i.e. by their
maximum reverse voltage or Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV) and Forward
Current, IF. It is label as “BR” in electronic circuit.

~

- +

+ ~ -
~
~
~
+
~
~
- ~ AC
(a) (b) (c)

Fig 1: Some examples of bridge rectifier Fig 2: Schematic for diodes wired as a
a) marked b) in-line c) dual-in-line(DIL) full-wave bridge rectifier

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