Institute of Electrical and

Electronics Engineering
(IEEE)

EE241 (Active Device I) third

laboratory experiment.

Full wave rectification

(Without and with a filter capacitor)

Group : 06
Station : 09
Members:

DRIOUCH Omar
KACI Madjid
DJERADA Nacer

Analysis:
The function generator is set to generate a sinusoidal waveform
of 10V peak-to-peak voltage and a frequency of 1kHz during all
the parts of the lab.

Part 1: Without filter capacitor

-The output of the signal of the load R with charge 1k :

A positive full wave rectified signal (The signal is fully rectified due to the
diodes bridge) with peak value less than the input signal (The diodes used
are not ideal)3.6V and period of about 2kHz is observed on the scope.
This is because:
D 2D 3 are on if and only if V AV k >1.4 V V A =V ,V k =0 so V >1.4 V
conclude that this happens during the positive half wave.
V out =V 1.4=51.4=3.6 V .

we

D 1D 4 are
on
if
and
only
if
V AV k >1.4 V V A =V , V k =0 soV >1.4 V V <1.4 V we conclude that this
happens during the negative half wave. V out =V 1.4=3.6V
When 1.4 V 1.4 all the diodes are off because the input voltage is
less than the knee voltage required to turn on two diodes.
1- Comparing the period of the input and output signal:
1
, so to have the period we just have to read the
f
value of the frequency and then we calculate .
We know that

T=

We have the table below describing the values of the periods and the
frequencies:

EFI
f
T

EFO

1.004 kHz
1ms

2.009kHz
0.5 ms

Where :
EFP => The Experimental Frequency of the Input signal.
EPO => The Experimental Frequency of the Output signal.
The output signal has twice the frequency of the input one.So the period of
the output signal is half the period of the output one.
*Explanation:
This is because the signal is fully rectified, the negative part of the input
one becomes positive after rectification. This induces that the same form
is got after the positive rectified half wave.
We select the Ac mode on the scope ,we remark that the signal is shifted
down by a value of about 2.4 V .
Explain:
The AC mode of the scope shows only the AC component of the
signal. The signal is shifted down because it has a DC component (an
average value).
2- Measuring and comparing the DC value of the signal:
We have measured the Dc value by reading it from the voltmeter and it
gives about V ' DC =2.1 V , it looks the same as the previous one from the
scope although the error is:
|V ' DC V DC|
%Dev=100.
=6.98
V ' DC
The theoretical value is:

2 v pout
1
V DC theo = v pout sin ( t ) dt =
=2.29V
0

%Dev=100.

|V DC theoV ' DC|

=24.9
V DCtheo
The difference (error) is due to the integration. Normally, the integration
should be done from 1 1 to get the exact value of the voltage. This is
why we get a huge error.
3- Measuring and comparing the AC value of the signal:
The value given by the AC voltmeter is: V ' AC =1.06V . It is the RMS value
of the AC component only.
The theoretical value is:
%Dev=100.

|V AC theo V ' AC|

V ACtheo

V ACtheo = (

=4.50

2
pout

)=1.11 V
DC theo

4- Calculating the ripple factor:

The theoretical value of the ripple factor is: r theo 0.48
V ' AC 1.06
r=
=
=0.50
V ' DC 2.1
|r theo r exp|
Also, the measurement error is: %Dev=
=4.17
r theo

Part 2: With filter capacitor

1-a. The following signal is displayed on the scope ( Questions 1-a.
and 1-b.):

A positive ripple signal with a peak value of 3.6Vis observed on the screen
of the scope. This is because during the positive fourth wave (0.25T), the
capacitor is charging to 3.6V and after this time, the voltage decreases
that makes the capacitor discharging until a new cycle begins (with the
rectified negative half wave). This creates bridge between the two waves
and the voltage will never be null (zero value).
1-b. After selecting the AC mode of the scope, the following signal
is displayed:

The AC mode of the scope allows just the AC component of the signal to
pass. So, we see that the signal is shifted down to the origin (the amount
of shifting is equal to the value of DC component of the signal).
*After increasing the sensitivity of the scope, the following signal is
displayed:

The peak-to-peak voltage of the signal is:

V r (p p) =1.25 V

1-c. Using the DC and AC voltmeter to measure the Avg and ACRMS values of the ripple signal:
The measured values are: V DC =2.28 V V AC =0.37 V
*Remarks:
-The AC value of the signal is less than its DC value (it approaches zero).
-The DC value of the filtered signal is higher than the DC value of the
rectified signal without filtering.
-The AC value of the filtered signal is less than the AC value of the rectified
signal without filtering.
1-d. Calculating the ripple factor:

V AC 2.28
=
=0.16
V DC 0.37
The ripple factor is less than the full wave rectified signal without filter.
r=

2- Now, the 1k resistor is replaced by a 10k resistor:

a-The observations on the screen and the wave form of the signal:

A slightly ripple signal is observed. The signal is closed to be a continuous

signal (DC signal). However, a small ripple exists. The ripple is less than
the one with the 1k. This can be explained by the difference in the time
constant between the two RC circuits.
b-After selecting the AC mode, the following signal is shown:

The signal is shifted downward by a certain value to the origin. This is

because the AC mode does not allow to pass the DC component of the
output signal.
*After increasing the sensitivity of the scope, the following signal is
displayed:

The peak-to-peak ripple voltage is: V r (p p) =0.2V

The peak-to-peak ripple voltage is less than its value when R=1k.
c-Using the DC and AC voltmeter to measure the Avg and AC-RMS
voltages of the signal:
The measured values are:

V DC =3.27 V V AC =0.06 V

*Remarks:
-The AC component of the signal tends to zero and its value is less than
when R=1k.
-The DC component approaches the peak-rectified voltage and it is higher
than its value when R=1k.
d-Calculating the ripple factor:
V AC 0.06
r=
=
=0.02
V DC 3.27
It tends to zero and it is smaller than the one calculated when R=1k,
also, it is smaller than the factor with no filter.
3- Remarks:
The AC component of the filtered output signal decreases when
increasing the resistance R. In the other side, the DC component of the
filtered output signal increases (It approaches the value of the peak
rectified signal value 3.6V) which reduces the value of the ripple factor.
This implies that the value of the ripple signal depends on the timeV
constant =RC of the RC circuit: V r= pout
2 f

Conclusion:
The AC output component of the signal is decreases when adding a
filter to the bridge. However, the DC output componentincreases. This

reduces the value of the ripple factor. This induces that the quality of
the output signal with filtering is higher than the one with no filtering.
The higher is the value of =RC, the higher is the DC output voltage
and the smaller is the AC output voltage and the smaller becomes the
ripple factor. This induces that the quality of the output signal can be
made better by increasing the time-constant =RC(either R or C or both).
In addition, the ripple factor of a bridge rectifier is smaller than the one
of the half wave rectifier. It can be made smaller by adding a filter to the
circuit (the higher is the value of RC, the best will be the output signal).
After this third laboratory experiment, we saw experimentally the truth of
the theoretical equations done during the lecture. In addition, we learned
that the time-constant plays a huge role on the efficiency of the rectifier.
Finally, we learned the role of a capacitor in a bridge rectifier and how it
reduces the loss of energy and how it increases the quality of the rectified
signal.