in this video we're going to discuss the

full wave bridge rectifier circuit so on

the left side we are going to apply an

AC signal that is an alternating current

signal to a transformer

now to the right of this transformer we

have four diodes connected like this

and the way these four diodes are

connected will allow us to convert an AC

signal into a DC signal which is the

main purpose of a rectifier

so this is going to be the output of the

bridge wave rectifier now let's put a

resistor here let's call it resistor R

now we have four points of interest so

let's call this point a point B Point C

and point D and this is going to be d1

or diode one diode two diode three and

then die of four on the upper left side

and so this is the basic picture of the

full wave bridge rectifier circuit this

is how it looks like now let's talk

about the operation of this circuit and

so here is an AC sine wave and during

the positive half cycle of this wave the

top part of the right side of the

transformer is going to have a positive

potential and the left side will have a

negative potential so that's going to be

the polarity of the secondary side of

the transformer conventional current

will always flow from a high potential

to a low potential now keep in mind this

is in the opposite direction of electron

flow so electrons actually flow in the

opposite direction so the green arrows

will represent the flow of conventional

current so it's going to flow from the

positive terminal of the transformer

towards point a and then from point a

towards point B through d1 now is d1 is

it on or off is d1 in for bias mode or

reverse bias mode so anytime the

direction of conventional current if

it's in the same direction of the arrow

the diode is on it's active it's on

forward bias mode now let's say if the

current is in the opposite direction to

the arrow that's part of the diode

symbol in this case the diode is

the off-mode it's not active it's in

reverse bias mode so here we have the

arrow I mean the direction of the

current in the same direction as the

diode arrow

so therefore d1 is on it's active it's

in the forward bias mode now will

current flow from B to C is that going

to happen
notice that the arrow of the diode and

the direction of the current they're

opposite to each other so therefore

that's not going to happen

so let's put an X here so we could say

that D 2 is off

so the electric current has no choice

but to flow from point B through the

resistor and then back towards point D

now what's going to happen when it

reaches point D will it go through d4

because the current will be in the same

direction as the diode arrow now there's

no point for it to return back to point

a because it was already at Point a and

whatever you see that it's not gonna

work

and so d4 is in reverse bias mode D

force off another way you can think

about it is to understand that the

electric potential at Point D is less

and than the electric potential at Point

a current will not flow from a low

potential to a high potential it doesn't

work that way

electric current will always flow from a

high potential to a low potential and

that is conventional current so let's

say that point a was at 20 volts point B

will be at 19 point 3 volts a typical

diode has a voltage drop of 0.6 or 0.7

volts now this is going to be a voltage

drop across this resistor and let's say

it's probably gonna be 0.7 the voltage

drop is really the difference between

nineteen point three and point seven so

the electric potential at the other side

of the resistor is 0.7 and going through

D three Point C will be at zero because

that would be the opposite side of this

transformer so D is still point seven

current will prefer to flow from a high

potential to a low potential that is

from A to D however the arrow the era of

the diode is opposite to the direction

of that current so it's gonna be off and

current will not flow from a low

potential to a high potential it's not

gonna go for

point seven to 20 that's so that's not

gonna work therefore either way you look

at it dialed four is off it's in the

reverse bias State it's not active so

once the current reaches point D it's

not going to go through d4 so that's not

going to happen therefore it has to go

through d3 so d3 is going to be in the

active state then from d3 it's going to

reach to Point C and then it's going to

go back to this transformer and so that

is the direction of the flow of

conventional current during the positive

half cycle now let's focus on the

resistor we said that current flows from

a high potential to a low potential so

the top part of the resistor is at a

higher potential than the bottom part of

the resistor now in order for us to get

DC current or direct current the

polarity of this resistor must remain

the same for both the positive half

cycle of the AC sine wave and the

negative half cycle of the AC sine wave

so we see that it's positive at the top

for the positive half cycle let's see if

it's going to remain the same for the

negative half cycle so let me just get

rid of some of the things that I wrote

on this picture

let's see how far this software will

allow me to go back so now this is going

to be the negative half cycle so the

polarity at the right side of the

transformer will be reverse the top part

will have a negative sign this time as

always

conventional current will flow from the

high potential towards the side with a

lower potential so it's gonna emanate

from the positive terminal and flow

towards the negative terminal this is

gonna flow towards point C and then from

Point C the current will flow towards

point B that is true d2 and so d2 will

be in the active State

it's not gonna flow through d3 because

as you could see the diode arrow and the

direction of the current there opposite

to each other so d3 is inactive it's off

so as current flows from C to B it's

going to pass through the resistor going

in this direction so notice that the top

part of the resistor is still positive

and the bottom part is still negative

because current will flow from a high

potential to a low potential and so

therefore the polarity across that

resistor is the same thus we now have a

DC signal as opposed to an AC signal and

so the full wave bridge rectifier

circuit is very useful if you want to

convert an AC power source into a DC

power source now let's continue with a

flow of the conventional current so it's

gonna flow towards point D now will the

electric current flow through d3 to

answer that let's put some numbers on

the board so we're going to say this is

at a potential of zero and this is at a

potential of 20 so

from let's say see it's a B there's

gonna be a voltage drop of 0.7 which

means that the potential Abby will be

19.3 and then going through the resistor

the potential is going to be at point 7

and then going to point D it's still at

point 7 because all we have is just a

wire here and so at Point a it's at zero

point B is at 19.3 and at Point C it's

at 20 so this will help us to tell which

diodes will be on and which ones will be

off so now that the current is at Point

D it's not going to go through d3

because if it goes in this direction

notice that it's going from a low

potential to a high potential and that's

not gonna happen so once again d3 is

still off now it wants to go through d4

because the current is gone from a high

electric potential to a low electric

potential and so d4 will be on its

active now once it reaches point a it's

not gonna go to point B because you're

going from a low potential to a high

potential and so that's not gonna work

so d1 is off as well

so only d2 and d4 are active during the

negative half cycle now once the current

reaches point a it's going to return

back to the transformer and so that's

going to be the flow of conventional

current in this circuit during the

negative half cycle now what type of

wave will we get at the output of this

circuit how will it look like

so at the output we're gonna get a

pulsating DC signal that looks like this

and if we extend the AC signal at the

input it will look like this so

basically the negative part of the AC

sine wave if it gets flipped over the

x-axis and so this is gonna be the

output signal that we'll get for this

particular circuit so we have a

pulsating DC signal as you can see here

now when designing a power supply

circuit what you want to do is you want

to get a nice consistent DC signal

ideally you want a signal to be like

this you want it to be as smooth as

possible you don't want a pulsating DC

wave so how can we convert this

pulsating DC signal into something into

a more smooth DC signal how can we do

that what elements can we add to this

circuit to basically reduce the

variations in voltage that we see at the

output now one of the first things that

we can do is that we can add a capacitor

parallel to the resistor

and the capacitor will basically filter

out variations in voltages so without

the capacitor we would have basically a

pulsating DC signal that looks like this

but with the capacitor the variations

will be less it will be more smooth so

to speak

so this is the positive terminal of the

capacitor and this is going to be the

negative terminal of the capacitor now

let's focus on the picture so when the

voltage is rising the capacitor is going

to store charge it's going to be in

charge and mode and so it's going to

absorb energy from the circuit now while

the voltage across the resistor is

decreasing the capacitor is going to

release its stored energy to the circuit

thus preventing the voltage from droppin

too low and once the voltage is rising

again the capacitor is going to absorb

energy again from the circuit preventing

the voltage from rising too quickly and

so by the capacitor absorb an energy and

release an energy to the circuit it

causes the voltage to be more consistent

rather than falling quickly and then

rising quickly it smooths out the

pulsating DC signal now the variation in

voltages that we see here is called the

ripple voltage and you can reduce the

ripple voltage by increasing the value

of the capacitance or by increasing the

load resistor which you may not always

have control over now you need to be

careful when you're increasing the value

of the capacitance in this circuit even

though it's a very effective way to

reduce the ripple voltage there is

another problem that you need to be

aware of so once you apply the AC signal

to this rectifier and if the capacitor

is fully discharged which it's probably

going to be in that state instead of

current flowing through the device

that's connected to this rectifier or

even through the resistor it's easier

for current to flow through the

capacitor because the capacitor will be

charging and so the capacitor will

behave like a short circuit now keep in

mind conventional current really doesn't

flow through the capacitor it simply

charges the capacitor because at the

center of the capacitor you do have an

insulator so just keep that in mind so

initially the capacitor will be tragic

therefore you're gonna have a high

current flowing in this region and if

that current is too high it can burn the

diodes and so that current is gonna be

the peak voltage across the transformer

minus the voltage drops of the diodes so

I'm just going to put V and then divided

by the resistance of the diodes plus the

resistance of the transformer typically

these may be low values so the current

will be high so this will be the maximum

current that will flow through the

capacitor while it's charging now we

really don't have to worry about R

because the resistance of these values

will typically be a lot less than the

load resistance so how can we protect

the diodes from the surge current so

that the diodes don't burn out now

granted the surge current usually

doesn't last long

so it may not always be a big problem

however you don't want to go past the

maximum rating of the diodes so what you

need to do is determine

what your maximum peak voltage is minus

the voltage drops of the diodes which

two diodes will be active at any point

so it's going to be the peak voltage

across the transformer minus one point

four and then you need to determine the

resistance of the secondary side of the

transformer and also the bulk resistance

of the diodes and thus you can estimate

what the maximum surge current will be

now one thing that you can do is use a

certain type of diode some diodes have a

maximum current rating of one amp

others can be 10 am diodes some can

handle a current of 50 amps and I've

seen some large dials that I can handle

100 so that could be a simple way around

that problem just use a diode that can

handle a high current value now if you

don't have access to such diodes what

you could do is use a resistor a series

current limiting resistor so let me

redraw this portion of the circuit

so here is the series limiting resistor

and then here we have our capacitor and

also the load resistance so let's call

this C RL and this will be RS so by

adding RS we can limit the amount of

current that will flow through the

diodes now you need to be careful

because as you increase the series

current limiting resistor RS the output

voltage will decrease because these two

resistors which I'm gonna highlight in

blue they will form a voltage divider

circuit and so as RS increases the

output voltage of your rectifier will

decrease and so that's one disadvantage

of using this series the limiting

resistor I mean series current limiting

resistor it will decrease the output

voltage as you increase its value so

there's always some sort of trade-off

you can protect the diodes from the

surge current but you'll reduce the

output voltage so it might be easier

just to use a diode that can handle a

larger current value now there's

something else that we can do so instead

of using that resistor we can replace it

with an inductor

now the inductor will help us to have a

constant current just like the capacitor

can maintain a constant voltage when the

voltage across the load resistor

increases the capacitor will be in

charge in mode and so it's gonna absorb

energy from the circuit does help in the

voltage to be constant and when the

voltage decreases we know that the

pasture will be in discharge mode

release an energy to the circuit thus

supporting the fall in voltages so

basically put in the capacitor in

parallel in this region allows the

voltage to be

constant when the voltage goes up the

capacitor will store energy in its

electric static field and when a voltage

goes down the collapsing field will

release energy thus maintain a constant

voltage the inductor has the same effect

but rather than with voltage it's with

current when the current goes up the

inductor will oppose this increase in

current and it does so by absorbing

energy and storing it in its expanded

magnetic field when it crinkles down the

magnetic field produced by the inductor

collapses and in that process the

inductor releases its stored energy back

to the circuit the supporting the fallen

current so basically the inductor

maintains an equilibrium with the

current it causes the current to remain

constant so to speak whereas the

capacitor allows us to achieve a state

of equilibrium with the voltage of the

circuit so you want to use the inductor

in order to maintain a constant current

flow in the circuit and you want to use

the capacitor to maintain a constant

voltage and so this LC filter allows us

to produce a very stable output now the

inductor is very useful because it

opposes any change in current it doesn't

oppose a constant DC current so if we

have a constant DC current the inductor

will not offer any impedance to it

however if we have let's say a current

that's constantly changing it will

oppose those changes

so therefore the inductor when placed in

series with the circuit will allow a

steady DC current to pass with no

impedance however it will oppose a

pulsating DC signal so thus the inductor

will help us to create a more stable DC

output which is what we want

so when designing an AC to DC power

supply you want to put the inductor in

series with the output circuit and you

want the capacitor to be in parallel

with the Aqua circuit or in parallel to

the load resistor so increase in the

inductor or the value of the inductance

of the inductor increase in the

capacitance and increase in the load

resistance will help us to produce a

stable DC output now there's one more

thing that we could add to get a nice

stable output voltage and that is to use

a Zener diode at the output and since

I'm running out of space let's see if I

can take this C and just fit it in here

so here is our Zener diode and the

purpose of the Zener diode is to

maintain a constant voltage so let's say

without the Zener diode we have a

pulsating DC signal with so not like

this but with the capacitor and the

inductor and let's say the signal looks

more like this we still have a small

amount of ripple voltage and let's say

the highest point of this voltage is at

twelve point three and the lower part of

that voltage is twelve point one so

let's say we have a DC signal that

varies between twelve point one and

twelve point three which means the

ripple voltage is 0.2 volts or 200

millivolts now this is pretty good

because we've minimized the ripple

voltage we don't have a pulsating DC

signal like this we have a fairly stable

DC output but we want to eliminate that

ripple voltage in this case we want to

use a Zener diode that's rated about

twelve or twelve point one volts but

let's use twelve because that's a nice

round number now let's say the voltage

is at twelve point three if the voltage

is above twelve

the Zener diode will be active and so

current will flow through the Zener

diode

notice that the direction of the current

is in the opposite direction of the

arrow and the Zener diode is designed to

work in this way it's designed to work

in reverse bias mode the breakdown

voltage is 12 volts so until you hit

that number does Zener diode will not

conduct so the bulk of the current will

flow in this direction

however some current will flow through

the Zener diode if the voltage is above

12 and so what happens is when the

voltage is 12 point 3 a small amount of

current will flow through the Zener

diode and as the current diverts in that

direction the voltage will drop from 12

point 3 to 12 point 2 to 12 point 1 and

to 12 once it hits 12 the Zener diode

will not divert any other or any more

additional current in this direction so

the remainder current will flow here so

it will continue to abstract current

until it brings the voltage to 12 at

which point is not going to pull any

more current away from the circuit so

therefore the result of all of this is

that we're gonna get a nice steady DC

signal at 12 volts and so the Zener

diode is very effective at capping the

output voltage at 12 anytime the voltage

is above 12 like 12.1 12.2 12.3 it's

going to pull current in this direction

bringing that voltage back to 12 that's

given us a nice stable output voltage so

that's it for this video now you know

how to design an AC to DC power supply

and you also know how to produce a nice

steady DC output signal by using

elements such as the inductor in series

and the capacitor and Zener diode in

parallel to the load

sister thanks for watching