No 1

70-
1

b
asic
e
lectron
ics
by VAN VALKENBURGH
,
NOOGER & NEV
ILLE
, I
NC.

VOL. 1

I
NTRODUCT
ION T
O E
L
ECTRON
ICS
D
IODE VACUUM TUBES
,
D
RY METAL R
ECT
IFI
ERS
WHAT A P
OWER S
UPP
LY I
S
F
I
LTER
S, V
OLTAG
E R
EGU
LATOR
S

a RI DE R pub
licat
ion
 $
2.25

b
as ic
e
lectron
ics
b
y VAN VALKENBURGH
,
NOOGER & NEV
ILLE
, I
NC.

VOL. 1

JO H N F
. R
I DE R PU BLI S HE R, IN C.
1
16 West 1
4th S
treet • Ne w York 1
1, N
. Y
.
 F
i
rst E
dit
ion

C
opyr
igh
t 1
935 b
y

VAN VALKENBURGH
, NOOGER AND NEV
ILLE
, I
NC.

A
ll Righ
ts Reserved under I
nterna
tional and Pan
Amer
ican Conven t
ions
. This book or p
art
s thereo
f
may not he reproduced in any fo
rm o r in any
l
anguage w
ithout permis
sion o
f t
he c
opyr
ight owner
.

L
ibrary o
f C
ongre
ss C
ata
log C
ard No
. 5
5-6984

P
rin
ted i
n t
he Un
ited S
tate
sof Amer
ica
 P
REF ACE

The t
exts of t
he e
ntire Ba
sic E
lectricity a
nd B a
sic Electronic
s
c
our
ses, a
scurrent
ly t
aught a
t Navy s
pecialty s
choo
ls, have now been
r
e
leased by the Navy f or ci
vilian use
. Th is e
ducat
ional program
h
as been an unqual
ified s
uccess
. Since Apr
il, 1
953, when i
tw a
s fi
rs
t
i
ns
tal
led, over 25
,000 Navy t r
ainee s h
ave benef
i
ted b y t
h
is in
struc
-
t
i
on a nd t
he r
e su
lts have b
een o ut
standing
.

The u
nique s
imp
lif
ica
tion o
f a
n o
rdinar
ily c
omp
lex s
ubjec
t, t
he
e
xceptional cl
arity of i
lust
rations and t e
xt, and the plan o
f pre-
s
ent
ing o ne basic c
oncep
t at at ime, wi
thout involving compl
icated
mathematics
, al
l combine in making th
is course abetter a
nd qu
icker
way t
o teach and l
earn b
asic e
lectr
icity and e
lectron
ic s
.

I
nreleasing t
h
is mater
ial tothe g
eneral public
, the Navy h opes t
o
p
rovide t he mean s f
or creating a na
tion -wide pool of pre
-trained
t
echnicians, upon whom t he Armed F orces could ca
ll in t ime of
n
ational emergency, w
ithout the n
eed fo
rp recious weeksa nd mon ths
o
f schooling.

Perhap s of grea
ter importance isthe Navy'
s h ope that through
t
he release of t
his cour
se, adirec
t con
tribut
ion w i
ll b e made toward
i
ncreasing the technical knowledge o
f men a nd women t hroughout
t
he coun try, a
s as tep in making and keep
ing Amer ica st
rong.

V
an V
alkenburgh
, Nooger a
nd N
evi
lle
,Inc
.

N
ew Y
ork
,N. Y
.
F
ebruary
, 1
955

1
11
 TABLE OF CO NTE NT S

VO
L. 1— BA
S
IC EL
ECTRON
ICS

I
ntroduc
tion t
o E
lec
tron
ics 1
-
1

Wha
t aP
ower S
upp
ly I
s 1
-
7

Ha
lf- Wave R
ect
ifier
s—D
ry Me
tal Type 1
-
17

Ha
lf- Wave R
ect
ifier
s—V
acuum Tube Type 1
-
23

Ha
lf- Wave R
ect
ifier
s —T
ran
sfo
rmer Type 1
-
39

The F
ull
- Wave R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it 1
-
45

F
i
lter C
ircu
its 1
-
52

V
oltage R
egu
lato
r C
ircu
its 1
-
81

O
ther Type
s o
f P
ower S
upp
ly C
ircu
its 1
-
92

C
harac
ter
ist
ics o
f D
iode V
acuum Tube
s 1
-
109

V
 i
t
e
tt4o
react
eog t
o

AI MA
COP
IOC
Wha
t You Are Go
ing To Do Now

You n
ow h
ave a g
ood s
olid f
ounda
tion
i
n the f
ield o
f e
lectric
ity
. You k now
h
ow electrici
ty is g
enerated
, how
e
lectron curren
t flows t
hrough a c
ir-
cu
it, the nature and uses o f magne-
t
ism, t he p
roper u se and care of
meters, the characteristics of DC
a
nd AC a nd how var ious types of
e
lectrical motors a nd o
ther electri- DC & AC
c
al devices operate. Mach
inery

Now you have al

l the funda mental
k
nowledge that you need to begin
y
our study of an ew and fascinat
ing
s
ubjec
t —elec tronics
.
AC C
ircu
its

DC C
ircu
its

v
ii
g
it6p
A
rtr
ief
i
' 2e
en f k
ehc
/
iik
4
 I
NTRODUCTION TO ELECTRON
ICS

T
he Mean
ing o
f "
Elec
tron
ics"

You h ave heard the word " electronics" many t imes in the pas
t. E lec-
t
ron ics means t he science o f the electron. S ince the study of electric
i ty
and electron ics b
oth invo lve the use of the concept of electron flow, y ou
may wonder where e lectricity ends a nd electronics begins. F or your p ur-
poses i ti
s e asy enough t o make t he dist
inc t
ion that electronics is the
s
c ience wh ich is concerned w i
th the flow of electrons through v acuum o r
gas-filled tubes some ti mes c a
lled " e
lectron t ubes." T hus, e
lec tronics
i
ncludes t he study of any e quip ment that contains "tubes."

You are already a cquainted with qui

te a f ew types of e
lectron ic e
quip ment.
Radio —"talkie" mo tion pic
tures —record p layers —pub lic address syste ms
—television —"e lectric eye" door openers —a ll o
f these make u se of "
tubes"
and a
re c orrectly ter med electronic e qu
ip men t
. O f course t hey a
lso make
u
se of various types o f DC and AC c ircuits, of meters , transfor mers
, c a-
pac
itors, a nd a
ll the other co mponen ts which y ou have learned about i
n
Basic Electrici
ty . T hat is why you n eeded a course in fundamen tals be-
f
ore going o n w
ith the electronics p hase of your study.

mov
ies

B
rough
t T
o Y
o

1-1
 I
NTRODUCT
ION TO ELECTRON
ICS

E
lec
tron
ic Equ
ip men
t

A
ll e
lectronic equipmen t i
s made up o
f on
ly a few b asic circuits. J ust how
many bas
ic types o f c
ircu
it a
re there? T hree! A re there a ny other types
y
ou wil
l ever have t o k
now? T here are a
dditional types of special circuits
y
ou wil
l have to learn when y
ou begin t
o s
tudy e quipmen t, but these special
c
ircu
its are nothing but v
aria
tions of t
he t
hree b asic electronic circuits
.

T
he three bas
ic elec
tronic c
ircu
its a
re r
ect
ifier c
ircu
its
, amp
lif
ier c
ir-
c
uits a
nd osci
lla
tor circui
ts.

Rec t
ifier circuits change AC t o DC.
Their most c om mon u se i
s in e
lec-
t
ron ic equip ment power s uppl
ies
which take AC f rom t he power line
and transfor m itto DC wh ich is re-
q
u ired to operate e
lec tron tubes.

Amp lifier c ircu its take sma ll volt-

age c hanges a nd e n
large o r amp li
fy
t
he m i nto l arge v ol
tage c hanges .
Amp lifier c ircuits a re by far the
mos t co mmon ly used circu its in
e
lec tron ic e quipmen t
. T hey take
v
ery w eak s ignals that are b arely
d
e tectable a nd amp lify the m into
s
trong s igna ls that can d r
ive a
p
air o f e arphones , al oudspeaker
o
r a n osc illoscope .

Osci
lla tor circu its g enera te AC
vo
ltages a t a ny par t
icu lar d esired
f
requency . O scillator c ircuits are
u
sed to g enera te t he AC v ol
tages
t
hat carry a r adio signa l from o ne
p
lace to a nother. T hey a re also
u
sed v ery e xtens ively f or testing
o
ther elec tron ic circu its.

1
-2
 I
NTRODUCT
ION TO ELECTRON
ICS

Par
ts U
sed i
n E
lec
tron
ic Equ
ipmen
t

Now that you have f ound o u

t that t
here are o nly three basic t
ypes of elec-
t
ronic circuits (rectifiers, amp li
fiers and o scil
la tors
)t hat y
ou have to b e
concerned with, y ou p robably would l
ike t o know a bout t
he parts used in
t
hose circuits. Ac tually there are on
ly s ix co m monly used types of parts
i
n electronic circuits. F ive of t
hese parts y ou already know —res istors,
capaci
tors, c oils, trans formers a nd switches . There i s one addi
tiona l
t
ype of part that you w il
l learn about very soon —"vacuum t ubes."

You see t
hat b
y understanding t
hree bas
ic types of e
lectronic c
ircu
its a
nd
t
he use o
f six t
ypes of par
ts in t
hose c
ircuits
, y ou w
ill unders
tand al
l y
ou
need t
o know abou
t electronics f
or t
he present.

t
om d
u
el a
d du e
a
i
re c
e
rza
erd m
ode,
„.
-
II- .
-10
0000‘
-•

-WAY
#r-

C
O
IL OR
R
ES
ISTOR C
APAC
ITOR I
NDUCTANCE

T
RANSFORMER S
WITCH V
ACUUM T
UBE

1
-3
 WHAT A PO WER S
UPPLY I
S

I
mpor
tance o
f P
ower S
upp
lies

Everything that lives or does w ork mus t have a source of p

ower o r a
"power supply." T he sun supplies power that enab
les plants to manufac-
t
ure food, and food in t
urn s upplies the p
ower that makes y ou l
ive and
move, -s peak, r un, and t
hink . I n t
he realm of non-living mechanisms ,
t
he mo tor i
n the old Model " T" s upp
lied power to move t he c
ar as surely
as t
he huge turbines at Boulder Dam s upply power today to d
rive e
lec-
t
ric generators.
I
tis obvious that the same kind of p
ower is not used i
n the same way i n
t
hese dif
feren t cases. Each t h
ing —large or sma ll
, living or n
on-living —
must t
ake i t
s power f rom a primary source such a s t
he sun, fa
lling water,
o
r an electric li
ght socket and change iti
nto the speci
fic kind o
f power
n
eeded. I n e
lectronics , t
hen, a" power supp
ly" i s acircuit o
r device tha
t
c
hanges t he pr
imary e lec
tric power in
to the k
ind a nd amount of AC or DC
n
eeded b y di
fferent types of e
lectronic c
ircui
ts .

1
-7
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

Wha
t Power S
upp
lies Do

Let's get d own to cases and find out j ust what ap ower s upply is supposed
t
o d o
. D if
feren t t
ypes of electronic e quipmen t —amp li
fiers, o scil
lators,
t
rans m it
ters a nd rece
ivers —con tain d if
ferent types o f vacuum t ube cir-
cui
ts wh ich mus t have certain AC a nd DC v ol
tages s upp l
ied to the m before
t
hey c an o perate. Wh i
le there a re e xcep t
ions, in genera l these various
vacuum t ube c ircuits require approx ima tely 350 vol
ts DC a nd 6.3 volts
AC. J ust why t hese two voltages a re r equired is some thing you w il
l learn
when y ou c ome t o s
tudy these circu its. F or the presen t i
ti s enough for
you to know t hat the u
sua l power s upp ly must p ut ou
t these v ol
tages .

When you plug any piece of e

lectron ic equipmen t i
nto an electr
ic ou
tlet,
t
hat out
let puts out 17 volts AC . T hat i
s not what you want —the v
acuum
t
ube circuits u
sua l
ly must h ave 350 v ol
ts DC a nd 6.3 vol
ts AC . How a
p
ower s upply changes the available line vol
tage into the h
igh DC v o
ltage
(
called "B+" voltage in a
ll e
lec tronics w ork) a
nd low AC v o
ltage i
s the
major subject o
f this sec
tion.

,
.
.,
- -
-
---
-

Te
ui
t ae
tf
it
ccal t
h
det e
i ? d
e
eAf
e4
ew
e Tf
uer o
ar 350 0(4 De,
,
aw e6
.3 e
g
a
led e ,
i

1
-8
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

How a Power S
upp
ly Works —The T
ransfor mer

A t
ypica
l p
ower s
upp
ly c
ons
ists o
f t
hree ma
jor c
omponen
ts —a t
rans-
f
or mer
, ar
ecti
fier a
nd a f
i
lter
.

You a
lready k
now a
bou
t t
ransfor mers f
rom y
our work i
n b
asic e
lec
tric
ity
.
Atransfor mer is ad ev
ice made u p of t
wo o r more coi
ls of wire wound on
a
n iron core. T ransfor mers c an take an AC voltage and i
ncrease ito r de-
c
rease itd epending upon the number o f turns o
f wire in t
he various wind-
i
ngs. H ere a re a f
ew examp les of transfor mers tha
t you wi
ll find i
n elec-
t
ronic equip ment p
ower s upplies.

I
n atypical power s upply the trans
for mer i s c
onnected t o the 117-volt AC
p
ower line through a s u
itable fuse and sw itch. T he transfor mer p uts ou t
t
hree AC v ol
tages —a v oltage s omewha t higher than 350 v olts AC, 5v ol
ts
AC and 6
.3 v olts AC . The 6 .3 volt AC o utput i
s connec ted directly to the
v
acuu m tube circuits. The o ther two v ol
tages a re connec ted to the recti-
f
ier c
ircuit where t he h
igh v ol
tage AC i s c hanged t
o a pprox imately 350
v
olts DC. More t han 350 v o
lts AC a re requ ired t
o get 3 50 vol
ts DC b e-
c
ause of losses that occur in t he process o f c
hanging AC t o DC, s o y ou
must b
egin w ith a h
igher v ol
tage than y ou wan t t
o t
ake o ut.

Over 3
50 vo
l ts AC To Rectif
ier
t
o Rec
tifier t
o be changed
t
o approxi mate
ly
- 3
50 volts DC
•

-
•
5volts AC
t
o Rectif
ier

P _
_
6
.3 vol
ts AC
t
o vacuum t
ube

1
-9
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

How a P
ower S
upp
ly Works —The R
ect
ifier

Up t
o now you h ave learned that t
he job of at ypical power s upply i
s t
o take
17 volts AC from t he power line and to put out approxi mately 350 vo
lts
DC a
nd 6 .3 v
olts AC . You h ave learned that the major c omponen ts o
f a
p
ower s upp
ly a re a transfor mer, ar ectif
ier a nd a f
il
ter circu i
t; and you
h
ave found ou
t a bout the job o
f the transfor mer.

The j
ob of the rectifier is t
o change the h
igh v o
ltage AC c oming out o
f the
t
ransfor mer into high v o
ltage DC . T he 5-volt AC voltage coming ou
t of
t
he t
ransfor mer i s u sed to h
eat the r
ecti
fier tube, w hen such a t
ype of rec-
t
i
fier is used. T he 5 -vo
lt AC winding is el
im inated from the t
ransfor mer
when i
tis n ot required for the operat
ion of the rect
ifier.

The j
ob o
f changing h
igh v
oltage AC i
nto h
igh v
oltage DC i
s adiff
icul
t o ne
.
A
ll t
he rect
ifier can d
o i
s t
o change t
he AC i
nto pulsa
ting DC l
ike t
h
is :

H A L F- W A V E
R E C TI FI C A TI O N

0V
.
0 V
.

r
-a
.
- I
NPUT
E OUTPUT
- =
-
_—
=- -

F U L L- W A V E R E C TI F I C A TI O N

0V 0V
M EM

I
NPUT
OUTPUT
= 7"
--

Notice tha t t
he DC o utpu
t is not aconstant vol
tage b ut r
ises a nd fa
lls in
t
ime w i
th t he AC voltage inpu
t. When o nly t
he p os
itive half cyc
les o f t
he
i
npu t voltage a re a
llowed to pass t
hrough the r ec
tifier and the negative
ha
lf c ycles c annot pass t
hrough at a
ll
, t he process is called "half-wave
r
ec ti
fica tion."

When the posi

tive ha
lf cycle o
f t
he inpu
t vo
ltage is a
llowed t
o pass t
hrough
t
he recti
fier and t
he negative h
alf c
ycles a
re changed to p
osi
tive ha
lf
c
ycles, the process is c
alled "
ful
l-wave rect
ifica
tion."

1
-10
 WHAT A POWER SUPPLY I
S

How a P
ower S
upp
ly Works —The R
ect
ifier (
con
tinued
)

The rec
tifiers you wi
ll work wi
th i n th
is section w
ill b
e dry metal or
v
acuu m tube recti
fiers. Either of these rectif
iers come in h
alf-wave or
f
u
l l-wave types. V acuum tube rectifiers require t
hat t
he t
ransfor mer
h
ave a low voltage AC wind
ing w h
ich s
upplies t
he rect
ifier tube w
ith
h
eater v
oltage
. D ry meta
l rec
tif
iers d
o no
t r equ
ire t
his wind
ing .

0
.01F
IERs

H A L F-1
4 A V E R E C T I F I C A T I O N

F I
. L I
.- W A V E R E C T I F I C A T I O N
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

How a P
ower S
upp
ly Works —The F
ilter

S
o far you have learned that the j
ob of atypical p
ower s upply is to t
ake
17 vol
ts AC f rom t he power l i
ne and to del
iver approxi mately 350 vo
lts
DC and 6.3 vol
ts AC . You h ave learned that t
he major componen ts o
f a
p
ower s upply are a transfor mer, ar ect
ifier and a f
i
lter circuit
. You h ave
l
earned the purpose o f t
he transfor mer and the r
ecti
fier, a nd n
ow y ou are
r
eady to learn about the fi
lter.

You k
now t
hat t
he o
utpu
t o
f the r
ecti
fier i
s ap u
lsat
ing DC v o
ltage. What
y
ou want i
s as
teady DC v
oltage o
f +350 v
olts w
ith as l
i
ttle p
ulsat
ion a
s
p
ossib
le.

iki
b
t + -
4--V
oltage Ou
tpu
t
o
ur 1o
v
—

Bu
t t
he R
ect
ifier g
ives y
ou . . . .

1 1
,

T
he job of the f
il
ter circuit is t
o smoo th ou
t the pulsat
ions in t
he rectif
ier
o
utput and give you a s
teady v ol
tage w i
th li
ttle o
r n o r
ipp
le. F il
ter cir-
c
uits come i n v
arious for ms, but all f
i
lter circu
its are made up of various
c
omb inations of i
nductances a nd capacitors or r
esistances and capacitors.
You will l
earn how these fi
lter circuits work to smooth out t
he pulsat
ions
i
n the rect
ifier outpu
t as soon a s you have done some work with various
r
ectifier c
ircuits.

FILTER
AA A
+ -- -
-..
....
. "
----
.0,- --

4 C
IRCUIT 0V 10

FILTER
C
IRCUIT

TYPICAL
C
IRCUITS

1
-12
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

V
oltage R
egu
lators

Atypical power supply i

s made u p o
f atransfor mer , ar ectif
ier a nd a fi
l-
t
er circu
it. T his is a
ll t
hat is required to g
ive y ou t
he high v o
ltage DC
a
nd the low vo
ltage AC r equired to operate various types of electronic cir-
c
uits. However , w hen "urrent is drawn out of t
he high voltage DC t er mi-
n
al of apower s upp
ly, the voltage drops. T his is due to t
he i n
ternal r e-
s
istance of t
he power supply. I tis not unusual for t
he 350-vo lt DC o u
tpu t
t
o drop t
o 300 volts when the current drawn o u
t increases f rom 0 .05 amp
t
o 0.100 amp.

This voltage drop is not s er

ious f or many t ypes of electronic circu i
ts, and
t
hey w i
ll go right on work ing in the proper manner . H owever , there are
s
ome t ypes o f e
lectron ic circuits tha
t c annot opera te proper ly i
ft he vo
lt-
a
ge v aries more t han t wo or three volts. T hese types of circuits require
t
hat the power s upply h ave a voltage regulator circu it added to it
. When a
p
ower s upply has a voltage r egulator circuit, only those circuits that re-
q
uire a c onstant voltage a re connected to the voltage regu lator —other cir-
cu
its are u sual
ly c onnec ted directly t
o the u nregulated high v o
ltage DC
t
er minal.

The basic par

t of al
l v o
ltage regulator circuits is the vol
tage r egulator
t
ube, c om monly known a s the "VR" tube. T hese tubes are made s o t
hat
t
hey will h
old the DC v oltage a
t ap articular point in sp
ite of current vari-
a
tions
. VR t ubes are made s o t
hat t
hey w ill ho
ld the voltage at 59, 75, 90
,
1
08, a nd 1
53 v o
lts DC . B y u
sing various c ombinations of these tubes, you
c
an get ac onstant vol
tage o f a
l most any value tha
t i s r
equ ired
.

T
UBES

1
-13
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

Why There a
re D
ifferen
t Types o
f Power S
upp
lies

You know that most power s uppl

ies a re made u p of t
ransfor mers, r ect
i-
f
iers
, f i
lter circui
ts and s ometi mes voltage regulators
. You c an get al-
most any kind of p
ower s upply by putt
ing these c omponents together in
v
arious ways . O f course, so meti mes you wi
ll have to use l
arge r ectif
ier
t
ubes and large transfor mers; so meti mes y
ou w i
ll have to u
se s ub- minia
ture
p
arts; but, large or small, al
l the circuits w
ill contain t
he same c omponen ts
.

Whether large o
r
smal
l, use standard
c
ircuits

1
-14
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

Why There a
re D
ifferen
t Types o
f Power S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

Now you w
ill wan
t t
o know why t
here a
re d
ifferen
t t
ypes o
f power suppl
ies
used i
n v
arious t
ypes o
f e
quip ment
. After a
ll, t
he ma
jor job t
hey do i
s
n
oth
ing more t
han c
hang
ing AC i
nto DC
.

0V — TYPICAL

J
PO WER

AC i
n SUPPLY
1 1
1 0 DC o
ut

The r
eason why d if
ferent t
ypes of power suppl
ies a re required is s
i mple.
One p
ower s upp
ly y ou may bui
ld wou ld g
o up in smoke ify ou drew much
more than 1
50 ma . of c
urrent from the h
igh DC v o
ltage s upply
. C erta
in
t
ypes of t
rans mi
tters require as much as 5,000 or 10,000 ma . fro m t
heir
power supp
lies. Certa in special o
scil
loscope circuits may r equire a DC
o
utpu
t o
f 1
0
,000 v
olts o
r more
.

1-
15
 WHAT A PO WER SUPPLY I
S

Why There a
re D
ifferen
t Types o
f Power S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

S
ome s pecial radar c
ircui
ts require power s
upplies wi
th especial
ly good
v
oltage regula
tion. Th is means tha
t the DC v
oltage pu
t ou
t by the p
ower
s
upply mus t n
ot change more than one o
r two v
olts when t
he current i
s
v
arying.

S
o me
ti mes p
ower s
upp
lies a
re n
eeded t
hat w
ill p
ut o
ut n
ega
tive DC v
olt-
a
ges ra
ther than p
osit
ive DC voltages. So me
ti mes power supp
lies are
n
eeded tha
t wil
l pu
t out s
everal posi
tive a
nd several nega
tive DC vo
ltages
.
S
o me
ti mes a s
uper-low r
ipple i
s required
, etc. etc
.

F
rom t
h
is, y
ou c
an s
ee t
hat t
here a
re many j
obs f
or p
ower s
upp
lies
.

H
IGH VOLTAGE

HEAVY CURRENT

SUPER-LO W R
IPPLE

SPECIAL VOLTAGE REGULATION

VARIABLE VOLTAGE

1
-16
 HALF-WAVE RECTIFIERS —DRY METAL TYPE

Chang
ing AC t
o DC

Most e
lectr
ic p ower is d
istribu
ted b y AC power l ines and mos t e
lectron ic
equ
ipments c on
tain power suppl
ies wh ich change the AC p ower line voltage
t
o those DC a nd AC v ol
tages r equ
ired b y the e quipmen t. To c hange t he
AC power li
ne v o
ltage t
o other AC voltages is relative
ly simp le. At rans-
f
ormer is u
sed t o e
ither s
tep up or s
tep down t he l
ine voltage
,t o obtain the
r
equ
ired AC v
oltages
.

PO WER S
UPPLY TRANSFORMERS STEP UP OR S
TEP DOWN
VOLTAGES AS REQUIRED

s
econdary t
o r
aise v
oltage
S
tep-UP

S
tep-D0oWN I
s
econdary t
o l
ower v
oltage
AC P
ower L
ine

To obta
in t he required DC v o
ltages, t
he AC line vol
tage must be changed
t
o DC. Th is changing of AC to DC is c
alled "
recti
fica t
ion." Devices which
change AC to DC a re cal
led "recti
fiers" and c
ircuits used t
o c
hange AC t o
DC are called "recti
fier circui
ts."

Rec
tif
iers a re dev ices wh ich allow c urrent to f l
ow t hrough t hem i n one
d
irect
ion o n
ly , a
cting a s ac onductor for current flow i n o
ne direction a nd
a
s an insulator for c urrent flow in t
he other direction . Thus when a r ec ti-
f
ier is placed i n a n AC c ircuit every other h all-cycle of the AC v ol
tage
c
auses c urren t flow in the circuit i
n that d
irection f or which the rectif
ier
i
s aconductor . Since t he a
lterna te h
all-cycles a re. t
rying to f
orce curren t
t
hrough the c ircuit in adirection for which the rectifier acts as an i
nsu la-
t
or, no curren t fl
ows d uring these al
ternate h al
l-cyc les. As a r esult, the
c
urrent f l
ow i n as imp le rectifier c
ircuit is pulsating DC ( a
lternate h alf-
c
ycles of AC ) rather t han a s
teady DC c urren t f
low .

AC DC
RECTIFIER
CIRCUITS HALF-WAVE
CHANGE I
npu
t RECTIFIER
CIRCUIT Ou
tpu
t

AR
E
CTIF
IER > >
c
onducts i
n o
ne d
irect
ion
.

i
nsu
lates i
n t
he o
ther
..

1
-17
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —DRY METAL TYPE

Dry Me
tal R
ect
ifiers

When c ertain me ta l
lic ma terials are pressed t oge ther t o for m a j unc tion,
t
he co mbina tion acts as ar ectif
ier h av
ing a low r esistance t o c urren t f l
ow
i
n one direct ion and a very high resistance t o curren t f low i n the o ppos ite
d
irection. Th is action i s due to the che mical p roper ties of t he co mb ined
materials. The c o mbinations u sually used a s r ect i
fiers a re c opper a nd
c
opper-ox ide , or iron and seleniu m. Dry me tal r ectifiers a re c onstructed
o
f disks r ang ing i
n size fro m less than a half i
nch t o more t han s ix i nches
i
n dia meter. Copper-ox ide rectif
iers c onsist of disks o f copper c oa ted o n
o
ne side w i
th a l ayer o f copper o xide while selen iu m r ec
ti fiers a re c on-
s
tructed of iron disks c oated on one side w i
th se lenium .

D
RY MET
AL
R
EC
TIF
IERS!

Copper
Nm
s,

I
ron

C
opper Ox
ide
S
elen
iu m
Coa
ting
Coat
ing
COPPER OXIDE
SELENIU M
RECTIFIER
RECTIF
IER

Dry me tal r ectifier ele ments ( an e

le men t i s as ingle disk) are genera lly
made in t he for m o f washers wh ich a re a sse mbled o n a moun ting bolt in
a
ny d esired s eries o r parallel co mbination t o f
or m a rectifier u n
it. The
s
y mbol shown b elow i s used to represent ad ry metal r ecti
fier of any type.
S
ince these r ectifiers were made b efore t he electron theory was u sed t o
d
eter mine the d irect ion o f current f
low , the arrow p oints in the direction
o
f conven t
iona l c urrent flow b u
t in the d irec t
ion o pposite to the electron
f
low. Thus t he a rrow p oints inopposite direc tion t
ot hat of the curren tflow
a
s used in electron ics.

DRY METAL R
ECT
IFIER SYMBOL

E
LECTRON c
urren
t f
low
o
ppos
ite d
irect
ion f
ro m s
y mbo
l a
rrow

1-
18
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —DRY METAL TYPE

Dry Me
tal Rec
tif
iers (
con
tinued
)

Each dry meta l r ectif

ier e le ment wil
l stand o nly a few volts a
cross it
s
t
er minals but b y stacking severa l e
le ments in s
eries the v
oltage ra
ting i
s
i
ncreased. S im ilarly e ach ele men
t can pass only a l
im i
ted amount of c
ur-
rent. When g rea ter c urrent is desired s everal series s
tacks a re con-
nected i
n parallel to prov ide t
he desired amoun t of c
urrent.

a
c
tie
d
, at
adeig9 e
g
e
•re
etd
e4 ri
t
e
WI WI
" R /NO 4a d
AT iz
zy m
etal o
w
e
-qt
.
:e
t
R
ect
ifier E
le men
t
Me
tal S
pacer

A
e
tna/
tee c
o
gge
tti
oo e
g
e
itea
de4
C
URRENT R
AT/NO
.

C
I /

CONNECT ELE MENTS

I
N PARALLEL
I
NCREASING PLATE
AREA

Dry metal r
ecti
fiers a
re v
ery r
ugged and have a
n al most un
lim i
ted l
i
fe if
no
t abused. Because o
f t
he l
ow vol
tage r
ating o
f ind
iv idua
l u n
its t
hey a
re
n
or mally used for l ow v o
ltages (130 v o
lts or less ) s
ince i tbeco mes im-
p
ractical to connec t too many e le ments in ser
ies . By p aralle
ling stacks
o
r increasing the d ia meter of the disks, the c urrent r a
ting c an be in-
c
reased t o several amperes s o that they a re often used for l
ow v ol
tage-
h
igh current appl
ica tions. Very sma l
l u n
its are u sed t
o measure AC v ol
t-
a
ge o n a DC v olt meter. L arger units a re used i n bat
tery c hargers and
v
arious types of power s upplies f
or electronic e quipment.

1
-19
 HALF-WAVE RECTIFIERS —DRY METAL TYPE

Dry Me
tal R
ect
ifiers (
con
tinued
)

S
elenium r ect
ifiers a re u sed i n power s upp
lies while copper o x
ide r ect
i-
f
iers are used i n specia l applications such a s meter recti
fiers. At ypical
s
elenium r ect
ifier o f t he type u sed in p
ractical power s uppl
ies i s i
llus-
t
rated below. I t is rated a t 1 30 v o
lts AC a nd can furn
ish a max imum o f
1
00 ma . of DC c urren t
. The + t erminal mark ing ind
icates the p o
lar i
ty of
t
he recti
fier a nd is u sed f or i denti
fication of leads when c onnecting the
r
ectif
ier in ac ircuit. The p ositive term inal i
s some times identified by a
r
ed dot and t
he n egative t er minal by ay ellow dot
.

R
ECT
IFIER

Do
t mark
ing

R
ecti
fier d
isks

T
erm
ina
l mark
ing

Rad
iat
ion p
lates

U
SED I
N P
OWER S
UPPL
IES

A perfect rectifier would offer no resistance to current fl

ow in o
ne direc-
t
ion and infinite r esis
tance i n t
he opposite direction, b
ut such a r
ectifier
i
s only theoret ical. P ract
ica l rect
ifiers u sed in p ower suppl
ies actually
h
ave l ow resistance i n one direct
ion a nd very high resis
tance in t
he oppo-
s
ite direction. F or dry me tal rectif
iers t hese resistances can b
e meas-
u
red w ith an ohmme ter.

To t
est as elenium recti
fier the r
esistance across the t
er minals i
s meas-
u
red in one direct
ion, and then t
he ohm me ter l
eads are r
eversed to meas-
ure t
he resistance i
n the opposi
te direction. Ifthe h
igh reading i
s 10 or
more times a s l
arge as the l
ow reading, the r
ectif
ier is i
n good c
ondit
ion .

1
-20
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —DRY METAL TYPE

AH
alf-Wave R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it

A basic half-wave r ect

ifier c ircuit c onsists of ar ectif
ier c onnected i n
s
eries between t he AC v oltage s ource a nd the c
ircu i
t l oad resistance . The
r
ectif
ier p er mits c urrent to flow o nly during t
he p ositive h al
l cycles of t
he
a
pplied AC v oltage a nd the circuit c urrent then is pulsating DC. I n the c
ir-
c
uit i
llustrated,t he a ppl
ied l ine voltage is 17 v olts,60 c ycles AC a nd cur-
r
ent flows o nly f or o ne h a
l f o
f each c ycle. Thus t he c urrent flow through
t
he circuit is in pulses a t the rate of 60 pulses per s econd . A c
tually there
i
s as light curren t flow i n the o pposite direction d uring the negative hal
f
c
ycles but iti s s
o smal l that itis c onsidered to be z ero.

This si mple circuit ilustrated is t

he basic circuit u
sed to c
hange AC t o
DC. When c onnec
ted a s shown, t
he DC voltage across t
he load res
istor is
p
os i
tive at the end which connects t
o the r
ectif
ier and negat
ive at t
he other
end. The n ega t
ive ter minal of t
he load resistor i
s nor ma
lly grounded to
t
he c hassis in apower s upply.

HALF- WAVE RECTIFIER C

IRCUIT

To r
everse the polar
ity o
f t
he DC vol
tage ob
tained,the recti
fier isreversed.
This a
llows current to f
l
ow on
ly on t
he opposi
te half c
ycles a s c
omparedto
t
he previous circuit
. Th is c
ircui
t is u
sed to ob
tain a negative DC vo
ltage
wi
th respect t
o ground. The grounded end o
f the l
oad resistor i
s posi
tive.

REVERSING THE POLAR

ITY OF
OUTPUT VOLTAGE

Note t
hat t
he rect
ifier
has b
een reversed

1
-21
 HALF-WAVE RECT
IFIERS —DRy METAL TYPE

Rev
iew

RECT IFICAT ION — When a d evice HALF- WAVE

A
C RECTIFIER D
C
c
al
w
i
led a r
th a
ect
n AC c
ifier i
ircuit
s p
, i
laced i
tperm i
n s
ts c
eries
urrent CIRCUIT A
t
o f low o nly in o
ne d irection, changing
t
he a pplied AC v o
ltage t o pulsa
ting DC .
Rectification is t he c hanging o f AC
t
o DC. I
npu
t Ou
tpu
t

DRY METAL RECT IFIEF tS — A r ecti-

f
ier consisting of two u nl
ike me tal l
ic
s
ubstances p ressed t ogether, wh ich
a
llows c urrent flow i n o ne direction
o
nly. Copper-ox ide a nd iron-selenium
c
omb inat
ions a re usua l
ly u sed t
o con-
s
truct d
ry metal r ecti
fiers .

Cop p
er-ox
ide I
ron-selen
ium

HALF- WAVE RECT IFIER C IRCU I

T —
A r
ectif
ier c onnected inseries b
etween
a
n AC v ol
tage s ource and the circu
it
l
oad resistance. The r ect
ifier c
hanges
t
he applied AC t o a DC o utpu
t vol
tage
a
cross the load resistance.

App
lied AC Pu
lsat
ing
V
oltage DC Vol
tage
RECTIF IER C IRCUIT WAVEFORMS —
I
f t he applied voltage is an AC s ine
wave
o
f h
age
, t
a
l
. Th
he o
f c
is o
u

u
tpu
ycles o
tpu
t waveform c
f the appl
ons
ists
ied AC v
t waveform is a p
ol
u
t-
l-
&
A_
s
a t
ing DC v ol
tage.
I
npu
t O
u
t
p
u
t

1
-22
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

V
acuum Tubes

Dry metal rectif

iers a re used in many p ower s uppl
ies t o change AC t o
DC bu
t they a re l imited as to voltage and current r a
t ing
. They a re not
n
ormally rated a t voltages g rea
ter t han 130 v
olts AC. L ow vol
tage units
r
ated at 10 volts or less have a high current c
apacity, greater than 1am-
p
ere, while the c urrent capacity of higher vol
tage u nits i s much l ess
t
han 1ampere .

Because o
f the v o
ltage a nd current limitations of dry me tal r
ecti
fiers, an-
o
ther type of rectifier, t
he diode vacuum t ube
, i s o
ften used in p
ower s up-
p
lies. As a r ectifier, t
he d iode vacuum t ube o perates in t
he sa me way as
ad ry metal rectifier, acting as ag ood conduc tor of current i
n one direc-
t
ion and a
s an insu lator in t
he other direction. The d iode vacuum t ube a
lso
h
as many other u ses i n e
lectronics wh ich you w il
l f
i nd ou
t about la
ter.

VACUU M TUBE RECTIFIERS

DO THE SA ME J
OB AS
DRY METAL RECTIFIERS

1
-23
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The D
iscovery o
f t
he D
iode

The p
rinc
ip le on which a d
iode i
s based was discovered s
o me 7
0 y
ears a
go
—before anything was known about e
lectrons
.

Tho mas Edison was work ing on an e

xperi ment w
ith h
is incandescen
t la mps
i
n wh ich a carbon fi
la ment was used. The fi
la men
ts which he used broke
t
oo easily a
s they were constructed o
f th
in threads or f
i
la ments o
f carbon.

WHEN CURRENT FLO WS I

N

THE F
ILA MENT
, I
T BECO MES

WH
ITE HOT AND L
IGHT I
S RA -

D
IATED FRO M I
T.

I
n a n ef
fort t
o l eng
then the li
fe of his l
ight bulbs, Edison constructed a
metal support which he c
onnected t
o the f
ragile fi
la ment by i
nsulated sec-
t
ions. For s o me unknown reason, he connected the meta l support t
o the
p
os i
tive side of ab at
tery and the fi
la ment to the negative side
. To h is
surprise, h
e noticed t
hat acurrent was f
lowing.

THE METER SHOWS

THAT CURRENT I
S

FLO WING FRO M THE

F
ILA MENT TO THE
METAL S
UPPORT
.

S
ince n othing was k nown a bout electrons , Ed
ison c ould not understand o r
s
ee a ny i mportance i n h
is discovery a nd ittook 21 y ears before F le ming
,
a British scient
ist learned t he s
ignificance of th
is flow o f e
lectrons . Be-
c
ause h e observed t hat c
urren t could flow only in one direction
, F le ming
cal
led h is vacuum t ube a " valve
." I n f act
, vacuu m t ubes are sti
ll ca l
led
"valves" by the Bri
tish.

1
-24
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

How a D
iode Tube Works

The diode vacuu m t

ube is like a g
a me o
f basebal
l i
n wh
ich c
ontrol i
s the
important t
hing. An understanding of how a diode v
acuum t
ube controls
t
he flow of current i
s required to understand how a d
iode tube works
a
s ar ecti
fier.

The p arts of av acuum t ube which d irectly control the f

low of current a re
cal
led e le men ts. A h eated ele ment wh ich gives up electrons is cal
led t he
c
athode . The p late is ac y
lindrical e le ment surround ing t
he cathode wh ich
a
ttracts e lectrons when i t is positive ly charged. The c athode is heated
b
y af ila ment o f resistance wire c alled a heater, which is not considered
t
o be a n ele ment since i tdoes n ot directly control the amoun t o
f curren t
f
low fro m c a
thode t o plate. A v acuu m t ube of t
he type il
lustrated is cal
led
adiode b ecause i th as only t
wo e le ments, ac athode a nd p
late.

I
n addi
t ion to preventing the f
i
la ment f
ro m burning
, re mov
ing the a
ir fro m
t
he tube p reven ts the air molecules fro m in
terfering with the fl
ow o f
e
lec
trons f ro m c a
thode t o p
late
. S o met
i mes the air is rep
laced b y a n
i
ner
t g as wh ich aids rather t
han opposes the e
lectron f
low.

1
-25
 HALF- WAVE RECTIFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

E
lectron Em
iss
ion

The basic require men

t of adiode v acuu m tube i
s that t
here has t
o be a
source of f
reely moving electrons wh ich can be used t
o give us c
urrent
f
low. O f course, e
lectrons are found in every ato m o
f every substance
but we st
ill n
eed a me thod o
f driving the m out o
f the s
ubstance to make
t
he m f
ree
ly moving
.

I
n Edison
's s e
t-up, t
he i
ntense heat o
f the f
ilament did t
he trick, and
h
eat is u
sed to d
o itin p
ract
ically a
ll the v
acuum t ubes you will see.
D
riving elec
trons ou
t of asubstance by hea
t is k
nown a s "ther mionic
em
iss
ion
."
I
n t
he il
lustration, you will notice that t
he c athode is ac yl
inder or
"
sleeve" which surrounds, but does not t
ouch, the fi
la ment
. The f i
la ment
i
s hea
ted by the current f
lowing i n i
tand the cathode i
s heated because it
i
s so c
lose to t
he fi
la ment
. Th is arrange men
t o f p
arts is known as an i
n-
d
irect
ly h
eated c
athode
.

ELECTRON

F
ILA MENT
CATHODE

THER M
I ONIC 1
EMISSI ON 1
1=1
11

So me t
ubes such as t
he Fle m
ing's Valve or t
he t
ype 80 r
ectifier t
ube have
what is known a s d
irectly h
eated cathodes
, which means that t
here i
s no
s
leeve a round t
he f
ila ment a
nd t
he fi
la ment i
s i
tsel
f t
he electron emit
ter.

CATHODE

F
ILA MENT

D
IRECTLY HEATED I
NDIRECTLY HEATED

Because t hey c an emit many more e lectrons than the indirectly heated
t
ype ,directly h ea
ted cathodes are used in vacuu m tubes designed for pow-
e
r s upplies wh ich s
upply high c
urren ts. I nd
irectly h ea
ted c athodes are
more f requently used in l
ow-curren t power s upplies. Hav ing the heater
(
f
i la ment) and the e
lectron emit
ter (ca thode) separate i n a
n indirectly
h
ea ted tube allows for the s
eparation of the fi
la ment's and the cathode's
e
lectr
ica
l c
ircu
its
.
1
-26
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IE R
S —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

E
lectron Em
iss
ion (
con
tinued
)

I
fthe c athode and f i
la ment were alone in the glass tube, t
he em i
tted elec-
t
rons wou ld for m a cloud called "space c harge" around the c a
thode. L ike
t
he electrons in i t
, the space charge is nega t
ively charged a nd t
herefore
t
ends to r epel o
ther e lectrons and to keep more e lectrons fro m be
ing
emi
tted b y the cathode . After a while
, ab alance wou ld b
e reached be-
t
ween the t endency o f the c
athode to em i
t electrons a nd t
hat of t
he space
c
harge t o repel the m.

Low
t
e mpera
ture

MORE
• SPACE CHARGE
• •
•
• • •
6 • • • •
•
• •
• •
H
igh
. . • •

• * • •
•
• •
t
e mperature
4
1 1.
1. •

•
• •
. .
.
;• .
• • . .
.
•••
• %
.
• • •S•
A

• • •:441
• .• .
•S
•.
.:
151
1

• S . •
1
1 •
11 1
1.

•
•
•7:*
6

:
•
•• :}
• • 4,
• S
,•:

LO W F
ILA MENT
VOLTAGE

NM
I
•

To increase t he em ission of e
lec trons, you wou ld h ave t
o r a
ise the cath-
ode's t
e mpera ture b y increasing t he f
ila ment c urren t. If
, o n the other
hand, t
he c athode's te mperature i s lowered , t
he s pace c harge wi l
l force
s
o me of i t
s e lectrons to re-en ter the cathode, r esu l
ting i n decreased
emission. The h eater voltage for a tube i
s u sua
lly f ixed. Var ious types of
t
ubes o perate w i
th AC o r DC h eater v o
l tages i n t he r ange fro m 1 .25
t
o 117 volts
.

1—
27
 HALF-WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUUM TUBE TYPE

How Curren
t F
lows i
n aD
iode

When a posit
ively c
harged plate i
s placed around the c
athode
, the electrons
a
re attracted f
ro m t
he space charge. T he nu mber o
f e
lectrons which flows
t
o the pla
te depends on t
he pla
te vol
tage w i
th r espec
t t
o the c
athode.

Ca
thode Space P
late
c
harge
z
When t he plate is more n ega-
t
ive w ith respect to t
he cathode,
i
me ' 0 0
n
o c urrent flows from cathode to • I WO

p
la te because the n egat
ive plate
repels t he e lectrons. Curren t
cannot flow from t he p
late t
o the
cathode, since the pla
te does not P
late Vo
ltage
emi t e
lectrons. Supp
ly

+ 11-
Mi
lliam me
ter

When the p
late and cathode a re
a
t the same potentia
l, the plate
ne
ither attracts n or r epels
e
lectrons — t
he c urrent i s
s
t
ill z
ero
.

E
lectron

As s oon as the p late beco mes

posi
tive with respect tot
he cath-
ode, current will fl
ow fro m the
space charge. P
late Vo
ltage
Supp
ly

I
f th
is p late voltage i s doubled ,
t
he c urrent which f l
ows i s a
lso
d
oub led. Th is i
s t he nor mal way
f
or a d iode to work : a s long as
t
he plate is post ive '
t
h rs pect
t
o the c athode, every c hange i n P
late Vo
ltage
p
late v oltage c auses a c orres- Supp
ly
ponding change i n plate curren t
.
1
1111
1

1
-28
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —VACUUM TUBE TYPE

How Curren
t F
lows i
n aD
iode (
con
tinued
)

Now that the p

late i
s v
ery posit
ive with
respect to the ca
thode, the m il
liam-
meter indicates tha
t av ery l
arge cur-
r
en t i
s fl
owing. The plate i
s at
tracting
t
he electrons as f
ast a
s the c
athode can
emit t
he m.
Plate
V
ol tage
S
upp ly

1
1111
11 1

At this p oint, a f urther i ncrease i n

p
late v oltage d oes no
t result in any ad-
d
itiona l c urren t. The curren t does not

*
i
ncrease b ecause t he cathode is em it-
t
ing all t he electrons itc an. Iti s NOT
n
orma l t o operate a d iode a t s uch a
h
igh p late v oltage that changes in pla
te
v
oltage d o n ot produce c hanges i n
Plate
p
late c urren t
.
Voltage
MID Supply

- I
IIII
IIII
I
1

I
f we now i ncrease the f
ilament voltage
above it
s n or mal v
alue, we enab
le t he

*
cathode to emit more electrons and,
with t
he same p late vo
ltage as before,
we observe t hat al
arger plate current
i
s flowing.

I
NE.

1
1
11I
I
f we h ad reduced t he fi
lamen t v o
ltage ,
t
he c urren t would h ave d ecreased b e-
c
ause t he cathode c ould n ot em it a s
many e lectrons as b e
fore . In p ract ice,
the f
ilamen t vol
tage i s not varied .
Changes i n p
late c urrent are a chieved
by varying t he plate voltage as a lready
described . However , a fter a tube h as
been u sed for so me time , the cathode 's
emiss ion d ecreases a nd the r esu lt i s
t
he s ame a s if t he f i
lamen t v oltage
were d ecreased .

-N
I
NO'
1
-29
 HALF- WAVE RECTIFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The Recti
fier Tube

The p rocess o f changing AC i n

to DC i s called "rectifica
tion." To c hange
AC t o DC a device mus t b
e used wh ich will per mit current flow in o
ne di-
rection only
. A d iode vacuu m tube is such a d evice, per mi
tting current to
f
low o nly fro m the cathode t o the plate
. Curren t does not fl
ow fro m the
p
la te t
o the cathode because the plate is not heated and therefore does no t
em it e
lectrons. Since the pla
te w il
l not em it e
lectrons b ut will
, when pos i-
t
i ve, a
ttract electrons fro m the cathode s pace charge , t
he diode is acon-
ductor o n
ly fro m ca
thode to plate and not fro m plate to c
athode .

Any diode will rectify AC i n

to DC b ut so me are especially designed for use
i
n p ower s uppl
ies a nd these are referred to as rectifier tubes. A typical
rec
tifier tube with i t
s sche matic sy mbol is i
l
lus tra
ted b elow. I tis atwin
d
iode (two diode t ubes in the sa me glass envelope) a nd has a d
irectly
heated cathode. A f i
la ment which also acts as the cathode is suspended
i
nside e ach meta l p
la te and the two fi
la ments are internally connected in
series.

GLASS ENVELOPE

PLATE

g
i 1 F
ILA MENT

g
I
i
, . .
...
..,
a
,
.
.
..
.
./
.
.

r
\\
.
- T
WIN D
IODE t
1-
30
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The Rect
ifier Tube (
con
tinued
)

S
o me recti
fier tubes h ave ind
irectly heated ca
thodes. A t ypical t
ube o
f
t
his t
ype is i
l
lustrated b e
low. Vacuu m tubes of a
ll t
ypes are identif
ied by
n
u mber and the n
umbering s yste m
, which you wi
ll f
ind out about l
ater, i
n-
d
icates certa
in c haracteris
tics of the tube. The rec
tifier il
lustrated o
n
t
he preceding sheet is at ype 80 tube a nd t
he one il
lustra
ted b elow i
s a
1
17Z6-GT .
I
NDIRECTLY H
EATED

C
a
tho
de T
y
pe R
e
cti
fie
r T
u
be

P
late

Ca
thode

F
ila men
t

Vacuum tubes are cons tructed with a p

lug-in b
ase which fi
ts into a s
ocket.
The socket i
s p er manen tly wired in
to the c
ircuit a
nd the tube is r
e mov-
ab
le and easily replaced . Vacuu m t ubes have a rela
tively short l
ife as
c
o mpared to o
ther c o mponen ts u
sed in e
lectronic e
quipmen t and a method
o
f easy rep
lace ment is r equired.

Al
though many s pec
ia l types of sockets a re u sed, most of the vacuum
t
ubes used in e
lectronics r equire one of t
he eight sockets i
l
lustrated below.
One method of classifying tubes is according to the s
ocket required. The
p
in n umbering syste m is also il
lustrated and re fers t
o t
he botto m s
ide o
f
t
he socket s
ince the circuit wiring is done on t
ha t s
ide.

V
a
cuum T
u
be S
o
cke
ts

Oc
tal L
octa
l Min
iature 7 p
in Min
iature 9 p
in

1
-31
 HALF-WAVE RECT
IFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The R
ecti
fier Tube (
con
tinued
)

I
n an i ndirec tly h ea ted t ube, the
c
athode a nd f i
lamen t a re s epa-
r
ate struc tures a nd a re connected
t
o s epara te c ircu i
ts . I n a d i-
r
ectly h ea ted t ube , t he fi
la men t
r
eplaces t he t wo s truc tures , and
i
s connected t o two c ircu its. The I
NDIRECTLY HEATED

f
i
lamen t w ires a re c onnected
a
cross a l ow v oltage o f a bout 5
v
olts wh ich h eats t he f ilamen t
a
nd c auses t her m ion ic em ission.
I
n add i
tion , o ne o f t he filamen t
w
ires i s c onnected t o the circu i
t
t
o wh ich a c athode wou ld b e con-
n
ected i f the t ube were i ndi-
r
ectly h eated .

D
IRECTLY HEATED

There a
re t wo dif
ferent ways of u
sing a rect
ifier tube wh
ich h as t
wo
p
lates and one fi
la ment
. If both p
lates are connected t
ogether
, the
t
ube is act
ing the same a s one d
iode because, in ef
fect
, you have o
nly
i
ncreased the p
late area
.

The o
ther way is to connect t
he plates s eparately t
o different parts of t
he
c
ircui
t. In th
is way t he p
lates wi
lln ot be at t
he same v oltage and the e
ffect
i
s t
he same a s using two separate diodes w i
th the cathodes ( or fi
laments)
c
onnected t
oge ther. N o matter how t he connections are made , each p
late
w
ill draw current only when itis positive with respect to the fi
lamen t
.

TWO PLATES CONNECTED TWO PLATES CONNECTED

TOGETHER S
EPARATELY

To
F
ilament
xVol
tage
xSource

ACT L
IKE. .. ACT L
IKE. ..

1-
32
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUUM TUBE TYPE

AH
alf-Wave Vacuum Tube R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it

A diode r ec
ti f
ier tube may b e used in the half-wave rectif
ier circu
it in
p
lace o f aselen ium r ect
ifier ift
here is avoltage source a va
ilable t
o sup-
p
ly the filamen t c
urren t required by t
he rectifier t
ube. The b asic r
ec t
i-
f
ier circuit using a vacuum t ube r
ecti
fier is ilustra
ted b elow. Ifthe p
late
a
nd c athode c onnections a re reversed the polarity o
f the DC output vo
lt-
a
ge is reversed .

t
Hea
ter o
r F
ilamen
t Vo
ltage

AC
P
ower
Line DC

Curren
t F 1

The r ectifier t ube filamen t circu it r equ ires a n a ddi

tiona l source of f i
la-
men t voltage n ot required b y t
he s elenium r ectifier —otherw ise the o pera-
t
ion o f the c ircuit is ident
ical t o t hat o
f t he basic d ry me tal rectif
ier c ir-
cui
t. R ectif
ier t ube f i
lamen ts a re r ated i nv olts a nd amperes s o tha t t
he
f
ilamen t mus t b e connec ted to av ol
tage s ource o f the rated voltage a nd
current. F i
lamen t o r heater v oltages a re norma lly obtained from a s tep-
d
own t ransformer o r b y using a s eries r esistor t o d rop the li
ne v oltage
t
o t he c orrec t value
. Tubes h aving h eaters r ated a t t
he s ame c urren t are
s
o me times c onnected i n s
eries a cross t he AC p ower l ine. S ome r ectifier
t
ube h ea ters a re r ated at 17 v olts a nd may b e connec ted directly across
t
he AC p ower l ine.

F
I
LAMENT OR
N
EAT
ER C
IRCUIT
S
4 1 1 1

AC P ower
11 7
Line
•

1
. S
tep-down t
ransfor mer

17-volt
AC Power
Line

1
1 7-volt p
2
. S
eries-dropp
ing AC Power
L
ine

NIP/
3
. 17-vo
lt h
eater c
onnections

1-
33
 HALF- WAVE RECTIFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

Vacuu m Tube C
ircu
it Wir
ing

I
n e
lectron ic circuit diagra ms, vacuum t ubes like other p arts are repre-
s
ented by s y mbol. U sually the sy mbol s hows o n
ly t he c onnec t
ion of t
he
t
ube ele ments t o v
arious p arts of t
he circuit
. To w ire t he s ocket
, itis
n
ecessary t o refer to at ube manua l which shows t he p in n umbers o f e
ach
t
ube ele ment. I n t
he illustra
tion below a 1 17Z6-GT i s shown i n t
he circui
t
d
iagra m with the plates a nd ca
thodes c onnected toge ther t o for m a s
ingle
d
iode. The t ube base d iagra m of the type found in at ube manua l and the
a
ctual wiring c onnections for the socket are shown b elow .

WIR
ING A 17Z6-GT TUBE SOC KET

1
17-volt
AC Power
L
ine

Base diagra m f
ro m
Actua
l s
ocke
t w
iring
tube manual

To Poin
t
A
To Poin
t
C
To Po
int A
To Po
int B
There i
s awide v
aria
tion i
n t
he method o
f represen
ting a vacuum tube in a
c
ircui
t d
iagra m a
nd t
ube p
ins as we
ll a
s ele men
ts are s
o meti mes i
ndica
ted.

SO ME METHODS USED TO SHO W VACUU M TUBES I

N CIRCUITS

(
2

1
-34
 HALF- WAVE RECTIFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The Gas-F
illed D
iode

You have a lready l earned about two types of rectifying d ev

ices —the h
igh
vacuu m d
iode a nd the dry metal r
ecti
fi er
. You h ave b een told t
hat t
he dry
metal type c ould b e u sed i
n t
he sa me circuit as the diode a nd t
he c
ircuit
would work t he s a me way. Now y ou a re g o
ing t o find out a
bout athird
t
ype of r ectifying d evice which is used i n sim i
lar c ircui
ts and works i
n
very much t he s a me way.

Not al diodes a re vacuu m tubes. I n s

o me,all t
he a
ir is re moved fro m the
t
ube a nd, before the tube i
s s ealed, a small amount o
f che mically-inactive
gas i
s placed in it
. Then , i
nstead of ah igh v
acuu m
, the diode wou ld have a
l
ow p ressure g as in i
t. One c o m mon gas t
ube has a small quantity o
f mer-
cury placed i n itand, because o f t
he low pressure around it
, the mercury
vaporizes. The mercury v apor a cts t
he sa me way as an i
nert g as such as
neon or argon.

The s
y mbol f
or a gas t
ube o r mercury v
apor tube dif
fers f ro m t
he sy mbol
o
f ahigh v acuu m t
ube only by t
he round d
ot which indicates the presence
o
f t
he gas. Any time you s ee t
hat do
t on atube sy mbol, you know that t
he
t
ube i
so f t
he gas-f
illed type.

G
AS-F
ILLED
D
I ODE

As y ou can s ee in the il
lustrat
ion, agas tube has t
he s
a me basic t
ype o
f
heater and c athode a rrange ment a
s the conventional d
iode
. Many g as
t
ubes h ave directly heated cathodes s
im i
lar to t
he one i
n t
he type 80 h
igh
vacuu m rectifier diode. Further more, the purpose of t
he cathode i
s the
sa me i
n both types of tubes — t
o emit e
lectrons.

1-
35
 HALF- WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The Gas-F
illed D
iode (
con
tinued
)

Adiode a
cts j
ust l
ike a
n o
rdinary r
esistor when t
he t
ube i
s c
onduc
ting
.
T
his is i
t
s d
isadvantage
. L et
's see why
.

When y ou d raw o n
ly a lit
tle c urrent fro m a p ower s upply wh ich h as a high
vacuu m r ecti
fier, there i s only a smal l voltage d rop a cross t he diode. As
ar esult, t he B+ v ol
tage i s very h igh. On t he other h and , when a l arge
current is taken fro m the p ower s upply, the d rop a cross t he t ube beco mes
very large a nd the B+ v oltage d rops way d own. F or this r eason , ap ower
supply u sing a high vacuu m d iode d oes no t have g ood r egu lation. Regula-
t
ion, i
s a measure o f how we l
l ap ower s upp ly can ma in tain a c onstant o u
t-
put vo
l tage a s t
he load c urren t varies fro m z ero u p to r a
ted c urrent. Be-
cause o f its poor regulation , h
igh v acuu m r ecti
fiers, a ren't i n power s up-
p
lies wh ich mus t deliver l arge load c urren ts.

W
HEN T
HE

L
OAD
C
URRENT
G
OES U
P •
••

T
HE
JI P
A P
O
UTPUT
l
IN U MMIN E
V
OL
TAGE U M\ N U M MI.
M
I
IMINI
IIIEL 1
11
1
1M1
111
1 =
(B+
) -

I M
IM MI r
n am
o
G
OES D
OWN
0
111.
111 M
III M MIl
bi

AP
OWER S
UPPLY U
S
ING A
H
I
GH V
ACUUM D
I
ODE
H
AS P
oor R
egu
lat
ion
1
-36
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —VACUU M TUBE TYPE

The Gas-Fil
led D
iode (
con
tinued
)

I
n ag as diode, electrons f low fro m the c athode to t
he plate just as in any
d
iode. These e lectrons p assing through t he gas at fairly high speeds ,
knock one or more e lectrons out o
f the g as ato m
,leaving the ato m w ith a +
charge, a
nd t he g as is s a
id to b e i
on ized . The p osit
ive i ons ( t
he a to ms
which have h ad e lectrons k nocked o ut of the m) dri
ft over t o t
he c athode
and p
ick u p t
he e lectrons they lack. S o me time later, another fast mov ing
e
lectron w il
l k nock s o me e
lectrons o ut of the n
eutral ato m, thus ionizing
i
ta gain
. I n this way t he gas a
lways c onta ins so me i
onized a to ms
.

I
onized g as has a
n amaz ing property. When a l i
ttle current f
lows through
t
he tube, there is avol
tage d rop across the tube of a
bou t 1
5 vol
ts. When
alot o
f c urrent passes through t
he tube, the vol
tage d rop a
cross the tube
i
s st
ill about 15 v
olts. There is an extre mely small change in t
his vol
tage
d
rop as the tube curren
t v aries o
ver a wide r ange.

You c
an see that i
fthe voltage across the gas t
ube is c
onstant a
t d
i
fferent
l
oad currents, t
he B+ vol
tage will not c
hange as much as itd
id i
n ap ower
s
upply using a high vacuu m tube. F or this reason, t
he gas t
ube causes
t
he power s upply t
o have a b et
ter r egula
ted o utpu
t v
oltage t
han did t
he
h
igh vacuu m t
ube.

You wi
ll find gas rect
ifiers u
sed on any power s
upp
ly wh ich must de
liver
l
arge l
oad c urren
ts. Because of t
he low drop a
cross the gas r
ecti
fier, t
he
power supply wil
l be much more e ff
icient t
han i
f ahigh vacuu m t
ube had
been u
sed.

E mn
i u mm
ine rn
i
u m mumor AIM
M
INN111
1• 1
11r7-
..iMEM
IN
IM
INE1111
1/
NN W
.
41
11
111
1
11
11
111
1
11
111
111
11 M
I U

T
HE
W
HEN T
HE

L
OAD OU
TPUT
C
URRENT V
O
LTAGE (
B+)
G
OES U
P •
•• R
EMA
INS C
ONSTANT

AP
OWER S
UPP
LY U
S
ING A

G
AS-FIL
LED D
IODE
AS G
H ood Regu
la t
ion

1
-37
 HALF-WAVE RECTIF
IERS —VACUUM TUBE TYPE

R
eview o
f Vacuum Tube R
ecti
fiers

P
late
D
IODE VACUUM TUBE — A t wo element
v
acuum tube consisting o
f aheated ca
thode
a
nd a metal plate enclosed i
n aglass e
n- Ca
thode
v
elope o
r tube f ro m which t
he air has
b
een removed.

ELECTRON EM ISSION — The a

ction o
f the
c
athode i
n g
iving u p e
lec
trons when the
c
athode i
s h
eated.

SPACE CHARGE — The n egative c

harge in
t
he a rea s
urround
ing the cathode caused
by the emission of e
lectrons from t he P
late Vo
ltage
Supp
ly
cathode.

RECTIFIER TUBE — A v
acuum tube made
e
special
ly f
or u
se a
s ar
ecti
fier
.

F
ILA MENTS — F ine wire heater used to
h
eat t he ca
thode i n a v acuum t ube. In
d
irect
ly heated cathode tubes
, the fi
la ment
a
nd cathode are the s
ame w ire while i
n in-
d
irectly h
eated cathode tubes
, the fi
lamen t
i
s cal
led a heater and is u
sed only t
o heat D
irectly I
ndirect
ly
t
he ca
thode. Heated Heated

BASIC VACUUM TUBE RECTIFIER

C
IRCUIT — A d iode v acuum tube con-
n
ected in s
eries with a
n AC v
oltage s
ource
t
o change AC to DC.
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFOR MER TYPE

T
ransfor mer T
ype Power S
upp
lies

The two b
asic r ecti
fier circuits wh
ich h ave b
een discussed are used t
o
c
hange the 17 v olt AC li
ne v o
ltage to DC. T hese rect
ifier c
ircuits a
re
o
ften used f
or i nexpens
ive p ower supplies when itis not n
ecessary to
i
solate t
he rectifier c
ircu i
t from the A C power l
ine or to o
btain DC
v
oltages greater than 120 vol
ts.

By a
dding a t
ransfor mer t o the circuit between the p ower line and t
he rec-
t
i
fier, t
he AC v o
ltage c an be increased o r decreased r esult
ing in acor-
r
esponding r
ise o r f
al
l o f t
he DC o utput voltage. A lso the output o
f t
he
r
ecti
fier c
ircuit wil
l be c omp letely isolated from t he power line, and vari-
o
us fi
lament vol
tages may b e obtained b y using addit
ional secondary w ind-
i
ngs on t
he t
ransfor mer. B ecause o f t
he different voltages required and
t
he need f
or i
solating circuits in electron ic equip ment, mos t power supplies
a
re of t
he t
ransfor mer t ype. S evera l typical power s uppl
ies of th
is type
a
re shown be
low .

1-
39
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFOR MER TYPE

T
he D
iode i
n aT
rans
for mer T
ype C
ircu
it

A
ll rectifiers
, i ncluding the half-wave r ectifier
, c hange a
n AC vo
ltage in-
t
o ap ulsating DC v ol
tage . E ach r ecti
fier a ccomplishes th
is b
y al
lowing
c
urren t to f
low in the circuit in only one direction
, a nd o
nly s
l
ight d
iffer-
e
nces e xist i
n different recti
fier c ircuits
. You a re going t
o s
ee how the
h
alf-wave t ransfor mer type r ecti
fier circu i
t makes t he c
hange f
rom AC t o
p
ulsating DC .

The rec
tifying a
ction o
f t
his circu
it d epends o n t
he o peration of ad
iode,
t
he rect
ifier t
ube. T he t
heory of operation of t
he d
iode h as already b
een
c
overed b ut
, in o
rder to u
nderstand the o pera
tion o
f the diode in t
he t
rans-
f
or mer type c
ircuit
, you shou
ld review t hese two f
acts.

1
. The d
iode a
llows e
lectrons t
o pass t
hrough i
ton
ly w
hen i
t
s p
late i
s
p
osit
ive wi
th respec
t to i
ts c
athode.

.
1
1

1
1
1

2
. T
he diode does no
t a
llow electrons t
o f
low t
hrough i
t when t
he p
late i
s
n
ega
tive with respec
t to t
he cathode
.

You know from your p revious experiment with a diode that when the t
ube
i
s connected across the 60 cyc
le p ower l
ine the diode plate becomes p osi-
t
ive 60 t
imes p er s
econd a nd negative 6
0 times p er second. C onnect
ing
t
he diode t
o the h
igh v ol
tage winding of atransfor mer k eeps the si
tuation
e
xactly the same excep t t
hat t
he voltage p
ut on the plate is much higher,
a
nd the resul
ting pulsating DC is at acorrespond ingly higher voltage
.

1-
40
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFORMER TYPE

The D
iode i
n a Transfor mer Type C
ircu
it (
con
tinued
)

S
uppose y ou p
ut t
he d
iode into a s
i mp
le ha
lf-wave c
ircu
it w
ith a t
rans-
f
or mer a
nd see h
ow i
tc hanges AC i
nto DC
.

When t
he t
ransfor mer vo
ltage makes the r
ecti
fier t
ube p
late p
osi
tive
, e
lec-
t
rons f
low
, and a voltage a
ppears across the l
oad
.

When t
he t
ransfor mer v
oltage makes t
he rec
tif
ier tube p
late n
egat
ive, e
lec-
t
rons c
annot f
low and, o
f course, no v
oltage can a
ppear across t
he l
oad.

The d
iode r ectif
ier tube, by al
low ing e
lectrons to f
low through itin on
ly
o
ne direction (fro m c
athode to pla
te), causes pulses of current to f
low
t
hrough the load and
, therefore, causes a pulsat
ing DC v oltage t
o appear
a
cross the load. The AC v oltage :nput f
ro m t
he transfor mer appears as a
p
ulsa
ting DC v o
ltage across the l
oad. Not
ice t
hat t
he h
alf-wave recti
fier
h
as used only t
he pos
itive ha
lf of t
he AC i
npu
t. The negative h
alf i
s not
u
sed at a
ll
.

1
-41
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFORMER TYPE

C
ircu
it D
iagram o
f aT
rans
for mer T
ype C
ircu
it

C
ompare t
he a
bove s
che ma
tic o
f t
he h
alf-wave r
ect
ifier t
o t
he o
ne b
elow
.

N
otice t
he s
imi
lar
ity b
etween t
he t
wo c
ircu
its
. You c
an s
ee t
hat
:

1
. Only o
ne-hal
f o
f t
he t
ransfor mer h
igh vo
ltage w
ind
ing i s u
sed —the ha
lf
f
rom ter m
inal 5t
o t
er m
inal 7. T h
is suppl
ies t
he rect
ifier t
ube pla
te
vo
ltage
.

2
. T
he current p
ath f
rom t
he t
ransfor mer t
o t
he l
oad w
ill b
e t
hrough t
he
c
hass
is (ground)
.

3
. T
he l
oad w
ill b
e r
epresen
ted b
y t
he 2
5K r
esis
tor
.

4
. The t
wo p
lates o
f t
he recti
fier tube h
ave b
een w
ired t
ogether s
o t
hat
t
he t
ube a
cts l
ike a s
ingle diode
.

5
. The t
ube h
as a d
irect
ly heated c
athode. There fore, the c
athode i
s c
on-
n
ected t
o t
he t
ransfor mer f
ilament w
inding —ter mina
l 1a nd t
er m
inal 3
—as wel
l as t
he l
oad.

1
-42
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFOR MER TYPE

O
pera
tion o
f t
he T
rans
for mer T
ype C
ircu
it

The basic operation of t

he half-wave r ectif
ier circuit j
ust shown has
b
een d escr
ibed p reviously. I n the circu i
t diagram i l
lustrated the f
low
o
f current through the circui
t i s ind
ica ted b y a
rrows . T he + and -signs
s
how t he r
eversa l in po
larity of the trans former s econdary voltage for
a
lternate half c
yc les
. T he rectifier tube w il
l only conduct f
rom c athode
(
f
ilamen t) t
o plate, and only w hen the plate is posi
tive with respect to
t
he cathode.

os
ig I
N A HALF- WAVE RE
05
, 0 01 r
i
•-• CT
IFIER c

2
5K

Curren
t flows f
or ha
lf-cycle
whi
le p
lates are p
ositive
.

The .
001 m fd
. c apacitor u
sed d oes no
t ef
fect the circuits bas
ic operation
a
s ahalf-wave r ect
ifier. Th is condenser i
s connec ted between one s
ide of
t
he AC power line and ground to reduce e
lectrical interference and p
reven t
s
uch i
nterference from p assing through t
he recti
fier c ircui
t. C
apacitors
u
sed f
or this purpose may b e connected i
n any o
f the ways il
lustrated below.

PO WER L
INE F
ILTER CONDENSER C
IRCU
ITS

1
-43
 HALF- WAVE RECT
IFIERS —TRANSFOR MER TYPE

R
eview o
f t
he Ha
lf- Wave R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it

TRANSFOR MER TYPE PO WER

SUPPLY — A p ower supply which
u
ses a t
ransfor mer to e
ither
r
aise or l
ower the AC p ower li
ne
v
oltage t
o obta
in a desired va
lue
o
f DC outpu
t voltage
.

HALF- WAVE RECT IF IER

C
IRCU IT — A r ectifier c ircuit
u
s ing a single rectif
ier u ni
t
which c hanges AC t o DC b y al-
l
ow ing c urrent t
o flow o nly in o ne
d
irec tion. A lternate h alf-cyc les
o
f the AC p ower wave a re utilized
t
o p rovide a pulsating DC o utput.
The circu it s
ome times u ses a
t
rans for mer to increase o r de-
crease t he ou
tpu t voltage.

"MD

CURRENT FLOW I N A HALF-

WAVE RECT IFIER C IRCU IT —
AC i
s a pplied to the rect
ifier
p
late and c urrent flows only -
t
d
uring those h alf-cycles which are L f=b

p
osit
ive o n the plate side of t
he
c
ircuit input.
F
.-17

H
IGH VOLTAGE MEASURE MENT
— Always use only one hand in
measuring vo
ltages or t
es ting cir-
c
uits where h
igh voltage is present.
Use a t
est p
rod which is insulated
a
nd rated f
or working with high
v
oltages.

1-
44
 THE FULL-WAVE RECTIFIER C
IRCUIT

Fu
ll-Wave R
ecti
fiers

You h ave seen how the h

alf-wave r
ecti
fier works
. Now , i
n t
he f
olowing
shee
ts y ou wil
l s ee how t
he fu
ll-wave rect
ifier d
oes t
he s
ame job i
n a
s
lightly di
fferent way
.

You must know the fu

ll-wave rec
tifier b
ecause i tis u
sed in n
ine o
ut of t
en
p
ieces of e
lectronic equipment
. I t may be supplying a
ny vol
tage f
rom 1 00
vol
ts to 5
,000 volts
. On a ny s
hip, any s
tat
ion , anywhere where e
lectronic
equipment is used, you
'll f
ind fu
ll-wave r ecti
fiers supp
lying most o f
t
he power.

1
-45
 THE FULL-WAVE RECTIF
IER C
IRCU
IT

H
ow t
he F
ull-wave R
ect
ifier Works

I
n aful
l-wave rec
tifier circuit adiode rec
t if
ier tube i
s p
laced i
n ser
ies
w
ith e
ach ha
lf o
f the t
ransformer s econdary and the l
oad
. E f
fect
ively,
y
ou h
ave t
wo hal
f-wave rec ti
fiers working i
nto the same l
oad.
On the f
irst hal
f-cycle t he transfor mer's AC v oltage makes the upper diode
r
ect i
fier p
late p ositive so t
hat itconducts a nd
, a s ar esul
t, current f
lows
t
hrough the load c ausing a pulse o
f v o
ltage across t he l
oad. N ot
ice that,
while t
he upper d iode conducts , t
he lower diode p late i
s nega
tive with re-
spect t
o it
s cathode s o tha
t itd oes not conduct.

On the second hal

f-cyc le t
he p
late of t
he u pper diode is nega
tive so tha
t it
cannot conduct
, whereas t he p
late o
f the lower diode i s p
osit
ive so that cur-
rent f
lows through ita nd t
hrough t
he load. S ince both pulses of c
urrent
t
hrough t he l
oad are in t
he same direction, ap ulsating DC voltage now ap-
pears across the load
. The f u
ll-wave r ect
ifier h as changed both h
alves of
t
he AC i nput i
nto a pu
lsating DC output.

1-
46
 THE FULL- WAVE RECTIFIER C
IRCUIT

The Fu
ll-wave Rect
ifier Tube

The d
iagra m o n t
he previous s heet shows two separa
te rectif
ier t ubes being
used in t
he fu
ll-wave r ectif
ier circuit. So me
ti mes y
ou may f ind this c
ircuit
used in power suppl
ies b u
t more f requently j
us tone t
ube is used in the f
ull-
wave r ec
tif
ier. I fyou will re
fer back to the d
iagra m on t
he prev ious sheet,
you will see that the fi
la ments o f the two tubes are connec ted together.

S
ince th
is i s s
o, t
wo s eparate rec
tif
ier tubes c an be pu
t toge
ther i
nto o
ne
e
nvelope s o t
hat t
he t wo p
lates share a co m mon fi
la ment
. The fu
ll-wave
r
ecti
fier tube t
here
fore c ontains t
wo pla
tes b ut only o
ne fi
la men
t. Such a
t
ube is the 80 recti
fier tube.

When a f
ull-wave r
ect
ifier i
s u
sed i
n af
ull-wave r
ecti
fier c
ircu
it, t
he c
ir-
c
uit i
s mos
t c
o m mon
ly d
rawn l
ike t
his
.

Not
ice t hat i
n this tube there is on
ly o ne f i
la ment wh ich supplies electrons
t
o both plates. Dur ing one-half o
f the AC i nputcycle, one plate draws e lec-
t
rons fro m t he fila ment a nd
, during t he other h al
f of the cycle, t
he o ther
p
late draws t he elec trons. As i n any d iode, the direct
ion o f current f low
i
nside t his t
ube is a lways fro m t
he f i
la men t and this current flows first to
one pla
te a nd then t o t
he other. The l oad, which is in series with the fila-
ment, therefore h as pulsating DC c urren t flowing through it.

1
-47
 THE FULL- WAVE RECTIF
IER C
IRCUIT

Curren
t F
low i
n t
he Fu
ll-wave Rec
tif
ier C
ircu
its

The i
l
lus
trat
ion be
low co mpares t
he operat
ion o
f t
he f
ul
l-wave r
ect
ifier
c
ircui
t t
o t
hat o
f abas
ic ful
l-wave rec
tifier.

I
n the bas
ic c ircuit il
lustra ted, p
lates 1a nd 2 o
f the rec
t i
fier t ube are con-
n
ected to oppos i
te e nds of the transfor mer winding so t
ha t there i s a
lways
a 180 degree p hase difference b etween t he vol
tages a pplied to the two
p
lates. Curren t flows o nly to that plate wh
ich i s p
osit
ive s o that curren
t
f
lows fro m a co m mon c athode to each plate on a
lternate h alf cycles. Since
t
he load r esistor i s connected b etween t he cathode and t he t
rans for mer
s
econdary w inding c enter tap, t
he c urrent f
low i n t
he l
oad r es
is tor is i
n
t
he sa me direction for b oth hall c
ycles.

I
n the basic full-wave r ectif
ier circu i
t t wo cathodes are used b u
t s ince
t
hey are c onnected together a single co m mon cathode can be used i nstead
i
n atypical circuit
. A lso i n t
he basic circuit one end o
f t
he l oad resis tor
c
onnects directly to the t ransfor mer secondary w inding centertap a nd no
g
round c onnection is used. Th is connection can be made b y ground ing the
c
entertap and one end of the load resis
tor to di
fferen t p
oin
ts o n the c hassis.

BASIC FULL- WAVE

RECTIFIER CIRCUIT

TYP
ICAL CO MPLETE FULL- WAVE RECT
IFIER C
IRCUIT

1-
48
 THE FULL- WAVE RECTIF
IER CI
RCU
IT

The Br
idge Rec
tif
ier C
ircu
it

The b
ridge r
ect
ifier
, jus
t l
ike t
he o
ther r
ectif
iers y
ou h
ave s
tud
ied
,changes
AC vo
ltage t
o DC vo
ltage. Here
's how i
td oes i
t
!

Four dry me tal rect

ifiers are hooked t
oge
ther w ith the AC input a
nd the
l
oad as shown . A s the AC v oltage i
nput swings p ositive, c
urrent fl
ows
f
ro m one side of the input through one d
ry me tal rectif
ier, t
hrough the
l
oad, and t
hen t hrough another dry meta
l rectif
ier b ack to t
he other side
o
f the i
nput
.

= IN
= =

Then
, when t he AC v ol
tage i nput swings negat
ive, c
urren t flows through
t
he other pair of d
ry me tal r
ectif
iers and the l
oad. Notice that the current
f
low through the l
oad is in t
he sa me d
irection d
uring b
oth h alf-cycles ofthe
i
nput wave. There fore, the v
oltage developed a
cross t
he l oad is pulsat
ing
DC which can, of c
ourse, be fi
ltered jus
t as any o
ther pulsating DC o utput
f
ro m a rec
tifier c
ircuit
.

1
-49
 THE FULL- WAVE RECTIF
IER C
IRCUIT

The Br
idge Rec
tif
ier C
ircu
it (
con
tinued
)

I
n ac
tua l p
ract
ice the f
our dry metal r
ectif
ier units u
sed i
n t
he bridge r
ec-
t
i
fier circui
t are j
oined t
ogether i
n one physica
l u n
it a
nd a
re connected e
x-
t
ernally i
nto t
he br
idge rect
ifier c
ircui
t.

L
O
AD

To g
et fro m t
he pic
tor ia
l t
o the s
che mat
ic diagra m, j
ust imagine t
he t
wo end
un
its b
eing rotated around as s
hown below. Be fore you con
tinue, make s
ure
y
ou understand the relat
ionship b
etween the physica
l uni
t and the s
che ma
tic.

S
CHEMAT
IC
D
I
AGRAM

1
-50
 THE FULL- WAVE RECT
IFIER C
IRCUIT

R
eview o
f t
he F
ull- Wave R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it

FULL- WAVE RECTIF IER C IRCUIT -

A recti
fier c ircui
t wh ich util
izes b oth
c
ycles o f the app
lied AC v o
ltage t o ob-
t
ain pulsating DC . A c enter-tapped
t
ransformer s econdary w inding i s u
sed
w
ith two diodes rec ti
fy ing alterna te hal
f
c
ycles o f the vol
tage , c ausing p ulses
o
f current to fl
ow i n the same d irect
ion
t
hrough a l oad res istor f or e ach half
c
ycle of applied AC.

FULL-WAVE RECTIF IER TUBE -A

v
acuum t ube consisting of two specially
d
esigned diodes and a c ommon c athode
i
n the sa me glass e nvelope. Bo th di-
r
ect and ind
irectly h eated cathodes a re
u
sed depending on the r equiremen ts of
t
he recti
fier c
ircu i
t.

CURRENT FLOW I N THE FULL-

WAVE RECTIF IER C IRCUIT - Curren t
f
lows f ro m the r ecti
fier t ube c a
thode
t
o wh ichever p late is p ositive, then
t
hrough o ne half of the s econdary
wind
ing t o the c hassis ground . F rom
t
he g round p oint it flows through t he
c
hass is to one end of the load resistor
t
hen through t he load r es
istor b ack to
t
he rectifier tube cathode .

1
.
t
•
f
te

1
-51
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

Wha
t Y
ou Have t
o K
now a
bou
t P
ower S
upp
lies

Learn
ing al
l about t
he var
ious power s
upplies i
s going t
o b
e asimple job
.
Why? B ecause you can o
pen u
p any p
ower s upp
ly and f
ind t
hat i
tconta
ins
o
nly two major c
ircui
ts —the r
ecti
fier c
ircuit and t
he f
i
lter c
ircu
it.

You a
lready know t hat t
here are o
nly two types of r
ecti
fier circuits i
n gen-
e
ral use —the fu
ll-wave a nd t
he ha
lf-wave r ecti
fiers —and they both per-
f
or m t
he same j ob of c
hanging AC into p
ulsating DC. There a re only t
hree
t
ypes of f
i
lter circuits t
hat are i
n general use. These f i
lter c
ircu i
ts all
h
ave one thing i
n c o mmon —they r
emove t he ripple f
ro m the p
ulsating DC
o
utput o
f the recti
fier.

I
n add
ition, t
here is on
ly o
ne basic type of v
oltage regu
la tor t
ube which is
u
sed with power supp
lies. As it
s n ame i mpl
ies, th
is tube ma intains t
he
o
utput vo
ltage o
f ap ower s
upp
ly a t ar equ
ired v a
lue in sp
i te o
f li
ne vol
tage
f
luc
tuations or v
ariat
ions o
f l
oad c urrent.
Know t
hese power supply c
ircu i
ts and y ou know al most a
ll you w
ill e
ver
h
ave to k
now about power supplies. T h
is is true because nearly e
very
p
ower supply t
hat ex
ists consists of various co mbinat
ions of bas
ic rect
i-
f
i
er circui
ts, bas
ic fil
ter circuits
, a nd voltage regulator t
ubes.

T
he three most c
ommon t
ypes o
f f
i
lter c
ircu
its u
sed a
re s
hown o
n t
he
n
ext shee
t.
1
-52
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

Power S
upp
ly F
ilter C
ircu
its

W
rit e a l e THE THREE F
ILTER
C
IRCU
ITS YOU WILL LEARN NOW

THE CONDENSER THE CHOKE

I
NPUT FILTER I
NPUT FILTER

e
n
rir
ow.
T I •
THE TWO S
ECTION
F
ILTER

THESE ARE THE FILTERS

YOU WILL SEE I
N YOUR
PO WER SUPPLY CIRCU
ITS

N v
ir

1
-53
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

Charac
ter
ist
ics o
f t
he R
ect
ifier Ou
tpu
t

You h ave b een told t

hat electronic circuits i
n g
eneral r
equ ire a s
ource of
a
bout + 350 v o
lts DC and a s ource of 6.3 vol
ts AC in o
rder to operate
. The
p
ower s upply transfor mer supplies the 6
.3 v o
lts AC d
irectly to t
he hea
ters
o
f the t ubes r equ
iring it
. The t ransfor mer f
eeds h
igh vol
tage AC i n
to the
r
ectif
ier a nd r ect
ifier puts out pulsa
ting DC that l
ooks l
ike this
:

The elec
tronic circui
ts wh ich are c
onnected t
o t
he p
ower supply o
utput
canno
t use a p
ulsating v
oltage o
f th
is sor
t. What t
hese c
ircu
i ts r
equire i
s
asteady DC v oltage w
ith a s l
i
ttle p
ulsation a
s possible
. The purpose o
f
t
he fi
lter circu
it is t
o re move t
he pulsa
tions fro m t
he rec
tif
ier o
utpu
t and
d
eliver a s
teady DC vol
tage .

The ou
tput o
f ar ectif
ier t ube consists of pu
lses of current which a
lways
f
low in t
he same direc t
ion through the l
oad resistor. The c urrent r
ises
f
ro m z
ero t
o a maxi mum a nd t
hen falls t
o zero, repeat
ing this cycle o
ver
a
nd over aga
in. A t no t ime does the e
lectron current through the l
oad
r
esistor c hange it
s d irection and fl
ow f ro m t
he fi
lamen t t
o ground. The
v
oltage resulting fro m t h
is flow o
f electrons through the l
oad resistor is a
v
oltage that rises fro m z ero t
o a max i mu m a
nd then f
alls back to z
ero, r e-
p
eating this cycle over a nd over again. Th is voltage t
akes on the shape of
h
alf s
ine waves . In t he case of ah a
lf-wave r ect
ifier t
he average DC v ol
t-
a
ge is 31
.8 p ercent of the peak value. I n t
he case of aful
l-wave r ecti
fier
t
he average DC i s 6 3
.6 p ercent o
f the peak value.

HALF- WAVE RECTIF

IER OUTPUT FULL- WAVE RECTIF
IER OUTPUT
V
oltage Vo
ltage
1
00 1
00
Average Average 6
3.6
Voltage 3
1.8 Voltage

1
-54
 F
ELTER C
IRCUITS

AC a
nd DC C
omponen
ts

I
f y ou c onnect a DC v oltme ter a cross t he rec
tif ier o u
tput y ou will get a
reading. I fyou connec t an AC v o
ltmeter a cross t he r ectif
ier o u
tput, y ou
will also g e
t ar eading. T his AC r eading is ar esu lt of the ou tput vo
ltage
variation. There fore, the o utput of the recti
fier c an b e considered a s a
DC v oltage w ith an AC v o
ltage s uperimposed u pon i t
. Y ou can l ook upon
t
he j ob o f af i
lter circuit a s the job o f re moving t he AC p or tion (
or AC
c
omponen t) of the rectif
ier o u
tput a nd al
low ing o nly t he DC c o mponen t to
g
e t to the p ower s upply o utput term inals. I f t
he f i
lter s ucceeds i n r e-
mov ing all o
f the AC f ro m the rectif
ier o u
tput, o nly p ure DC w ill be lef
t.

You may now ask t

he question "How c an a p
ulsating DC v oltage have a n AC
c
omponent ifthe vo
ltage rises fro m zero t
o ah igh positive value and fal
ls
b
ack to zero, bu
t n ever beco mes negative?" Y ou have always t hought of
a
n AC v o
ltage as o ne which alternates above a nd b e
low a z ero vol
tage ,
f
irs
t becoming posi
tive, then zero and then negative
. I fthe voltage never
b
eco mes nega
tive, how can there be any AC in it?

Any wave tha

t v ar
ies in aregular manner h as an AC co mponent. Suppose
you examine a n examp le i
n w h
ich a n AC v oltage i
s co mbined w
ith a DC
v
o l
tage and the r esu
lt is av ol
tage wave wh ich never becomes n egat
ive.
Suppose y
ou h ave a v
oltage o
f +50 vo
lts DC a nd you combine itwith a
n AC
v
o l
tage which varies from +20 voL
ts through zero to -
20 v o
lts.

p
lus e
qua
ls

+
70
+
50
+
50
+
30
+
20
0 0
-
20
DC c
omponen
t I AC c
omponen
t, / AC s
uper
i mposed
u
pon DC

*50
-2
0
*
30

When t he +20 v ol
t AC p eak i s a
dded to the + 50 v
olts DC, the r esul
t is +70
v
olts
. When t he 0 vol
t poin t on t
he AC w ave is a
dded to the +50 volts DC,
t
he resu lt i
s + 50 vo
lts. When t he - 20 volts AC peak is added t o t
he +50
v
olts
, t he result i
s +30 vo
lts. The t otal result is a DC v
oltage wh ich varies
f
ro m +50 volts —up to +70 volts and down t o +30 v
olts. The v oltage of t
he
r
esulting wave n ever b
ecomes n egative and y e
t itconsists of an AC c om-
p
onent a nd a DC componen t.

1
-55
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

AC a
nd DC C
o mponen
ts (
con
tinued
)

You h
ave s
een h
ow a DC v
oltage a
nd a
n AC v
oltage c
an b
e a
dded t
ogether
t
o g
ive a v
oltage wave wh
ich n
ever b
eco mes n
ega
tive
. H
ere a
re a f
ew
more e
xamp
les
:

p
lus e
qua
ls

+
40 +
40

+
20 +
20

-
20 -
20

-
40 -
40

1
00 +
100
+
100
+
64
+
64

+
36

0 0
0

-
64

-
100 -
100
-
100

+
100 +
100
+
100
+
68

+
32 +
32

0
-
32

-
100 -
100 -
100

You can see that as l ong as av oltage v aries in any regular manner , it
can be b
roken u p in
to a DC c o mponent and a n AC co mponent. The o u
tpu t
o
f a rect
ifier c onta
ins b oth a DC c o mponen t and a
n AC c o mponent. Itis
t
he job o
f the f i
lter to re move a s much o f the AC vol
tage a s i
s poss
ib le
(
and e
cono mical!) before the r
esulting high v ol
tage DC is f
ed to the e
lec-
t
ron
ic c
ircu
its wh
ich r
equ
ire i
t
.

1
-56
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

The C
ondenser i
n t
he F
ilter C
ircu
it

I
fy ou re move the l
oad resistor f
ro m t
he o
utput o
f the rect
ifier and rep
lace
t
he resistor with a l
arge condenser, pure DC wil
l appear a cross t
he con-
d
enser . When y ou f
ind ou
t why this t
akes p
lace, you wi
l l s
ee h ow t
his ef-
f
ect can be used in f
i
lter circui
ts.

You k
now tha
t, when a condenser i
s placed a
cross a b
attery
, i
tcharges u
p
t
o t
he ba
ttery v
oltage i
fi tis g
iven e
nough time.
M
AAAM
,

4
0

2
0

0
T
I ME UN
ITS

The s ame is true when a c ondenser i s placed across the outpu t o

f ar ecti-
f
ier . The r ecti
fier star ts c harg ing up the condenser e very t ime itcon-
ducts. I fthe condenser d oes n o
t h ave t
ime t o charge up to the peak of the
pulsating DC wave o n the f irs t half-cyc
le , itwill do so dur
ing t he next few
half-cycles
. A fter a f
ew c ycles h ave passed, there w i
ll be p ure DC a cross
t
he c ondenser. B ecause c urren t c an f
low in only one direction through t he
r
ec tif
ier, the condenser w il l not discharge between t he peaks o f t
he pul-
s
a ting DC voltage. Wha t h as b een t he e
ffect of p
lacing the c ondenser
a
cross t he output of t
he r ec tifier? B y charging up, the condenser h as f i
l-
t
ered o ut t
he ripple in the p u
lsa ting DC, l eav
ing p ure DC.

At
i
oo a
i
e
f
uml
e4we
r. „
CHARG
ING VOLTAGE

II P
URE
II
I
I
I
I
I1
/I
D
.C.
I I
S
II

•
•

1
-57
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

The C
ondenser i
n t
he F
ilter C
ircu
it (
con
tinued
)

I
f ap ower s upply d
id n o
t h ave to supply current to o
ther circuits, pure DC
v
o ltage could be ob
ta ined s i mply by connecting a condenser fro m the rec-
t
i
f ier filamen t t
o g round . H owever , the various electronic circu i
ts a t-
t
ached t o the power s upply B + voltage do draw a certain amoun t of current.
The c urrent drawn b y these e lectronic circui
ts is cal
led the load curren t,
and the ef
fec t o
f t
his l oad c urrent can be duplica
ted b y connecting a l oad
r
esistor a cross the r ectif
ier o utput and ground.

You k now from y our study o

f RC circuits i
n Basic E
lectric
ity tha
t w hen a
resistor is p
laced a cross a charged condenser, the condenser wil
l dis-
charge through t
he r es
istor. The s peed o
f t
he discharge wi
ll depend upon
t
he s ize o
f t
he resistor. T he l
ower t he res
istance the more current wil
l
be drawn fro m t
he condenser, and the f
aster w
ill be t
he d
ischarge.

As soon a s the res

istor i s connec ted across the condenser o f the recti
fier
c
ircu it
, t hat condenser w ill b egin to discharge a nd the vo
l tage will drop.
The v oltage, however , w i
ll n ot d rop to zero b ecause a new v oltage peak
appears a t t
he rectifier f i
lamen t 60 times a second f or a h
all-wave r ecti-
f
ier a nd 1 20 times a s econd f or a ful-wave r ecti
fier . This v ol
tage p eak
wil
l r echarge t he c ondenser , a nd then t
he c ondenser w i
ll p roceed to dis-
charge t hrough the res istor u nti
l the next vo
ltage p eak comes a long. T he
result w il
l b e ap ulsa ting DC o utput
. N otice that the pu
lsa tions are much
sma l
ler t han you wou ld g et with n o c
ondenser .

D
ischarging
Condenser

P
ure D
C O
utpu
t P
ulsa
ting DC O
utpu
t

, , , .
, • `, / .
. # •,
, , •% ," ‘

/ % 1 % /
.
/ I 1 I I I 1 I / 11.1
4
.. 1
. 4
°"" I
. 1
. r
. .r.
.? . 1.
. r
. "
. 1. "
i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I/ I I I / I
II
II I
S
I
I I/
I II I
I 11
I I I
S I
S I
S I
/ I
I
/ I
/
1 I
s I I I
l I
S I
/ I
g I
S I/
I I V V I I
I
v v I v
1t I I I I 1 I I I .
1 I I

I I I
I I I
No Load With Load

1
-58
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

T
he C
ondenser i
n t
he F
ilter C
ircu
it (
con
tinued
)

The r
esult o
f p
lacing a l
oad o
n t
he s
ingle f
i
lter condenser i
s t
hat t
he ou
t-
p
ut o
f the r
ecti
fier i
s n
o longer p
ure DC —i
t is DC upon wh
ich i
s super
i m-
p
osed a n AC c omponen t
. T his AC c omponen t is called "ripple." It is
b
ecause o f this AC c omponen t or r
ipple that ac ondenser, b y i
tsel
f, does
n
ot consti
tu te a satisfactory fi
lter. Add itional fi
ltering componen ts have
t
o be added t o re move the ripple and make t he f
inal B+ output as c
lose to
p
ure DC a s is possible a nd econo mical
. J ust why ripple i
n the B+ output
i
s s
o undes irable is
cso me thing you wil
l learn w hen you come t o t
he study
o
f ampli
fiers .

T
he amoun
t o
f r
ipp
le r
esu
lting f
rom a l
oad p
laced a
cross a s
ing
le f
i
lter
condenser d epends upon the s ize of t he load, t he size of t
he c ondenser a nd
t
he type o f r ecti
fier. The l arger t he c ondenser t he more e lectrons i tc an
accumu late o n its plates, a nd i tw il
l d ischarge a smal ler amoun t w hen a
l
oad i s p ut a cross i t
. T he l arger t he load c urrent drawn o ut o
f the c on-
denser the l arger wi
l l be the v o
ltage d rop , a nd the larger w ill be t he
r
ipple. S ince h alf-wave r ectifiers w ill c harge t he condenser 6 0 times p er
s
econd , t here w il
l be more t ime f or the c ondenser t o discharge t hrough
t
he load t han w ith a ful
l-wave r ec
tifier wh ich c harges the condenser 1 20
t
imes p er s econd. T hus the r ipple w il
l b e g reater for a ha
lf-wave r ecti-
f
ier than f or a full-wave r ectifier b ecause t he voltage will drop a grea ter
amoun t dur ing p u
lses.

y s i..
..... rtz s i .
,tz "
. •
•• I % g *
.

The l
arger t
he l
oad t
he % %

1 % % %

g
reater t
he r
ipple 1 % I 1 I %
I
I I
f
t U I
f I f I
I I
f I
1
t
1 U U I
V V I I V 1
o
y
.• , 1 1 t 1 I I
L
oad = 5
0ma
. L
oad = 1
00ma
.

0 ,

The smal
ler ti
ll capac
ity
o
f t
he condenser the I I/ ti t
I If I/ I
g
reater t
he ripple 1 II I
S I
I i
s i
s I
V I I
I t I .
1

L
arge f
il
ter c
ondenser Sma
ll f
il
ter c
ondenser
5
0 ma. l
oad 5
0 ma. l
oad

I • ,o
m.,4
.6 .
.. I.
.
... •.

S
ame load
, same %
I I t 1 I f I 1 I
f
i
lter c
ondenser I I / I 1 If II I
I I 1
I I I i
I i
1 I
f I
S I
i
s I I
I I 1 I V V I
I I I I
t 1 I I

l
ia
lf-wave r
ect
ifier F
ull-wave r
ect
ifier

1
-59
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

F
ilter C
ondensers

F
ilter c
ondensers (
capac
itors
) u
sed i
n p
ower s
upp
lies a
re o
f t
wo t
ypes
:
(
1
) p
aper d
ielec
tric c
ondensers a
nd (
2
) e
lec
tro
lyt
ic c
ondensers
.

Paper c ondensers a re c
onstructed of a
lterna
te l ayers o
f meta l fo
il a nd wax-
ed paper rolled t
ogether. The waxed p aper i
s the dielectric with t
he meta l
f
oil being used as plates
. Paper c ondensers sma ller than 1 mfd a re used
t
hroughou t mos t electronic equip ment and larger v a
lues a re s o metimes
u
sed a
s f
i
lter c
ondensers i
n p
ower s
upp
lies
.

Fo
il Wax p
aper
Paper c
ondensers are n
ot p
olarized and when operated within t
heir v
oltage
ra
ting t
hey l
ast much l
onger t
han e lec
troly
tic condensers . However , large
s
izes o
f paper c
ondensers are bulky and r
ela
tively e xpensive
. They a re
n
or ma
lly n
ot made l
arger t
han 1
6 m
fd.

H
igh voltage power supplies use p aper fi
lter c ondensers wh ich are oi
l i m-
p
regnated and will w
ithstand g reater peak v ol
tages t han those impregna ted
w
ith wax. Condensers a re rated a ccording to direct current work ing volt-
a
ge (DC WV ) and a
lso in peak voltage. The DC WV i s the maxi mu m voltage
t
he c
ondenser i s des
igned t o opera te a
t continuous ly
. The p eak voltage i s
t
he vo
l tage above which the c
ondenser d ielectric will break down a nd act
a
s ac
onductor
.

H
IGH VOLTAGE PAPER ‘
I
l

F
ILTER CAPACITORS t

1
-60
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

F
ilter C
ondensers (
con
tinued
)

E
lectrolytic condensers are usually u
sed as power s upp
ly fi
lter condensers
b
ecause t hey can be made i n v ery l
arge sizes at low cost and a
re much
smal
ler p hys
ica l
ly than paper condensers o
f the sa me capaci
ty E
lectro-
l
yt
ic condensers a re made in larger s
izes than paper condensers w ith t
he
u
sual values being between 2 mfd and 1000 r
nfd.

t
imes t
he c
apac
ity of

ELECTROLYTIC CONDENSER
40 m
fd a
t 4
00 v
olts DC

Power supp
lies r a
ted at 600 vol
ts or less usually use e
lectroly
tic fi
lter
c
ondensers b u
t when a higher voltage rat
ing is r equ
ired paper condensers
a
re used
. E lectroly
tics are polarized and fai
lure to observe t
he correct
p
olari
ty will not o
nly per manently damage the c ondenser bu
t may also
c
ause itto break open and da mage other parts.

Whi
le paper condensers h ave no l eakage c urrent (f
low of d
irec t c
urrent ac-
c
ross the condenser dielectric) electrolytic condenser dielec
tr ics a
re not
p
erfect i
nsulators and a leakage c urrent flows e ven dur
ing nor mal opera-
t
ion
. The l eakage c urrent i
s g reater in the wet electro
lytic than i
n the dry
t
ypes. Ifthe voltage rating of an electrolytic condenser is exceeded the
l
eakage current increases and may d a mage the dielectr
ic.

Black- R
ed o r B
lue-
n
egative pos
itive
o
nly o
nly

Nega
tive

Nega
tive

Pos
itive

1
-61
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

F
ilter C
ondensers (
con
tinued
)

E
lec
tro
lyt
ic c
ondensers a
re o
f t
wo t
ypes
: (
1
) w
et a
nd (
2
) d
ry.

Aw et electrolytic condenser c onsists of an aluminum e lectrode i mmersed

i
n as olution called a n e
lec tro lyte. When t he electrode i s connected t o t
he
positive ter minal of a DC v o
l tage s ource a nd the electrolyte container i s
connec ted to the nega t
ive t ermina l, curren t fl
ows t hrough the electroly te.
This c urren t f
low r esults in c hem ica l ac
tion wh ich causes a f i
lm t o for m
on the electrode s urface . Th is f i
lm a cts as ad ielectric, insulating the
e
lec trode f ro m the electroly te These t wo ele ments then act as plates i n
ac ondenser — the electrode b ecoming a + t er minal, and the electrolyte a
-t ermina l. T he connec tion t o the electrolyte is made t hrough the c ontainer
.

Reversing t
he polarity of the vo
ltage appl
ied to t
he condenser b reaks d
own
t
he dielectr
ic comp letely
. A mo men tary over
load in t
he c orrect po
lar
ity
p
unctures t he d
ielec tric but appl
ication of t
he ra
ted voltage reforms the
d
ielectric s
o tha
t w et electrolyt
ics are said t
o be sel
l-healing.

The capacitance of an electrolyt

ic c ondenser is greater than t
hat o
f ap aper
condenser o f equ
ivalen t physical size because the dielectric f
ilm i
s very
t
hin, enabling close s pacing b e
tween t he condenser p lates. T he p
ositive
p
late surface is roughened a nd the liqu
id electro
ly te negative p
late f
ol
lows
t
he rough s urface o
f the positive plate resul
ting in greater pla
te area in a
g
iven space .

' C
ONSTRUCTION
We
e

E
lec
tro
lyte

A
luminum
-^f
r
- J
.
.
J -
,
a
, —

E
lec
trode r --
,-

_ L
A
luminum r

Gas F
ilm C
onta
iner r J - J
- J -,
E
lec
trode r J -
,
C
ellulo
id
Sh
ield - -
1
1 r •
r - J -n
r J
I --J
r J - n

E
lec
tro
lyte

Me
tal C
onta
iner

1
-62
 F
ILTE R C
IRCU
ITS

F
ilter C
ondensers (
con
tinued
)

Dry elec
trolyt
ic c ondensers u se an electroly
te i n the for m of paste. A
c
loth impregna ted with the e
lectrolytic pas
te is rol
led b etween alternate
l
ayers of alum inu m fo
il in the same manner a s that used to make p aper
condensers. One l ayer of meta l fo
il is used a s ap ositive pla
te of the
e
lectrolytic c
ondenser a nd t
he other layer o
f meta l f
oil i
s u sed t
o contact
t
he negative p
late (e
lectrolyte
) of the condenser.

A dry e
lec
trolytic c
ondenser o
pera tes i
n t
he same way as aw et e
lec
tro-
l
ytic e
xcept t
hat i
tis no
t sel
l-healing when t
he d
ielec
tr ic h
as been punc-
t
ured. B o
th types o
f e
lectro
lytic condensers h
ave a rela
tively s
hort li
fe
d
ue to the drying u
p of t
he electrolyte
. O f t
he two, dry e
lec tro
lytics g
en-
e
rally last l
onger. We t electrolyt
ics are not of
ten used since they d
ry out
r
apidly and mus t b
e mounted u pright t
o prevent leak
ing of the l
iquid e
lec-
t
rolyte
. S everal t
ypes o
f d ry e
lectrolytic condensers are ilustrated b
elow.

D
RY
N
A
E
ega

lec
t
lu m
ive
inu m
trode
Gauze
s
w
i
a
tura
th e
ted
lectro
lyte

1
-63
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

I
mproving t
he Opera
tion o
f t
he F
ilter

You s aw o n ap receding s hee

t t hat the larger y ou make t he filter c on-
d
enser , the lower w il
l b e t he AC c o mponen t or ripple i n t he o utput.
Filter c ondensers c an b e made v ery l arge i n capac i
ty a nd sma ll i n
s
ize , as y ou wil
l see s hortly, but there are s ize l
im itations t hat c annot b e
exceeded . Af il
ter condenser o f practical size migh t reduce t he AC c o m-
ponent to a bout 25 v
olts AC , but th
is i s n
ot g ood enough . Many e lec tron ic
c
ircu its r equire a B+ v oltage that c annot h ave more t han 3 o r 4v olts o f
AC p resen t in a DC o utpu t o
f 3 50 v ol
ts —the AC c o mponen t mus t b e less
t
han 2 p ercen t or even l ess than 1p ercen t of t
he total o u
tpu t v o
ltage . No
f
ilter c ondenser o f prac tical size c an d o th
is job alone —o ther f i
ltering
co mponen ts mus t b
e a dded .

S
uppose y ou s et u p ac ircuit c on-
s
isting o f a 5 00 o hm r esistor IMPROV
/NG THE F
ILTER C
IRCUTT
c
onnec ted i n s er ies w ith a 1 6
mfd c ondenser a s s hown i n the
i
llustra t
ion . I fy ou c onnec t this
c
ircu it to t he r ec t
ifier a nd t he
s
ing le fil
ter c ondenser p rev iously
used, y ou w il
l b e p utt
ing i nto this
new f i
lter c ircu it 3 50 v olts DC L
oad
upon wh ich i s super i mposed a bout It
esistor
25 v o
lts o f AC . To u nders tand
how t his c ircu i
t r e moves t he AC
r
ipp le v oltage y ou w ill have t o
f
ind o u
t s o me thing a bout v o
lt-
age dividers .

You k
now fro m y
our work with DC s
er ies c
ircuits i
n Basic E
lectrici
ty t
hat
when you p
lace a DC v
oltage a
cross three equa
l resistors, o
ne th
ird of t
he
t
otal v
oltage a ppears a cross each of the resistors. Fro m t h
is it can be
s
een tha t if you h ave t wo r
esistors a nd one is twice t he resistance of t
he
o
ther, 1 /3 of the voltage wil
l appear a cross the sma ll resistor, and 2/3 of
t
he vol
tage w i
ll a ppear across the larger resistor. S im il
-arly ifone re-
s
istor contains 1 /10 of the t
otal resistance and the o ther r esistor con
tains
9
/10 o f the total r esistance; 1
/10 o f the t
otal voltage a ppears a cross the
small resistor a nd 9/10 of t
he total vol
tage a ppears a cross the large re-
s
istor. Fro m t his you can see that a DC voltage d ivides i t
self across two
r
esistors i n d
irec t proportion to t
he size of the res istors.
1
2
001
2 1
00V 6
012 3
0V
2
001
2 1
00V

3
00V
3
00V 2
001
2 1
00V 3
00V

-
0- 5
405
1 2
70V
4
001
2 2
00V

2
000 1
00V
J

1
-64
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

Improv
ing t
he Opera
tion o
f t
he F
ilter (
con
tinued
)

When the 25 vol

ts ripple f
ro m the input fi
lter condenser a ppears a cross
t
he resistor and ou
tput capacitor, a s shown below, t he r esistor presen ts
5
00 oh ms resistance and the condenser p resents only 8 0 oh ms r eactance
t
o 120 cycle AC ripple
. Th is means t hat the AC ripp le voltage is divided
a
cross a tota
l of 580 oh ms
. Abou t 1 /7 of t
he AC v oltage w il
l a ppear
a
cross the condenser a nd 6/7 of t
he AC v o
ltage will a ppear a cross the re-
s
istor. The AC v o
ltage across the c ondenser a nd there fore b e
tween B+
a
nd ground will be 1/7 of 25 v
olts, or a bout 3
.5 v o
lts AC .

B+

3
.5 V L
oad
AC Res
istor

I
W W
V v

You see t
hat the s
i mple a
ddition of a500 ohm resistor a
nd ano
ther fi
lter
condenser has succeeded in reducing t
he r
ipple vol
tage down t
o 3.5 vol
ts
which i
s about 1p ercen
t of t
he total DC ou
tput. Th is amoun
t of f
il
tering
i
s satis
factory for most appl
ica t
ions in e
lectron
ics.

1
-65
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

T
he Fau
lts o
f RC F
ilters

The f
i
lter circui
t you n
ow have consis
ts of t
wo c ondensers and o
ne r
esis-
t
or making up an RC fi
lter network. Th is f
ilter is compac t in s
ize,
l
ow in cos
t a nd is u
sed i
n many smal l com mercial radios
.

T
here are two r
easons why t
his RC f
i
lter cannot be u
sed i
n most o
ther power
s
uppl
ies —it i
s di
fficu
lt t
o g
et ahigh B+ v
oltage when a l
arge l
oad c
urrent
i
s r
equired; and t
here i
s alarge c
hange i
n B + v
oltage w
henever t
he load
c
urrent c
hanges.

Suppose y ou consider the f i

rst f
au l
t —the dif
ficu l
ty of get
ting a h
igh B+ vo
lt-
age when a l arge load c urrent is required. Many e lec
tronic equ
ipmen ts
r
equ ire that the power s upply deliver 100 to 200 m i
lliamps o f c
urrent a
t a
B+ voltage of 350 volts. A l
l of t
his current mus t flow through t
he 500 ohm
f
i
l ter res is
tor a nd w i
ll, a ccording to Ohm's l aw, c ause a d
rop in v
oltage
a
cross t hat resistor. Th is means t hat if200 m ill
iamps f low t
hrough 500
o
hms , the vol
tage d rop a cross the resistor wi
l l be —

E= I
R =0
.200 amp x 5
00 o
hms = 1
00 v
olts

I
nstead of get
ting 350 v ol
ts o u
t o f the fi
lter, you will get only 250 vo
lts
(
350 - 100 = 2 50V). I n order to get 350 volts o
ut of t
he fil
ter , the t
rans-
f
ormer w il
l have to b
e made s o that itwill f
eed a much h igher v o
l tage i
nto
t
he rect
ifier to make u p for t
he loss of vol
tage a cross the resistor. I n-
c
reasing the vol
tage o utput of the transformer makes i t larger, heavier
a
nd more e xpensive —three very u ndesirable qual
ities.

A HEAVY
LOAD CAUSES
A VOLTAGE

DR
OP

-
,
1c
i
k
s-
I
'M L
ARGER
HEAV
IER AND
I COST ALOT!

-
-.
..
..
"
---
-

1
-66
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

The Fau
lts o
f RC F
ilters (
con
tinued
)

You have seen that one fau

lt o
f the RC fi
lter i
s that itcauses a l
arge vo
lt-
age drop across the fi
lter res
istor which means t hat t
he t
ransfor mer mus
t
put out ah igher AC v o
ltage in order to co mpensate for t
his l
oss. The
second faul
t of RC fi
lters is even more seious —a sma ll c
hange in t
he l
oad
current causes the 1
3+ output t
o vary by many volts.

You h
ave r ead i
n the in
troduc tion t
o t
his section tha
t itis important f
or the
af v
oltage outpu
t to re main fa
irly s
table i
n s pi
te of changes in l
oad current
.
Many types of e
lectronic equip ment d
raw v arying amoun ts o
f load c
urrent
f
ro m the B+ v o
ltage s upply
, b ut t
he vo
ltage c hange mus t r
e main small i
n
sp
ite o
f this.

As an example, suppose tha

t you h ave a uni
t of electronic equip ment t hat
draws 50 ma. fro m t
he B+ supply u nder one set o
f conditions, and then t he
cond
itions change so that 100 ma . a re d
rawn f ro m t
he B+ s upp
ly . F irs t
you h ave 50 ma. flowing through t he 5
00 o hm fi
lter resistor and then y ou
have 100 ma. f
lowing t
hrough that s ame resistor. S uppose that the voltage
coming out o
f t
he fi
lter i
s 350 volts a nd 5
0 ma . are being drawn b y t
he l oad.
The vol
tage d
rop across t
he 5 00 o
hms resis
tor will b
e E= I R = .
050 x 500
=25V . Suddenly a
n add
itional 50 ma. are drawn t
hrough the 5
00 ohm load
r
esistor (making a t
ota
l of 100 ma .)
. The r esu
lt i
s an i
ncreased vo
ltage
d
rop across t
he 500 ohm resistor.

E =I
R =0
.100 x 5
00 = 5
0V

S
ince t
he v
oltage d
rop h
as i
ncreased 2
5V, t
he o
utpu
t v
oltage mus
t d
ecrease
b
y the s
ame amount.

The o
utput v
oltage w
ill d
ecrease f
ro m 3
50V t
o 3
25V w
hen t
he l
oad c
urren
t
i
ncreases f
ro m 50 t
o 100 ma
.

To
Rec
tifier

S
imilarly a change o f 100 ma. in t
he load curren t wil
l c ause t
he B+ v o
ltage
t
o drop 50 volts
. S uch a r
ise a nd f
all i
n output vol
tage i s very undesirable
i
n electronic equip ment . Voltage regulator circu its migh t be added t o
c
o mpensate for th
is v o
ltage c hange due t
o the fi
lter r es
is tor, b
ut it would
r
equire a l arge and e xpensive circuit t
o co mpensa te for changes such a s
a
re ind
ica ted here.
1
-67
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

U
sing a C
hoke I
nstead o
f aR
esis
tor

A resistor can d
o af air
ly g ood
j
ob of fi
ltering b
ecause i ts re-
s
istance to AC is higher than the
r
eac tance of afi
lter condenser t o
AC. When t he r
ipple voltage is
p
laced a cross t
his circuit, t
he AC
v
oltage divides s o that only a
small part of t
his ripple voltage
a
ppears a cross the fi
lter conden-
s
er a nd at B+. The DC v oltage
d
ivides across this circui
t s o tha
t
most of t
he DC v oltage appears
a
cross t he fi
lter c ondenser a nd
a
t B+.

What t
he fi
lter circu
it requires i
s t
hat the resistor have a h
igh resis
tance
f
or AC and a low resistance t
o DC. A r esistor presents exact
ly the sa me
r
esistance to b
oth AC a nd DC and cannot mee t t
his requ
ire ment. When a
f
i
lter resis
tor is used, its s
ize mus
t b e ac o mpro m
ise between these two
o
pposing require ments
.

There is
, h owever , ac ertain type of c o mponent that will meet this r equire-
ment —the fi
l ter choke. F ro m your s tudy of AC c ircuits in Basic E lectri-
c
ity you know t ha
t ac hoke opposes a ny c hange of current fl
ow ing through i t
.
I
n other words t he inductance o f ac hoke p resents a high reactance t o AC.
Because a c hoke is made u p o f many t urns of copper wire w ound a round
ac ore, it also p resents a low r esistance t o DC . A c hoke h as the very
qua
lities that are required to r eplace t he resistor in afil
ter c ircuit.

I
nductors o r chokes, as u sed i
n electron ic power s upp l
ies, a re called "fi
l-
t
er chokes" b ecause they a re used to "choke" o u
t the AC . A 1 0-henry
c
hoke is fairly small in size and will present ar eac tance o f about 7 500
o
hms t o 120 cycle ripple a nd w
ill have a DC r esistance o f a bout 200 o hms.
S
uch a choke h as 15 times more r eactance to AC t han a 5 00 o hm r esistor,
a
nd also has less than h a
lf its DC resistance . B ecause o f t
hese e xce llen
t
q
ualit
ies y ou w il
l find tha t c
hokes a re u sed i
n the fil
ter c ircuits of mos t
e
lectronic p ower s upplies. B efore y ou learn about t he various c o mbina-
t
ions of c
hokes a nd condensers t hat are u sed i
n fil
ter c ircu i
ts , suppose
y
ou find o
u t about t
he c onstruction of these co mponen ts.

10
I
S 1
5 T
IMES BETTER THAN
A 1
0-henry F
ILTER CHOKE
A 5
00-oh m RESISTOR

9
e
p
t9e
tt
ez
ia9„
d
o
e
AND HAS LESS THAN HALF
THE DC RESISTANCE
2
00 o
h ms 5
00 o
h ms

1
-68
 F
ILTE R C
IRCUITS

F
ilter Chokes

The purpose of af i
lter choke is t
o f
urnish a high impedance t o AC ripple
v
oltage and a low resistance to DC c urrent
. A c hoke consists o
f many
t
urns of copper wire wound a round a laminated iron core. The t o
tal i m-
p
edance of t
he choke depends upon the number of t
urns of wire and the size
,
s
hape a nd material of t
he core
. The DC r esistance of t
he choke depends
u
pon the t
otal l
ength of w
ire used and t
he dia meter of t
he wire.

By increasing the n u mber of t

urns of wire and by increasing the s
ize o f t
he
core, you can r aise the impedance ; but t
his a
lso increases the size a nd t
he
weight of the c hoke. I n addition, the increased l ength o
f wire through
which the c urren t must flow c auses t he DC r esistance t
o increase . The
only way t o decrease DC r es
is tance is e
ither to decrease t
he n u mber of
t
urns ( which lowers t he impedance ) or to i
ncrease t he d
iameter of the wire
(which increases t he weight
).

Every type of choke manu fac

tured i s ac o mpro m
ise o
f size, w eigh
t, AC
impedance and DC resistance require ments. Because requ ire ments di
ffer
according t
o the equip ment, many different sizes of c
hokes a re made .
Chokes are rated by the amoun t o
f i
nduc tance, the DC r
esistance a nd the
maxi mum amoun t o
f current f
low.

•
henries
For amplif
iers
7
5 oh ms
a
nd sma l
l
5
00 ma . For
t
rans m
itters
24 lbs. h
igh v
oltage
• h
igh l
oad
p
ower suppl
ies

7henr
ies
5
50 oh ms
5
0 ma.
1
/2 lb
. F
or sma
ll r
adio r
ece
ivers

1
-69
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

T
he S
ing
le-Sec
tion C
hoke a
nd C
ondenser I
npu
t F
ilters

The single-sect
ion c hoke input fi
lter consists of af il
ter choke in s
eries
w
ith the power supply load and a f
i
lter condenser a cross the l
oad. The DC
c
omponen t o
f t
he rectif
ier output appears across t he load
. Most o f t
he AC
c
omponen t a
ppears across the high induct
ive r eactance of the c
hoke. On ly
a small amoun t o
f AC a ppears across the output fi
lter condenser because
o
f it
s l ow reactance. S ince the load is i
n parallel with the o
utput f
i
lter
c
ondenser , very l
it
tle ripple appears across the load .

H
igh r
eactance -
L
arge AC vol
tage d
rop

B
+

0 I
npu
t

Low reac
tance -
Smal
l AC vol
tage d
rop

S
I
NGLE S
ECT
ION CHOKE I
N
PUT
F
IL
TER CI
RCUITS

Asingle-sec
tion condenser i
nput f
il
ter consists o
f af i
lter condenser con-
n
ected across the input t
erminals of asingle-sec
tion c hoke i
nput fi
lter
.
B
ecause of t
he shape of t
he c
ircuit d
iagram , f
il
ter circuits o
f th
is type are
s
ome t
i mes cal
led i type f
i
lters
.

Large values of inductance a

nd capaci
tance a
re used in c
ondenser i
nput
f
i
lters so tha
t they are of
ten c
alled "
brute-
force" f
il
ters. I nduc
tance va
l-
u
es of f
rom 1 0 to 30 h
enries a
nd capaci
tance va
lues of f
rom 2t o 1
6 micro-
f
arads are co mmon ly u
sed.

1
0 t
o 3
0 h
enr
ies
S
INGLE-SECTION
CONDENSER o • I
ZOT
TON
I
NPUT

. T T
I
npu
t .
.
.. O
utpu
t

2
-16 m
fd 2
-16 m
fd ,

1
-70
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

T
he S
ing
le-Sec
tion C
hoke I
npu
t F
ilter

You w ill see tha t the single-sec tion c hoke i nput filter d oes j ust a l i
ttle
bet
ter j ob of filter ing than the c ondenser a lone. T he v oltage o utpu t of the
choke i nput fi
lter i s l
ower t han t he v o
ltage o utpu t of the c ondenser a lone .
This i s b ecause t he c hoke b uilds u p ab ack em f wh ich c ance ls a p art o f
t
he v oltage c om ing o ut of the rect i
fier . An i mpor tant f eature o f the c hoke
i
npu t fi
lter is t hat itlim its the p eak c urrent flowing t hrough t he r ectifier
t
ube a nd, a s ar esult, there i s l
ess s train o n the tube. The c hoke i npu t fi
l-
t
er also h as the c haracter istic of h o
ld ing the o u
tpu t vo l
tage q uite c ons tant
d
esp ite load v ar iations. B ecause o f these l ast two c haracter ist ics, c hoke
i
nput filters a re u sed most c om mon ly in power s upp l
ies wh ich a re sub-
j
ected t o heavy o r varying l oads. The r esults of u sing t his type o f fi
l ter
f
or s uch loads a re a more s table o utput voltage f rom t he p ower s upply a nd
l
onger l ife of the r ecti
fier t ube.

e
0
b

HEAVY OR
VARY
ING
_ LOAD

0
0
0
•
. *

1
-71
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

The C
ondenser I
npu
t F
ilter

By c
o mparing these wave forms a nd voltages w
ith t
hose of t
he preced ing
f
i
lter circuits, you can see t
hat t
he condenser input f
i
lter does a bet
ter j ob
o
f f
iltering than any o
f the o
thers. The v o
ltage o
utput o
f t
his fi
lter is larg-
e
r than it was f
or the choke i
nput fi
lter because o
f the c
harg ing a
nd dis-
c
harg ing a
c t
ion of the i
nput c
ondenser .

However , unlike t
he choke inpu
t f
i
lter, this c
ircuit draws large peaks of
current fro m t
he rect
ifier t
ube. T he v
oltage regulation i
s not a
s good a s i
t
i
s for a choke input f
i
lter. T he c
ondenser input fi
lter, very o
ften cal
led a
"brute-force" fi
lter, is t
he most w
idely used f
ilter circu
it for a
pplications
where the required amoun t o
f DC power is small.

H
IGHER
OUTPUT
VOLTAGE

L
IGHT
LOAD
-

F
.
win
. Imm
r
W
V V

H
IGHER
PEAK
CURRENT

1-
72
 F
ILTE R C
IRCU
ITS

The Two-Sect
ion F
ilter

A t
wo-sec
tion c
hoke i
npu
t f
i
lter c
ircu
it c
ons
ists o
f t
wo s
ing
le-sec
tion
c
hoke input f
i
lters connected i
n series
. Add ing another condenser a
cross
t
he fi
lter i
nput t
er m
ina ls c
hanges the chcke input c
ircuit i
nto a t
wo-sect
ion
c
ondenser input f
i
lter. B oth t
ypes of twc-section f
ilters reduce t
he o
utput
v
oltage r
ipple t
o an egl
igible va
lue.

TWO-SECT
ION F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

Condenser I
nput
C
hoke I
npu
t Two-Sect
ion F
ilter Two-Sect
ion Fi
lter

°- 1
51
53
515\
- •- 2
- 1-0
-50
"— •- -0

I
npu
t
T u
tpu
t

Resonan t filter circui

ts may b e used in power s upplies although they are
usually u sed in other types of electronic circuits
. A s eries-resonan t f
il-
t
er cons ists of ac hoke and c ondenser c onnected in s eries across the out-
put t
er m inals of the r ect
ifier circu i
t. You l earned i n Basic Electric
ity
(
series-resonan t circuits) that when a c hoke and c ondenser i n series are
resonant, t heir induct
ive a nd c apac i
tive reactance c ancel each other and
t
heir total i mpedance is zero . There fore, ifthe c o mponen ts used are res-
onant at the ripp
le frequency o f the power s upply, they w ill ac
t as as hort
c
ircui t across the load for that par
t icular irequency .

Apara l
lel-resonant co mbina
tion of L a
nd C c an b
e u sed in s
eries wi
th one
o
utput ter mina
l of the power s upply t
o p
rov ide additional f
i
ltering a
t t
he
r
ipple frequency. The p aral
lel-resonant c.
.
rcu i
t offers high impedance t
o
t
he ripple f
requency.

RESONANT F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

S
eries-Resonan
t F
ilter Para
lle
l-Resonan
t F
ilter

0 • •
' 065
0`

I
npu
t O
utpu
t I
npu
t
-
II- O
utpu
t

1
-73
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

F
ilter C
ondenser Cons
idera
tions

When a condenser inpu t f

i
lter is used the instantaneous peak current o
f t
he
r
ecti
fier may b e much h igher than the max i mum current del
ivered to t
he
l
oad. T he input condenser a cross the load circuit a
cts li
ke a short c
ircuit
when a v
oltage is fi
rst applied to it
. T he i n
itial c
harging current may ex-
c
eed the rectif
ier rating. S eries resistors a re sometimes used w i
th se-
l
enium rectifiers in order to l
imit the init
ial charging current of t
he i
nput
f
i
lter condenser .
R
esistor u sed wi
th
s
elenium r ecti
fiers
t
o l
im it condenser
To 5-vo
lt trans-
c
harging c urrent t
o
f
or mer winding
asafe value

I
npu
t charg
ing
c
ondenser c
ircu
it

B
ecause of the time lapse between pulses of d
irect c
urrent, the output o
f
ahal
f-wave r ect
ifier requires more filtering t
han t
hat o
f aful
l-wave r ec-
t
i
fier and the f
il
tered o u
tput voltage will be l
ower. Fil
ter condensers used
i
n ha
lf-wave p ower s upp
lies are usually from 2 t
o 4times as large as t
hose
u
sed in f
ull-wave p ower supplies. Increas ing t
he s
ize of t
he f
ilter c
onden-
s
ers provides additional f
il
tering.

Ha
lf-wave r
ect
ifier o
utpu
t
Fu
ll-wave r
ect
ifier o
utpu
t

T T V

The h
igher the frequency of t
he AC inpu
t v ol
tage to apower supply t
he
l
ower t he v
alue o f t
he fil
ter condensers required
. T he t
ime between
p
ulses is s
horter at higher f
requencies and t
he i
nduct
ive a
ction o
f t
he choke
i
s greater a
t higher frequencies
.

1
-74
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

B
leeder R
esis
tors

I
f the load i
s entirely r
e moved f
rom a p ower s upply the vo
ltage rises t
o a
v
alue much higher than normal. W ith no l
oad c urrent there is n
o DC v o
lt-
a
ge d rop i
n t
he circuit a
nd no d
ischarge p a
th f or t
he fi
lter condensers, r e-
s
ult
ing i n abu
ild-up in v
oltage a
cross t he f
il
ter c ondensers to av alue a
p-
p
rox imately e
qual to t
he peak AC vo
l tage applied to t
he rectif
ier tube.

To p
reven t s
oar ing of t
he v ol
tage at no l
oad, r esistors a re o
ften c
onnec ted
a
cross the o utput term inals of power s upplies. T hese resistors cal
led
"
bleeder resistors" p rovide a discharge path for the fi
lter condensers a nd
a
lso serve a s af ixed l oad to b
leed of
f ac onstan t value of c
urrent. The
b
leeder resistor usually d raws about 10 percent of the to
tal rated current
o
utput o
f the power s upply.

S
ince a b
leeder resistor preven ts sharp increases in vo
ltage output under
l
igh
t or no l
oad conditions i
ti mproves t he p
ower s upp
ly v ol
tage regulation
a
nd tends to maintain the ou
tpu t voltage at aconstant value r
egardless o f
l
oad. T h
is method of v o
ltage r egu
la tion i
s suff
icient f
or most p ower sup-
p
ly app
licat
ions but in many c ases be tter v
oltage regu
lation is requ
ired .

Bleeder r esis tors dissipa te a r e

la t
ive ly large amoun t o
f p ower a s heat and
shou ld b e moun ted i n aw ell-ventilated pos ition. The r esistance v a
lue a nd
power r a
ting o f t he bleeder r esistor d epend o n t
he max i mum v o
ltage a nd
curren t r atings o f the p ower s upp ly. F or e xamp le, if ap ower s upply is
rated a t 300 v olts a nd c an s upply 1 00 m i
ll iamperes t he b leeder c urren t
s
hou ld b e a bout 1 0 m illiamperes a nd t he v ol
tage a cross t he bleeder 300
v
o lts. The b leeder r esistance ( 30,000 o hms ) is f
ound b y div iding the v
ol t-
a
ge ( 300 volts ) by the b leeder c urren t (.010 ampere ). T he p ower d iss
i-
pated i s equa l to t
he v ol
tage mu ltiplied b y the bleeder curren t. (300 x .01 =
3 watts ). The wa t
tage r at
ing o f ar esistor s hou ld be h
igher t han the power
d
iss ipa ted so t hat a3 0K, 1 0-watt res istor is u sed as ab leeder .

B
LEEDER R
ESISTORS Improve V
oltage R
egu
lat
ion

0
-00
-1 •

Bleeder res
is tor
provides a d
ischarge
p
ath for t
he fi
lter c
ondenser
.

1-
75
 F
ILTE R C
IRCUITS

B
leeder R
esis
tors (
con
tinued
)

B
leeder res
is tors a re so meti mes t
apped to p
rovide one o
r more vol
tages
l
ower than the max i mu m voltage of t
he p ower supply
. The bleeder may
c
onsist o
f s
evera l resis
tors c onnected in s
eries across a s
ource o
f vol
tage
w
ith var
ious voltages available at t
he resis
tor junct
ions.

When a b leeder i s connec ted directly across the power s upply o utpu t
, t he
v
o ltage a t v arious p oints a long the bleeder is exact
ly p ropor t
iona l to the
resis tance at that point, prov ided no curren t i
s drawn f ro m any of t he t
aps .
For e xamp le, if a3 0,000-oh m r esis
tor t apped at 7,500-ohms , 15 ,000
ohms a nd 2 2,500 o h ms is c onnected across the output of a3 00 v o
l t power
supp ly the v oltage div ides p roportionately. A t the 1 5
,000-oh m t ap the
voltage i s one h a
lf o
f t he t
ota l or 150 vol
ts, at the 7
,500-ohm t ap iti s one
f
ourth o f the total or 7 5 vo
l ts and at t
he 2 2
,500-oh m t ap itis three f ourths
o
f t he total o r 225 v olts. The b leeder c urrent through t he r esistor i s
1
0 mi
lliamperes
.
+
300V
7

VOLTAGE DROPS

ACROSS To
tal +
225V 3
0,0000
A TAPPED 3
00V c
urrent
BLEEDER DC equa
ls +
150V — -I 2
2,500c
2
RESISTOR b
leeder
+
75V - 1
5,000Q
current
1
0 ma . 7
,500
S2

•
The v ol
tages a vailab le at the v o
l tage divider t aps depend o n the c urren t
d
rawn f ro m e ach t ap a nd are affec ted b y changes in c urren
t supp l
ied b y a ny
o
f t he v o
l tage t aps . When a l oad i s c onnected t o a ny o
f the taps i t
s r e-
s
istance i s i
n p ara llel with a p or t
ion o f the vo
ltage d ivider. Th is for ms a
s
er ies-para l
le l c ircu i
t a nd reduces t he total resistance across t he circu i
t
r
esu l
ting i n a n i ncrease i n curren t drawn f ro m t he p ower supp ly. The
v
o l
tage d rop i n the s eries p ar
t o f the voltage d iv
ider c ircuit i
ncreases d ue
t
o t he increased c urren t
, a nd t he voltage d rop a nd b
leeder c urren t f
or t he
p
aral
lel p
art o
f t
he v
oltage d
ivider a
re d
ecreased
.

TAPPED BLEEDER RESISTOR WITH A LOAD CONNECTED

+
300V

I
ncreased current r
esul
ts in l
arger vo
ltage d
rop
t
han caused by b
leeder curren
t a
lone.

B
leeder
Curren
t ( Load
Resistor d
ecre a
ses t
ota
l r
esis
tance a
cross
Tota
l
Current
t
he p
ower supp
ly o
utpu
t.

1-
76
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

B
leeder R
esis
tors (
con
tinued
)

A typica l vol
tage d iv
ider for a 3 00 vol
t, 1 00 m i
lliampere p ower s upply
might p rovide for a b
leeder current o
f 10 milliamperes , at ap at 200 volts
t
o supp ly 40 m i
lliamperes and a tap a
t 150 volts to supply 50 mill
iamperes .
To find the resistance va
lues for each part o
f such a v o
ltage divider circuit
t
he v oltage d rop and current through each resistor mus t be f
ound . In the
i
l
lus tration, p o
ints A, B, Ca nd D provide the desired v o
ltage taps and the
r
esis tance v a
lues of Ri, R2, and R 3 a
re found as follows:

R
1 The vo
ltage d
rop a cross R
1 (be
tween p
oints C a
nd D
) is 1
50 vo
lts
. The
curren
t flow through R1 is on
ly t
he bleeder c
urrent or 1
0 ma. t
hen

R 1
50 = 1
5 0
00 o
hms
.
1 = .
01
R2 The v
oltage d
rop across R2 (
between p
oin
ts B a
nd C) i
s 50 vo
lts (
150V
t
o 200V). The current f
low through R2 i
s b
leeder curren
t, 10 ma.,

p
lus t
he l
oad c
urren
t, 5
0 ma
., o
r 6
0 ma
. t
hen R
2 =—
50 =8
33 o
hms
.
.
06
R
3 The v
oltage d
rop a cross R3 (
between po
ints A a
nd B
) is 1
00 volts (
200V
t
o 300V). The c urrent fl
ow through R3 i
s t
he sum o
f t
he bleeder cur-
r
ent and the current through each l
oad -10 + 5
0 +40 = 1
00 ma . t
hen

1
00
R
3 = = 1
000 o
hms
.
.
1
The wat
tage d
issipa
tion o
f each res
istor i
s f
ound by mu
ltip
lying t
he c
urren
t
t
hrough the r
esis
tor by t
he vo
ltage drop a
cross i
t
:

1
50 x .
01 = 1
. 5wa tts f
or R1
5
0 x.06 = 3 wa
tts for R2
1
00 x .
1 = 10 wa t
ts for R3
A
I 3
00V

1
00 ma
.

B
. 2
00V i
s
in m
i
e
lk 4
0 ma
.
6
0 ma
. t
P
ower Supply
F
ilter C
ircui
t
1
50V 5
0
ma. L
oad
B
leeder 1
L
oad
Current
1
00 ma
.
1
0 ma. 9
0 ma
. I 4
0 ma
.
o
v
•

1
-77
 F
ILTER C
IRCUITS

R
eview o
f F
ilter C
ircu
its

F
ILTER CAPAC
ITORS — C
apac
itors
u
sed i n p
ower s upp l
ies to change the
p
u lsa
ting DC o utput of r
ectifiers in
to
DC having a relatively s
light v ar
iation
i
n v alue. The c ondenser c harges
t
hrough t he rectifier c
ircuit and dis-
charges through t he load c ircuit to
h
e lp maintain v o
ltage a pp
lied t o the
l
oad at as teady v a
lue.

PAPER F ILTER CAPAC ITORS —

Paper filter c ondensers a re bulky and
t
heir v a
lue i s usually limited t o less
t
han 1 0 m fd. They a re not polarized
and can b e made t o withs
tand v ery high
v
o l
tages . There i s n o a ppreciable
l
eakage a cross a p aper f
ilter conden-
s
er . O il-impregna ted paper c onden-
s
ers a re u sed in h igh v oltage f i
l-
t
er circu its.

ELECTROLYT IC F ILTER CAPAC I-

TORS — E lectrolytics h ave a h igh
v T i
e of capacitance as compared t o a
paper c ondenser of the same p hysical
s
ize. They a re p olarized a nd a re
nor mally c onstructed to o perate a t
l
ess t han 600 volts. There i s appre-
c
iable l eakage across a n e
lectrolytic
condenser b ut this effect is usually
ofset b y t
heir large values of capaci-
t
ance . E lectrolytics range in value
f
rom 1t o 1
000 m fd.

WET ELECTROLYT IC CAPAC ITOR —

Ac ondenser c onsist
ing of a metal e
lec-
t
rode i mmersed i n an e
lectrolytic solu-
t
ion. The e lectrode and solution are
t
he t wo c ondenser p lates wh ile a n Gas F
ilm

ox
ide f i
lm f ormed o n t
he electrode is E
lectrode

t
he dielectric. The d ie
lectric film is
f
ormed b y current f
low fro m t
he elec-
t
rolyte to t
he electrode. E
lectro
lyte

Me
tal Con
tainer

1
-78
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

R
eview o
f F
ilter C
ircu
its (
con
tinued
)

DRY ELECTROLYTIC CONDENSERS

—In a d ry e
lectro
lytic condenser the N
egative Gauze
A
lu minu m sa
turated
e
lectroly
te is apas
te. C loth which is
E
lectrode w
ith e
lectro
lyte
impregnated w
ith t
he paste i
s rolled
b
etween l ayers of metal foil wh
ich a ct
a
s the condenser t ermina ls. O ne me t-
a
l fo
il is the posi
tive plate and a fi
lm
f
or med o n i
ts surface is the d
ielectric.
The electroly
te p aste i
s the negative
Pos
itive A
lu m
inu m-
c
ondenser p late and it
s ter minal con- A
lu minu m o
xide F
ilm
n
ection is made t hrough a layer of E
lectrode
metal fo
il.

F
ILTER CHO ICE — An iron-core in-
d
uctance placed in ser
ies wi
th the rec-
t
i
fier output
. I topposes any change in
c
urrent flow and reduces t
he amoun t
o
f change in t
he pulsat
ing DC output of
t
he rect
ifier circu
it.

CHOICELESS PO WER SUPPLY F ILTER

— Al ow current power supp
ly fi
lter
c
ircui
t in wh ich r
esistors a
re used in

T T0
p
lace of f
ilter chokes. R es
istors are
u
sed to s
ave w eigh
t, space and c
ost.

1
-79
 F
ILTER C
IRCU
ITS

R
eview o
f F
ilter C
ircu
its (
con
tinued
)

S
INGLE-SECTION CHOKE I NPUT
F
ILTER — A f i
lter circuit consisting
o
f af i
lter c hoke c onnected in series
- -0
w
ith the r ec
tifier o u
tput a nd a f
il
ter
c
ondenser c onnec ted across the output I
npu
t

t
er mina
ls. The o u
tput vol
tage ripp le Ou
tpu
t

i
s between 3 a nd 10 percent of t
he DC
o
utput vol
tage .

S
INGLE - SECTION CONDENSER I NPUT
F
ILT ER — A f iRer c ircuit cons
isting
o
f af il
ter c hoke c onnec ted in s
eries
w
ith the r ectifier o utput and two fi
lter
c
ondensers , o ne c onnec ted across the
f
i
lter i nput a nd t he o ther across t he I
npu
t - Output
7

f
i
lter o utpu t t er mina ls. The o utput 0 t
i
k 0
v
oltage r ipp le i s l ess t han t
hat of a
s
ingle-sec t
ion c hoke i nput fi
lter a nd
t
he voltage o utpu t is higher than that o
f
achoke i npu t filter.

TWO-SECTION CHOKE I NPUT F ILTE R

— A f i
lter circu i
t consist
ing o f two 0
-1 5
1
g
rus-•- q
r
t
rt
ru
s-•--0
s
ingle-section c hoke i
nput fi
lters con-
I
npu
t Ou
tpu
t
n
ected in series. The o utput ripp
le is
anegligible va
lue f or most power sup- 0 4
1
, 0
p
ly applicat
ions .

TWO-SECTION CONDENSER I NPUT

F
ILTE R — A t wo-section c hoke inpu
t
f
i
lter with an additional f
i
lter c onden- 0- -•—'
1
3
•
15 M—•- 2
1-1
3
1
5
73,—* --0

s
er c onnected a cross the fi
lter input
T
I t T
npu
t
er minals
. The v ol
tage o u
tpu t i
s in- Ou
tpu
t
o 4
1
0
-
c
reased a s co mpared to ac hoke input
f
i
lter and the ripple is r
educed .

1
-80
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

Vo
ltage R
egu
lat
ion

By t
his t
ime y ou u nderstand the t
heory of operation o
f recti
fier c
ircui
ts
a
nd fi
lter circuits. You appreciate t
he impor
tance o f maintain
ing t
he pow-
e
r supply in good working order so t
hat t
he comp le
te electronic e
quipmen t
may be ab
le to d o i
t
s job.

Now you a re going to s

tudy v ol
tage regulated power s upply circu i
ts wh ich
a
re required to do specialized jobs t
hat the o
rdinary g eneral purpose p ow-
e
r supply c annot do
. L ike other circuits you w i
ll use , v
oltage r egulator
c
ircu
its r ange fro m very s i mple c
ircuits u s
ing o nly one or two p ar
ts to
v
ery comp lex circuits r equir
ing many c omponen ts. H owever, al o f these
c
ircu
its opera te i
n t
he s ame way a s the basic regulator circuits.

,
A
a
f
tvse
c
o
.
s
eg
A
tei

0V
.
I
MMO

_
-=-
- Vary
ing AC --
=
-
-
- ---
- Line Vo
ltage
--=-
-
- = -

1
-81
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCU
ITS

Vol
tage Regu
lat
ion (
con
tinued
)

You already k now t he two mos t important factors which a

ffec t t
he B+ v ol
t-
age output i n ac onventional power s upply. When t he AC line voltage goes
up,the B+ o u
tpu t voltage goes up; and, when the AC line v
oltage g oes down ,
t
he B+ o utput voltage g oes down. Also, when there is a small current drain
out of t
he B+ t er minal, the B+ vol
tage i s h
igher than when there i s alarge
current d ra
in . Wha t you wan t to know n ow i s how the voltage regulator
c
ircuit overco mes b oth these proble ms
.

I
fyou c
onnect a p
oten
tio me
ter across B+ and ground i
n any conven
tiona
l
p
ower s
upply, y
ou have a p
erfec
t hand-operated vo
ltage r
egu
lator.

Assu me t hat you have a 1 000-ohm p otentio meter a nd a power s upply with a
B+ of 1 00 volts. A lso a ssu me t ha t y ou wan t asteady o utput voltage of 5 0
volts
. You f i
rs t ad
jus t your p otent io meter s o t
hat the center tap is r
igh t a
t
t
he m idd le o
f the potentio me ter r es istance . I fthe B+ voltage rises mo men-
t
arily d ue to a n increase i n AC l ine voltage o r ad ecrease in B+ c urren t
d
ra in, a
l l y
ou d o i
s move t he tap c loser t o ground (decrease the r esistance
between t ap and ground ) until you g et 50 v ol
ts again. Ift he B+ v ol
tage falls
d
ue t o ad ecrease i n t
he AC l ine v oltage o r an i
ncrease i n B+ curren tdra in
,
a
ll you d o is move t he t ap away f ro m g round ( i
ncrease t he resistance b e-
t
ween t ap and g round) u n
til you g et 5 0 vo
l ts again.

B-
1
-=100V B
i- =120V B
-
1- =8
0V

Decrease
Resistance

5
0V
5
0
V

5
0V •
i
m
I
ncrease
Res
istance
•

You c an see t
hat t
he hand-operated voltage r egulator works v ery we ll
.
You increase o r d
ecrease the resis
tance b etween g round and the output
voltage tap to i
ncrease or d
ecrease the o u
tpu t vo
ltage back t
o the des
ired
value whenever the B+ s
upply vol
tage fa
l ls or rises for a
ny reason.

The main fau l

t w ith t h
is me thod is that it i
s too s
low. F irst, the o
utput
vol
tage mus t c hange . Then y ou must n otice t
hat i
th as changed, and then
you must increase o r decrease the resis
tance between t he vo
ltage tap and
ground to ge
t b ack the d es
ired v ol
tage o utpu
t. When y ou c onsider that
t
here are many e lectronic circuits in a radar syste m which mus t h
ave a
s
teady voltage, y ou c an see that many men wou ld b e n
eeded t o k
eep the m
al regu
lated.

The v o
ltage r egulator circui
t solves al y
our prob
le ms! The v o
ltage reg-
u
lator t ube auto matical
ly increases o r d
ecreases it
s interna
l r es
istance
as t
he B+ s upply voltage fals a
nd rises, s
o as t
o maintain a c
onstant vo
lt-
age across itsel
f.

1
-82
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

The Vol
tage Regu
lator Tube

The voltage regulator tube c

ons
ists of apla
te and a ca
thode placed in an e
n-
ve
lope c ontaining a g as a
t low p
ressure. There i s n
o f
ila ment and, t
here-
f
ore, the tube is k nown as acold c
athode type t
ube. The rad io sy mbo
l for
t
he tube i s as illustrated
. The d o
t inside the e
nvelope i
ndica tes t
he pre-
s
ence o f agas.

DOT I
NDICATES COLD
GAS FILLED CATHODE

When a l
arge enough potentia
l is app
lied b
etween t he c
athode and t
he p
late
,
t
he gas i
n t
he tube conducts and elec
trons f
l ow fro m c
athode t
o p
late
. Con-
d
uction i
s character
ized b y abluish glow inside the t
ube —the h
eavier t
he
c
onduction t
he brigh
ter the glow.

The n u mbering s yste m used f or vol

tage r egulator t ubes h as b een changed
i
n r ecen t years. The VR-150/30 , t
he VR-90/30 a nd the VR-75/30 a re old
nu mbers n o longer u sed. The t er m "VR" mean t v oltage r egulator; the
f
i rst number , "150" etc., stood f or the o perating v oltage of t he t
ube — the
voltage at wh ich itregulated . The l ast number r epresen ted t he max i mum
rated c urrent that could p ass through t he t
ube w ithou t da mag ing it
. In all
regulator tubes t here is also a min i mu m operating c urren t of about 5 ma .
The t ube will stop conduc ting i f t
he c urrent t hrough i t d rops b e
low t his
value. A w ide r ange of r egu lated voltages can b e h ad by u sing any of the
voltage regulator tubes sing ly or in series co mbina t
ions .

1
-83
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

The Vo
ltage Regu
lator Tube (
con
tinued
)

The n
ew n
umber
ing s
yste m f
or VR t
ubes i
s a
s f
ollows
:

DC Operating
Tube Type Voltage Curren
t Range Ma
.

0A2 1
51 5t
o 3
0
0A3 7
5 5t
o 4
0
OB2 1
08 5t
o 3
0
OC 3 1
08 5t
o 4
0
OD3 1
53 5t
o 4
0
874 90 1
0 t
o 5
0
991 5
9 0
.4 t
o 2
.0

Under t
his new sys
te m there are a
vai
lab
le a l
arger v
arie
ty o
f DC o
per-
a
ting v
oltages a
nd curren
t ranges.

The VR t ube is adiode which consists o

f at hin v ert
ica l rod held i
n p
osi-
t
ion i ns
ide o f at h
in me tal c
ylinder. The a ir is r e moved f ro m t
he t
ube
envelope a nd is r
ep laced b
y a small quanti
ty o f neon o r helium gas mixed
with a smal l quantity of a
rgon g as. As l ong a s the curren t f
low t
hrough
t
he t ube is kept within the l
isted limits the p late voltage of the t
ube wi
ll
change v ery l
it
tle.

I
f operating v oltages h
igher than those l
isted above are required
, t wo or
more VR t ubes may be connected in series. In th
is c ase the operating
v
oltage w i
ll b eco me t
he sum o f al
l t he operat
ing v ol
tages of t
he tubes
c
onnected i n s eries. Paral
lel operation is used when a l arger c urrent
i
s required.

1
-84
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

AS
imp
le VR Tube C
ircu
it

Here i
s a
n e xa mp
le of h
ow a VR t ube is used i n atypical c
ircu it. Suppose
t
hat you have a power supply with an output v o
ltage of 340 vo
l ts DC. You
n
eed to supply voltage t
o as pecial circuit that needs 150 volts DC w i
th a
c
urrent variat
ion o f f
rom 1 0 t
o 3 0 millia mps. Th is circui
t r equires tha
t
t
he 150 v
olts DC b e k
ept c
onstant in spite of the current change .

S
ince y
ou wan t aconstant vol
tage of 150 v
olts DC wi
th a maxi mum current
d
rain o
f 3 0 millia mps, a
n OD3 ( VR-150
) w ill meet your require men
ts.
Here a
re the o perating characteris
tics of the OD3 (VR-150
) as li
sted by
t
he manufacturer - note t
hat they meet y
our r equ
ire men
ts:

DC power s upply v ol
tage .185 v
olts m in
.
DC s
tar ting v ol
tage 160 v
olts
DC opera t
ing v ol tage 153 v
olts
DC opera ting c urrent 5to 40 ma .
For a curren t v ariat
ion o
f f
rom 5 t
o 3
0 ma
. the vol
tage wi
ll c
hange
2volts.
For a curren t v ariat
ion o
f f
rom 5 t
o 4
0 ma
. the vol
tage wi
ll c
hange
4volts.

Notice that there is a"jumper c onnec tion" b e

tween p ins 3 a nd 7 i
nside t
he
t
ube . If p
ins 3 a nd 7 are wired i
n s eries w ith t
he circu i
t, this j
u mper wil
l
act as as wi
tch . When t he VR tube is p ulled ou
t, the circuit requiring t
he
150 volts w
ill be disconnected from t he p ower s upp
ly . Ift h
is ju mper were
not connected a s as witch and the VR t ube were p ul
led o ut, t
he 150 v
olt
c
ircu i
t wou ld r eceive more t han 1 50 v olts —resulting i n d amage t o i
ts
co mponents o r i
n i mproper operation.

1
-85
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR CIRCUITS

A S
imp
le VR Tube C
ircu
it (
con
tinued
)

I
n order to il
lus
trate t
he c
ircu
it described o
n t
he p
rev
ious s
hee
t, t
he VR
t
ube i
s connected t
o t
he p
ower s
upply li
ke th
is:

+ 3
40 v
olts

3 J
u mper

Dropping
Resis
tor
•

5 +1
50V

No
te tha
t the 1 50 vol
t p
oin
t i
s d
isconnected f
ro m t
he p
ower s
upp
ly i
fthe
VR t
ube is p
ulled ou
t.

I
n order to deter m
ine t he s
ize of the dropp ing r esistor,y ou must begin with
a condi
tion when n o load is connected to the 1 50 v ol
t output t
er minal. You
must then a d
just the s ize of the d ropping r esistor so that t
he max i mum
c
urren t (40 ma.) will f
low through t he VR t ube . You a lready know t hat t
he
o
utput of the power s upply is 340 volts
, s o the v ol
tage a cross t
he r esistor
w
ill have to be 3
40 - 1 50 or 190 volts. For t hese c urrent and vo
ltage c on-
d
itions the s
ize of the resistor is calculated f ro m Ohm 's law:
E _1
90V
" _T 0
.
o4A
.= 4
750 o
h ms

The wa
ttage o
f t
he r
esis
tor is f
ound fro m t
he power f
or mu
la
W =EI =1
90V x 0
.04A = 7
.6 wa
tts
.

The r esistance you wan t according to t

he a bove resu l
ts is ar esistor o f
4750 o hms r ated at 7.6 watts. Such a r
esistor is not available excep t on
special order. The nearest standard va
lue of wire wound r esistance a vail-
able is 5 000 ohms. Th is resistor would a
llow 38 ma . to flow through t he
t
ube, wh ich is suitable for your purposes. A 1 0 wa t
t r esistor c ould b e
u
sed b u
t a2 5 watt resistor would p
robably be best s
ince t he size and c ost
a
re n ot much more a nd the danger of b
urnouts would be r educed.

1-
86
AM U
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

Vol
tage R
egu
lat
ion When L
oad Curren
t Var
ies

Now t hat y
ou have the de
tails of a VR t
ube circuit worked out
, suppose you
f
ind ou t how it opera
tes to k eep the output vo
ltage stable a
t 150 vo
lts in
spi
te o f a change in ou
tput c urrent. In order to do t
his
, the VR tube in-
creases and decreases its res
istance t
o adjus
t to changes in l
oad and s
up-
p
ly voltage.

When n
o load i
s a
ttached t
o the 1
50 vol
toutpu
t, 38 ma. wi
ll fl
ow through t
he
t
ube
. Since the current f
lowing t
hrough t
he tube i
s with
in the r
ated va
lue,
t
he VR tube ad
justs it
s in
ternal res
istance so t
hat t
he vol
tage a
t the p
late
i
s 1
50 vol
ts.

AS
IMPLE VR TUBE
C
IRCUIT WITH NO LOAD

Suppose you attach an 8 ma. load to the 1

50 volt ter minal. Of the 3 8 ma.
f
lowing through the dropping r es
istor, 8 ma. flows t hrough t he l oad and
30 ma. flows through t
he VR t ube
. S ince t
he VR t ube c urrent i
s y e
t w i
thin
t
he r a
ted range o f 5to 4
0 ma ., t
he VR tube adjusts its interna
l r esistance
so t
hat t
he pla
te voltage re mains a
t 150 vo
lts.

+3
40 v
olts

t 3
8 ma
.

1
90V 5
0000

i 8 ma
.
.
0 —.
+
150V

8 ma
. LOAD 3
0 ma
. I 8 ma
.
VOLTAGE OUTPUT
RE MAINS THE SAME

1
-87
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

V
oltage Regu
lat
ion When L
oad Curren
t Var
ies (
con
tinued
)

I
f you now i ncrease t he load on +3
40V
t
he 150 vo l
t t er m inal to 1
8 ma ., 3
8 ma
.
2
0 ma . will fl ow t hrough the VR
t
ube, and the o utput v ol
tage will 5
000
SZ
1
90V
r
ema in at 1 50 v olts. As l ong as 1
8 ma
.
t
he curren t flowing t hrough t he +
150
5
VR tube isw ithin t he range of 5
t
o 40 ma., the t ube i s ab
le to ad- t20
Ima. tm
1
8a.
j
ust it
s in
terna l res istance so as 2
t
o keep the p la te v ol
tage e ssen-
t
ial
ly at 150 v olts.

You may i ncrease t he l

oad o n t
he 150 vol
t output ter minal until t
he current
t
hrough t he load reaches 3 3 ma . At th
is load, only 5 ma. w il
l flow through
t
he VR t ube —this i s t
he min imum c urrent tha t may flow through t he VR
t
ube a nd still keep the output ter mina
l at 150 volts. Any f urther increase
i
n l oad curren t will cause l ess than 5 ma. t
o f l
ow t hrough the tube and i
t
wi
l l "go o u
t" o r cease glowing . F rom this po
in t on the VR t ube wil
l have
no effec
t o n t he output voltage, and the ou
tput v ol
tage w i
ll b e de
ter mined
only by Ohm 's L aw.

For a l
oad of 38 ma. on t
he o
utpu
t t
er mina
l t
he v
oltage d
rop a
cross t
he
d
ropping r
esistor w
illbe
:

E =I
R =.
038 x 5
000 = 1
90 v
olts

S
ubtrac
ting t
he v o
ltage drop a
cross t
he r esistor f
rom the vo
ltage o
f t
he
p
ower supp
ly gives you t
he f
olowing v
oltage at t
he p
late o
f t
he tube
:

3
40 - 1
90 v
olts = 1
50 v
olts

For a l
oad of 40 ma. on t
he o
utpu
t t
er m
ina
l t
he v
oltage d
rop a
cross t
he
dropp
ing r
esistor w
ill b
e:

E =I
R =.
040 x 5
000 =2
00 v
olts

And t
he v
oltage a
t t
he p
late o
f t
he t
ube w
ill b
e:

3
40 v
olts - 2
00 v
olts = 1
40

S
imilar
ly t he f
ol
low ing loads on t
he ou
tpu
t t
er m
ina
l w
ill r
esu
lt i
n t
he f
ol-
l
owing vol
tages at t
he ou
tpu t t
er m
inal
.

Load Current 4
2 ma. 4
4 ma
. 4
6 ma
. 4
8 ma.
Outpu
t Voltage 130V
. 1
20V. 1
10V. 1
00V.

You see, therefore, that as long a s the vol

tage regulator tube conducts i
ts
rated current the v oltage rema ins constant. The voltage re mains essen-
t
ially at 150V i n spite of ac hange i n load of f
ro m 0 t
o 33 ma . Once the
current through the VR t ube beco mes l ess than t
he minimum r equired, t
he
t
ube goes o ut o
f action and Ohm 's law d e
term ines t
he o u
tput voltage. Once
Ohm 's law d e
ter mines t he o u
tpu t voltage, ac hange in load of on
ly 2 ma.
will c
ause a voltage c hange o
f 1 0V at t
he o u
tput t
er minal.

1
-88
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

H11
V
oltage R
egu
lat
ion When P
ower S
upp
ly Vo
ltage V
aries

J
i
l
'I
'
i i '"
I' 1
l
i
t
' I i
i
I
,
„
1
;
.

I
I '
•

1
1
l
u
ll ,
I I
I'I
I

There i
1
1
0
s a nother a spec
I

t of v
I
i
.
l

ol
'
1
0
1
1
1
10
tage r egu
1
,
1

lator c ircuits t ha
;.1
t h
1
11
as no
1
1
t b een
considered s o far —how t he voltage r egu lator c ircuit ma intains a c ons tan t
voltage o utput when t he power s upply v oltage c hanges . The p ower s upp ly
B+ v ol
tage w ill rise when t he l ine voltage r ises , and Itw il
l f al
l when t he
l
i ne voltage f al
ls. I n addi
tion t here u sually a re other circu its connec ted
t
o t he p ower s upply B + output v oltage
, i n addition to the voltage r egula tion
c
ircu it
. When t hese o ther circu its draw more c urren t f
ro m B +
,t he vol tage
drops; a nd when t hese o ther circu its draw l ess c urrent fro m B+ , the v olt-
a
ge r ises . The v oltage r egula tor circu it mus t p ut out ac ons tant vo ltage
output at the plate of the VR t ube i n s
pite o f these c hanges i n B+ v oltage .

Under the operating c ond

itions shown , 3
8 ma. f l
ow through the dropping
r
es is
tor,20 ma .flow through the VR tube,and 18 ma. f
low through t
he l
oad.
I
f the B+ vol
tage were t o rise t
o +360 vol
ts, t
he VR tube would have t
o ad-
j
ust its i
nternal res
istance s o t
hat it
s plate v
oltage r
e mained at 1
50 v
olts.
Let
's see ifthe VR tube is able t
o make this ad
justment.

Under these c ondi

tions the top of t
he d ropp
ing resistor would be a
t +360
v
olts a
nd t he bot
tom wou ld be at +
150 vol
ts. This means t ha
t there will b
e
2
10 volts a cross the resistor and the current f
low through tha
t resistor
wil
l b
e d e
term ined by Ohm 's law as f
ol
lows
E 21
I- - 0 •
-
042 amps =4
2 ma
.
R 5 000
S
ince the load draws 1 8 ma . at 150 volts
, t he re mainder of the current
(
42 ma. -18 ma . =2 4 ma.) mus t f
low t
hrough t he VR t ube
. The VR t ube is
d
esigned to do it
s job o
f r egu
lating ifthe current flow through itre mains
b
etween 5 a nd 40 ma . The VR t ube can adjust for th
is B + v
oltage change
a
nd st
ill mainta
in the vol
tage a t i
ts p
late at 150 volts
.

I
n order for the circuit t
o fa
il i
n its j
ob,the B + v
oltage would have to g
o up
t
o o ver 440 vol
ts. A t th
is point t
here wou ld be 2
90 volts across the d
rop-
p
ing r es
is tor and 5 8 ma. tota
l c urrent through this resistor. The load
current wou ld be 18 ma . and the VR t ube current would be 40 ma. Any
f
urther increase i n B+ vol
tage would cause over 40 ma . t
o flow t
hrough the
VR tube and it would be damaged b y t
he excessive current.
1-
89
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCU
ITS

Vol
tage Regu
lat
ion When P
ower S
upp
ly Vo
ltage Var
ies (
con
tinued
)

Now that you have exa m

ined what happens when there i
s ar
ise in t
he B+
vol
tage suppl
ied to t
he vo
ltage r
egula
tor circu
it, s
uppose you f
ind o
ut what
happens when t
his B+ v
oltage f
als.

I
fthe B+ vol
tage were to f
al to 300 vol
ts ,the VR t ube would have t
o a
djust
i
ts in
ternal resistance so t
hat the plate v oltage re mains a
t 150V. L e
t's
s
ee ifthe t
ube c an make t
his a
djust ment. The v o
ltage across the d
ropping
r
esistor i
s 3 00 volts - 1
50 volts = 150 v o l
ts. The c urrent through the
d
ropping resistor i
s:

E 1
I=—
R - 50 -.
030 amps = 3
0 ma
.
-5
000

The l
oad d raws 18 ma. and t
he re ma
inder o
f the current (
30 ma. -18 ma. =
1
2 ma .
) flows through the VR tube. The VR tube wil
l do it
s j
ob as l
ong as
t
he current flow t
hrough itre mains be
tween 5 and 40 ma. The VR t
ube c
an
ad
just for the d
rop i
n B+ voltage and s
til
l maintain 1
50 vol
ts a
t it
s pla
te.

I
n o rder f or t
he circu it t
o fail in i
ts j
ob the B+ v oltage wou ld have to drop
below 265 . At this p oint there w ill be 1 15 volts a cross t he dropping re-
s
istor a nd 2 3 ma . total curren t through t his resis tor
. The l oad curren t
would be 1 8 ma. and the VR t ube c urrent wou ld be 5 ma . Any f urther drop
i
n B+ v o
l tage wil
l cause l ess t han 5 ma. to flow through t he Vi
t. t
ube,and i t
will s
top functioning. The v o
ltage a t t
he plate will then be deter mined o n
ly
by Ohm 's l aw as a pplied to the B+ voltage a nd t
he r esistance of the drop-
ping resistor.

You have exa mined the principles behind the operation of the voltage regu-
l
ator circuit. You h ave s een that t
he voltage o n t
he VR t ube plate wi
ll re-
main essentially c
ons tan
t a s long as t
he curren t l
im ita
tions of th
is tube are
no
t exceeded . By u s
ing a v oltage regulator circuit of t
his type you can get
a constan
t v oltage o u
tput i n spite o
f fa
irly large c hanges in power s upply
vol
tage and i n spi
te o f sizeab le changes i n current drain fro m the regu-
l
ated source.
1
-90
 VOLTAGE REGULATOR C
IRCUITS

Rev
iew

VOLTAGE REGULAT ION — Vo ltage

regulation is at erm u sed t oe xpress
how we ll ap ower s upp ly ma in tains a
constant voltage o utput in s pi
te o f
changes i n l
ine v o
ltage a nd load c ur-
rent. There a re certain t ypes o f
e
lectron ic c
ircu its that w ill no t op-
e
ra te proper ly ifthe s upp l
ied v oltage
v
aries more t han a few v olts. The
v
oltage s upply to these c ircu its r e-
q
uires t he addition of av oltage r eg-
u
lator circuit wh ich w ill ma inta in an
e
ssen t
ial ly constant v o
ltage r egard-
l
ess of line voltage a nd load c urren t
c
hanges .

VOLTAGE REGULATOR TUBE —

The v ol
tage r egulator ( VR) tube c on-
tains a plate and a cathode w ith n o
f
ila ment —bo th enclosed i n ag lass
envelope c ontain
ing a g as at low
pressure . When a l arge enough v olt-
age is applied across t he tube, ac ur-
rent is conducted through t he t ube.
As long a s t
he curren t flowing t hrough
t
he tube r e mains within the limi ts
l
isted by the manu fac turer, the v oltage
a
t the plate will re main essen tially
c
ons tant.

VR TUBE C IRCU IT - - The s i mp lest

(
and very w idely used) v ol
tage r egulator
c
ircuit consists of av oltage d ropp ing
r
esistor a nd a VR tube p laced i n series
a
cross t he power s upply o utput a nd
g
round . The r egulated v oltage i s taken
f
ro m the plate o
f the VR t ube . The
l
oad curren t and t
he VR t ube c urren t
b
oth flow through the d ropp ing r esistor
,
a
nd the VR t ube curren t changes a long
w
ith the load curren t s
o a s to k eep the
d
ropping r esistor curren t cons tant.

VR TUBE JU MPER — The p urpose o f

t
he j umper in a VR t ube is t o preven t
unregulated voltage fro m r each ing a
special e
lectron ic circuit ift he VR
t
ube i s p
ulled out. Wi thout t he j u mper,
unregulated voltage wou ld r each t he
c
ircu it
, causing i mproper o pera tion
a
nd p ossible da mage. Pu l
ling o ut the
VR tube re moves t he jumper a nd dis-
c
onnects t he vo
l tage fro m the s pecial
c
ircuit.

1
-91
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

Why t
he Need f
or O
ther Types o
f P
ower S
upp
lies

N
early every p
ower s
upp
ly you wi
ll f
ind i
n e
lec
tron
ic equipment wi
ll consis
t
o
f ahal
f- or f
ul
l-wave r
ect
ifier w
ith a c
hoke o
r acondenser i
npu
t fil
ter.

However, there are c ertain other t

ypes of power s uppl
ies that w
ill o
cca -
s
ional
ly b e found i
n s pecial t
ypes of e
lectronic equipmen t
. These s pecial
t
ypes of power s upplies w i
ll be f
ound in e
quipmen t u
pon which are p
laced
s
ize o r weight limi
tat ions, or l
imita
tions as to the t
ype of vol
tage avail -
ab
le fro m t
he power l ine —if apower line i
sa vai
lab le at al
.

S
ize o r weight l
im itations may requ ire tha
t n o t
rans for mers or chokes be
u
sed i n t
he p ower s upply. In certain cases it may b e necessary to el
im i-
n
a te the bulky rect
ifier tube. There w il
l b e cases where AC v o
ltage is no
t
a
va ilable —requiring t he u
se of a1 10 DC l ine
. A t so me time o r another
you may e ven find that 10 DC v oltage is not available and on
ly a low volt-
age DC l i
ne o r low voltage ba
tteries are a vailable.

The purpose of t
h is p
ortion of t
he Power Supply S
ection i
s to s
how y ou how
h
igh voltage DC may b e s
upplied t
o vacuum tubes under t
hese various re-
s
trict
ions . E ven though these power supp
lies are no
t com mon, you should
k
now h ow they w ork because you are s
ure to come across a
t leas
t severa l
o
f them i n t
he near fu
ture. L earn t
hem now a nd s
ave yoursel
f fu
ture
h
eadaches
.

1
-92
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

G
enera
l T
ypes

The special t
ypes o
f power s
uppl
ies y
ou wil
l learn a
bout i
n t
he r
e ma
inder
o
f th
is topic are d
ivided i
n
to t
wo ma
in groups:

1
. Power s
upplies which are in
cluded i
n e
quipmen
t u
pon wh
ich t
here a
re
s
ize a
nd we
igh t l
imitat
ions.

I
n t
h
is g
roup a
re i
n
cluded
:

a
. T
rans
for merless p
ower s
upp
lies

b
. T
rans
for merless a
nd c
hoke
less p
ower s
upp
lies

.
.. S
I
ZE A
ND W
E
IGHT
I
JNIV
,T
O©

TF
tANSFOR MERLESS AND
CHOKE L
ESS POWER SUPPLIES

2
. Power supp
lies wh
ich are d
esigned f
or e
quipment which wi
ll h
ave only
DC vol
tage ava
ilab
le e
ither f
rom a DC li
ne or f
ro m bat
tery s
ources
.

a
. V
ibrator p
ower s
upp
lies

b
. Motor g
enera
tors
, d
yna mo
tors a
nd r
otary c
onverters

.
..ONL
Y D
c V
O
LTAGE
A
V
AILAB
LE
.
.
.

MOTOR — GENERATORS,
DYNAMOTORS, AND
ROTARY CONVERTERS

-V
IBRATOR POWER SUPPL
IES

1
-93
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

Trans
for merless P
ower S
upp
lies

Trans for merless power s upplies a re s ometimes u sed in so me elec tronic

e
qu ipmen t to save t he we ight a nd s pace of the p ower t ransfor mer . In
co m mercial radios, transfor merless p ower supp l
ies a re very often u sed
t
o s ave the c ost of the trans for mer a s well as t o save the s pace a nd
weight. Nearly a ny p ortable r adio t hat you may l ook into will h ave a
t
rans for merless p ower s upp ly, and many " console" model r ad ios a re
made t hat way too. There a re three t ypes of t
rans for merless p ower s up-
p
lies i n general use —the AC-DC h alf-wave r ecti
fier , t
he v o
ltage d oubler
and the dry me tal rectif
ier p ower s upp lies
.

The AC-DC Hal

f- Wave Rec
tif
ier P
ower S
upp
ly
The AC-DC h alf-wave r ectifier power s upply is u sefu
l o nly in circu
its
where t he tubes w illoperate at about 100 vol
ts B+ a nd with tubes that h
ave
h
igh v o
ltage f ila ments. Th is circuit will supply a bout 100 vol
ts B+ a nd
wi
ll o perate either o n AC o r DC. The c ircuit i
tsel
f i s asi mple half-wave
r
ectifier c ircuit u sual
ly f ol
lowed b y ac ondenser input fi
lter —you a re ac-
q
ua in
ted w ith the o peration of bo
th these circui
ts.

Notice that the fi

la ments of t he r ectifier tube a nd the other t
ubes in t
he
c
ircu it are all c
onnected i n series a cross t he power line. As long as a
ll
t
he t ubes h ave t
he s a me f
ila men t curren t require ment a nd a
s l
ong as the
f
ila ment voltages add up t
o a pprox i mately the li
ne voltage , t
he c
ircuit w
ill
operate properly. At ypical 5 -tube p ortable radio would u se a 3
5Z5 recti-
f
ier t ube
; a1 2SA7 first detector , a1 2SK7 I F amp lif
ier , a 12SQ7 second
detector a nd a 50L6 a udio amp li
fier . The f ila ment vol
tages required by
t
hese t ubes a dd up to 121 v o l
ts ( 35 + 1 2 +12 +1 2 +5 0 =1 21) which is
c
lose e nough to the l
ine voltage .

1
-94
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER SUPPLY C
IRCUITS

Transfor mer
less Power S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

The AC-DC Hal

f- Wave R
ect
ifier P
ower S
upp
ly (
con
tinued
)

One s pecia l thing a bou t t

his power s upply i s t
hat itwill operate on either
AC o r DC . I f atrans for mer were i ncluded i n the c
ircu it
, the transfor mer
wou ld b urn o u
t ( or a p rotecting f
use wou ld b low) in the event that it was
connected t o a DC l i
ne . I n t
he AC-DC h alf-wave p ower s upply t
here i s no
t
rans for mer . When t he plate of t
he r ectifier tube is connected to the pos-
i
tive s ide o f a DC l ine a nd when the c athode i s connected t o t
he nega t
ive
s
ide o f t he DC l i ne t hrough t he l
oad , t he circuit wil
l s upply B+ voltage .
The r ectifier p la
te w ill a
lways b ep ositive w ith respect to the cathode, a nd
as teady s trea m o f electrons w il
l b e attracted to the plate — a B+ voltage
w
i th very l itt
le ripp le w ill appear at the c athode.

Notice that for DC l ine o peration t he plate mus t a lways be connected t o

t
he p osit
ive s ide o f the line a nd t he cathode mus t always be c onnected
t
hrough t he load t o the n egative s ide o f the line
. I f t
hese connect ions
should be r eversed a ccidentally ( because o f the u se of anon -polarized
l
ine plug), the p la
te o f the r ecti
fier w ill b e negative and wil
l attract n o
e
lectrons fro m t he cathode. The c ircuit will n
ot work . Whenever a p ower
s
upp ly o
f this type d oes not operate o n a DC l i
ne , one of y
our f
i rst checks
s
hou ld be t
o p ull out t
he line plug a nd turn itso as to reverse the rectifier
t
ube c onnections t o the l i
ne. The u se o f a polarized l i
ne and l ine p
lug
p
reven ts th
is t rouble.

I
f an AC l i
ne i s used , this power s upply wi
ll opera te no mat ter how the
l
ine plug i s connected t o t
he l i
ne. H owever, one side o f the AC l i
ne i s
u
sually g rounded a nd o ne side is "hot." Ifthe rectifier is plugged in so
t
hat t
he c athode i s connected to the "hot" s
ide of t
he l ine through the load,
t
here w i
ll b e more AC h um i n the circui
t attached t o t
he p ower s upply.
Whenever y ou n ot
ice e xcessive hum i n e
quip ment using a p ower supply o f
t
his type, try r evers ing the line plug. T he use o f a p o
lar ized line a nd
l
ine p
lug w ill preven t this t
rouble.

1
-95
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

T
rans
for merless P
ower S
upp
lies (
cont
inued
)

The Vo
ltage Doub
ler P
ower S
upp
ly

Atransformer less type o

f power supply which is sometimes used i
n
e
lectronic equipment is t
he voltage d
oubler. T he d
isadvantage o
f t
he AC-DC
h
alf-wave power s upply i
s tha
t itwill f
urnish only about 1
00 vo
lts B
+ wh ich
p
laces great restr
ictions upon the t
ype o
f circuits which may use t
h
is p ower
s
upply. V oltage doublers do away wi
th th
is p roblem by supply
ing approxi-
mately 300 vo
lts B+ when connected to a1 0-volt AC li
ne.

r -I
v
T
HE VOLTAGE t I
A.0•
NPUTc
IN v
• 1
1/ + DC
.

— 15V. 1
- OUTPUT
DOUBLER
(
160V. Peak
)

DC O
UTPUT
T
WICE
P
EAK AC
I
N
PUT - -r
-
1
60V - D c.
A.
0. OUTPUT

e
__
▪ I
NPUT
im .
4
,_ (
APPROX)
T \ )
(
160V.. P
15V eak
) 3
20V
.
16
0
V
i
‘1
1 4
11M MN IM 4
1
1MI +

The o perat ion of av oltage d oub ler c ircu i

t i sv ery s i mp
le a nd is s
hown i n
t
he il
lus trat ion. T h
is c ircu i
t u ses a r ect if
ier c ontaining t wo plates and
t
wo c athodes —g iving y ou t wo h alf-wave r ectifier c ircuits
. E ach o f the
t
wo hal f-wave r ect
ifiers o perates o ff t
he s a me AC i nput. When t he right-
h
and AC i nput ter mina l is positive , the u pper r ectifier in t
he diagram c on-
d
ucts e lectron c urren t a nd t he u pper c ondenser c harges u p t
o peak l i
ne
v
oltage . When t he le
f t-hand AC i npu t t
er m inali s positive, the lower r ecti-
f
ier in t he d iagra m c onducts e lectron c urren t and t he lower c ondenser
c
harges u p to peak line v oltage . E ach c ondenser i s n ow charged a nd b oth
a
re i n s eries w ith respect t o the DC output t er mina ls. The s um of these
t
wo p eak v oltages is n ow a va ilab le as a DC o utput wh ich is equal to twice
t
he peak v oltage of the AC i npu t
.

I
n c
ircu its o
f this type t he h
eaters o f the rectifier tube a nd t
he o
ther tubes
i
n t
he circu i
t a re all connected i n series in the s ame way a s w
ith the AC
DC hall-wave r ectifier. T he voltage d oubler w ill operate only when con-
n
ected t o an AC l ine since the d oub ling e f
fect i s d ue to t
he r
eversal in
l
ine voltage. The v oltage doub ler c ircuit s ometi mes h as a t
ransfor mer
b
etween t he l i
ne a nd the AC i nput t er minals o f t
he d oubler c
ircuit. The
t
ransfor mer i s u sed e i
ther to i solate the c ircu i
t f ro m the g
round of the
AC line o r to put ah igher AC v oltage i nto the circu i
t so as t
o get avery
h
igh voltage DC o utput.

1-
96
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

T
rans
for merless P
ower S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

Dry Meta
l R
ect
ifier P
ower S
upp
lies

Earl
ier y ou learned h ow dry me ta
l r ect
ifier circuits worked. D ry meta l
r
ectifiers al
low y ou to eliminate the transfor mer in an e
lectronic power
s
upply . D ry me tal rect
ifiers have the a dvantage of b
eing rugged, long-lived,
small in s
ize a nd capable of l
arge c urren t o
utput. T hey are qu
ite a dap
tab le
t
o being hooked u p in ha
lf-wave , ful
l-wave a nd v ol
tage doubler circuits
.
They also can b e hooked up t
o give either a p os
itive or nega
tive voltage
o
utpu
t.

Dry me tal rectifiers a re u

sed t o so me extent in radar, sonar a nd com-
munications e quipmen t. In addi
tion they a re also used as the rectifier i
n
AC v ol
t meters. A f ew c o mmon c ircuits t
hat contain dry me tal r
ec tif
iers
are shown below. S ince you are already acquainted with both the dry me ta
l
rect
ifier and the circuits t
he mselves,y ou s
hould b e ab
le to unders tand how
t
hese circuits work w ithout f
urther explanation.

When power is first applied

, ah igh current w
ill f
low to charge t
he input
c
ondenser. You w ill notice tha
t ar esistor (R
) is inserted i
n series wi
th
e
ach half-wave rect
ifier element. This resis
tor is p
ut in as acurrent l
im-
i
ting d
evice t
o prevent too much current from f
lowing through the r
ect
ifier.

BR
IDGE TYPE HALF-WAVE DRY METAL RECT
IFIER C
IRCU
IT
RECTIF
IER
-
1
-
• 0B
+

,
v
6
i
7
b T
+ o B-

VOLTAGE DOUBLER C
IRCU
IT BRIDGE RECT
IFIER

1
-97
 OTHER TYPES OF PO WER SUPPLY C
IRCUITS

T
ransfor mer
less a
nd Chokeless Power S
upp
lies

E
lim inating the choke as well as t
he transfor mer f ro m the power s upply
r
esults in the savings of weigh
t, space a nd cost. The c hoke may b e el
im i-
n
ated fro m the fi
lter c
ircu i
t by replacing itw i
th a r esistor. The r esult is
aresistance-capac itor (RC) fi
lter as shown i n the il
lustration. RC f i
lters
a
re e cono mical and work very well whenever t he load c urrent drawn f ro m
t
he f
ilter circuit is small. RC fil
ters a re used e x
tens ively in osc
illo-
s
copes , vacuum t ube vol
t meters and other equipmen t that require very
l
i
ttle E+ c urrent drain
.

PARTS USED:

The a dvantage o f the RC fi

lter is its savings in weigh t
, s pace and cos
t.
The disadvan tage is tha
t the fi
ltering a ct
ion i s e
ffective only wi
th sma ll B 4-
curren t d
ra in. A s you recal
l, ac hoke p resents a high i mpedance to t
he AC
r
ipp le co ming o ut of t
he rect
ifier a nd the condenser p resen ts a l
ow imped-
a
nce . As a r esu
l t
, mos t of t
he ripp le will appear across t he c
hoke and
v
ery l it
tle w i
l l appear across the c ondenser a nd the load. T he DC v o
ltage ,
h
owever , is n ot presented with any i mpedance b y the c hoke o
ther than the
r
es istance o f the winding which is v ery low.

The RC f i
lter offers the sa me resistance to both the AC r ipple and the DC
current. As a r esu
lt there is ad rop in DC v o
ltage c aused b y the DC c ur-
rent fl
ow t hrough the f i
lter resistor. I fthe value of t
he r esistor is made
l
ow t o decrease t he DC v o
ltage d rop, ripple v o
ltage w ill get through t he
f
ilter. Ifthe value o
f the resistance is increased t o s
top the AC r ipple
, t he
d
rop i n DC v o
ltage w il
l b e too great. The o nly way to make t h
is type o f
f
ilter operate eff
iciently is t
o use a large v a
lue of resistance t o draw v ery
l
ittle DC curren t f
ro m B+. Very l it
tle DC c urren t f
lowing t hrough the h igh
value of resistance means t hat there will be av ery sma ll DC v oltage drop
a
cross t he resistor and the fi
lter will operate eff
iciently.

1
-98
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

P
ower S
upp
lies f
or DC V
oltage S
ources

Now that y
ou know so mething about p
ower s uppl
ies that are s pecially de-
s
igned to save weight a nd space (and c ost in co m mercial a ppl
ica t
ions),
y
ou are ready to f
ind o
ut so mething abou
tp ower s upplies thatare d esigned
t
o operate e
lectronic equipmen t when only DC voltage is available.

I
n order t o operate electron ic equipmen t proper ly, afairly h
igh DC v oltage
i
s required f or the various v acuum t ubes in the equipmen t
. When a n AC
l
ine isa vailable, itis as i mple mat ter to step up the available AC v oltage
by means o f atrans former a nd rectify the result
ing h igh voltage AC i nto
h
igh v o
ltage DC . Y ou have s een that when s pace a nd weight restrictions
are importan t
, p ower s upplies may e lim inate the transfor mer a nd put out
a DC v oltage of a pproximately 1 00 v olts B+. Y ou h ave also s een l ow-
v
oltage d oubler c ircuits can g ive you a B+ v oltage twice the peak v a
lue o f
t
he AC l ine without the use of at ransformer .

You are now r eady t o f

ind out how high voltage DC c an be supplied to elec-
t
ronic circu i
ts when t he only source of voltage i s DC at 10 v o
lts or l ower
v
oltage s ources s uch as b at
teries. T he g eneral s olut
ion to this p roble m
i
s to c hange t he DC t o AC , which c an then b e s tepped up inv oltage a nd
t
hen r ecti
fied i nto high voltage DC . T h
is i sd one b y means of vibra tors,
motor g enerators , dyna motors a nd r o
tary c onverters. When DC v oltage
a
t approx ima tely 10 v ol
ts i s available a nd if a B+ voltage output of 100
v
olts is satisfactory, the AC-DC h al
f-wave r ectif
ier p ower s upply already
d
escribed may b e used
.
/

1
-99
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

V
ibra
tors

The v
ibrator t
ype p
ower supply changes l
ow v
oltage DC f
ro m b
atter
ies o
r
a DC l
ine i
nto h
igh v
oltage DC b
y means of t
hree opera
tions
:

1
. T
he l
ow v
oltage DC i
s c
hanged i
n
to AC o
f t
he s
a me v
oltage
.

2
. The low v
oltage AC i
s p
ut i
nto a t
rans
for mer a
nd c
o mes o
ut a
s h
igh
v
oltage AC
.

3
. The h
igh v
oltage AC i
s r
ect
ified a
nd f
i
ltered i
n
to h
igh v
oltage DC
.

The v
ibrator is the means b y wh
ich the first operation is a
cco mpl
ished.
Operat
ion 2 is acco mpl
ished by means o f atransfor mer. Opera t
ion 3 is
done by means of either the v
ibrator or one of the c onvent
ional vacuu m
t
ube rect
ifier a
nd fil
ter circu
its w
ith which you are already fami
liar.

The construction o f a si mple vibrator is shown b elow

. Ah eavy strip o
f
metal serves a s af ra me to hold a smal l e
lectro magnet , as pring metal
"
reed" a nd two electrical contacts in p
lace. As o ft-iron tip i
s moun ted on
t
he free e nd of the r eed, near the e
lectro magnet. The e lectro magnet is
mounted slight
ly o f
f-cen ter so that i
tc an move the r eed whenever c urrent
f
lows in the co
il o f the electro magnet. Th is v
ibrator mechan is m is in-
ser
ted in a metal c over which iso f
ten lined w
ith a v ibrat
ion a bsorbing ma-
t
erial such as soft rubber.

W
hat g
o
es o
n i
n
s
ide t
h
e V
I
BRAT
OR!

RUBBER
L
INING

1
-100
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

V
ibra
tors (
con
tinued
)

The vibrator y ou saw o n t

he last sheet is connected t o the pri mary wind-
i
ng o f a t
rans for mer a s shown i n the illustrations o n this s heet
. For
t
he mo men t ignore t he transfor mer s econdary c ircuit a nd just c
onsider
what takes place i n the pri mary circu i
t. B efore t he DC s ource —here
shown a s a battery —is c onnected into t he circuit, the reed r e ma
ins b e-
tween the two c ontacts. When t he battery is put into the circuit, t
he fol-
l
ow ing t
hings h appen:

1
. A small DC c
urren
t f
lows f
ro m t
he ba
ttery t
hrough the e
lec
tro magnet,
t
hrough the l
ower ha
lf of the trans
for mer pri mary and b
ack i n
to
t
he ba
ttery.

2
. The e
lectro magne
t builds u
p a magne
tic f
ield a
nd a
ttracts t
he r
eed
t
owards the l
ower con
tact.

3
. The r
eed strikes t
he l
ower contact a
nd al arge DC e
lectron c
urren t f
lows
f
ro m the battery t
hrough t
he reed, through the l
ower contact
, through
t
he l
ower h alf o
f t
he t
ransfor mer pri mary and b
ack into t
he bat
tery.

V
IBRATING1 VIBRATING
REED REED

1=
1,

ELECTRON CURRENT THROUGH TRANSFORMER PR

I MARY

When the v
ibrator reed hits t
he lower con tact
, i
tp uts a d
irect short across
t
he electro magne
t c o
il. This c auses t
he magnet ic fie
ld to co
llapse. S ince
t
he electro magnet can no longer h old the reed against t
he lower contact,
t
he reed springs back past t
he center position and str
ikes the upper con-
t
act
. When t he r
eed strikes the upper contact, t
he fol
lowing things happen.

4
. Alarge DC e lectron current flows f
ro m t
he b
attery t
hrough t
he reed,
t
hrough the upper c on
tact, through t
he upper hal
f o
f t
he trans
for mer
p
ri mary and back i
nto the b
attery.

5
. S
ince t
he electro magnet i
s no l
onger shorted o
ut b
y t
he r
eed, i
tb u
ilds
u
p a magne
t field and p
ulls t
he reed b
ack towards t
he l
ower c
ontact.

The e
ntire c
ycle i
s repeated again a
nd a
gain
. V
ibra
tions t
ake p
lace a
t a
p-
p
roxi mate
ly 100 t
imes per second.

1
-101
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

V
ibrators (
con
tinued
)

The net r esult is a n AC c urren t that flows t hrough t he p ri mary of the

t
ransfor mer ,fi rs
t in one direc
tion a nd then in the oppos ite direction. This
reversal of c urrent, induces h igh v ol
tage i n the trans for mer s econdary.
This high v ol
tage i s r ect
ified b y av acuum t ube rectifier c ircuitand be-
co mes high v oltage DC . The f act that this high v ol
tage DC h as s quare
t
opped p eaks i ns
tead o f the usual s ine wave s hape d oes no t matter —the
f
ilter c
ircu i
t c ircui
t changes i ti n
to a smoo th B+ voltage .

The t
ype o
f v
ibra
tor u
sed i
n t
his c
ircu
it i
s k
nown a
s a"
non-synchronous"
v
ibrator
.

BUFFER
CONDENSER
RAD
IO INTERFERENCE
EL
I MINATOR RAD
IO INTERFERENCE
EL
IMINATOR

0V
.
- --- 1•
1
1. AM
P'
0V
.

.
1
1 1
1
• 4
1•• =
16

VOLTAGE ACROSS VOLTAGE ACROSS VOLTAGE

TRANSFORMER PRI MARY TRANSFOR MER FRO M B
+
SECONDARY TO GROUND

Because o f t he very s harp voltage surges o ccurring i n the vibrator p ower

supply circu it, various d iff
iculties a re experienced w ith this type of cir-
cui
t. One a nnoying t rouble is sparking a t the v ibrator c ontacts d ue to the
very high v o
ltage induced i n the secondary a t the instant the r eed s eparates
f
ro m t he c ontacts. T his sparking s hortens t he l i
fe of the vibra tor, but it
may b e elim inated to al arge e x
ten t by i
nsert ing a b uf
fer c ondenser a cross
t
he s econdary t o s hort out the sharp v ol
tage p ulses. Th is c ondenser h as
afairly c ritical value , usually in t
he r ange o f fro m 0.0005 t o 0.05 micro-
f
arads . The b uf
fer c ondenser r educes s park ing s o t hat the l i
fe o f the
v
ibra tor c ontacts will not be shortened ; h owever , any r e maining s parking
may c ause r adio interference . Th is r adio i nterference i s elim inated b y
t
he a ddit
ion o f RF c hokes a nd condensers i n the transfor mer p ri mary c en-
t
er tap a nd in the rectifier output.

1
-102
 OTHER TYPES OF PO WER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

V
ibra
tors (
con
tinued
)

Another t ype o f vibrator circu i

t i s one that makes u se of the v
ibrating
reed t o rect
ify t he high v o
ltage AC f ro m the trans for mer secondary into
p
u lsating DC w ithout the use of as eparate recti
f ier. Th is c
ircu i
t is known
a
s t he "synchronous" v ibrator c ircui
t. The p ort
ion o f t
he circuit in t
he
t
rans for mer p ri mary works e xactly the sa me a s in t
he non -synchronous
v
ibra tor circui t
. The t ransfor mer secondary i s connected b ack to the v
i-.
b
rator r eed b y meanso f ane xtra pair o
f contacts a s shown in the diagra m
.

T
H
E S
y
nch
ron
ous V
i
bra
tor

B-

I Y I_
4 1
I 1

, B
_
• I (i
).
_
)

1 = M
I.

B+ OUTPUT FOR COND

ITIONS X AND Y

The two vibrating reeds shown c onnec ted together by the dotted li
ne i n t
he
d
iagra m a re actual
ly o ne reed placed b etween t wo pairs of contacts. The
act
ion o f t
he r eed between t he transfor mer s econdary c ontacts produces
t
he s a me results as afull-wave r ectifier. RF c hokes and b u
ffer c onden-
s
ers a re u sed in t
his vibrator c ircuit in the sa me manner a s in the non-
synchronous vibrator to e
lim inate contact s parking and radio interference.

1
-103
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

Mo
tor G
enera
tors
, Dynamo
tors a
nd Ro
tary Conver
ters

Motor genera tors, dyna motors a nd r o

tary c onverters a re so metimes u sed
t
o o pera
te AC e lectron ic e qu
ipmen t when o nly a DC s ource o f vol tage is
avai
lable. A mo tor g enera tor cons ists of a motor a nd a g
enera tor mechan-
i
cally connec ted together. F or the a pplication b e
ing c onsidered a DC mo-
t
or wou ld b e used t o drive a n AC g enera tor wh ich wou ld be d esigned t o
g
ive a 60-cyc le output at line voltage. Equ ipmen t d esigned t
oo pera te from
60-cycle AC a t line v oltage c ould t hen b e o perated from a DC s ource b y
means o f this type o f motor g enera tor. Th is type o f mo tor g enera tor
c
ould be u sed a s an emergency u n
i t by having t he equipmen t o pera te off
t
he AC l ine under n or mal cond it
ions , and t he e quipmen t c
ou ld o perate
f
ro m a ba
ttery s ource b y means o f the mo tor g enerator i n t
he e ven t of an
AC l
i
ne f
ailure
.

D
C 1 M
OTOR 0 G
E
NER
ATO
R I* A
C

A dynamotor i s ar otating DC mach ine that operates from a l ow vol

tage
DC source a nd puts out o ne or several high v ol
tage DC o u
tpu ts. It is
b
asically a DC mo tor a nd a DC g enerator b ui
lt onto o ne ar ma ture and
h
aving two or more w indings and two o r more co m mutators. D ynamotors
a
re u sually operated from 6 -, 12-
, 2 4- or 32-volt s
torage b atteries and
d
eliver fro m 250 t
o over a thousand volts DC at various c urrent r a
tings.

D
YNAMO
TOR P
R
INC
IPL
E

1
-104
 OTHER TYPES OF PO WER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

Mo
tor Generators
, Dyna motors a
nd Ro
tary Converters (
con
tinued
)

Rotary c onverters a re co m monly u sed t

o change AC t o DC, but t
hey may
be used t o operate off storage b at
teries and give an output o
f 60 cycles
AC at line voltage
. When u sed to operate f
ro m DC s ources and give AC
outputs
, they a re known as inverters. The c onstruction of arotary con -
verter is si milar to a DC g enerator e xcept t
hat two slip r
ings are used
which are connected t o c
o m mutator seg ments 1
80 d egrees apart.

When the peak AC v o

ltage output des ired i
s n o h
igher t han the average DC
v
oltage input,one w inding may b e used o n t
he ar ma ture
. I f ag reater v
olt-
a
ge is d esired, two w ind
ings a re u sed on t
he s a me ar mature. The u se of
o
ne a r mature and o ne field for b oth the AC a nd DC s ec
tions r esu
lts in
i
nstabil
ity of operation. I n o
rder t o increase stability the AC a nd DC s
ec-
t
ions are o f
ten wound o n two a r matures u sing s eparate fields. The two
a
r matures a re coup led together a nd t he whole u nit funct
ions a s a mo
tor
a
nd a genera tor bui
lt into one uni
t.

1
-105
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCU
ITS

R
eview o
f Trans
former
less P
ower S
upp
lies

AC-DC HALF- WAVE RECT IFIER

POWER S UPPLY — Th is circuit w ill
supply about 100 v ol
ts B + and will o p-
erate f
rom e ither i n AC o r DC p ower
l
ine. The c ircuit i s a s imp le h alf-
wave rectif
ier circu it usually f
ollowed
by ac ondenser i nput fi
lter. The f ila-
men ts o
f t he rec tifier tube a nd t he
o
ther tubes i n the circuit are al
l c on- F
ILA MENTS OF OTHE R
nected i
n series a cross the power l ine. TUBES I
N EQUIP MENT

VOLTAGE DOUBLER POWER S UPPLY

-
- Th is circu it will s upply u p to 3 20
v
olts B+ f ro m a 17-vo lt AC p ower line
w
ithou t the u se o
f at ransfor mer. The — — I
— I

c
ircu it c
ons ists o
f t wo half-wave r ecti- AC _ D C

e-
I
N PUT + --•—
• OUTPUT
f
iers a nd two capaci tors. The c apaci-
,
I
6
0
V" -s ,"
0
,
v
(
A PPROX)

t
ors a re c onnected i n series and each 5 Peak
) -
_ _I M II + —'— 1
i
s c harged u p t
o p eak l i
ne v o
ltage re-
sul
ting i n the voltage d oubling effect.
The f i
lamen ts o
f the r ectif
ier tube a nd
t
he o ther t ubes in t he circu i
t a re all
connected i n series a cross t he p ow-
er li
ne.

BR
IDGE TYPE HALF
-WAVE DRY METAL RECT
IFIER C
IRCU
IT
RECTIFIER

•
1
.
DRY METAL RECTIFIER POWER MY

T0
,
I
L

SUPPLY — Dry meta l rectifiers may

b
e used i ns
tead of vacuum t ube rect
i-
f
iers
. Dry metal r ec t
ifiers a re rug-
g
ed, long-lived, smal
l i n size and capa- VOLTAGE DOUBLER C
IRCU
IT BR
IDGE RECT
IFIER

b
le of l arge current o utput. They c an
be hooked u p i
n hal
f-wave , f ul-wave
and vol
tage d oub
ler c ircuits.

1
-106
 OTHER TYPES OF PO WER SUPPLY C
IRCUITS

Rev
iew o
f Transfor mer
less a
nd Choke
less P
ower S
upp
lies

CHOKE LESS PO WER SUPPLIES — Any

of the transfor mer less r ectifier c ir-
cuits lis
ted o n t he previous s heet may
u-
- -.-
4Mv
fm-.
-
-A wmA
.-•- 0 B
+
be used w i
th s tandard c hoke a nd capac i-

::
t
or f i
lter c ircu its. However , a n addi-
t
iona l savings may b e made i n space ,
weight a nd c ost i f the f
ilter c hoke i s 7
_
L
replaced w ith a r esistor. Th is type o f
RC f i
lter i s effective only when a v ery
small B+ c urren t drain i
s r equired a nd
afairly large r esistor can b e used.

Rev
iew o
f Power S
upp
lies f
or DC Vo
ltage S
ources

VIBRATORS — A v ibrator i s a me-

chan ical d evice wh ich changes DC i n
to
AC. A s i mp le vibra tor is essentially a
s
ing le p ole d oub le throw s witch with a
v
ibra t
ing s witch a rm . When t he vibra-
t
or i s connec ted t o at ransfor mer w ith
ac en ter t apped p r
i mary a s shown , the
act
ion o f t he v ibrating s wi
tch a rm
causes c urren t to f low first i
n one di-
r
ect ion a nd t hen i n the other direction
t
hrough t he transfor mer p ri mary. The
t
ransfor mer p uts o ut a n alternating
h
igh v ol
tage wh ich c an be rectified and
f
i
ltered i nto a high v oltage DC .

SYNCHRONOUS V IBRATORS — The

non-synchronous v ibra tor c hanges DC
i
nto h igh voltage AC wh ich mus t then
be rectified by means o f av acuu m t ube
recti
fier . A synchronous v ibra tor d oes
away w ith t
he n eed f or a s epara te r ec-
t
ifier- The p ortion o f t he v ibrator i n
t
he trans for mer p rimary works e xac t
ly
as in t he n on-synchronous v ibra tor
c
ircu it
. The t ransfor mer s econdary
i
s c onnected b ack to the v ibra tor r eed
b
y means o f a n e x
tra p air o f contacts
a
s s hown . The a ction o f t he vibra ting
r
eed b etween t he transfor mer s econd-
a
ry c ontacts p roduces r esu lts the sa me
a
s i
f a f ull-wave r
ecti fier were
p
laced t here.

1
-107
 OTHER TYPES OF POWER S
UPPLY C
IRCUITS

R
eview o
f P
ower S
upp
lies f
or DC Vo
ltage S
ources (
con
tinued
)

MOTOR GENERATOR — A mo tor a nd

ag enerator mechan ically c oupled to-
g
ether. Equ ipmen t designed to opera te
f
rom a n AC p ower source may b e made
t
o o perate from the DC l i
ne i f a mo
tor
generator is used. The DC mo tor i s
connected to the DC l ine, a nd the DC
motor s pins the ro
tor o f t he AC g en-
erator which puts ou
t 1 17 volts AC.

DYNAMOTOR — A r o
ta t
ing DC ma-
ch
ine t hat operates from a low voltage
DC s ource a nd puts o u
t o ne o
r more
h
igh DC v o
ltages. Ad ynamotor is basi-
cally a DC mo tor a nd a DC generator
built onto one ar ma
ture a nd h
aving two
o
r more c
ommu
tators
.

ROTARY CONVERTER — Ro tary c on- SL

IP R
INGS ROTOR W
IND
ING
v
erters a re c om monly u sed t
o c hange
AC to DC, b ut t
hey may b e used to o p-
e
ra te fro m storage bat
teries tog ive a n DC
OUTPUT
output o f 117 volts AC a nd a re then
known a s inverters. The c onstruct ion
of ar o tary c onverter is similar t o a
BRUSH AC I
NPUT
DC g enera tor except tha
t t wo s
lip r ings F
IELD WIND
ING

a
re u sed wh ich are c
onnec ted to co m-
mutator s egmen ts 180 degrees a part.

1
-108
 CHARACTER
ISTICS OF D
IODE VACUU M TUBES

The J
obs o
f a Vacuum Tube

Up to t
his time you h
ave b een working wi
th v acuum tubes u sed a
s r ectifiers
i
n p ower s upply c
ircuits. Your k nowledge o f diode tubes has b een s u
f-
f
icient for an understanding of power s upplies. However , f
ro m n ow o n
you are going to do ag reat d
eal o
f work w i
th v acuum t ubes in many t ypes
o
f circuits
, a nd n
ow is the t
ime to begin f
inding o u
t about vacuum t ubes.

The sub
ject o
f v
acuum tubes i
s r
eal
ly a si mp
le one b
ecause —and y
ou w
ill
be g
lad t
o k
now t
his —vacuum t
ubes do o
nly two t
ypes of j
obs
.

Avacuum tube c
an change an AC v
oltage i
nto a p
ulsa
ting
DC v
oltage
. This is c
alled RECTIFICATION . T h
is j
ob i
s
a
cco mpl
ished b
y the d
iode.

M E
I

•0 AC i
npu
t P
ulsa
ting DC

R
E
CTIF
ICA
TION
Av acuum tube can c
hange a smal
l AC voltage i
nto al
arge
AC voltage
. Th is i
s ca
lled AMPL IFICATION . This j
ob i
s
done by t
he t
riode, t
he te
trode o
r the p
entode.

0V 0V
.

NoL
o
wA
,i
n
p
u
t H
igh
AC o
utpu
t

A
MPL
IFICAT
ION
You have been concerned with t
he vacuum t
ubes that t
ake c
are of r
ect
ifi-
ca
tion. La
ter,in the ampl
ifier sect
ion,you w
ill l
earn abou
t the o
ther t
ypes
o
f vacuum tubes
.

1
-109
 CHARACTERISTICS OF D
IODE VACUU M TUBES

F
actors C
o m mon t
o A
ll Vacuu m Tubes

The diode i
s one o
f the f
our basic types of vacuu m t
ubes. T here are many
t
hings which are co m mon to a
ll vacuu m tubes and you won
't have to learn
a
ll about these co m mon c
haracteristics e ach t
ime y ou s
tudy another type
o
f tube. You w i
ll l
earn about these things in y
our study of t
he diode.

As p revious ly stated, al
l v acuu m tubes n eed a source of free electrons
and y ou w il
l find that each t ype of t
ube obtains the m in t
he s a me way a s
t
he d iode —by t her mionic em ission. F urther more , the ca
thode a nd fila-
men t structure d oes no
td if
fer v ery much fro m o ne t
ype of t
ube t o the n ext
.
You w ill study the ef
fects of the fi
la ment on cathode emission o nly d uring
your d iode e xperi ment —re me mber , i
t
's the s a me f
or the other tubes y ou
wil
l study .

The di
fferences between t
he d
iode a
nd the o
ther v
acuu m t
ubes l
ead to their
d
ifferent u
ses . The d
iode i
s u
sed t
o change an AC vo
ltage i
nto a p
ulsating
DC v o
ltage; the o
ther t
ubes a
re used t
o change a smal
l AC vol
tage into a
l
arge AC v ol
tage

1
-110
 CHARACTER
IST
ICS OF D
IODE VACUUM TUBES

R
eview o
f D
iode Charac
ter
ist
ics

D
iodes are u sed as rectif
iers in power suppl
ies, a
nd as detectors
, noise
l
imiters and au
to matic v
olume c on
trol t
ubes in r
adio r
eceivers. Wha tever
t
heir app
lication is, h
owever , d
iodes are used b
ecause t
hey allow current
t
o fl
ow in on
ly o ne d
irect
ion .

Fro m t
he t ime t
he plate beco mes jus
t s ligh
tly positive with respect t o t
he
c
athode u n
til the time saturation is r eached, the c urrent in the diode is
p
roportional to t
he pla
te voltage. B etween t hese limits,then,the t ube acts
t
he same a s an o
rdinary resistor. O f course , when the plate voltage rises
a
bove the saturat
ion point,the current d oes not respond to vol
tage c hanges
a
nd therefore, i
n th
is region,the tube loses its rese mblance tot he resistor.

C
URRENT F
L
OW

When t
he pla
te beco mes the leas
t b i
t negat
ive with respect t
o t
he cathode,
no e
lec
trons wil
l fl
ow f rom the cathode to the p
late
. The t ube a
cts as ifi
t
were a r
esis
tor in ser
ies w i
th a s witch a
nd the switch were o
pened up.

N
O F
L
OW
 CHARACTER
ISTICS OF D
IODE VACUU M TUBES

H
ow Curren
t I
s Con
tro
lled i
n aD
iode

A s
i mple way to show how a d iode w
ill respond t
o changes o
f vol
tage is
w
ith a graph . A graph p
icturing how a typ
ical d
iode's curren
t i
s affected
b
y its p
late-to-ca
thode v
oltage (at t
wo di
fferent v
alues of f
ilamen
t v o
ltage)
i
s shown below.

4 0 _

F
ilamen
t v
oltage -2 v
olts
.

1
0 1
5 2
0
P
LATE V
OLTAGE

F
rom a q
uick l
ook a
t t
he g
raph y
ou c
an t
e
ll t
hat
:

1
. A
t nor ma
l fi
lament vol
tage (6
.3 vo
lts)
, the p
late current i
ncreases
s
teadily as t
he p
late v
oltage i
s i
ncreased f
ro m zero to 2
0 vol
ts.

2
. A
t t
he lower value o f f
ilamen t v
oltage (
si mulat
ing t he e
f
fec t o
f a n o
ld
t
ube
), t
he plate curren t increases as the plate voltage is raised, t
o
a
bout 8v o
lts
, a nd a ny further i
ncrease of p
late v o
ltage does n o
t bring
a
bout i
ncreased p late current. This shows u s t
hat at 8volts the plate
i
s draw
ing al
l the electrons the ca
thode can em it.

This u
ndesirab le restriction on t
he plate c
urren t which is due t
o limited
ca
thode emission i s called "saturation
." E ven in af a
irly new tube work -
i
ng at rated f
ila ment voltage (
6.3 volts
), sa
tura t
ion wou ld occur, but a
t a
h
igher v alue of p
late v ol
tage. Th is would appear on the curve of 6
.3 fi
la-
ment v
ol ts i
fhigher v alues of p
late vol
tage h ad been used
.

1-
112
 PO WER SUPPL
IES

R
eview o
f Power S
upp
lies

Be
fore you leave t
he s
tudy o
f power supplies and go o
n t
o l
earn abou
t am-
p
li
fiers
, s uppose you r
eview some of t
he i mportan
t th
ings y
ou've f
ound o
ut
a
bout power suppl
ies and t
heir c
o mponents.

RECTIF ICATION — A d iode v

acuum 4
.
t
ube a llows e
lectron c urrent t
o f
low 0r or
i
n o n
ly o ne d
irection —fro m t
he cath- -
ode to the p
late
. Th is effect p
erm its •Omm
isa. Im mo N
O
AC v oltage t
o be "rectif
ied" in
to a
pulsating DC voltage. 0
/1
SATURATION — P late curren t in-
creases regu larly a s plate vo l
tage i s
I
ncreased . When a l o
f the e lectrons
t
hat can be em it
ted b y the c a
thode a re
a
ttracted to t he plate, af urther i n-
crease in plate v ol
tage c anno t attract
any more e lectrons t han a re flowing
a
lready. When a n increase o f plate
vol
tage fails t o cause a rise i n plate
current
, the t ube is s a
id t o be
"saturated
."

SATURATION AND F ILAMENT

YOLTAGE — I ncreasing the fi
la men t
voltage increases t he f
ilamen t te m-
pera ture —resu lt
ing in ah otter cath-
ode. The more h eat t
he c athode g e
ts,
t
he more e lectrons will be em itted
f
ro m i ts s
urface . When t he c a
thode 5 1
0 1
5 2
0
em its more e lectrons, the saturation P
LATE V
OLTAGE
point will no
t o ccur unt
il the plate
voltage reaches a much h igher v alue.

AC DC
HALF- WAVE RECT IFICAT ION —
Changing the positive cyc
les of a
n HALF- WAVE
AC voltage to pulsating DC by a
l- RECTIF
IER
l
owing c urrent to fl
ow through a CIRCU
IT
O
utpu
t
c
ircuit in one d
irec tion on
ly.
I
npu
t

AC DC

FULL- WAVE RECT IFICATION — FULL- WAVE

Chang
ing bo
th c
ycles o
f AC t
o p
ul- RECTIF IER O M M
s
ating DC
. C
IRCUIT
O
utpu
t
I
npu
t

1
-113
 PO WER SUPPL
IES

R
eview o
f Power S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

AC
DRY METAL HALF- WAVE REC-
T
IFIER — A c ircuit which pro-
d
uces h a
lf-wave r ecti
ficat
ion b y
u
sing a device consisting o
f two
meta
llic plates which conduct cur-
r
ent flow in on
ly one direction
. I
npu
t

P
late

RECTIFIER TUBE — A v acuum

\A i )
t
ube d
iode consisting o
f plate a
nd
c
athode wh
ich a l
low electron fl
ow
o
n
a
c
ly f
rom c
ts as ar
a
thode t
ecti
fier.
o p
late and t
hus
N Cathode

AC
VACUUM-TUBE RECT IFIER CIR-
CUIT — A diode vacuum tube con-
n
ected i
n series w
ith an AC vo
lt-
a
ge source t
o change AC to DC.
I
npu
t

TRANSFOR MER TYPE HALF-

WAVE RECT IFIER — A c ircui
t
which u ses a t
ransfor mer to s
upply
h
igh-vo ltage AC to av acuu m t
ube
recti
fier , which t
hen rectif
ies itto
pulsating high-vo
ltage DC .

]
I
E---
-t
FULL- WAVE RECT IFIER CIRCU IT
— Ac ircuit which uses a t
rans-
f
or mer and a f
ull-wave rectifier
d
iode to produce fu
ll-wave r ecti
fied
p
ulsating DC fro m an AC input.

1
-114
 PO WER SUPPLIES

R
eview o
f Power S
upp
lies (
con
tinued
)

F
ILTER C
s
ist
ing o
IRCU
f i
ITS — C
nductors a
ircu
nd c
its c
apaci
on-
tors
T T
o I
u
sed t
o change pulsa
ting DC output
o
f arect
ifier to p
ure DC.

T— T— T 0
1

Rec
tif
ier C
ircu
it F
ilter C
ircu
it
CO MPLETE PO WER SUPPLY — =
The complete circu i
t consist
ing of
f
ull-wave recti
fier a nd fi
lter c
ir-
c
uits, used to supply high DC vol
t-
a
ge to o
ther circu its.

VOLTAGE REGULATOR C IRCU IT

— Ac ircuit which uses a gas-fi
lled
d
iode to maintain constant ou
tput
v
oltage. T he voltage across tube
t
er minals r
e mains constant over a
l
arge range of source voltage or C
ons tan
t
l
oad current changes. vol
tage

OTHER PO WER SUPPLIES —

Tra
.nsfor merless a nd c hokeless
p
ower s upplies, vibra tors, mo tor-
g
enera tors, d ynamo tors a nd rotary
c
onver ters are other t ypes of power V
IBRATOR
s
upplies used t o f
i
ll s pecial require-
ments as to size, w eight, power 0C M
OTOR * CMPA
TOR 10 C
s
ource a vailable and load r equire-
ments. 0

MOTOR-GENERATOR

1
-115
 I
NDEX TO VOL
. 1

(
Note: A cumu
lat
ive in
dex c
over
ing a
l
l fi
ve vo
lumes
i
n th
is s
e
rie
s wi
ll be f
ound a
t t
he e
nd of Vo
lume 5.
)

AC
-DC h
alf
-wave r
ec
tif
ier
, i
npowe
r p
ara
lle
l-re
sonan
t, 1
-73
s
upp
lie
s, 1
-94
, 1
-95 R
Cfau
lts o
f
, 1
-66
, 1
-67
s
e
rie
s-resonan
t, 1
-73
B
r
idge r
ec
tif
ierc
i
rcu
its
, 1
-49
, 1
-50 t
wo-sec
tion
, 1
-73
u
s
ing c
hoke i
n
stead o
fre
sis
tor
, 1
-68
C
urren
t f
l
ow, i
nha
lf-wave r
ec
tif
ier c
i
rcu
it,
1
-43 I
npu
tfi
l
ter c
apac
ito
r, c
harg
ing
, 1
-74
i
nfu
ll
-wave r
ec
tif
ierc
i
rcu
it, 1
-48 I
n
ver
ter
s, 1
-
105

D
iodes
, c
harac
ter
ist
ics o
f
, 1-10
9 t
o 1
-
112 Mo
tor g
ene
rato
rs, 1
-
104
c
ur
ren
tfl
ow i
n
, 1
-28
, 1
-29
g
as-f
i
lled
, 1
-35
, 1
-37 P
owe
r l
i
ne f
i
l
terc
apac
ito
r c
i
rcu
its
, 1
-43
h
ow c
ur
ren
t i
scon
tro
lled i
n
, 1-12 P
owe
r s
upp
lie
s, c
i
rcu
its i
n
, 1
-52
h
ow t
hey w
ork
, 1
-25 d
ry m
eta
l r
ec
tif
ier
, 1
-97
i
ntr
ans
forme
rtype c
i
rcu
its
, f
or DC v
o
ltage s
ource
s, 1
-
99
1
-40
, 1
-41 g
ene
ral t
ypes
, 1
-93
v
acuum
-fi
lled
, 1
-36 i
mpo
rtance o
f
, 1
-7
D
ynamo
tor
s, 1
-
104 n
eed f
or o
the
rtypes
, 1
-92
t
r
ans
forme
r t
ype
, 1
-39
E
l
ect
ron
ics
, m
ean
ing o
f
, 1
-
1 t
r
ans
forme
rle
ss, 1
-94 t
o 1
-98
E
l
ect
ron
ic e
quipmen
t, 1
-2 t
r
ans
forme
rle
ss a
nd c
hoke
less
, 1
-98
p
art
s u
sed i
n
, 1
-3 v
o
ltage d
oub
ler
, 1
-96
w
hat t
hey d
o, 1
-8
F
i
l
ter
s, i
mprov
ing o
pera
tion o
f
, w
hy t
here a
re d
ife
ren
t t
ype
s,
1
-64
, 1
-65 1
-
14 t
o 1
-
16
i
npowe
rsupp
lie
s, 1
-
12
F
i
l
ter c
apac
ito
rs (
condense
rs)
, R
ect
ifie
rs, c
hang
ing AC t
oDC
1
-60 t
o 1
-63 i
nha
lf-wave
d
ry e
lec
tro
lyt
ic, 1
-63 d
ry m
eta
l t
ype
, 1
-
17
e
lec
tro
lyt
ic, 1
-61 t
o 1
-63 c
i
rcu
its i
ndry m
eta
l h
alf
-wave t
ype
,
p
ape
r c
ons
truc
tion o
f
, 1
-60 1
-21
p
ape
r h
igh v
o
ltage
, 1
-60 c
oppe
r o
xide
, 1
-
18
w
et e
lec
tro
lyt
ic, 1
-62 d
esc
rip
tion o
f h
al
f-wave d
ry m
eta
l
F
i
l
ter c
hoke
s, 1
-69 t
ype
, 1
-
18 t
o 1
-20
F
i
l
terc
i
rcu
its
, 1
-
52 t
o 1
-80 d
ry m
eta
l h
al
f-wave
, 1
-
17 t
o 1
-22
c
apac
ito
rs i
n
, 1
-57 t
o 1
-59 f
u
ll
-wave
, 1
-45 t
o 1
-
151
c
apac
ito
r i
npu
t, s
i
ngle
-sec
tion
, g
as-f
i
lled d
iode
s, 1
-35 t
o 1
-37
1
-70
, 1
-72 h
ow t
he f
u
ll
-wave t
ype w
ork
s, 1
-46
c
hoke i
npu
t, s
i
ngle
-sec
tion
, p
ara
lle
l c
onnec
tion o
fel
emen
ts
1
-70
, 1-
71 i
ndry m
eta
l t
ype
, 1
-
19
i
npowe
r s
upp
lie
s, 1
-53 p
owe
r s
upp
lie
s, 1
-
10, 1
-
11

1
-117
 I
NDEX TO VOL
. 1

s
e
len
ium
, 1
-
18, 1
-20 H
alf
- Wave R
ect
ifie
rs — V
acuum
s
er
ies s
t
ack
ing o
felemen
ts i
ndry T
ube T
ype
, 1
-38
me
tal t
ype
, 1
-
19 O
the
rTypes o
f P
owe
r S
upp
ly
t
r
ans
forme
r t
ype h
alf
-wave
, C
ircu
its
, 1
-
106 t
o 1
-
108
1
-39 t
o 1
-44 P
owe
r S
upp
lie
s, 1
-
113 t
o 1
-
115
v
acuum t
ubes
, 1
-23 V
oltage R
egu
lato
r C
ircu
its
, 1
-91
v
acuum t
ube h
alf
-wave t
ype
, R
ota
ry c
onve
rte
rs, 1
-
105
1
-23 t
o 1
-38
R
ect
ifie
r c
i
rcu
its
, h
alf
-wave v
acuum T
rans
forme
rs, p
owe
r s
upp
lies
, 1
-9
t
ube
, 1
-33 T
rans
forme
rtype c
i
rcu
it, d
iag
ram o
f
, 1
-42
R
ect
ifier o
utpu
t, AC a
nd DC c
omponen
ts o
pera
tion o
f
, 1
-43
i
n
, 1
-55
, 1
-56
c
harac
ter
ist
ics o
f
, 1
-54 V
acuum t
ube
, c
i
rcu
it w
ir
ing
, 1
-34
f
i
l
ter
ing h
alf
- a
nd f
u
ll-wave
, 1
-74 d
i
scove
ry o
fdiode
, 1
-24
R
ect
ifie
r t
ubes
, 1
-30
, 1
-31 e
lec
tron e
mis
sion
, 1
-26
, 1
-27
c
athode t
ype
, 1
-31 f
acto
rsc
ommon t
oal
l
, 1
-
110
d
iodes
, 1
-30
, 1
-31 j
obs o
f
, 1
-
109
d
i
rec
tly h
eated
, 1
-32 me
thods o
f r
epresen
tat
ion i
n
f
u
ll-wave
, 1
-47 d
iag
rams
, 1
-34
i
nd
irec
tly h
eated
, 1
-32 s
ocke
ts, 1
-31
p
lates c
onnec
ted t
oge
the
r, 1
-32
p
lates c
onnec
ted s
epara
tely
, 1
-32 V
ibra
tors
, 1
-
100 t
o 1
-
103
R
esis
tors
, b
leede
r, 1
-75 t
o 1
-77 s
ynchronous
, 1
-
103
R
eview
, C
harac
ter
ist
ics o
f D
iode Vacuum V
oltage r
egu
lat
ion
, 1
-81, 1
-82
T
ubes
, 1
-
111 w
hen l
oad c
urren
tvar
ies
, 1
-87
, 1
-88
F
i
l
terC
ircu
its
, 1
-78 t
o 1
-80 w
hen p
owe
r s
upp
ly v
ol
tage v
ar
ies
,
F
u
ll- Wave R
ect
ifier C
ircu
it, 1
-51 1
-89
, 1
-90
H
alf
- Wave R
ect
ifier
s — D
ry Me
tal V
oltage r
egu
lato
rs, p
owe
r s
upp
lie
s, 1
-
13
T
ype
, 1
-22 V
oltage r
egu
lato
rci
rcu
its
, 1
-81 t
o 1
-91
H
alf
- Wave R
ect
ifier
s —T
ransformer V
oltage r
egu
lato
rtube
, 1
-83
, 1
-84
T
ype
, 1
-44 V
oltage r
egu
lato
r t
ube c
i
rcu
it, 1
-85
, 1
-86

1
-118
 HO W T
HIS OUTSTAND
ING COURSE W AS D
EVELOPED
:

I
n t
he S
pring o
f 1
951
, t
he Ch
ief o
f Nava
l P
ersonne
l, s
e
eking a s-
xeam
lined
,
more ef
ic
ien
t method o
f p
resen
ting B a
sic E
lectr
icity a
nd Ba
sic E
lec
tronics t
o the
t
housands o
f s
tudent
s in Navy spec
iality s
chools
, cal
led on t
he graphio
.ogical
e
ngineer
ing f
i
rm o
f V
an V
alkenburgh
, Nooger & N
evi
lle
, I
nc
., t
o p
repare s
uch a
c
our
se. This organiza
tion
, spec
iali
sts in t
he produc
tion of c
o mp
lete "packaged
t
r
aining p
rogram s
," had b
road experien
ce se
rving i
ndustr
ial o
rgan
izat
ions requir
-
i
ng ma
ss-
tra
ining t
e
chn
ique
s.
The
se w
ere t
he a
ims o
f t
he p
ropo
sed p
rojec
t, wh
ich c
ame t
o b
e k
nown a
s t
he
Common -Core prog
ram : t
o make B as
ic Electr
icity and B as
ic E lec
tronic; com-
p
lete
ly unders
tandable toe
very Navy s
tudent
, regardles
s of p
reviou seducation; t
o
e
nable t
he Navy to turn o
ut t
ra
ined techn
icians at afaster r
ate (cutt
ing the co
st
o
f tr
ain
ing a s w
ell a
s the t
ime requ
ired) wi
thou t sacr
ific
ing subject matter
.
The f
ir m met with el
ectron
icsexpert
s, e
ducators
, of
icer
s-in
-charge o
f v
ariou
s N avy
s
chool
s a nd, with the Chie
f of Naval P
ersonnel
, cr
eated a dynamic n
ew train
ing
c
ourse .. co mplete
ly u p
-to
-date .. w
ith heavy emphasi
s o n t
he v
isua
l apf r
oach.
F
ir
st estab
lished i
n se
lected Navy s
chool
s in Apr
il, 1
953
, the t
r
ain
ing course
c
o mpr
ising B as
ic E
lectr
icity a
nd B a
sic Elec
tron
ics was s
uch a tremendous
s
ucce
ss t
hat i
tisn
ow t
he b
ackbone o
f t
he N
avy
'sc
urren
t e
l
ectr
icity a
nd e
l
ec:ron
ics
t
ra
ining prog
ram!'

The c
our
se pre
sents o
ne f
undamental t
opic a
t at
ime, t
aken u
p in t
he orde
r of
n
eed,r
endered a
bso
lute
ly u
nder
standable
,a nd h
ammered h
ome by t
he u
se o
fclear
,
c
artoon-type ilu
strat
ion s
. The se i
lustrat
ion s a
re t
he mos
te fect
ive ever pre
sented.
Every page hasat l
eas
t o ne such i
lustration—every page c
over s one c
omp lete i
dea!
An i maginary in
structor stands fi
guratively a
t the r
eader'
s e lbow, doing d emon-
s
trat
ions t ha
t make i teasier to understand each sub
ject presented in the :our
se.

Now
, f
or t
he f
i
rs
t t
ime, B
asic E
lec
tric
ity a
nd Basic E
lec
tronic
s have b
een r
eleased
b
y t
he Navy f
or c
i
vil
ian use
. Wh ile t
he cour
se was or
igina
lly de
signed l
or the
Navy, t
he concept
s a
re so b
road, t
he pre
senta
tion s
o c
lear—wi
thout r
efer
ence to
s
pecif
ic Navy equipmen
t— that i
tisideal f
or use b
y s
chool
s, i
ndu
str
ial tra
ining
p
rogram
s, o
r h
ome s
tudy
. T
here i
sno f
i
ner t
r
ain
ing ma
ter
ial
!

"
Bas
ic E
lec
tron
ics" c
ons
ist
s o
f f
i
ve v
olume
s, a
s f
o
llow
s: V
ol
. 1
—Int
roduc
:ion
t
o E
lec
tron
ics
, D
iode V
acuum Tube
s, D
ry Me
tal R
ect
ifier
s, Wha
t aP
cwer
S
upply I
s
, Fi
lter
s, V o
ltage Regu
lator
s. Vol
. 2 —Introduct
ion to Amp
lif
ier
s,
The T
riode Tube, Tetrode
s &Pentodes
, Audio Voltage S
cPower Amp
lif
ier
s.
V
ol
. 3
—Video Amp
lif
ier
s, RF Amp
lif
ier
s, O
sci
lla
tor
s. V
ol
. 4
—Tran
smit
:er
s,
T
ransm
iss
ion L
ine
s & An tennas
, CW Transmi
ssion & Ampl
itude Modula
-
t
i
on. Vo
l. 5
—Receiver Antennas
, D
etec
tors & M ixer
s, TRF Rece
ivers
,
S
uperhe
terodyne R
ece
iver
s.

"Ba
sic E
lec
tric
ity
," t
he f
i
rs
t p
ort
ion o
f t
h
is c
our
se, i
sava
ilab
le a
s as
epara
te
s
e
rie
s o
f v
olume
s.

JOHN F
. R
IDER PUBL
ISHER
, I
NC.
, 1
16 WEST 1
4th S
T.
, N
. Y
. 1
1, N
. Y
.