FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

PHYSICS INVESITGATORY PROJECT

CONTENT:
• Acknowledgement
• Certificate
• Index
• Aim
• Apparatus required
• Theory
• Procedure
• Precautions
• Sources of error
• Bibliography
AIM:
To construct a full wave rectifier and show that
alternating current is rectified into direct current.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:
1. LED a light emitting diode is a semiconductor that emits
light when current flows through it. Electrons in the
semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing
energy in the form of photons. The colour of the light is
determined by the energy required for electrons to cross
the band gap of semiconductor.
2. DIODE a diode is a two terminal electronic component
that conducts electricity primarily in one direction. It has
high resistance on one end and lower resistance on the
other end. Diodes are used to protect circuits by limiting
the voltage and also to transform AC into DC.
Semiconductors like silicon and germanium are used to
make most of the diodes.
3. RESISTOR: A passive electrical component with 2
terminals that are used to reduce the current flow and to
lower the voltage in any particular position of the circuit.
It is made of copper wire which are coiled around a
 ceramic rod and the outer part of the resistor is coated
with an insulating paint. SI unit off resistor is ohm.
4. CAPACITOR: A capacitor is a 2-terminal electrical
device that can store energy in the form of electric
charge. It consists of 2 electrical conductors that are
separated by a distance. The space between the
conductors may be filled by vacuum or with an
insulating material known as dielectric. The ability of the
capacitor to store charges is known as capacitance. SI
unit of capacitance is Faraday.
5. TRANSFORMER: It is an electric device use for
converting low alternating voltage to high alternating
voltage and vice versa. When the current flowing through
the primary coil changes, an EMF is induced in the
secondary coil due to the charge in magnetic flux linked
with it that is it works on the principle of mutual
induction.
6. WIRES: a wire is a flexible metallic conductor,
especially one made up of copper, usually insulated, and
used to carry electric in a circuit.
7. CARDBOARD: a material made up of cellulose fibre
like paper but usually thicker.
THEORY:
A full wave rectifier is a device which is used to rectify
all the alternating current components in an alternating
supply and make it purely a direct current. The 2
alternating halves of an alternation current are rectified
in a full wave rectifier which is an advantage over half
wave rectifier. Most electronic devices cannot withstand
very high voltage or alternating current due to its
intense high power. The use of batteries in all devices is
not practical as their replacement and durability is a
huge problem as the device has to be dismantled each
time for such a replacement, so these rectifiers are you
used in most of electronic devices like TVs, radios,
chargers and lightnings etc.

PROCEDURE:
First when the AC current is supplied to the
transformer, it steps down the 230V main supply to
12V. It has a capability of delivering a current of 500
mA. The 12 V AC appearing across the secondary is the
root mean square value. During the first cycle of the AC
input diode D1 is forward biased and I flows in the
circuit. During this time diode D2 is reverse biased, so
it does not conduct electric current. During the next half
cycle the diode D2 is forward and D1 is reversed, hence
D2 conductors current and D1 does not conduct any
current. In subsequent half cycles of the AC current
above processes are repeated.

In both the half cycles it is clear that current flows

through the resistor in only one direction. Even though
the voltage resistor is unidirectional it will still contain
a few AC components. From the supply this is filtered
and made smooth using a capacitor, which filters 99.9%
off the AC current. A resistor is then used to address the
output voltage. As this is a simple circuit only one
capacitor and resistance is being used. But there will be
slight factor of AC Current still left in the output but it
is negligible. The output direct current and voltage
lights up the LED.
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Make sure that the current is connected properly.
2. Keep yourself safe from high voltage.

SOURCES OF ERROR:
1. Circuit may not be conducted properly.
2. The capacitor, diode, LED, resistor, transformer, is not
working properly.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
→ www.academia.cedu
→ www.wikipedia.org
→ www.techtarget.com

~vidushi kochhar