Acknowledgement

I would like to express my special thanks of

gratitude to my physics teacher (Mrs. PC
Sarkar) who gave me the golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on the topic (Full
wave bridge rectifier), which also helped me in
doing a lot of Research and I came to know
about so many new things I am really thankful
to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents

and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing
this project within the limited time frame.
 Certificate

This is to certify that Keshav Agarwal (Roll

No: ) student of class XII-B, Delhi
Public School , Guwahati has completed the
project titled “Full Wave Bridge Rectifier”
during the academic year 2019-20 towards
partial fulfillment of credit for the Physics
Project evaluation of CBSE 2019, and
submitted working model and satisfactory
report , as compiled in the following pages,
under my supervision.

Mrs. PC Sarkar

(Teacher’s signature)
 Contents

 Aim
 Theory
 Materials required
 Circuit diagram
 Working
 Graph
 Applications
 Merits and Demerits
 Bibliography
 Aim
To construct a full wave bridge rectifier and show
that that Alternating Current is rectified into a Direct
Current
.
 Theory
The process of converting AC (which periodically
reverses direction) current into DC (which flows only
in one direction) current is known as Rectification.
The electrical device used to so is known as
Rectifier.
Rectifiers have many uses, but are often found
serving as components of DC power supplies and
high-voltage direct current power transmission
systems. Rectification may serve in roles other than
to generate direct current for use as a source of
power.
The simple process of rectification produces a type
of DC characterized by pulsating voltages and
currents (although still unidirectional). Depending
upon the type of end-use, this type of DC current
may then be further modified into the type of
relatively constant voltage DC characteristically
produced by such sources as batteries and solar
cells.
A diode bridge is an arrangement of four (or more)
diodes in a bridge circuit configuration that provides
the same polarity of output for either polarity of
input. When used in its most common application,
for conversion of an alternating current (AC) input
into a direct current (DC) output, it is known as a
bridge rectifier. A bridge rectifier provides full-wave
rectification from a two-wire AC input, resulting in
lower cost and weight as compared to a rectifier
with a 3-wire input from a transformer with a center-
tapped secondary winding.
Materials Required

 Connecting wires
Step-down transformer (1)
Diodes (4)
Capacitor (1)
LED (1)
Circuit Diagram
 Working
Initially when the A.C. is supplied to the transformer,
it steps down the 220V main supply to 6 volts. It has
a capability of delivering a current of 500mA. The 6
volts A.C. appearing across the secondary coil is the
RMS value and the peak value is 8.4 volts. During the
1st half cycle of the A.C. input Diode D1 is forward
biased and a current ‘I’ flows in the circuit in the
direction ABCDEFGHIJKLM. During this time diodes
D2 and D3 are reverse biased. So they do not
conduct any electric current.

During the next half cycle the diode D2 is forward

and D1 is reversed. Hence D2 conducts current in
the direction

MLKJCDEFGHIA and D1 does not conduct any

current.

In subsequent half cycles of the A.C current the

above processes are repeated. In both the half
cycles it is clear that current flows through LED in
only one direction.
Even though the voltage across LED is unidirectional
it will still contain a few A.C components. This is
filtered and made smooth using a capacitor, which
filters 99% of the A.C current.

Capacitor nearly filters all A.C components from the

supply. But there will be slight factor of A.C. current
still left in the output but it is negligible. The output
Direct Current and voltage light up the LED.
Graph
 Applications
 Because of their low cost compared to
center tapped they are widely used in
power supply circuit.
 This can be used to detect the amplitude
of modulated radio signal.
 Bridge rectifiers can be used to supply
polarized voltage in welding.
 In daily life, rectifiers find use in mobile
chargers.
Merits and Demerits
Merits:-

 The rectification efficiency of full-wave rectifier

is double of that of a half-wave rectifier.
 The ripple voltage is low and of higher frequency
in case of a full-wave rectifier so simple filtering
circuit is required.
 Higher output voltage higher output power and
higher TUF in case of a full-wave rectifier.
 In a full-wave rectifier, there is no problem due
to DC saturation of the core because the DC
currents in the two halves of the transformer
secondary flow in opposite directions.

Demerits:-

 Full-wave rectifier needs more circuit elements

and is costlier.
 Bibliography

• Physics – Textbook for class XII (NCERT)

• Laboratory Manual of Physics
• Encyclopedias

Websites:-

www.wikipedia.org
www.youtube.com